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Red Carpet Comments: What Does It Mean to “Look Homeless”?

In Homelessness on February 13, 2012 at 3:53 pm

Last night, the GRAMMYs were the topic of choice on Facebook and Twitter.  I have a love/hate relationship with following live events on social media because everyone’s inner Perez shows up for the party.  Unfortunately, snark turns to insensitivity sometimes.  I saw more than one person comment that Taylor Swift “looked homeless” in her chosen outfit for the night.  (Check out the photo of Taylor’s outfit.)  It’s not the first time I’ve ever heard this phrase used to describe someone who probably wasn’t experiencing homelessness.  Why do we say it?  And what can we do to stop it?

What exactly does it mean to look homeless?
Most people commenting on Swift’s outfit and appearance probably meant that it was plain, a little ill-fitting, or even unkempt compared to the other gowns of the evening.  (Her outfit was meant to tie in to her “Mean” music video.) While her dress may not have fit in with the traditional Grammy glamour, is this synonymous with homelessness?  What does homelessness really look like?  According to the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP) here in Indianapolis, “Homeless persons are any age, race, gender-men, women and children-who often work and may be indistinguishable from anyone else riding the bus or shopping at the grocery.”  In my experience, the people I’ve met might be wearing dirty clothing, but they’re just as likely to be wearing clean jeans and a t-shirt like me.  Can you tell if someone you meet has a permanent place to live?  Probably not, which means…

Saying someone “looks homeless” is ultimately meaningless.

Why is it important to change our language?
One friend who made these comments told me that I was potentially being “oversensitive” to his use of the word.  After spending time with people who are experiencing homelessness, I don’t think I am.  When I think of the people I’ve spent time with as a volunteer over the past year, I recall their names and faces first, not their housing status.  We all know to avoid stereotyping based on race or gender, but sometimes, we forget there are other ways to stereotype people as a group.  As someone who loves to write creatively, I know it’s critical to choose the right word to evoke a certain feeling.  In the case of Swift’s outfit, critics wanted to persuade others to agree that she wasn’t properly honoring the evening with her out of place look.  In this situation, they’re using the word “homeless” to evoke the image of someone who is out of place or who is ignoring societal norms (or the norms of an awards show.)  Homelessness is an individual experience that occurs for complex reasons, but it may not make someone as out of touch with societal norms as stereotypes would have us believe.  Sometimes, the only difference between you and a person who is homeless is that person’s lack of permanent housing.  He or she might have a job, be attending college classes, using a cell phone, or eating lunch with a friend, just like you.  The people experiencing homelessness could even be your child’s elementary school classmates.  Using the word homeless shouldn’t create mental images of being dirty, different, or willfully going against the norm, and we shouldn’t use it to try to evoke those feelings, either.  Finally, the word homeless really has no place combined with red carpet couture (unless you’re Vivienne Westwood, apparently.)  When in doubt, find your trusty thesaurus and look for the word you really want to use.

Because if you don’t, as Taylor Swift would tell you, “all you’re ever gonna be is mean.”

What do you think?  Am I being oversensitive? Do we really need to monitor how we use the word homeless?

Interested in volunteering at a special event which provides resources for people facing homelessness in Indianapolis? Read about my experience at last year’s Indy Homeless Connect and sign up to volunteer for the 2012 Connect!

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Why I Don’t Want to Join Your Young Professionals Group

In Generations, Leadership, Management, Millennial Chat, Millennials, Nonprofit Best Practices, Other Nonprofit Blogs, Recruitment, Retention, Stewardship, Volunteers on February 8, 2012 at 11:20 am

Lately, I’ve noticed more nonprofit organizations desire to start their own “young professionals” group.  In a post I wrote for Millennial Chat, I discussed why a Millennial might decide to join one of these groups.  But as an organization, you might be wondering if you should start one.  These groups can take a variety of forms- from boards to groups focused on social fundraisers to service groups.  How do you know if starting a YP group is right for your nonprofit?  What should you offer Millennials in return for their service?  If you’re trying to recruit us, here’s why we might not join.

You don’t know why you need young professionals.
Since I’m a Millennial, I’ll be the first to tell you that we’re engaged with causes, we’re generous donors, and we enjoy networking with others.  We have skills we can offer your organization, especially related to technology.  However, other generations and groups of people can offer skills, money, or volunteer time.  So why young professionals?  Your organization needs to answer this question.  Are you starting a YP group because it’s the hip trend?  Do you have a specific purpose for wanting to engage this target audience?  Determine why your organization wants to focus on young professionals.  You might discover another group could fulfill your needs.

You don’t know why you need help.
Whether you’re starting a YP group, an auxiliary, or just a “friends of” group, it’s important to know what your organization needs.  You wouldn’t send a mailing to a segment of donors without knowing why you’re looking for their support.  Don’t ask young professionals to participate unless you know why you need them.  It’s not always a good idea to let the YP group decide why they are there.  (Millennials are known for being idea people.  We have a lot of ideas.  Maybe more than you need.)  You work for your organization everyday, while we’re coming from lots of outside industries to help you.  Try to figure out at least three specific ways that a group of dedicated volunteers could help you.  Do you need help planning a fundraiser?  Do you want to engage more volunteers? Are you trying to implement something new in your organization like social media? This is crucial to the success of the group.  Defining the needs of your organization will allow the group to focus their goals.  It also gives prospective members a chance to decide if the group interests them.

You don’t have the organizational capacity to manage the group.
The organization I work for has an auxiliary.  They are completely self-sustaining, plan their own service projects and fundraisers, and generate significant financial and in-kind contributions for us.  Our auxiliary is also 80 years old.  Since any young professionals group typically will not be self-sustaining within just a few months or even years, your organization needs to consider:

-Who will be the staff liaison(s)?

-Do you have buy-in from leadership?

-Who will keep records?

-What financial resources do we need to support the group?

-How will we determine if the group is meeting our needs?

If it’s clear that an organization is adding a YP group as an afterthought or that it isn’t supported by organizational leadership, young professionals may decline to participate.

You don’t understand recruitment, retention, and recognition.
An important part of organizational capacity is volunteer management.  Members of any board or group are usually volunteers.  While they may be a special leadership kind of volunteer, remember that they are donating their resources to your organization.  They will join, leave, or increase their involvement based on the same motivations as other volunteers.  Someone from your staff who understands how to manage volunteers should be involved with the group.  YP group members must feel they have a purpose (formal or informal role in the group), feel their contributions are valuable to the organization, and feel that their personal motivations for joining are being met.

There’s nothing in it for me.
How do you make sure young professionals are meeting their personal motivations for joining the group?  Ask upfront! Young professionals join because they want to meet new people, either for networking or social purposes.  They join because they want to make a real impact for a cause.  Sometimes, they join because they want to gain professional leadership experience before joining a real board.  Make sure you are stewarding your young professionals, just like you steward your donors.  Offer opportunities that will allow them to fulfill their personal motivations, and you will retain more young professionals.  Recognize and appreciate their contributions, and strive to develop personal, one-on-one connections to those who are regularly contributing.

Have you ever been asked to join a young professionals group?  What can organizations do to encourage you to join?

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Going Pink? Being an Educated Donor When Your Organization Changes

In Fundraising, Millennial Chat, Nonprofit Best Practices, Other Nonprofit Blogs on February 2, 2012 at 12:49 pm

Update:
I recognize that Komen has now pledged to continue to fund Planned Parenthood.  They stood by their original assertion that the change in policies was to protect donor dollars from going to organizations who were under investigation.  They’ve clarified how they plan to continue distributing the grants, and it looks like Planned Parenthood will continue to receive money.

 

Last week, I contributed a post to Millennial Chat called a Millennial’s Guide to Giving.  It was meant for those who are just starting out in the world of charitable giving.  However, I think that information is relevant to a new situation that’s quickly become a philanthropic and political hot button issue.  If you haven’t heard by now, Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced that the way they distribute community health grants is changing, potentially affecting the dollars they have given to Planned Parenthood to provide breast health screenings at their centers.

As a two-time Race for the Cure participant who’s looking forward to the Indy race in the spring and someone who has accessed healthcare services at Planned Parenthood, as well as a previous donor to both organizations, I was immediately interested in educating myself about the situation.  As a donor, I think it’s really important to always be educated about what nonprofits are doing with your money.  In this post, I won’t tell you what to do with your money or which organization I think is right.  (I think they’ve both done positive and negative things in this situation.)  Before you destroy that pink blender you bought last week, here’s what you should know about the situation as a donor:

Always know what impact you would like your dollars to have.
As a donor, this is the number one thing you must do.  If you do not decide on a goal for your money, you can’t complain when an organization doesn’t do what you want it to do with your donation.  Before you give to an organization, decide what broad impact you would like your money to have.  State it in goal form for yourself.  In this situation, some potential goals you might have are: “I want my dollars to fund breast health screenings for any woman who needs it.”  I want my dollars to fund reproductive healthcare for low-income women.” “I want my dollars to fund breast cancer research.” “I want my dollars to promote political action.”

It is your responsibility as a donor to do your research.  It’s an organization’s responsibility to be transparent with you about what will happen to your money. 

You need to know what an organization will (and won’t) do with your money.  Komen and Planned Parenthood are 501c3 organizations, which means that your contributions are tax-deductible, but Komen and Planned Parenthood both also run 501c4s meant for political action and advocacy.  Those contributions are NOT tax-deductible.  This is why it’s imperative that you know what you’re trying to accomplish.  (Organizations aren’t trying to trick you either- there are federal regulations in place that require some of their lobbying efforts to be separate from their charitable purposes.  501c4s are going to pay lobbyists, not healthcare professionals of any sort.)  If you’re not sure what will happen to your money, contact the development staff at the organization.  They should be able to give you a plain language answer to your questions.  Don’t give until you’re satisfied that the organization you’re choosing will help your money achieve your goal.  If you want your money to do something very specific, most organizations will allow you to do what’s called “donor designation.”  This means that you earmark your money for a specific purpose.  Ask the development staff about ways to designate at their organization.  You can always choose another organization if you can’t give the way you want.

Respect that organizations you give to are experts in their fields.
Sometimes, it’s best to let an organization decide where your money is most needed.  Komen funds Planned Parenthood in certain areas of the country right now through a series of community health grants because Komen felt that Planned Parenthood was the best provider in those areas.  (In total, Komen funds 19 current Planned Parenthood programs in the country.)  Komen also funds hospitals, clinics, and other nonprofits who provide the same kind of preventative breast health screenings that Planned Parenthood does.  Any time an organization decides to grant another organization money, there are criteria that the organization providing services must meet in order to receive the money.  This is so that the money is used for the services it’s intended for, for the population it’s intended to serve, and ultimately, so the dollars have the desired impact.  Most people I know wouldn’t have the skills or knowledge to evaluate public health service providers in such a way to determine who could offer the best care.  They trust the granting organization to determine this.  The crux of the issue for Komen is that the public is questioning the way they decided upon their new granting criteria.  Some people are accusing Komen of creating their new criteria based on political or personal motivations.  As a donor, you must decide if you will continue to trust an organization to make decisions about how to use your money.

Don’t believe everything you click on.
I’ve been seeing a lot of inaccurate cartoons, petitions, and various other messages all over social media since this happened.  Some of these messages were developed by the two organizations involved, while others were created by individuals not associated with either cause.  Here’s the truth about organizations: they want you to support them.  Just like advertisers who want you to be loyal to their brand of cars, clothes, shoes, or restaurant, fundraisers hope you’ll choose their brand, too.  In this case, both brands claim to do really good things for women’s health.  But how do you know if this is true?  Some fundraisers might not like this comparison, but donating is a lot like shopping.  Are you going to buy a car just because you like the commercials?  And if your friend told you she received terrible service last week at your favorite restaurant, would you quit going there?  Would you quit using your mascara just because someone on Facebook posted a photo of someone who got a rash from it?  I hope you wouldn’t.  Treat your charitable giving with the same kind of caution.  For example, I researched and found out that my local Komen affiliate has never funded Planned Parenthood in Indiana anyway.  They fund lots of other great organizations here, but this decision won’t affect where the money from my local race goes.  (Planned Parenthood’s latest email to me made it sound like women would no longer receive breast health screenings at all if I didn’t open my wallet today.)  Fundraisers will try to make things sound urgent to you so that you’ll give right away.  (It’s based on the very same reason you’ll run down to your local department store for a one day sale.)  Understand that nonprofit organizations are doing good work, but as a donor, you have the time to “comparison shop” and give responsibly.  So before you decide where to give, take the time to look at both organizations’ websites, read their press releases, read articles from reputable news sources, independent bloggers, and everything in between.  Be an educated donor.

For more on Komen, visit http://www.komen.org or visit their 501c4 at http://www.komenadvocacy.org

For more on Planned Parenthood visit http://www.plannedparenthood.org or visit their 501c4 at http://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org

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From Boomers to Millennials

In Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generations, Management, Millennials, Other Nonprofit Blogs, Recruitment, Retention, Volunteers on January 26, 2012 at 4:34 pm

I’m speaking this week at the Special Olympics Indiana statewide conference.  They’ve asked me to talk about managing volunteers from different generations, so I’ll be talking about recruiting, retaining, and recognizing volunteers of all ages.

Check out the slides from the presentation

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Teaming Up with Other Millennials

In Leadership, Millennial Chat, Nonprofit Best Practices, Other Nonprofit Blogs, Volunteers on January 24, 2012 at 11:20 am

2012 has brought about some exciting changes here at indymillennial.  For one, I’ve had the pleasure of joining the Millennial Chat blog team!  Millennial Chat is a weekly twitter chat where millennials discuss work, philanthropy, and life in general as it relates to our generation.  Follow @MillennialChat and join us every Tuesday at 3:30 EST for a fun and engaging discussion.

Being a part of the team means I’m blogging approximately every other week at Millennial Chat.  Here’s a recap of my posts so far:

Resolving to Do Good- Will You Volunteer in 2012?

Joining a Board… the Millennial Way
Look for my new post this THURSDAY on a Millennial’s Guide to Giving.  If you’re looking to start giving to an organization or to increase your giving, you won’t want to miss it!  Also, today is Tuesday, so join me and the rest of the MC team on Twitter today to chat.

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Finding Your Inner Volunteer: Part Two: Searching for Something

In Nonprofit Best Practices, Other Nonprofit Blogs, Volunteers on September 16, 2011 at 12:38 pm

In the last post, you decided you were ready to volunteer.  Do you have your list of things that make you SMILE?  This week we’ll discuss how you find your list of potential organizations and opportunities.

Ask that friend who’s always signed up for something
If you’re in my world, that friend is me.  I get asked at least once a week about how someone I know can get involved.  I’m familiar with a lot of the organizations around the city, and nothing beats a personal recommendation.  Most volunteers are happy to share their advice!  In some cases, your friend might even be able to invite you along, or you could sign up to do something together.  (In Indianapolis & want some personal advice from me?  indymillennial@gmail.com)

Use your network
Look for opportunities within your current network.  Many companies have corporate volunteer programs.  They may provide opportunities for you to volunteer as a department or give you paid time to pursue your own interests.  Church is another great place to look for group opportunities.  Think about the places you visit frequently, too!  Does your library need volunteers?  What about your child’s school, your relative’s nursing home, the YMCA where you work out, or the park where you walk your dog on the weekends?  Opportunities to help are all around you.

Join a group
What was your motivation for volunteering?  If you said “to meet other people,” maybe joining a service group is right for you.  You could look into becoming a Kiwanis, Rotary, Junior League, or other service club member.  In Indianapolis, a group doing great things is One Brick (@OneBrickIndy).  If you want to support a specific organization, they may have committees, auxiliaries, or other supporting groups that you can join.

Search online
Since googling volunteer opportunities can be time consuming, one of my favorite sites to start with is VolunteerMatch.  Using the basic search, you can find opportunities using your location and a keyword or two.  You can also use the advanced search to narrow your choices by category.  Once you find an opportunity you like, you can contact the organization via VM or directly.  Other sites like VolunteerMatch include Idealist, Serve.gov, or even Craigslist (depending on where you live.)   You can also try your local United Way or your local government.  Here in Indianapolis, United Way of Central Indiana and a new initiative sponsored by the Mayor’s Office, Engage Indy, both maintain great databases.

Tweet your way in
If you already know of an organization, their website should list open volunteer opportunities and the application process.  On many sites, you can even complete the initial application.  Some organizations also update their Facebook or Twitter accounts with upcoming opportunities. 

Using both online and offline methods, you can make a list of the top five organizations or opportunities that are most interesting to you.  In the next post, I’ll cover how to decide if an opportunity is a good fit for you!

This is part two of a three part series called “Finding your Inner Volunteer.”

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Finding Your Inner Volunteer: Part One: SMILE!

In Nonprofit Best Practices, Other Nonprofit Blogs, Volunteers on August 21, 2011 at 11:42 am

I had a greatly inspiring conversation this week with a potential volunteer and new friend.  Megan works for Slingshot SEO, and she’s just wrapping up that really great point in her life known as “the first year out of college.”  I remember that time in my life pretty well, and I recall feeling all kinds of overwhelmed, excited, and a little bit chaotic.  Megan and I met because she’s looking for something new to do to get involved in the Indianapolis community.  She wants to meet people she might otherwise not get a chance to know and do something meaningful with that extra time she has now.  Volunteering is one of the best ways to achieve both of those goals!  My first year out of college, I spent a year as an AmeriCorps member, and it really solidified my commitment to service.  When I started my first job after AmeriCorps, I remember having a lot of extra time that was no longer filled with extra-curriculars, homework, or staying up late in a friend’s dorm room.  But how do you find the right volunteer opportunity for yourself?  Here’s some of what I shared with Megan:

Volunteering should make you SMILE.

The hardest part about finding a volunteer opportunity can be deciding what kind of opportunity is the best fit for you.

Skills

Ask yourself what you do really well.  Maybe you’re good at teaching others, working with your hands, organizing groups, or you speak a second language.  Maybe you’re a writer, artist, or athlete.  There are nonprofits who offer opportunities to use all of those skills! Think about how your professional skills might benefit a nonprofit, too.  Organizations often need behind the scenes services so people with design, IT, clerical, law, or sales skills can be very useful, especially to small organizations.

Motivation

Why do you want to volunteer?  For my new friend, one of her primary goals is to meet others who share her interests.  I steered her toward several opportunities where she would have a chance to meet new people, especially other Millennials.  You might have a desire to learn a new skill or fulfill a spiritual desire to give back.  Whatever your motivation, you’ll want to ask a nonprofit whether you can achieve those goals while volunteering with them.

Interests

This year, I personally decided I was interested in learning more about homelessness and how to serve people who are experiencing it.  I sought volunteer opportunities through the point in time count, the Homeless Connect, and School on Wheels.  What do you want to know more about?  Who would you like to get to know in your city?  What issues would you like to advocate for?  Look for organizations where you can learn something new or increase your knowledge about an issue.

Likes

This seems easy, but it’s important to like your volunteer experience!  You want to look forward to how you spend your time, right?  (As a volunteer manager, I want you to like what you’re doing.)  Consider whether you like being in a group, working with people one on one, or if you’d prefer to work alone.  Maybe you prefer being around a certain age group of people, or you’d rather work with animals than people.  Different opportunities will appeal to different people.  There are volunteer opportunities for people who like being outside, people who like building things, people who like children, and people who like everything in between.

Experience

Similar to skills, consider your experience.  If you’ve volunteered before, you might already know about something you’d like to do again.  Maybe you want to increase your commitment to a cause.  Find opportunities that are related to what you’ve done before.  If you haven’t formally volunteered before, think back to the last time you helped someone else.  What were you able to do?  How did you feel?  What did you enjoy about the experience?  Sometimes, a personal experience from your own life may encourage you to volunteer.  I had a great mentor as a kid, and now, I’m a Big Sister because I want to give back in the same way.

Need more help learning how to get involved?  Next week, I’ll cover how to find specific volunteer opportunities and how to judge a potential volunteer opportunity or organization.

This is part one of a three part series called “Finding your Inner Volunteer.”

In the meantime, if you just can’t wait to volunteer, I’m currently recruiting for a really fun event, the Children’s Bureau Celebrity Cook-Off, happening October 4th.  Contact me if you’re interested in more information!

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Connected by Service

In Homelessness, Other Nonprofit Blogs on April 13, 2011 at 11:30 pm

In honor of National Volunteer Week, today I volunteered for the Indy Homeless Connect.  Now in its sixth year, the event is a chance for those who are experiencing homelessness to have access to a wide variety of services.  There were housing, employment, mental health, physical health, veterans’ specific, financial, and legal services available, as well as the ability to sign up for benefits or get a state ID, birth certificate, or social security card.  In addition to all of these services, there were haircuts, massages, free telephone calls to anywhere in the country, and sack lunches.  CHIP did an amazing job coordinating the event.  Something I love about Indy is this community’s ability to step up when it’s asked.  Seeing all of these service providers work together for the good of a population is incredible.  I also loved that there were 675 volunteers who spent all or part of their day providing smiles and guidance for people trying to navigate all of the resources.   Nothing is better for me than being a part of something like this during National Volunteer Week.  The number of Millennials I saw volunteering was heartening, too.  I’ll be turning 27 next month, so I’m at the older end of the generation, and it’s great for me to see people who are almost ten years younger than me with hearts for service, too.  There were volunteers of all ages, and everyone seemed to really enjoy their experience.  Even Mayor Ballard and his wife were present for much of the day, eager to spend time with volunteers and those who were accessing services.

Volunteers with Mayor & Winnie Ballard (I'm the second from the left.)

 

I personally enjoyed my experience very much.  I worked as an intake guide, which essentially meant that my responsibility was to get people to their first stop of the day.  Back in January, I participated in the Homeless Count.  One of the things I wished during the count was that I would have more time to spend listening to the people I met.  Today, I got just that opportunity.  If you know me, you know I’m genuinely fascinated by other people’s stories, and today was no exception.  I spent time waiting with different individuals all day, trying to remember names, faces, and stories, especially so if I saw someone later in the day, I could ask them how things were going.  I spent a bit of extra time with a gentleman today, and I want to talk a little bit about that experience.  I’ll respect his privacy by not revealing too many details about him.  He was an older veteran with some health issues, and the CHIP staff immediately showed him care by getting him a wheelchair to use for the day.  I sat with him for a bit while he filled out his medical paperwork, and we chatted about what he expected from the Connect.  He was one of the first faces I saw around 9 a.m.  I had to return to my original station, but later, I found him again.  He had accessed three other services since we met.  I smiled and wished him good luck.  To my surprise, at 4 p.m., he was still in the building, making his last stop to get a haircut.  (I firmly believe that serving him with a wheelchair early on in the day encouraged him to participate fully.)  Since the event was winding down, I sat next to him again, and this time, he told me all about his service in two different wars, his family, and his current situation.  We talked about what I’m in school for, too, and he said he hoped I kept it up, but he reminded me that I should take time out to do things for myself, too.  Before I got up to leave, he asked me for a hug goodbye.  As I was hugging him, I kept thinking to myself that service is something I do for myself as much as I do it for other people.  What would I do with my time “for myself” if I wasn’t serving as frequently as I am?  Five years ago, I might have been able to answer that.  But today, I can’t.  I’ve never been on a ship like the man I met today, and I certainly haven’t been overseas to fight a war in another country.  Instead, I’m here in Indianapolis, but I’m on what sometimes does feel like a battleground.  We just have different weapons.  I’m armed with knowledge of the city and its resources, experience working with people from various backgrounds, and most importantly, I’ve got a smile and a heart that’s bigger than I know what to do with sometimes.  I may never have formally enlisted in this service, but I do it every day, and it’s so much a part of me that I think if it was taken away, I wouldn’t know how to survive.  I walked away wondering if he knew how similar we really are.  We’re both motivated to serve our country and community.  We may not be the same age or gender, and we may be experiencing very different lives, but we’re connected by service.

Interested in helping to end homelessness in Indianapolis? Visit CHIP’s website to find volunteer opportunities.

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Making the Homeless Count

In Homelessness, Other Nonprofit Blogs on February 13, 2011 at 1:54 pm

About two weeks ago, I had the privilege of participating in the annual homeless count.  The count is a point in time survey, similar to the census.  Nationally, HUD uses the data to pinpoint trends and to evaluate whether we’re making progress to end homelessness.  Locally, service providers that work with homeless populations can use the data to better understand who’s homeless in Marion County, why they’re homeless, and what benefits and supports are needed to build pathways to permanent housing.  From an evaluation standpoint, the count is extremely useful.  My classmates from IUPUI SPEA and I were trained to administer surveys to people in shelters and on the street.  We were assigned to teams, and we all met at Horizon House on the night of the count.   From there, we received our assignments.  I was fortunate enough to receive two very different assignments: Wheeler Mission and Stopover.

While I have some varied experiences, I had never worked with adult men as a population.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the homeless count quickly reinforced a life lesson for me.  In my career, I think that personal relationships with others are the key to providing the best possible services.  Building a comfortable relationship with someone with such a limited amount of time and in light of research constraints is not always an easy task.  At first, I was a bit nervous, but when I relaxed, the conversations flowed smoothly.  I was actually surprised at how open and honest the men were.  If our roles were reversed, I’m not sure that I would want to tell a stranger my story in the name of “research,” but they all seemed happy to meet with me.  After my time at Wheeler, I moved on to Stopover.  Stopover has two different homes in Indianapolis; one is for crisis intervention for youth, and the other is a transitional living program for teenagers.  I was fortunate enough to visit both and survey the youth there.  I have much more experience working with youth, so the population was familiar to me.  The youth were more reticent to participate.  Usually, when an “authority” figure asks questions, something the youth perceives as negative may happen shortly afterward.  After a few minutes, they seemed to trust me enough to complete the survey.  All of the youth told me they were in school or some kind of training, and they all had jobs.  This signals to me that Stopover is doing something right, and I would have loved to spend more time learning about their lives since they began receiving Stopover’s services.  Unfortunately, the count requires the researchers to stick to the questionnaire and complete it as quickly as possible.  The whole experience lasted approximately 4 hours before I headed back to Horizon House to turn in my surveys.

With both the men and the youth, it was so difficult for me to focus on the questions and not spend extra time listening to their stories.  I met men who were recently released from prison, veterans, men who had addictions, men who wanted to tell me about family that they missed, men who had jobs that required a college education until the recession hit, and men who had been homeless their entire lives.  I met youth who had been in foster care, experienced family violence, and who had been kicked out of their homes.  As a practitioner, I know the reasons behind homelessness are numerous.  The characteristics, barriers, and assets wrapped up in each story are dependent upon the individual.  Talking with the people I met, though, really brought this point to the forefront of my mind.  Every story about homelessness has some similar elements and some elements which are unique to an individual, and this is what ultimately makes service provision a challenge.  Casework requires individualized services, while evaluation seeks the common goals and unifying themes in order for an organization’s program to be considered a “success.”  I routinely think in terms of management and evaluation now, rather than casework, because of my degree and career path.  Talking with the men was a great reminder that evaluation and research can, at best, complement casework, and neither evaluation nor casework is a substitute for a genuine person to person relationship.

The count itself was an enriching experience, but it impressed me even more because I think it speaks to the success of collaborations between sectors.  A government agency, HUD, sets out the guidelines for the survey and compiles the national results.  HUD is the umbrella agency for the project on a national level.  Locally, IUPUI’s role is incredibly important for several reasons.  While organizations ultimately benefit from the results, there are few nonprofits in the city that have the time, resources, or funding to undertake such a massive research project requiring so many volunteers.  The university coordinates all of the difficult logistics of the projects.  Second, the university reduces bias in the project.  Organizations tend to focus only on the populations they serve, and rightfully, they tend to be most concerned with numbers that will support their goals and outcomes.  The university collects data that will be unbiased and accurate.  The results can then be used by multiple organizations.  However, the university would be unable to do the project without the cooperation of all of the shelters and sites who were willing to share their data and allow the research teams to come into their organizations.  To me, the homeless count is proof that nonprofits can cooperate and collaborate on certain projects, even in a landscape where they may be competing for clients and dollars.  The addition of the university and the government agency makes it a nice example of a cross-sector collaboration as well.  Both of these types of collaborations are critical to tackling any widespread social issue.

As a part of my homeless count class this semester, I’ll be volunteering with other organizations that seek to end homelessness in Indianapolis.  The count illustrates that there is not one face or label that we can give to homelessness.  Instead of understanding it only as a distant, abstract idea, we must try to understand it through individual stories and relationships.  The survey research portion of the count provides a way to make sense of these stories and to identify common threads to be addressed.  While I am only just beginning to understand homelessness on a personal and professional level, I think that the questions that the count raised for me are a great starting point for further exploration.

Want to learn more about the national homeless count?  Visit HUD.
Want to see the numbers from previous Marion County homeless counts? Visit CHIP.

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Mentoring Fearlessly

In Mentoring, Other Nonprofit Blogs on January 25, 2011 at 1:01 am

Before I start this month’s post, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the staff from Girls Inc for recognizing indymillennial recently, and I appreciate it if you’re reading now because of their posts!

As many of you probably know, January is National Mentoring Month.  I’ve wanted to post about mentoring for awhile now, but I think the topic is often over-blogged, especially from the perspective of a professional.  Read any of the current literature, and the findings are the same.  Mentoring positively impacts kids’ lives in various ways.  We know there are academic, social, emotional, and so many other benefits to kids if they have a caring adult in their lives.  So why is it that staffers from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana have to stand outside in the cold in order to convince people to do this?  We can prove with research studies that mentoring is effective, but that’s as far as professional academic analysis will take us.  In order for mentoring to really “work”, there’s something almost magical that happens in the relationship.  Mentoring can be a formal decision and commitment, or it can be a more informal, organic relationship.  For mentoring nonprofits, the relationships between volunteers and youth have to be both.  How can an organization strike a balance between personal and professional?   I struggled to write this blog because I initially wanted to share  a list of tips and tricks for professionals.  However, sometimes, I think that the best way for an organization to learn is to hear about the personal decisions that lead their volunteers to commit to a mentoring relationship.  I’ve touched on the idea before that philanthropy is something that is extremely personal, and I think this is most evident in mentoring relationships.   Service is a huge part of who I am, and nothing is more personal than having/being a mentor.  This is my mentoring story:

Growing up, I was fortunate to have an amazing mentor.  My high school choir director is an incredible man, and he spent countless hours listening to me.  I told him things I didn’t feel I could confide in anyone else, and he always affirmed me while gently reminding me to look at a situation from other people’s perspectives.  The most important advice he ever gave me was “fearlessly be yourself.”  I really held on to this; as a teenager, that was probably one of the most difficult things to do, but he contributed strongly to my sense of self-esteem and self-worth.  We had dinner several months ago, and I am so thankful that he still supports me and is proud of the things I do.  Our relationship was never formalized by any program in school; it was all personal and progressed naturally.  I always hold onto my experience with him because I would have been the last kid to “need” a mentor.  I could never claim that my parents did anything less than a wonderful job raising me.  (They read this blog, so hi Mom & Dad.)  I would never have been labeled “at risk.”  I was a straight A student and never had a detention in my life.  I benefited so much from having a mentor, but no one would have ever known this if our relationship hadn’t developed.  No one would have matched me or put me in a program. That’s the same reason I sometimes dislike “professional” mentoring.  The “at risk” label sometimes implies there might be something “wrong” with the youth, and it even implies that something must be wrong before a child “needs” a mentor. Volunteers must be taught that mentoring isn’t about fixing; it’s about listening and developing a relationship.

One of the most important lessons I learned from my mentor was how to give back and be a mentor myself.  I spent a year mentoring incarcerated youth as an AmeriCorps member, and it was very difficult to have those relationships come to an end after such a short period of time.  Research tells us that for a real impact to be made, mentoring relationships often must last at least 18 months or longer.  This is the point in time where I made the first conscious decision to become a mentor.  I wanted to commit to a mentoring relationship for longer than one year.  Because I didn’t have many opportunities to develop a natural mentoring relationship with someone younger than me, I decided to seek out an organization to help me fulfill this desire. However, I had just started my first “real” job using my degree from Ball State, and I wasn’t certain that I could commit to mentoring when I was working somewhere I didn’t intend to stay for a lifetime.  I was also researching grad schools, and it became very real to me that I might move away from Indiana to pursue my degree in another state.  This would have been the wrong time for me to make a mentoring commitment in my life. I set a goal to become a mentor as soon as I thought the time was right.

Fast forward to May 2009.  I made the decision to attend IUPUI’s SPEA program for my MPA.  I had returned to Indianapolis after living in Delaware & Madison counties from 2002-2008.   I was eager to start serving the city, and I knew I would be comfortable staying in the city for at least two years.  I approached Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana, and I told them that I was ready to be a Big!  They truly listened to me during my interview process, and they asked me some TOUGH personal questions!  (I sure didn’t expect to talk about my entire dating history with someone I had just met!)  I think those questions really gave them insight into who I am.   I’m sure they listened just as well to my Little and her mom, and this helped them make a great match for us. One month later, I was matched with my then 11 year old Little Sister.  It sounds silly, but as soon as I saw her wearing her Hannah Montana shirt and grinning at me, I knew they had made a great choice for both of us.  We’ve done quite a few activities together from making pizza and playing Wii at my apartment, to visiting the Indiana Historical Society, going to an Indiana Fever game, shopping at the mall, to taking a tour of where my classes are at IUPUI, to trick-or-treating (both dressed as Taylor Swift from different parts of the “You Belong with Me” video), and this past summer, we even went on the BBBSCI trip to Chicago together.  I’ve watched her basketball games, eaten lunch with her at school, and we’ve made an annual tradition of going to the Fishers Freedom Festival together.  The Freedom Festival is something I loved growing up as a kid, and I’m glad she loves it, too.  She doesn’t know this, but one of my favorite things is when we’re in the car, and we sing whatever song happens to be on Radio Disney at the moment.  (My other favorite memory of her is when I told her I would be coming to her school for lunch, and she got on Google Maps while we were on the phone to find directions from my house to the school.  Did I mention she’s smart?)  We’ve had conversations ranging from the silly to the very serious.  She poses questions about what she’s learned in D.A.R.E. asks what my opinion is on where she should go to college, and tells me about the nice and not so nice kids at school.  We’re talking about all those “important things” that a mentor should talk about, but every single conversation has happened naturally.  BBBSCI might have matched us, but those conversations are all ours!

I will say that there are two very important people to our mentoring relationship.  One person is her mother.  If I didn’t have a strong, trusting relationship with her, there is absolutely no way that I could have such a great relationship with her daughter! I’m thankful that her mother trusts me enough to share information about her family & daughter that helps me become a better mentor.  The second person is our Match Support Specialist, Vanessa.  I firmly believe that all “professional” mentors need someone like her to guide the process.  Vanessa has been a valuable resource to us, and her particular expertise has helped me understand my Little Sister better.  This kind of support is crucial for a mentor to have; sometimes we simply need someone to talk through an idea or a tough issue with. Vanessa has been nothing but kind, reassuring, and supportive of our relationship.

As my Little Sister’s 13th birthday approaches in a few weeks, we’re already past that 18 month mark, and the professional in me is cheering.  I’ve heard people say that we must find volunteers who are willing to commit “at least x amount of time to a child.”   This is a professional “best practice” that I think requires some personal attention.  While I do agree with the literature that indicates short-term relationships can be damaging to a child, professionals must recognize that good mentoring relationships grow gradually over time. When I first began mentoring my Little Sister, I knew that I could commit at least the amount of time that I was in graduate school.  What I didn’t know was that every time I saw her, I would learn more about her and her family, and I would grow more and more attached to her.  Now, I can’t imagine ending the relationship before she graduates from high school.  I want to see her graduate, and I am committed to helping her get into college. I’ll graduate right around the same time that I was matched with her two years ago, and I can’t wait to celebrate both events with her.

How do I know for sure that we’ll stay matched?  I suppose I don’t, but something she said to me made sure that I won’t be the one to give up on her, ever.  She mentioned to me that she has three theme songs for her life.  I couldn’t wait for her to tell me what they were.   One of the songs was, of course, a Taylor Swift song.

The song?

“Fearless”

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