Connecting the Dots

I have some catching up to do. Before talking about the latest happenings at CUP, I would like to reflect (because that’s what service learning is all about, right?) on last Friday’s morning seminar and afternoon visit to the Fortune Academy. Between the group activities in the morning and the presentations and tour we received later in the day, last Friday was definitely my favorite CUSP Friday so far.

During our morning session we broke up into small groups to discuss our experiences at work and to find creative solutions to group members’ problems. This was a great way to structure a reflection that related directly to our internships without taking up the entire morning. In the small group reflection I learned that many of my group members were having difficulties because CUSP’s schedule does not correspond with their agencies’ programming schedules. For instance, Christine arrived at The Point at the end of their after-school program. She has been planning summer activities for two weeks and will leave in the middle of the summer program. Andrea will not be able to attend any of the follow-up court dates for the Legal Aid Society clients she has worked with because all of their next court appointments are in August. And I will not really have the opportunity to see a lot of the behind-the-scenes work that I am doing at CUP take center stage later in the summer. I think most people in CUSP feel that the program is not long enough because now, after almost one month, we are just starting to get into the groove at our organizations. Extending the program to ten weeks would be one way to solve this problem. However, that is an expensive solution which probably involves a lot of bureaucratic nonsense. A shorter-term solution might be to push the CUSP schedule back a bit to align with public school calendars. Then, everyone working with children would be in more in synch with their organizations, and all participants would have more time to prepare and get to know their organizations even better before arriving in NYC.

After our morning workshops we headed uptown to a Dominican restaurant and then to the Fortune Academy. The Fortune Academy building, referred to as “The Castle,” is very impressive; Fortune Society’s programs are even more impressive. Fortune employee and client Barry Campbell gave us a tour of the building, but first he described the work that Fortune does. He explained how some clients have been in prison for so long that they are unfamiliar with current technology and culture. Total reintegration is required, and Fortune provides many services to address this need. From the time the clients leave Rikers Island until they are ready to move out on their own and even after that, Fortune provides education, counseling, shelter, and overall support. Kate Ruben from the Bronx Defenders also spoke to us about her Reentry Net program and the legal and social support provided for clients at that organization. To me, the comprehensive approach described by both Barry and Kate seems to be the only effective way to help previously incarcerated people to get back on their feet.

In fact, I’m beginning to realize that a comprehensive approach to any social justice issue is the only sustainable approach. In many ways, this is an exhausting realization. Assisting someone who has just left prison with reintegrating into society is not as simple as providing job training and a housing subsidy. Preventing the construction of high-rise condos which will be detrimental to a community’s well-being is not a matter to be left completely in the hands of developers and real estate people. Every single issue is multi-faceted and requires the knowledge of experts in many different fields.

My experience at the Fortune Academy brought this fact to light, and my work at CUP this past week has reinforced it. I am working on a one page information sheet about the U.S. Department of Housing and Development (HUD) for a toolkit that CUP is developing to help people understand the changes that are taking place in their neighborhoods. I thought this assignment would be as simple as reading a few Wikipedia articles and perusing the HUD website. However, I soon learned that a meaningful information sheet on HUD would have to include information about the structure of the federal government and the budget, the relationship between Cabinet-level agencies and Congress appropriations committees, mortgages and mortgage insurance, public housing programs, statistical designations and census data, and the process for determining income levels and eligibility for federal assistance. In addition, all of this information has to be sifted through until the most salient facts are presented through extremely simple language and graphics. The creation of this single handout has involved hours of research. Over the past few days, I have had to develop a basic understanding of many seemingly disparate and complex topics. The challenge of presenting HUD, its activities, and its effects in a holistic manner is minor compared to CUP’s grander challenge of helping communities to learn about and respond to development. At this point, the necessity of a holistic, comprehensive approach to social justice issues both frightens and excites me as I explore new territory and try to connect the dots.