So, I have been working in the office and with clients now for two weeks. This, by no means, makes me an expert on the situations that arise. I am however able to judge how stable (may not be the right word) their life is after talking to them for a little bit. Even though I am no expert and still have no idea what to do in certain situations other than start to look for answers on the internet and through some of our community partners, I have begun to have a change in perspective. It is one that is somewhat scary due to the nature of the change, but is seems to be true. Let me explain...
For those of you who don't know, I had the great opportunity this past year to be a part of a feeding ministry with the church that I am a part of while at school. The feeding ministry is directed towards those who live in a subsidized apartment complex. Through this, I have been able to get to know tens of people in the building. It has been quite an enjoyable experience and also saddening experience as everyday that we distribute groceries, we were faced with real life. For example, there is one guy, who is in a wheel chair and has asthma and his wife has been in and out of the hospital for the last couple years. It is disheartening to see his face when I, perhaps in ignorance and stupid attempt to connect, ask how he is doing. It was so clear that he wished he could say good, but it hasn't been for quite a while. Instead, he simply lowers his head and says something of the sort that he's making it. I bring this up not to play with your emotions, but to give you an accurate account of the life issues that are so present in this place.
When I came to this internship, I was fairly comfortable as i had worked with and interacted with people of the same socio-economic class. I knew some of the realities that they faced and thought that i had a pretty good understanding of life, not necessarily in arrogance, but hopeful expectation. In the same sense, I was troubled by the low quality of life. To put it simply, I thought that this was the bottom...
After only two weeks of working in the office with clients, I have begun to see things differently. Oh, how i was wrong... Granted, I have seen a lot of clients come into the office over the past two weeks (Each day I work with about 3-8 clients directly each day, although today I helped 13 clients personally - our office helps about 15-20 each day on average). Over the past two weeks with working with clients directly in applying for housing and searching for available housing, I have begun to open my eyes a little wider. I may come to see this differently in the future, but here are my thoughts... While I used to see subsidized housing as one of the lowest ends of the spectrum, it is actually one of the highest. The lowest on the spectrum of housing situation is clearly homeless. Those either affected by at one time, or those stuck in the cycle of homelessness, living on the streets, etc. The other end of the spectrum would be for someone to be able to rent a market-rate apartment. This would suggest that they have a job of some sort since a 1 bedroom apartment in New Haven goes for 900-950 a month and SAGA (a complicated acronym for state welfare) is about $600 at its highest (and that is generally only for those who are disabled or unable to work). Anyways, the goal is to help people get a job for those who are able, but some or a lot are not even able to do that, either from a physical or mental disability. This group probably qualifies and lives off of $630 or so a month. In this case, the best option for them is a section 8 voucher. This means that the government gives them a voucher for any apartment for rent within a certain price range for different #'s of rooms (i think 1350 for a 1 bedroom apartment). The person then pays 1/3 of their income towards the rent and the government pays the rest. This is a great program and allows the individual/family to not spend 80-90% of their income on high rent. While this is a really good program, it is really limited. Most cities have waiting lists of 10 years to get a section 8 voucher and in New Haven, you the waiting list isn't even open. Often times, the list will open for a short period where people can apply to get on the waiting list, sometimes for a day, sometimes longer. Thus, since this is limited, the next best option seems to be subsidized housing, where the individual/family pays 1/3 of their income towards housing for an apartment in a number of various apartment complexes around the city.
I hope this isn't too confusing... I am still trying to understand it all, but it is interesting how what I once conceived was practically the lowest end of the spectrum in terms of housing is now one of the best options available and is typically a legitimate one. In comparison to the other options of either living on the streets exposed to the weather or even in shelters where you are only able to spend the night (about 6 pm to the morning) and being exposed to the weather conditions during the whole day, subsidized housing begins to look pretty good. It gives someone a stable place to stay where they can start to piece together their life. I have begun to realize how difficult it is for me to conceptualize the difficulty andt he structure of the system as even after a year, i did not completely grasp the benefits... I am still struggling with the difficulties and real life issues that people face in these situations and am by no means saying that people of other socio-economic status don't face real life issues. But there seems to be a greater stress and difficulty in dealing with these issues when you don't know where you are sleeping the next night or even how you are going to feed your children.
The questions lurk within my mind and remain unanswered... (perhaps questions that are not asked very often because they often don't have an easy answer - maybe we should be better at asking questions that don't have an easy answer).
What can I do about it?
How can the system be better?
What can we as a society do to change this world in a positive way?
What is the best way to help people get out of this endless and tormenting cycle?
Is there always going to be a way to help individuals? And if not, how do I face that? Do i accept it and move on? Or am i deeply devastated?
Monday, June 23, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Public Transportation and More
Well, I have begun the second week of work in the office. (third week counting training). It is still quite enjoyable. I know I have shared a lot about what I am doing and about some of the stories that I am learning, but I thought i would take a different approach today.
I have been riding the train into the city each day (as you know)... And I absolutely love it. I have realized that one minor aspect of not ever living in a big city is not having been able to enjoy the pleasures of public transportation. For those of you who may have a similar experience as i have for most of my life, wondering what i could be getting at, with no other preconceptions of public transportation than an inconvenient, crowded, dirty, means of transportation, i thought i would give some insight as to how it is so much different. Everyday, i get on the same train (the 8:16 am train from Guilford, CT to New Haven - State Street stop) and ride either the 5:04 train or the 5:39 train (depending on when we finish work. Not only myself, but a lot of people have the same routine (either going to, fro, or both). This makes me able to see anywhere from 10-20 people, whom i would normally otherwise never see in my life, and have 5-20 minute conversations with them to get to know them. It is quite enriching! For example, there is this woman named Carol (spelling?) who gets off the same train as I do going to work. She works at Yale Medical School. There have been three out of the 5 days that i have ridden the train total, that I have walked next to her for the 4-5 blocks from the train station to my office building. This accounts for anywhere from 8-12 minutes depending on traffic and such. Thus, i have been able to spend anywhere from 24-36 minutes (or about a half hour) with Carol in getting to know her. The first day it was simple talk about weather and traffic, not even exchanging names. The second, we noticed the similar routine and exchanged names, occupations/current employment, and a few other things. Today, I saw her again and was able to talk to her more about where I am from and what exactly she does. In case this doesn't point clearly enough to my point, i love public transportation. I am able to meet people that i wouldn't normally get to meet and be able to soak in a little bit of their perspective in the world (because I feel like everyone we come into contact helps shape our perspective whether we notice it or not).
Today, I also met a client (person who came into NSP for help in one of our various services) whose name i cannot disclose for confidentiality reasons. But, he was in his early fifties. Living with a woman whom he referred to as his wife several times (due to the longevity of their relationship being over a decade long and reasonably so), he has been looking for a place to stay for a little over a month. He and his significant other (from now on out to be referred to as "his wife" for convenience sake) were living in a small one-bedroom apartment where they shared a bathroom with the people next door. (the housing situation was a little unclear). But when the person next door invited many friends to come live with them, it forced them to have to wait several hours to use the only bathroom to get ready for the day. This man, who had been in a car accident over 5 years back has been unable to work since then because his leg was literally wrapped around his neck from the accident and forced to a long time of rehab. He has fought to be able to walk with a cane and is doing pretty well, but is forced to live off of social security and SSDI (a federal cash assistance available to people with long-term disabilities). He makes no more than $800 dollars a month, and while that is more than a lot of people, it is still not much when he is not living in either section 8 housing or subsidized. (Section 8 is basically a voucher for any apartment and subsidized housing places are particular housing apartment complexes set up for people to pay 1/3 of their income or assistance). Anyways, it is clear that this guy is in a rough spot and after not knowing what he could do, he came to us today. Not only this, but his wife is in desperate need of surgery for something, which without it she could die at any point if something goes wrong. I spent an hour talking to him and hearing his story. Of all the places that he worked and of his current situation. What was extremely amazing to me is that after only spending an hour talking to him today (while also going over forms) he called me
to tell me that his wife has been approved for surgery by (according to him) one of the top ten surgeons in the world. He sounded very ecstatic and he ended the phone call by saying, "I just thought I would call you and let you know the good news." It was amazing to me that he felt like I care enough that he would call me and tell me that. Anyways, that is my story for now. I hope this gives you insight as to what exactly is going on...
I have been riding the train into the city each day (as you know)... And I absolutely love it. I have realized that one minor aspect of not ever living in a big city is not having been able to enjoy the pleasures of public transportation. For those of you who may have a similar experience as i have for most of my life, wondering what i could be getting at, with no other preconceptions of public transportation than an inconvenient, crowded, dirty, means of transportation, i thought i would give some insight as to how it is so much different. Everyday, i get on the same train (the 8:16 am train from Guilford, CT to New Haven - State Street stop) and ride either the 5:04 train or the 5:39 train (depending on when we finish work. Not only myself, but a lot of people have the same routine (either going to, fro, or both). This makes me able to see anywhere from 10-20 people, whom i would normally otherwise never see in my life, and have 5-20 minute conversations with them to get to know them. It is quite enriching! For example, there is this woman named Carol (spelling?) who gets off the same train as I do going to work. She works at Yale Medical School. There have been three out of the 5 days that i have ridden the train total, that I have walked next to her for the 4-5 blocks from the train station to my office building. This accounts for anywhere from 8-12 minutes depending on traffic and such. Thus, i have been able to spend anywhere from 24-36 minutes (or about a half hour) with Carol in getting to know her. The first day it was simple talk about weather and traffic, not even exchanging names. The second, we noticed the similar routine and exchanged names, occupations/current employment, and a few other things. Today, I saw her again and was able to talk to her more about where I am from and what exactly she does. In case this doesn't point clearly enough to my point, i love public transportation. I am able to meet people that i wouldn't normally get to meet and be able to soak in a little bit of their perspective in the world (because I feel like everyone we come into contact helps shape our perspective whether we notice it or not).
Today, I also met a client (person who came into NSP for help in one of our various services) whose name i cannot disclose for confidentiality reasons. But, he was in his early fifties. Living with a woman whom he referred to as his wife several times (due to the longevity of their relationship being over a decade long and reasonably so), he has been looking for a place to stay for a little over a month. He and his significant other (from now on out to be referred to as "his wife" for convenience sake) were living in a small one-bedroom apartment where they shared a bathroom with the people next door. (the housing situation was a little unclear). But when the person next door invited many friends to come live with them, it forced them to have to wait several hours to use the only bathroom to get ready for the day. This man, who had been in a car accident over 5 years back has been unable to work since then because his leg was literally wrapped around his neck from the accident and forced to a long time of rehab. He has fought to be able to walk with a cane and is doing pretty well, but is forced to live off of social security and SSDI (a federal cash assistance available to people with long-term disabilities). He makes no more than $800 dollars a month, and while that is more than a lot of people, it is still not much when he is not living in either section 8 housing or subsidized. (Section 8 is basically a voucher for any apartment and subsidized housing places are particular housing apartment complexes set up for people to pay 1/3 of their income or assistance). Anyways, it is clear that this guy is in a rough spot and after not knowing what he could do, he came to us today. Not only this, but his wife is in desperate need of surgery for something, which without it she could die at any point if something goes wrong. I spent an hour talking to him and hearing his story. Of all the places that he worked and of his current situation. What was extremely amazing to me is that after only spending an hour talking to him today (while also going over forms) he called me
to tell me that his wife has been approved for surgery by (according to him) one of the top ten surgeons in the world. He sounded very ecstatic and he ended the phone call by saying, "I just thought I would call you and let you know the good news." It was amazing to me that he felt like I care enough that he would call me and tell me that. Anyways, that is my story for now. I hope this gives you insight as to what exactly is going on...
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The first two days...with a few surprises...
So, I have been working for two days now and I have probably met around 15-20 different clients. Not only that, but I have a couple great stories of my own that I would like to share as well as some of the clients' stories as well (of course, anonymously...)
Day 1 - So I found my way to the train station perfectly well and with about 10 minutes to spare before the train got there. I found my way from the station in New Haven (where I got off) to my office. It is a short walk of only 4-5 blocks. It is placed next to Yale University (well, parts of it... seeing how half of the city is next to Yale) as well as the New Haven green. It is in a great location. I finally met my Site Coordinator (a.k.a. my boss) who is a couple years out of his college years and enjoying what he is doing now. He majored in English, but found more fulfillment in human resources (if that is the correct term). Anyways, we went over briefly a variety of services that we offer and went into the local services and the in's and out's of some of the systems such as employment and housing as well as state and federal assistances such as SAGA, TFA, SSI, etc. (a lot of terms that can be branched into assistance). The second part of the day involved a few client meetings, getting their mail (as some people have their mail delivered there so they can get anything that would need an address delivered there...) or looking through online job searches, creating resumes, etc. It was an overall good introduction day to everything that we would be doing. Oh, and By the way, I forgot to mention that we share a floor with one other company and we are the end of the hall with one big room where we do all of our client services and one other room with two desks. Both at the end of the hall have yet to have the AC work. So, it has been probably 78-80 degrees in the office. :) Quite enjoyable.
Day 2 - Today, we quite more interesting. I got to the train station about the same time and after a few minutes of waiting there, a voice came over the speakers announcing that the train that I was taking into the city was canceled. This immediately leads me to think, "How can they do this... I need to take the train into town..." with a million other thoughts thinking about if I choose to drive to downtown New Haven, I have no clue where I will park or how much it will cost to park. Anyways, as I call Ron, the person I am staying with and am explaining the situation over the phone, a gentlemen in a random truck came up and offered me a trip downtown. Phew..! That was a close one. It was so nice of him and he even went on to explain what he did as a consultant executive after being retired from the air force (or navy... he talked about both in our conversation...) So, he drives me to where he works and instead of a 4-5 block walk with about 20 minutes to get to work, I have, what i found out later to be, 10-14 blocks to walk in about 10 minutes to get to work. It was a well-paced morning as I power-walked my way to work and arriving only 2 minutes after 9.
While at work, we went over a few more local services and then jumped into client meetings. The first meeting was with an older lady whom I will call Nancy (not her real name of course - and don't ask me why I chose nancy either...) had been coming to our office for a little over two years. She is not a huge success story as some might see it, but I believe (speaking with 2 days of experience) that she embodies the progress that NSP is aiming towards. She came in to work on a cover letter for a couple of jobs that she is applying for after getting a degree/certificate from a community school. Since coming to us the first time, judging from her initiative today in the office, she has achieved a lot of independence and understanding of how things went. She held Sunday's paper under her arm coming in with a few job opportunities highlighted. She let us know that she had returned to school/training school a couple times for a couple different certificates or degrees that would allow her to contribute to others' success. It was quite the experience being able to peek into her life's story for just under an hour's time.
The day was also filled with quite the opposite example, but not nearly in a bad way. Another woman, came to the office for the first time. I was able to go over a few introductory (and mandatory/necessary) forms getting to know her situation and how we might help her. With my hour and a half spent with her, I was given a perspective that opened my eyes to the systems set up for those in need as well as being able to see someone who was first coming to us for assistance and not as well-versed in things as the first woman I mentioned. She quickly told me her story that she had a well paying job and providing for her two sons for several years. She was making over 20 dollars an hour and was paying the bills and such and living life. But when less than a year ago, she was hurt on the job, she was forced to leave her job and was granted unemployment. The company somehow did not give her workers comp and just recently her unemployment ran out. Now, she is currently borrowing from friends and family while she has been looking for jobs left and right through various online job searches. She has been unable to find any employment that she can physically handle and is extremely frustrated because the system, as it is set up now and from her perspective, gives assistance to drug addicts who may have disabilities, but fails to give anything to her because she is able to work a job physically and mentally. Overall, it was a gut-wrenching story, as i hope i was able to illustrate, as I saw a single mother with one child left at home not being able to provide for her family.
Even though the AC was still not working and there were times when our slow computers were extremely frustrating, I realized that I am going to be daily faced with real life situations such as these, with the hope that what we are doing can make a difference and I don't know if there is anything I would rather be doing right now as I am able to learn the systems which provides some sort of hope and assistance for those who are barely holding on. Thanks for your interest...
Day 1 - So I found my way to the train station perfectly well and with about 10 minutes to spare before the train got there. I found my way from the station in New Haven (where I got off) to my office. It is a short walk of only 4-5 blocks. It is placed next to Yale University (well, parts of it... seeing how half of the city is next to Yale) as well as the New Haven green. It is in a great location. I finally met my Site Coordinator (a.k.a. my boss) who is a couple years out of his college years and enjoying what he is doing now. He majored in English, but found more fulfillment in human resources (if that is the correct term). Anyways, we went over briefly a variety of services that we offer and went into the local services and the in's and out's of some of the systems such as employment and housing as well as state and federal assistances such as SAGA, TFA, SSI, etc. (a lot of terms that can be branched into assistance). The second part of the day involved a few client meetings, getting their mail (as some people have their mail delivered there so they can get anything that would need an address delivered there...) or looking through online job searches, creating resumes, etc. It was an overall good introduction day to everything that we would be doing. Oh, and By the way, I forgot to mention that we share a floor with one other company and we are the end of the hall with one big room where we do all of our client services and one other room with two desks. Both at the end of the hall have yet to have the AC work. So, it has been probably 78-80 degrees in the office. :) Quite enjoyable.
Day 2 - Today, we quite more interesting. I got to the train station about the same time and after a few minutes of waiting there, a voice came over the speakers announcing that the train that I was taking into the city was canceled. This immediately leads me to think, "How can they do this... I need to take the train into town..." with a million other thoughts thinking about if I choose to drive to downtown New Haven, I have no clue where I will park or how much it will cost to park. Anyways, as I call Ron, the person I am staying with and am explaining the situation over the phone, a gentlemen in a random truck came up and offered me a trip downtown. Phew..! That was a close one. It was so nice of him and he even went on to explain what he did as a consultant executive after being retired from the air force (or navy... he talked about both in our conversation...) So, he drives me to where he works and instead of a 4-5 block walk with about 20 minutes to get to work, I have, what i found out later to be, 10-14 blocks to walk in about 10 minutes to get to work. It was a well-paced morning as I power-walked my way to work and arriving only 2 minutes after 9.
While at work, we went over a few more local services and then jumped into client meetings. The first meeting was with an older lady whom I will call Nancy (not her real name of course - and don't ask me why I chose nancy either...) had been coming to our office for a little over two years. She is not a huge success story as some might see it, but I believe (speaking with 2 days of experience) that she embodies the progress that NSP is aiming towards. She came in to work on a cover letter for a couple of jobs that she is applying for after getting a degree/certificate from a community school. Since coming to us the first time, judging from her initiative today in the office, she has achieved a lot of independence and understanding of how things went. She held Sunday's paper under her arm coming in with a few job opportunities highlighted. She let us know that she had returned to school/training school a couple times for a couple different certificates or degrees that would allow her to contribute to others' success. It was quite the experience being able to peek into her life's story for just under an hour's time.
The day was also filled with quite the opposite example, but not nearly in a bad way. Another woman, came to the office for the first time. I was able to go over a few introductory (and mandatory/necessary) forms getting to know her situation and how we might help her. With my hour and a half spent with her, I was given a perspective that opened my eyes to the systems set up for those in need as well as being able to see someone who was first coming to us for assistance and not as well-versed in things as the first woman I mentioned. She quickly told me her story that she had a well paying job and providing for her two sons for several years. She was making over 20 dollars an hour and was paying the bills and such and living life. But when less than a year ago, she was hurt on the job, she was forced to leave her job and was granted unemployment. The company somehow did not give her workers comp and just recently her unemployment ran out. Now, she is currently borrowing from friends and family while she has been looking for jobs left and right through various online job searches. She has been unable to find any employment that she can physically handle and is extremely frustrated because the system, as it is set up now and from her perspective, gives assistance to drug addicts who may have disabilities, but fails to give anything to her because she is able to work a job physically and mentally. Overall, it was a gut-wrenching story, as i hope i was able to illustrate, as I saw a single mother with one child left at home not being able to provide for her family.
Even though the AC was still not working and there were times when our slow computers were extremely frustrating, I realized that I am going to be daily faced with real life situations such as these, with the hope that what we are doing can make a difference and I don't know if there is anything I would rather be doing right now as I am able to learn the systems which provides some sort of hope and assistance for those who are barely holding on. Thanks for your interest...
Monday, June 9, 2008
A SHOCKING story.
I am here! I arrived yesterday around 7pm, but that fails to account for the interesting story...
In order to get from where we were coming from yesterday in PA, we had to drive through New York City. It wasn't directly through downtown, but we caught some of the traffic from the city. Just as we were getting through the city, we were thrown into this storm where it went from no rain to a heavy downpour. There were a few lightning bolts and thunder, and then there was this one that was unique. I was driving and I saw a flash of lightning and the next thing I know, my car has practically died in the middle of the interstate. The "Check Engine" light also came on as well. I tried to restart it many times, but it just kept dying on me and kind of gurgling at me while limiting my progress and many attempts to get to the shoulder. In case it isn't clear from my description, I WAS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING! (Not even kidding)... Well, I guess it was my car that was struck by lightning. Anyways, to make a long and very stressful story short, I ended up, about 10 mins later, restarting my car and it took off. I was able to drive it to the side and there was conveniently an exit just 1/4 mile up the road. After disconnecting my battery (perhaps unnecessarily) I was able to continue my trek to New Haven. But, this is clearly one of those stories that not only will I not forget, but seems like it would never happen to you, UNTIL IT DOES...
I finally met Ron, the person I am staying with. He is very nice and has a comfortable little house on a lake. It is even one of the cleanest lakes in Connecticut because of its location between two damns and slow, steady flow of water. It is very peaceful and I am definitely looking forward to spending many evenings reading a book by the lake and going for a swim to relax. It is nice place to relax, especially after such a shocking story. Literally.
In order to get from where we were coming from yesterday in PA, we had to drive through New York City. It wasn't directly through downtown, but we caught some of the traffic from the city. Just as we were getting through the city, we were thrown into this storm where it went from no rain to a heavy downpour. There were a few lightning bolts and thunder, and then there was this one that was unique. I was driving and I saw a flash of lightning and the next thing I know, my car has practically died in the middle of the interstate. The "Check Engine" light also came on as well. I tried to restart it many times, but it just kept dying on me and kind of gurgling at me while limiting my progress and many attempts to get to the shoulder. In case it isn't clear from my description, I WAS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING! (Not even kidding)... Well, I guess it was my car that was struck by lightning. Anyways, to make a long and very stressful story short, I ended up, about 10 mins later, restarting my car and it took off. I was able to drive it to the side and there was conveniently an exit just 1/4 mile up the road. After disconnecting my battery (perhaps unnecessarily) I was able to continue my trek to New Haven. But, this is clearly one of those stories that not only will I not forget, but seems like it would never happen to you, UNTIL IT DOES...
I finally met Ron, the person I am staying with. He is very nice and has a comfortable little house on a lake. It is even one of the cleanest lakes in Connecticut because of its location between two damns and slow, steady flow of water. It is very peaceful and I am definitely looking forward to spending many evenings reading a book by the lake and going for a swim to relax. It is nice place to relax, especially after such a shocking story. Literally.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Training (June 2-June 6) and more about NSP
Hello Everyone again,
I am currently in Pennsylvania with Jessica staying with a friend of ours from school. For those of you who might know her, we are staying with Katie and her family. They are great and excellent hosts. They have made us feel very comfortable.
But, for those of you itching to know what I have learned about what I am doing from training... So... to start from the beginning, NSP (National Student Partnerships) is a non-profit organization that is run by mostly college students. During the year, it has volunteers from local colleges at the offices. In fact, for the year (Sept. 06- August 07) there were 532 volunteers serving 70,643 hours at the 12 different offices. It was started by two college students (from Yale) 10 years ago actually in New Haven who saw the effects of poverty in the cities and wanted to work towards something to improve life and help community members achieve a life in which they can be self-sustaining. There are 12 different offices (as far west as Chicago, IL) and spread out throughout the North-Eastern part of the country. The farthest south is Richmond, VA and as far north as Boston.
We offer a variety of services. We help clients or community members (words that help us maintain a level of professionalism and true value for those we are helping). Each office has partnering organizations in the community that helps the clients with typically specialized services, which we can refer them to in order to help them find any of the various services: Housing, Employment, SSI, Children Services, Clothing, Food (or Food stamps), transportation, budgeting, immigration, health care, legal services, education, as well as helping them create or perfect resumes, cover letters, etc. I (or we - all of the Summer Directors) will be working one-on-one with clients (either by appointment or walk-ins) to help them with various needs. On the client's first meeting with a NSP volunteer/worker, we will take their information as well as going through the various needs that we might be able to work with them to obtain. We will later put this into an online data base where we can track the interactions and record and successes of various needs for statistical information. It seems to be similar to a Social worker position but is perhaps more personal and allows them to work with us to help their situations. For more statistics, in 2007, NSP served 5,498 clients and had 16,629 client meetings (since they return for multiple meetings), while being able to render 89,470 services.
As it is probably clear, I feel like I have learned a lot about more of the services that we are able to offer, but am not clear exactly how we are going to do everything. :) It looks like it will come with experience and I am definitely excited for that. As that comes, i will be sure to share some stories. For the rest of this, I want to give some highlights of Training:
Tuesday - We got there and had lunch, intros, and then the rest of the day was focused around Diversity training. It was interesting and some good information, but seemed to be somewhat surface level and not really delving into the deeper issues about identity and such, but nonetheless, it was good.
Wed - We simply focused on client services most of the day. We listened to the director of programs for NSP talk about the importance of client meetings and even did some role playing to help us prepare for some interesting situations. It was good experience to help us know what a client meeting might be like and opened my eyes to how professional of a setting NSP is. At first, I was thinking that this might hinder the relationships with clients, but it seems that it gives a healthy environment, especially where clients can learn to appreciate us and themselves. It also helped us see some of the various situations that we might encounter and worked towards preparing ourselves for some of the typical situations.
Thurs - Wasn't as interesting of a day, but worked out some of the logistics. We went over telling people what NSP is and how to communicate it clearly to different audiences. We also worked with our co-summer directors (since there are 2-3 per office) to start some team building and begin getting acquainted with each other, including our strengths, weaknesses, etc. Also, went over some statistics to see all of the influences on effectiveness and efficiency.
The last day, Friday, was probably the best day (not just because it was shorter - 8am-1pm) but also because we were able to act out client situations. We were each given real life situations and told to act them out fully as we were trying to find housing. Some were married, single, with or without disabilities, etc. I was a single, male, with no children and handicapped (which I acted out by moving around with a chair - surprisingly helped me to see the perspective of someone in that situation). We were given 40 minutes to find housing and about half of the participants were able to do so. I found out that for the DC housing assistance program, there are actually (in real life) about 50,000 people on the waiting list for section 8 housing. The waiting list then is about 8-10 YEARS for someone on the list. They of course carried this over into the role play as i was put on the waiting list at somewhere around 18,300 or so. So, only 3-5 years.. :( It was an eye-opener for me to see this. Not only that, but because of my physical disability, i was unable to work and left to live on social security of $500 per month. This seems to be really accurate as getting to know some of the people in Patten Towers in Chattanooga during this last year at school, most of them live on $600 or less a month, paying 1/3 of that for housing. This was just one of the few places that was simulated for places to obtain housing. Others we places only for singles or even single-gendered families where if you are married, it is extremely hard to find housing. It was definitely a powerful way to close down with training (although we did a few things after that...) in opening our eyes to the difficulties of our clients and how we might be able to be understanding in that.
Tomorrow, I leave for New Haven to meet Ron (the person I will be staying with for the summer) and then Jessica will be continuing on to Boston. I am very excited to get started. Be looking forward to reading something of my first day... I believe there might be more reflections and info to come from that day. FEEL FREE TO LEAVE COMMENTS. Hope everyone is doing well.
I am currently in Pennsylvania with Jessica staying with a friend of ours from school. For those of you who might know her, we are staying with Katie and her family. They are great and excellent hosts. They have made us feel very comfortable.
But, for those of you itching to know what I have learned about what I am doing from training... So... to start from the beginning, NSP (National Student Partnerships) is a non-profit organization that is run by mostly college students. During the year, it has volunteers from local colleges at the offices. In fact, for the year (Sept. 06- August 07) there were 532 volunteers serving 70,643 hours at the 12 different offices. It was started by two college students (from Yale) 10 years ago actually in New Haven who saw the effects of poverty in the cities and wanted to work towards something to improve life and help community members achieve a life in which they can be self-sustaining. There are 12 different offices (as far west as Chicago, IL) and spread out throughout the North-Eastern part of the country. The farthest south is Richmond, VA and as far north as Boston.
We offer a variety of services. We help clients or community members (words that help us maintain a level of professionalism and true value for those we are helping). Each office has partnering organizations in the community that helps the clients with typically specialized services, which we can refer them to in order to help them find any of the various services: Housing, Employment, SSI, Children Services, Clothing, Food (or Food stamps), transportation, budgeting, immigration, health care, legal services, education, as well as helping them create or perfect resumes, cover letters, etc. I (or we - all of the Summer Directors) will be working one-on-one with clients (either by appointment or walk-ins) to help them with various needs. On the client's first meeting with a NSP volunteer/worker, we will take their information as well as going through the various needs that we might be able to work with them to obtain. We will later put this into an online data base where we can track the interactions and record and successes of various needs for statistical information. It seems to be similar to a Social worker position but is perhaps more personal and allows them to work with us to help their situations. For more statistics, in 2007, NSP served 5,498 clients and had 16,629 client meetings (since they return for multiple meetings), while being able to render 89,470 services.
As it is probably clear, I feel like I have learned a lot about more of the services that we are able to offer, but am not clear exactly how we are going to do everything. :) It looks like it will come with experience and I am definitely excited for that. As that comes, i will be sure to share some stories. For the rest of this, I want to give some highlights of Training:
Tuesday - We got there and had lunch, intros, and then the rest of the day was focused around Diversity training. It was interesting and some good information, but seemed to be somewhat surface level and not really delving into the deeper issues about identity and such, but nonetheless, it was good.
Wed - We simply focused on client services most of the day. We listened to the director of programs for NSP talk about the importance of client meetings and even did some role playing to help us prepare for some interesting situations. It was good experience to help us know what a client meeting might be like and opened my eyes to how professional of a setting NSP is. At first, I was thinking that this might hinder the relationships with clients, but it seems that it gives a healthy environment, especially where clients can learn to appreciate us and themselves. It also helped us see some of the various situations that we might encounter and worked towards preparing ourselves for some of the typical situations.
Thurs - Wasn't as interesting of a day, but worked out some of the logistics. We went over telling people what NSP is and how to communicate it clearly to different audiences. We also worked with our co-summer directors (since there are 2-3 per office) to start some team building and begin getting acquainted with each other, including our strengths, weaknesses, etc. Also, went over some statistics to see all of the influences on effectiveness and efficiency.
The last day, Friday, was probably the best day (not just because it was shorter - 8am-1pm) but also because we were able to act out client situations. We were each given real life situations and told to act them out fully as we were trying to find housing. Some were married, single, with or without disabilities, etc. I was a single, male, with no children and handicapped (which I acted out by moving around with a chair - surprisingly helped me to see the perspective of someone in that situation). We were given 40 minutes to find housing and about half of the participants were able to do so. I found out that for the DC housing assistance program, there are actually (in real life) about 50,000 people on the waiting list for section 8 housing. The waiting list then is about 8-10 YEARS for someone on the list. They of course carried this over into the role play as i was put on the waiting list at somewhere around 18,300 or so. So, only 3-5 years.. :( It was an eye-opener for me to see this. Not only that, but because of my physical disability, i was unable to work and left to live on social security of $500 per month. This seems to be really accurate as getting to know some of the people in Patten Towers in Chattanooga during this last year at school, most of them live on $600 or less a month, paying 1/3 of that for housing. This was just one of the few places that was simulated for places to obtain housing. Others we places only for singles or even single-gendered families where if you are married, it is extremely hard to find housing. It was definitely a powerful way to close down with training (although we did a few things after that...) in opening our eyes to the difficulties of our clients and how we might be able to be understanding in that.
Tomorrow, I leave for New Haven to meet Ron (the person I will be staying with for the summer) and then Jessica will be continuing on to Boston. I am very excited to get started. Be looking forward to reading something of my first day... I believe there might be more reflections and info to come from that day. FEEL FREE TO LEAVE COMMENTS. Hope everyone is doing well.
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