Respect for Non-Profits

After the PASS program folded, we had a team meeting where we tried to focus on the good things we did rather than the disappointments we endured. We did build a program from the ground up, we help a lot of kids improve their academic performance and gave them the confidence they needed to succeed, and had it not ban for some uncontrollable circumstances, we would have seen it through to the end. Following this experience, I can definitely say that I have a lot of respect for the multitude of non-profits that exist in the area. However, I would also argue that there has to be a better way for all of them to work together so that everyone’s needs are met. To be honest I do not know what the solution is, but I do know that this will not be my last experience with community outreach. Hopefully I can take what I learned this summer to create and even more efficient and sustainable program in the future, one that can withstand external factors and truly deliver basic necessities and opportunities to those in need.

Our Mistakes

One of the starkest realities that came to my attention during this whole process was just how difficult it is to start a program to help people. On paper it seems easy. Our RHS summer school program had everything I would have thought we needed. We had funding, we had volunteers and interns, we had a space to meet, we had a whole curriculum planned out, and most importantly we were presenting the students of Roosevelt High School with something that would greatly benefit them and contribute to their future success. Yet, despite all of our efforts, contrary to standard Field of Dreams Logic, we built it and they did not come. Looking back on the experience I can kind of understand why so few kids signed up for the program. To be honest, from what I saw, Roosevelt High School seemed to be saturated with programs trying to help youth in need. Another program called Step-Up was extremely popular with students, as were many others in the neighborhood. However, to say that all Roosevelt kids in need were getting help is simply not true. There were an abundance of kids who needed attention, and while I submit that they are likely dealing with many difficult circumstances in their life, the fact remains that many are not seeking it. This is where I think our mistake was in starting this program. We thought if we built a great program and had some lunch meetings where we talked about it, kids would sign up, and that was not the case. In the future, I think we would need to either find an alternate way of marketing the program to get kids excited, or expand the program to include other public schools that maybe do not have the same saturation of programs that Roosevelt does.