Thursday, June 30, 2011

New York, New Life, New Alternatives for Children

I started at New Alternatives for Children (NAC for short!) on June 6, as a Bilingual Case Associate. At this child welfare agency, I assist the Social Workers with their case loads. Each Social Worker has 10 or more families to juggle. And when part of the job description requires traveling daily to any of New York's five boroughs to visit clients (e.g. Home Visits) or going to court (e.g. for Permanency Hearings), a little extra help comes in handy!

For those who are not familiar with the agency, NAC reaches out to medically fragile children. Medically fragile refers to all kinds of medical conditions, ranging from HIV to cerebral palsy. NAC works to return these medically fragile children to the birth parents, place them in foster care, or have them adopted.

NAC is a unique child welfare agency because it provides medical and mental health services right at the agency. There are several health professionals on staff at the office, including a pediatrician, nurses, psychiatrists, licensed psychologists, etc.

Part of what makes my job so interesting to me is the intersection between medicine and psychology. Before I work with a client, my supervisor provides me with several notes documenting the client's case, psychiatric evaluations, etc. The clients who come to NAC challenge me to learn about and deal with many different kinds of people.

If I'm not learning about a disease previously unknown to me (like MoyaMoya - constriction of blood arteries in the brain), or about a client's past history of mental illness, I might be grappling with cultural issues (like machismo). "There's never a dull day at NAC," my co-worker remarked to me on my first day.

Never a dull day indeed.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Learning Lifeskills in New York

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asked me “are you excited?” The answer is absolutely, especially now that I have finally got all my stuff moved out from Ohio and into my apartment. Needless to say moving is my least favorite activity in the world, and was expecting the worst case scenario similar to the move out of my freshman year dorm in Cuyler Hall (pouring down rain, lightening, terrible parking, and an understandably unhappy mother.) Granted it was completely my fault that freshman year. When my mother offered to help me move my stuff, I assumed she meant that she would help put everything into boxes. She on the other hand thought that by helping me move, all she would have to do after arriving at my dorm was to load perfectly packed boxes into our car and drive the ten hours back to Ohio. It was a classic case of teenage obliviousness and parental miscommunication.
This move has been, to my pleasure and surprise, the best move of my life. I suppose it technically began with my move after graduation back to Ohio. With the assistance of my Aunt Beany, my mother, and Matt, I was able to miraculously pack almost all of my belongings into the two cars. Unfortunately, in a temporary fit of frustration and not being able to take everything back with me, I apparently left all of my hangers and alarm clock. I did not discover this until unpacking today, which made hanging my clothes impossible. For all the fellows who have yet to move to their new locations, I would recommend a minimum of two days (one day to get all of your belongings physically into your room, another day to get things relatively arranged, and also to have time to go exploring in the area and to familiarize yourself with the streets.)
I could not think of a more perfect way to transition into the “real world”. My room is about the same size as my my college rooms with a window looking out onto 34th street and is right by the East River. What is arguably even better is that I finally have a full sized bed, meaning I no longer have to worry about falling out of my twin XL bed since I have a tendency to roll in my sleep. Other perks to getting out of the orange bubble is the bathroom. It is still a marvel to me that I no longer have to wear flip flops in the shower and that I do not have to carry all of my bathroom accessories in a tote. In addition, my roommates are amazing.
Moral of the story so far is that I have finally learned that there is a huge advantage to being a minimalist, a lesson that I hope will follow me when I pass the window displays at Zara, H&M, Anthropologie, and Lulu Lemon. My other advice for future fellows, as I have already mentioned, is to give yourself at least one day to get moved in and to familiarize yourself with the city transportation. After doing a dry run with my mother on the metro to my work, I discovered that there is a closer stop than I had initially believed, which will save my feet from suffering too much from the already forming blisters. My first day of work is tomorrow morning, and am looking forward to learning about my responsibilities and meeting the other paralegals and lawyers at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

Friday, June 24, 2011

New York State of Mind

Hi fellow fellows!

Hope everyone's summers are off to a great start! Like Kahina, I've never blogged before, but here goes

I can't believe that I'm already finishing my third week of work. Also like Kahina, my first day was the week after graduation and it's been a very quick transition, but I think the fact that I'm living at home made it more doable and less hectic (although the stacks of boxes that are still in my living room waiting to be unpacked may beg to differ...). It's definitely nice to be home, and the commute from Long Island isn't too terrible... yet.

I'm working at Angelwish, a small non-profit with the mission of making it easier for the public to grant the wishes of kids with chronic illnesses through "digital philanthropy." And when I say small I mean small - including me there are three full time staff members. I love that aspect though, because I'm definitely getting a close-up view of how to run and manage a non-profit. My official title is Development Associate, but I'm able to be involved in other aspects as well.

My boss is trying to get me some exposure to the non-profit/business world as a whole so I can get more of a sense of what's happening on the larger scale, and I've already been to a couple of outside events. One was a workshop at the Foundation Center on how to apply for grants from foundations. I would recommend other fellows in development look at the classes and workshops offered by the Foundation Center. Some are free, and the one I went to was really helpful to get a jump start on learning what I should do to be successful. I'm actually going to a weeklong workshop called the "Grantseeker Training Institute" from July 18th through July 22nd - this one unfortunately isn't free, but if you can get your organization to pay for you to attend you should come join me! I actually spoke to Reilly, one of last year's fellows from the Foundation Center, about it and she said she's heard good things, so hopefully it works out well.

Okay, I think that's all I've got for now. Time to get back to work so I can leave on time-ish and go see Florence and the Machine in Central Park tonight!

- Carolyn

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Home Sweet Home

So I've never blogged before...so please forgive the awkwardness. I just wanted to say that for future fellows DC is amazing! I'm sure New York is great, and San Fran is beautiful, but there's no city like DC. From the food to the people to the nightlife...DC culture stands out in its own unique way.
Last week I attended a Brazilian Festival, ate at Zaytinya (a middle eastern restaurant/lounge downtown) and this week is DC's annual Caribbean Day Festival!! I'll be meeting up with Princeton Alums Jessica Gray '10 and Yolisa Nodule 10' to see what the festival has to offer. Let's just say the city's been keeping me busy.
As far as work I love working at a high school particularly a charter school in DC with an emphasis on public policy. Yup...that's right...public policy issues are incorporated into every subject of the students' curriculum. It's so intense but really good preparation for the students. I started the first week of June, (right after graduation) which was a bit of a transition but it didn't take long to get back into the swing of things. Princeton prepares you well for that. ;-) Anyways, I love working in an environment with teenagers because literally there was never a dull moment. Every morning I arrived to something new and different. Students kept me updated on last night's episode of Basketball Wives, Lil' Wayne's new love ballad single, the latest facebook revolution and of course, the teacher conspiracy of the week. :-) Angels...all of them...really. Now that its summer and the children are out of school, things have certainly quieted down but there is still lots to be done. Preparing for summer school, comparative analysis of standardized test scores, academic calendars, new teacher hires, remodeling, admin retreats, program development, college counseling, new student orientations...the list goes on but I love every minute of it. Plus my boss is amazing. Shout out to Daneen Keaton one of the coolest principals ever!!
Yeah but I'm not sure how long these blog thingys are supposed to be or how serious/professional but those are my reflections for now. I'll keep everyone/anyone who decides to follow this updated.

Happy fellowing,
Kahina