Community Reflection Paper

For three years, I have been a leader in Route 56, a preteen program of fifth and sixth graders for my church. Every month we meet on a Friday night to play games, worship, and do a Bible study. This program allows me to show them love, hear about their personal life, and have fun in a caring place. I wanted to join this group, because I wanted to know what each of the preteens are going through.Whether if they were in a bad place or good at the moment. It was important to me to demonstrate love around them to demonstrate through my actions that they are loved, because I did not have someone to be there for me throughout my preteen years. My parents fought constantly, I was bullied at school, and betrayed by people I trusted.However, when I joined the church’s youth ministry they showed me an amazing amount of brotherly love. The pastor, leaders, and students care for one another, so it is a support group for all us. This ministry taught me how to love others. When I was informed that Route 56 needed help I did not think twice and signed up. Throughout the three years I have had the privilege to allow the children to feel comfortable to express themselves. Some of them were closed off or simply hung out by themselves when they were new to the program, but I have seen them grow out of their shells interacting with

City Youth Ministries is a family, even though they have social responsibility and a code of ethics. As soon as you watch the way Director Denise Snider interacts with the children, it is evident that this is an “organization family” treated like a “nuclear family.” (DeSensi & Rosenberg, 2010) I have also learned the value in the way we communicate with others. This opportunity showed me that a successful organization, or team, begins with enthusiastic leadership. The book presents motivation “as the basis of the function of leading” (DeSensi & Rosenberg, 2010). One day, I might find myself leading a group, and I aspire to act like Mrs. Snider. The acquisition or loss of social roles affects the psychological effects of both men and women (Wilson & Musick, 2000). Adding this “social role”, gave me a place where I felt appreciated. There was always something that needed to be done, and someone that needed to be loved. Whenever I finished an afternoon of volunteering, I was not tired or drained. On the contrary, I left with a sense of contentment and thankfulness. The children, faculty, and staff cared for each other in more than a typical organization, and I was lucky enough to be a part of

Through my experience with Building Bonds, Breaking B.A.R.S (Barriers Against Reaching Success), our campus’ first organization aimed towards minority youth in the juvenile justice system. I have had an opportunity to collaborate with Durham County Youth Home as a youth mentor, aiding as a positive role model to foster and nurture individual initiative. Volunteer sessions entailed topics such as job interviews, why education is important, tutorials in schoolwork and any other topics that would be beneficial. Mentoring under-represented

I have the privilege of being involved with such an impactful organization. While helping, youth developed lifestyle skills, I’m also developing skills. Each year I form some amazing relationships that create lifelong friendships. Excitedly each encounter with the youth helps build my belief on why it’s important to help others along my journey. Therefore, being involved with this organization has transform and impacted

The organization encourages teens to discover interests and develop their talents regardless of the barriers to success for youth coming of age in impoverished or high crime neighborhood. Connecting youths to positive role models, cultivating their skills and interest and creating opportunities for them to shine positions them for success as healthy adults, strong leaders and active citizens. The components through which this is achieved is through the Juvenile Justice Reform and Preparing youth for Adulthood. The Juvenile Justice program utilizes non-traditional solutions to meet the city’s need for comprehensive and effective rehabilitation. Preparing Youth for Adulthood through partnership with skilled mentors, inspiring role models and Colleges closed the gaps left by past abuse and neglect. This helps to restore self- esteem that that fuels hard work, personal development and success.

This past two week were most dedicated to the final project, but we also had a guest speaker from the biomedical engineering. We get feedback for our design decision matrix and for our second project report.

Thinking about what to do for my senior project was difficult. At first I was thinking of skateboarding and at first I thought maybe that could work then, I remembered a good friend of mine did a senior project and introduced me to Arlington Street. People's Assistance Network (A-SPAN). A-SPAN is a organization that’s mission is to provide life-sustaining services for Arlington’s most vulnerable individuals through outreaching and building relationships built on trust and respect.

Select one organization you belong to, and analyze that organization in terms of the above mentioned five dimensions of work-related values. Refer to Tables 15.1-4 in the textbook for specific characteristics of each dimension.

Because I am a busy single mother raising three boys, going to school, and maintaining a job, finding any extra time to volunteer is no easy task. However, this summer I managed to squeeze it in. The organization that I volunteered for from May through July is the Ashwaubenon Department of Parks, Recreation, and Forestry. More specifically, I volunteered as a coach for AYSA (Ashwaubenon Youth Soccer Association), for the 4 & 5 age level.

I truly do believe in the power of young people, children are our future. It’s crucial that we make an effort to invest in our children. Personally, it’s important for me to give back to the community that raised me. Born and raised in heart of Liberty City in Miami, FL, a neighborhood many consider dangerous, crime ridden and unsafe. But “It takes a village to raise a child” an African proverb my mother often recited. I’m thankful for the village that help mold and guide me in the right direction in an environment where it is so easy to go against morals, values, and ethics to “fit in/be accepted” or even “commit criminal acts” to survive. Ultimately, I want to establish a community center in Liberty City for at risk youth; both male and female. Living in an environment overwhelmed with risk factors such as poverty, crime, drugs, and poor education it is crucial to create a safe-haven where children are enriched and empowered. It’s my duty to bring about change by providing a holistic programming to help build our youth. Currently I am working for the Social Security Administration serving the public with excellence. I am fortunate to contribute to this agency by helping others receive Disability, Retirement, Survivors Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, and so much more. However, I am limited to what I can do, with my very own organization I can do so much more. I am truly passionate about giving back and helping others. It gives me a sense of pride and meaning when I am able to positively impact the lives of other. Over the course of my career I have been building blocks and now is the time for me to succeed in my endeavors and aspirations to impact the lives of others as a public

The God-sized vision for my life and ministry is to fulfill the vision shared by my husband, which is to build a youth center for children that offers positive Christian values to enrich their lives and their families. Youth intervention has been a ministry of deep passion for the last six years of our life. Thomas and I decided we could no longer sit on the sidelines knowing we could do more to help children in need in the community. So we opened the doors of our fellowship hall to feed, clothe and tutor as needed to meet their needs. The non-profit, Integrity Unlimited CDC started with this outreach. Its mission is to invest in children, strengthen families, and build communities. The call of God on this

Each year 200,000 children are charged as adults in court according to the Open Society Foundations. Children held in adult prisons have very high recidivism rates, but only if they are not in there life! Children charged as adults do not get the help they need or are not taught what to do better. A couple solutions for this problem could be community based groups, focusing on their mental and physical needs, and lastly, having people to work with and tutor the children. These things could turn the children into productive members of society instead of repeat offenders and criminals.

Yes, I have read it. I thought our survey responses were going to be totally anonymous. If I would have known that some of our comments were going to be put in a letter and then posted on the board, where everybody can read about my disability, I would not have included that information. The only reason I put that in there is for future students who are younger than me who have disabilities. my study classmates figured out it was me and asked me to confirm it. I would prefer to come and talk to you in person about the issue before the final and not continue to discuss this on an open discussion

I have never attended a community meeting or any meeting regarding my community therefore, attending this meeting for the first time was a great first experience. I was able to see how a meeting is ran and how the organization works in order to help make improvements in my community. When I went into the office the meeting was being held, I was offered an agenda and other informational forms regarding the meeting. The agenda provided information of how the organization of the meeting would be and who will be going over what topics. The meeting was a timed meeting where Richard Hernandez and Bill Houtt managed on recording to keep data. The issues that were discussed were citizen’s request for city improvements, a short review of the 2016 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) Accomplishments, which is a grant that helps build homes for low income families and was reviewed by Rhonda Haynes a community developer. Lastly, the Sidewalk at Divisadero and Rinaldi, North Visalia citizen report were also discussed by Bill Houtt a member of the committee, and construction issues in N. Visalia discussed by Lt. Brent Abbott.

For the service learning project, I teamed up with three of my classmates to volunteer at a lady’s conference at Imani Restoration Centre church (IRCC) on the 16th of September, 2017. IRCC is a non-profit organization which is a Kenyan community founded that focuses on bringing African immigrants together to support and learn the things of God. Samuel Mwangi, the senior pastor of IRCC, said that through the counseling sessions that he holds at the church every Thursday, he discovered that most ladies go through the same challenges. Therefore, he thought it would be great for him to organize a lady’s conference, so that ladies could come together to share and support each other (Personal communication, September, 16, 2017)