Face of a client

As an AmeriCorps VISTA, my work is limited to a very small percentage of direct service.  My main goal is capacity building by doing indirect service.  On a slightly related note, I am devastated to report that the star between “AmeriCorps” and “VISTA” has officially been removed from my job title.   Devastated.  RIP asterisk. 

A couple weeks ago I had a rare chance my office had to help answer our hotline calls due to one of our Foodbanks up in Cleveland hosting a Phone-a-thon and needing extra help.  After three calls from various people (mothers of 5, single man, family of 4) with different needs (no gas for the past 5 months, no income/no food, any help I can give), I answered a call from a woman in Franklin County.

When I picked up the phone I could tell she was crying.  Every time you pick up a hotline call it’s a little scary, because the person on the other end of the line is in so much trouble that they have exhausted all personal resources and called a hotline for any help they can get.  So this woman that I was connected with, through her choked up voice, started explaining to me that she lived in a mobile home park and she owned her home, but she had to pay lot rent.  She had an eviction notice on her door because she couldn’t pay her lot rent and couldn’t gather money fast enough.  She would be out on the street in two days if she didn’t pay.  My program helps people apply for benefits like food assistance, which she was already on, so I couldn’t offer her much from our resource pool for housing.   We partner with many organizations that do offer housing assistance among other things we can’t help with, but this woman had put the effort in and sought out help at these organizations, but to no avail.  The organizations she visited can’t help with lot rent, even though this was the cause of her eviction.   This situation would be a major cause of stress for anyone, but this woman spilled the rest of her complications to add on to the impending eviction.  She has depression, anxiety, and is bi-polar.  She doesn’t have enough money to pay for her medicine, so she is quite literally fighting through life every single day.  The effort to make it out of bed and to do what she needs to do is crushing, she explained.  She also was told by her doctor that her front and wisdom teeth need pulled because they are diseased and poisoning her body, slowly killing her.  Among other health problems for herself and not being able to afford ANY care, her daughter is in jail.   I was on the phone with her for 20 minutes, just lending an ear to listen, knowing the entire time I couldn’t really do anything to help.  By the end all I could give her was the number for information referral, the number of a free clinic, and the address of a homeless shelter.  It was very strange hanging up the phone with a woman who I was pretty sure in two days’ time would be standing outside her home, surrounded by her evicted belongings, barraged by mental illness with nowhere to turn. 

This was a difficult but humbling day.  It was weird window into the most burdened population.  We talk about them, we read about them, we do studies on them, we even see them.  But to have this window straight into someone’s life, a 20 minute picture of everything they are facing, and then to carry around this story is a whole different situation.  It sticks with you, and ultimately empowers.  If I ever need motivation to keep doing capacity building, to keep developing programs and making partnerships and solidifying program infrastructure, I can easily recall those 20 minutes as a call to action and a raison d'être for my position.

On my toes

If you thought the title might allude to me revealing news that I am a practicing en pointe ballerina, you will be (only slightly) disappointed.   I could have also titled this post something like “playing it by ear,” but that might make you think I am a budding musician (which, in reality I am.  Hello new guitar!) and it would also be a second cliché reference using a body part to describe the fact that in my job I “fly by the seat of my pants.”  Oops, there I go again.

I remember interviewing for this job and asking my (future) supervisor what a typical day looked like.  He couldn’t give me an answer, rather promising each day was very different.  Now that I’ve been in this position for over 5 months, I have discovered three types of a “typical day.”  They are as follows:  a) Sitting in front of my computer emailing and calling people, including various breaks to stare out the window at interesting activity down on the street.  b) Training all day.  Training is draining, so once I’ve spent 6 hours in front of a room of people yapping at them and guiding them through the software, I’m spent.  c) Traveling to meetings.   This could also be interspersed with option a (staring at computer).  Traveling to meetings could be similar to what I did this morning, which entailed me driving a mile down the road from my apartment and sharing a cup of coffee and great conversation with a fellow VISTA.  It could also be driving over an hour to an outlying county (remember, I serve 15 of them) for a 20 minute meeting.  Where perhaps the person I am meeting with tells me my program is essentially worthless.  And I thank them for their time and drive back. 

The last point is a great anecdote affirming my supervisor’s explanation way back in April when I applied.  Despite there being three basic types of days, each situation is different and challenging.   Even with each cookie cutter training, I have different counselors who have different learning styles, a different sense of humor (laugh at my corny jokes people!  Come on!), and different opinions about public benefits and government programs.    

My favorite days, surprisingly, are the days I have nothing officially planned and I can sit at my desk and work.   This days are always different, always challenging, and always keep me moving, which is very important for this job.  Communication is constantly and quickly moving, and if I don’t stay up to date with emails and phone calls the entire network  could fall behind.   My desk days also give me the ability to not only react but act, or take proactive action by strategizing and preparing for goals and projects. 

This post grew increasingly boring as it went on, but our internet is down so I can’t check my email.   See?  Crazy!  On my toes!

Food Assistance APPROVED

Yippee! My food assistance was finally approved here in Franklin County.  Every step of this tedious, frustrating and confusing process made me thankful for the Benefit Bank.

Navigating the system = success.

http://www.oashf.org/

Pre-Service Orientation Reflections

I stumbled upon random writings I did while at Pre-Service Orientation in Lombard, Illinois for my AmeriCorps*VISTA term.   I thought I would share highlights of what I recorded from that weekend in mid-June of this year, before I started at my organization.

The most impactful time from yesterday was the opportunity to sit in a circle and talk about our experience with poverty.  Some people had very real and honest experience in generational poverty, and I was blown away by their presence at PSO; their effort to simultaneously emerge from the cycle and their desire to help others do the same.  Others had no experience with poverty, even lacking experience discussing the issue to discover the varied causes of poverty.  These fellow VISTAs expressed they didn’t realize poverty wasn’t in just Africa, but it was an invisible problem in their backyard.  It was a curious theme, the invisibility.  Money, class, and even the state of being in poverty can be both very visible and very hidden at the same time.  I was amazed to learn that everyone saying they grew up in poverty never knew they were poor.   Their parents hid it from them, and they assured the group they would do the same for their kids.  All want a better life for their children, yet all are hiding the facts.  I wonder what would happen if these parents had honest conversations about their financial situation.  Would the kids be able to grasp it and us it as a catalyst to dream big and “get out” of the cycle?  OR would it continue to be a “this is how it is” situation, with acceptance in early childhood and complacency?  There’s always these what if questions and I always want to take action on them to see if changing the current can change the future.  I do have to remember this doesn’t stay a discussion, a theory, or a simple curious question.  It’s a life, and it’s not even my own. 

On the way home from Illinois a huge storm came through the airport.  I was in a tiny plane, stuck on the runway for about 1.5 hours.  We had to finally go back to the airport, where I happily rewarded my misfortune with an Oreo McFlurry.  When we finally boarded and were cleared for an alternate route back to Ohio, all the passengers erupted in cheers and applause.  On take-off, I kid you not, people put their hands in the air and cried “whee” as if we were on a roller coaster.  A couple minutes into the flight the stewardess told us to hold tight, she’ll be coming around with those “drinks” the guys were asking for when we were stranded.  A weird sense of community is formed in these situations, any attempt at humor is a relief from the frustration.  We were like a big, grumpy, cramped, slap happy United (Airlines) family.

By the numbers, for the people

To give you can idea of the amount of communication that is involved in my AmeriCorps*VISTA position, here is a summary in numbers:

• Average number of emails sent daily: 28
• Average number of emails received daily: 15
• Number of phone calls (incoming and outgoing combined): 3-15 (depending on meetings and trainings where I can't answer my phone)
• Average number of in person meetings/outreach per week: 4 (this doesn't count all day trainings)

I do at least one training a week in Franklin County, this week I had a second training in Clark County, meaning I trained a total of 17 people in my region just this week to be counselors.   I also got two new site notifications this week, our network is growing so fast!

Granted I am working in Franklin County so I most likely have to field more communication than some other regions, but can you imagine how many lives my program is touching if all 12 other people in my position across Ohio are communicating about the same amount with people in their regions?

Then I think about all the people who aren't being connected.  Despite all of our efforts, there are still plenty of people out there who are struggling to get by, who are eligible for assistance, yet they aren't accessing the programs that can give them a step up to self-sufficiency.

The challenge in the coming months is not to see how many more people I can meet, how many more emails I can send, or how many outreach events I can attend, but rather to communicate with the right people, strategize in appropriate ways, and attend the most relevant outreach events to get as many people connected as possible.  What is the point of putting effort into a new site if they don't have the capacity to serve clients? It's so easy to get pulled into the numbers game, talking about numbers of new sites and numbers of counselors, but it's so important the our focus here at my organization stays on how many clients we are helping through the system.

I am working on outreach strategies for some of my more rural counties, do my readers have any ideas about how you would like to see the efforts to connect low-income Ohioans to public benefits mobilized and utilized?

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/

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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 :-)