Dorothy Pappas Owen is, to a large extent, a numbers cruncher.
But she pops up in strange places, working for months at a time with agencies such as the Utah Food Bank or the Salt Lake Community Shelter and Resource Center.She's "on loan" to nonprofit agencies several months each year from her role as a policy and planning analyst for Salt Lake County Human Services. She helps the nonprofits attract grants, revamp programs and strengthen their infrastructures.
"I'm lucky to be working with elected officials who have a really visionary, positive view of what government is," Owen said. "They make government service a positive force to influence the community."
For years, officials had discussed ways to get Medicaid money (which draws a federal match of almost $3 for every $1 the state spends) to help pay for case-management services at area homeless shelters.
Two years ago, Owen took it on as a special assignment. Working with staff at Travelers Aid Society and the shelter, they were able to get case-management money. They started in March, got it submitted in November and earned the payments retroactive to July.
"It's great," she said. "Medicaid can be intimidating and confusing - it's not seen as something helpful but more as people guarding the purse. Like most things, if you can figure out what the roadblocks are, you can help the government over them."
The Utah Food Bank asked the county for funding help, but the county's grant process (which Owen works on) had just finished. So Owen went to the food bank to help them write grants and identify other sources of money.
Because the food bank doesn't bill anyone, it was hard to attach a value to the food and almost impossible to qualify for many types of aid. But money was desperately needed for freezer space, staff and things such as pest control.
Owen worked with staff to change the financial structure. Now emergency pantries that receive food from the bank pay a membership fee that helps support the operating costs of the food bank. The pantries, in turn, are eligible for grants that help them pay the membership fee.
Most recently, she has worked with Exodus, a group that helps ex-convicts find jobs and success upon release.
"Exodus fits very nicely into the fact that government needs to work with high-risk people," Owen said. "People leaving prisons are super high-risk and totally ignored. Nobody deals with that, and 85 percent end up going back."
She typically works intensively with agencies for several months, then maintains the relationship. "Our goal is to make programs stronger, not do it for them," she said. If there are problems, she calls on her co-workers at the county for help. "It allows the private nonprofits to access all the resources of government."