Encouragement

My trainees are always wonderful at the end of a long day of learning about the program, and many of them say something like "I have been to a lot of trainings in my career, and I actually enjoyed this one!"  I'm guessing I am more enjoyable because I am not an expert and I KNOW I am not an expert, rather I see myself as a helper of sorts.  I know a little bit more about a tool than most people, and I have resources and practice in presenting it.

Training and public speaking are both skills that play a huge role in my position, and I've discovered that I actually enjoy the challenge and differentiation that trainings bring.  It's always an exhausting day because I have to play so many different roles: educator, speaker, technical help (my last training I spent the better part of running around switching out short-term batteries and troubleshooting internet connections), but I would rather do this than have a cookie cutter position any day.  Most trainings are at different locations across Central Ohio, and there is always a different mix of people.  I get the most joy when the trainees are engaged, excited, and ready to actually use the tool to help their community.  Below is an email I received from a trainee in Clark County, it made my day. 

Encourage the people around you.  Even if you have to sit through a potentially boring training (not mine, of course. Mine are never boring.)  A little bit of positive feedback goes a long way.

Thank you for the lesson at (training location) and I am looking forward to helping others get help thru myself cause of this certification that I will receive after today. I hope that we can keep in touch in the future for I am growing with (two awesome organizations in Central Ohio he is working with). I would like to be able to have and acquire the knowledge and have information to help those less fortunate than I. I have learned a lot of things so far working with these groups on a lot of things. I wish I would have known when I needed help. Now, I am able to direct others in the direction for them to receive assistance. Again Sarah, Thank You Very Much for your time and knowledge that I have acquired today.  God Bless you in all you do and achive in you journeys.

Soup Kitchen Lunch

Chicken fajita soup and hamburger for lunch, yummy!  My training in Champaign County yesterday was at a homeless shelter/soup kitchen in Urbana.  For lunch, I ate with the Director of the facility and the other volunteer I was training in the kitchen. 

For this week, living in solidarity means breaking bread with people who are at the end of their rope.  I'm hoping they've all tied a knot and are hanging on!

“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” - Thomas Jefferson

Crazy Training Weeks

I have dreams about taxes.   About training taxes.  About missing a tax training and 15 angry people being lost and confused about taxes.   Tax season at my organization is nuts.  This week especially, we have trainings every day, sometimes two a day (taking all three people on the Central Ohio team to handle everything).  All the organizations are gearing up and they need many new people trained.

These trainings come in all shapes and sizes. Earlier this week I trained two gentlemen in Logan County at a library:

 The library reserved their "large study room" for me.  There is a possibility that I am biased just coming from Miami, where we had an amazing library with study rooms to accommodate the plethora of class groups, but I was still a little unprepared for what I found:

I didn't have enough room to capture the entire table, but there are 6 chairs in the "large study room."  Just enough room for me to squeeze around to help.

I also had a training in Pickaway County, in Circleville.  I always have trainees introduce themselves and explain what agency they are from.  In this case they were all involved with the same agency, and they all described in one way or the other how the head of the organization had strong-armed (her words!) them into coming to this training.  Hey, I don't care how they get there, as long as they are trained and can help people file their taxes for free.  I did think it was funny though.

The next training was at a facility that will stay un-named, where I found this sitting on the desk:

 

Finally, my training in Springfield on Monday provided these lovelies for everyone:

Christmas COOKIES!

If anyone is keeping count, I have conducted 10 trainings in the past 3 weeks, traveling a total of 490.8 miles to seven different counties in Central Ohio.

Let me eat cake. And other things.

New Desk.  New Co-worker.  Santa Clause.  Cake.  Youth for Technology.   My last couple weeks in a nutshell.

Most significantly my co-worker John's term was finished at the end of November, and he was replaced by my new co-worker.  I am eagerly teaching her the ropes, considering I am doing double duty covering all John's responsibilities and training load until my new co-worker is ready to go.  This huge transition was ushered in by an in-office desk move to the other end of the office.  I now have a bigger desk with a back wall that doubles as a bulletin board (yay!!) and I get to sit right by the window.  Also note the computer bag on my chair.  This is a newfangled fancy chair, and I have yet to figure out how to raise it high enough to be functional.  You win this time, fancy desk chair.  Also note my lovely TOMS flag on display.  I get to tell all my visitors about my favourite shoe brand and spread the social entrepreneurship love.  Sustainable models of giving.  Service in all aspects of life, that's how I see it.  It's meaningless unless you live it out.



When I train people on my programs' online tool, I take them through simulations with fake clients.  These training tools are used by thousands of people all over Ohio, and all the training is administered out of my office in Columbus.  Therefore, how could we not commemorate the birthday of our favourite fictitious training client, Alice Nelson?  We had cake!
As I said in my region's blog, please excuse the photo of a half eaten cake.  There are lots of hungry VISTAs in my office who love cake and who were not moved to the opposite end of the office.   That's another thing, my new desk is so much further away from the area where we put the free leftover meeting food.  I am going to have to be on my game...

I also went with my co-workers to the Statehouse to see the arrival of Santa Clause.  (I know him!  I know him! < Elf reference.  If you have not seen the movie Elf, you need to stop reading this and go watch it.  Immediately.)  I maintain this would have been a traumatizing experience as a small child, but I was scared of everything as a kid.  The children at the Statehouse I believe instead enjoyed the pretty flashing lights that delivered Santa.  I got a cookie out of the deal so I was fairly satisfied. 

 

My volunteer work with Youth for Technology Foundation is starting to picking up as well.  Naturally, this is coinciding with my actual job becoming insanely busy.  I do enjoy the chance to do something I am passionate about and specifically have a degree in.  Right now I'm helping them put together a social media strategy outline, maintain and analyze their current efforts, and interview new volunteers.
My roommate also forwarded me a job posting that had "Social Media" in the job title, which reflects an encouraging job market that is hopefully growing and eager for new hires when I am out in June.

Tools to Navigate the system

After fielding various phone calls from trained counselors not having a clear idea of what exactly happens to the applications once they put them through the software I train with, I can see why my supervisor wanted me to do a "counselor supplement" project.

If you consider the notion that people only hear 15% of what is said to them, and every single word that comes out of my mouth is crucial (perhaps except my corny jokes that are meant to keep people awake), we have to prepare and equip counselors to find answers to questions after they leave the training.  They go home with an entire training book, but that is designed for state-wide use and is mainly step-by-step how to use the software.  Once counselors sit down with a real person in need of real help, there is a lot more involved than just navigating the software.  They have to help their client navigate the entire public benefits system.

Hopefully this is where my supplements come in.  I am meeting with intake workers and supervisors in every single county in the Central region.  This serves a few purposes:

• Further solidfying the relationship between the my program and JFS
• Showing JFS that we want to work with them and are trying to help them work more efficiently with clients
• Gives JFS the opportunity to voice concerns and create a conversation about how the our software works.
• Counselors are assured the information I give them is current and correct, as it is straight from the intake workers.

They've been very productive meetings, and helpful for me to see the other side of the JFS office (especially after dealing with my own frustrations in getting food assistance.  Still in that battle, by the way.) 

Technology: the Good, the Bad, and the Prezi

After many tedious hours, resulting eye strain and an intimate bond with my region's blog, I have finally finished the new "Blog Tour" for my project.  You can view it if you visit OBBservations in Central Ohio.  I love that I found this presentation tool, anything beats the technology of Powerpoint at this point.

I deal with technology a lot in my position.  Going further than the fact that I sit all day in front of a computer managing Outlook and juggling massive spreadsheets in Google Docs, the entire software,y program uses to connect Ohioans with public benefits and tax credits is online.  As JFS Director Lumpkin reminded us in his remarks at the OBB Conference,

You can’t effectuate change and policy without IT.  A real player in this environment, the Benefit Bank is a  platform on the IT platform.   

I think to some people technology (in the form of computer, internet, etc) is still a luxury.  There are movements to "go without technology for an entire WEEK!"  (Could you do it?!?)  Well of course I could do it, but why?  I could go without other modernizations like a dishwasher or a car for a week, but all these things are here to help me function more efficiently, to connect faster, and to solve problems.  I don't see it as progress for progress sake, but as progress in the face of inefficiencies. It seems that I am listening too much to the industrial engineer in my life, all this talk of efficiency.   I digress...

I've concluded technology is necessary and helpful for advancement to save time and connect the world, especially in the realm of helping to connect low-income Ohioans with benefits.  But is technology only as good as the people who use it?  I have some trainees that zoom through the software and it clicks for them right away (Get it? Clicks for them? Mouse humor, heh heh). Then I have some trainees who need help figuring out how to close browser tabs and finding the address bar.  Sometimes the less computer-literate counselors are actually the most detailed and thorough counselors in helping clients.  But again, is the program only as good as the counselor who is able to navigate it?

 My new excuse for not calling Mom... (http://americanhell.com/

)

Since I was already on food assistance when I moved to Franklin County, I didn't have the luxury of using my program's software to transfer my case and I had to go in myself, wait in line (gasp!), and hand in my documents.  When I got up to the window, the intake worker said their scanner was down, so they couldn't take my verifications officially.  They have been copying everyone's documents, then scanning them later in the day.  So double work for them, and I as the client walk away with no guarantee/receipt that they got my documents.  I asked how often this technology failure happens.  She said almost every morning.  Every morning an increasing amount of people visit JFS because they need assistance, every morning their technology fails, every morning the two intake workers have to take turns walking to the very back of the building to copy documents and then remember to re-scan everything later in the day. 

Technology is fabulous.  Technology can be used as an excuse, a crutch, or for useless things.  All I know is that I can talk to friends teaching Spain and China, or doing the Peace Corps in Macedonia with technology, so I am generally currently satisfied with the way things are going :-)

First Training and Humorous Discoveries

Considering my mother now reads my blog is gets nervous when she sees the last post containing the words "I think I'm going to throw up," I'll quickly update everyone. All five of you.

My first training actually went well. There were two deaf women from Deaf Services, so it was a little awkward to have them facing away from me and watching the interpreter the entire time. I took sign language in college so I know some basics, but I can barely explain public benefits aloud in English let alone by signing. There rest of the group was comprised of women, pretty typical in the non-profit world I hate to say.


Zach sat in to observe and make sure I didn't steer the trainees completely off track. It was a great comfort to have him there and defer questions to. There are so many intricacies in public benefits. This is a position dealing directly with people, so there will always been differing circumstances and I will never have all the answers. (As hard as I try, I am a perfectionist)  I only had to defer to him a couple times, and he only had a few corrections and clarifications at the end.  Woohoo!

My lips were numb by lunch (seriously, how do people do this all day?), but all in all it was positive.  Gosh, it better have been positive considering this is my main job description!  I only have one more observation next week before I am officially certified.

In other news, I attended a presentation with Zach at a pregnancy care center here in Columbus.  While we were waiting, I found a brochure in their lobby entitled "10 Reason NOT to get pregnant."  Number seven on that list?

You could DIE.

I am not kidding you.  It had more explanation, I think linking contracting HIV/AIDS from having sex, but I was too distracted by their clever scare tactics to take note.


I'll leave it at that, as I'm sure this job will lead to plenty of other fantastic discoveries over the next year.  Like this!

(If you can't read it, the organization is trying to call itself HOPE, gaining the acronym from Helping Our young People connEct with God).  Yeah...

It's Here

Today is my first time leading the 6 hour training. I think I'm going to throw up. That is all.

Training Oberservation

Can't...stuff...more....information...into my head. I am sitting in my second training observation today, as preparation to take the reins and train my very own group of fledgling OBB counselors next week. Please keep in mind, this is a 6 hour training. Six. Hours. I currently have 8 pages of supplemental notes to help me through the guidebook. Jessica Mays, the regional coordinator for Southeast Ohio is actually facilitating this training in our Direct Service Office in downtown Columbus. I am mainly writing down her jokes to use in my trainings, as I am not witty, and these trainings have a tendency to put people to sleep. (I'm not kidding, at every training I have been to at least one person is conked out, unconscious, or at least nodding heavily for a couple of minutes. Fun to watch.) So I need entertaining material. What do you guys think of this one Jessica used?
“Has anyone ever had to do the FAFSA? Scale of 1-10, how awesome was it? I found it to be about minus 3, personally”

I promise, it's funny in person.

It also illustrates the importance of the Benefit Bank. Every time I learn more about all the benefits, how you apply for them and who administers them, it seems more daunting for people who need them. The Benefit Bank helps people apply so they have access to federal money to spend HERE IN OHIO to boost local economies. Beware, I am becoming a walking billboard for OBB. Only because it's so fantastic!