Thursday, 20 January
Today was the panel discussion. The catering was in order, the room reserved (I have to stay on top of the billing for this because the Professor speaking on our Panel works for NYU and reserved the room through her department so we could get a better rate) and I carried the video camera equipment with me. I was at NYU with plenty of time this morning, got up to the room where the tables and chairs were arranged perfectly. Everything went off without a hitch. And because there were only Partnership employees around the table, along with a few board members (I was very pleased about that), the discussion was relaxed and comfortable.
Professor Shinn, our Expert for this Panel, has done much research on homelessness and discussed with us the results of her relevant studies. When she casually mentioned the replacement of Section 8 with the HSP, the questions around the room narrowed; our Lead Advocate and Director of FaF because, as respectfully as possible, a little prickly about the topic. They, of course, had very specific questions and the Professor seemed to be, without obviously committing herself, in support of the change. As others around the table started asking more questions about the HSP and what support there existed that would lend credit to the City's move away from Section 8, the Moderator (the CEO) gracefully stepped in to steer us away from the topic. Later on, in private, I overheard the Lead Advocate admit, apologetically, that she hadn't realised how much anger she had pent up about this issue until the Panel. I wished I'd had more to contribute to the discussion, more questions to ask of the professor, but even after giving her research papers a thorough reading, I didn't have any curiosities I needed answering.
The point of the "Conversations with the Experts" series is to open up dialog with the experts so we can glean from them information to apply new practices to our existing ones, as well as offer a direction for the strategic planning of the overall organisation. I'm concerned that people are just not getting anything out of the discussions. I've been to the last two and, for the most part, I fear that people consider them a waste of time. Two hours is NOT enough time to sum up Research and Existing Practice and place them side by side, compare them and forumulate a new plan for how to handle homelessness. Professor Shinn's paper titled, "Predictors of Homelessness Among Families in New York City: From Shelter Request to Housing Stability" demonstrated that "the demographic characteristics and housing conditions were the most important risk factors for shelter entry" and "Receipt of subsidized housing was the primary predictor of housing stability," but for an organisation that deals with people who are already homeless, even though we KNOW what causes homelessness, we can't stop it because of the stage of our intervention. For individuals like our Lead Advocate and Attournies, who work on lobbying for appropriate legislation and eviction prevention court cases, respectively, the planning sessions are helpful. But for the caseworkers who deal with individuals and families once they're inside the shelter network, the 'prediction' is a reality.
After the Panel Discussion I went wtih the Director of FaF to her office/furniture warehouse in Brooklyn, Bushwick, to be specific. On the way there (we had quite a bit of time for discussion because the train was stopped due to a police investigation, so we took a cab ride from Manhattan) she answered all of my questions about FaF, how it works, what the history of it is, the direction it's heading in, etc. It was a great information gathering session, as well as an opportunity to plug myself for future employment.
When we arrived, she showed me around the warehouse, we ordered lunch, she explained their database system so I could navigate my way through it (that's why I was there- to gather contact information for the HSP clients I have been researching- the ones with 100+ building code violations). Afterwards, we talked some more about a few of the side projects she has going on the back burner. I volunteered to help her with reseraching potential donors of furniture and/or household items; she gave me her idea of what she wanted, answered some basic questions and asked me to write up a template donation request letter. Wow. My first tabula rasa for grant writing! This will require thorough knowledge of FaF as well as a history and plan for the future. I am greatly looking forward to this assignment.
And yes, I worked a full 8 hours today.
Professor Shinn, our Expert for this Panel, has done much research on homelessness and discussed with us the results of her relevant studies. When she casually mentioned the replacement of Section 8 with the HSP, the questions around the room narrowed; our Lead Advocate and Director of FaF because, as respectfully as possible, a little prickly about the topic. They, of course, had very specific questions and the Professor seemed to be, without obviously committing herself, in support of the change. As others around the table started asking more questions about the HSP and what support there existed that would lend credit to the City's move away from Section 8, the Moderator (the CEO) gracefully stepped in to steer us away from the topic. Later on, in private, I overheard the Lead Advocate admit, apologetically, that she hadn't realised how much anger she had pent up about this issue until the Panel. I wished I'd had more to contribute to the discussion, more questions to ask of the professor, but even after giving her research papers a thorough reading, I didn't have any curiosities I needed answering.
The point of the "Conversations with the Experts" series is to open up dialog with the experts so we can glean from them information to apply new practices to our existing ones, as well as offer a direction for the strategic planning of the overall organisation. I'm concerned that people are just not getting anything out of the discussions. I've been to the last two and, for the most part, I fear that people consider them a waste of time. Two hours is NOT enough time to sum up Research and Existing Practice and place them side by side, compare them and forumulate a new plan for how to handle homelessness. Professor Shinn's paper titled, "Predictors of Homelessness Among Families in New York City: From Shelter Request to Housing Stability" demonstrated that "the demographic characteristics and housing conditions were the most important risk factors for shelter entry" and "Receipt of subsidized housing was the primary predictor of housing stability," but for an organisation that deals with people who are already homeless, even though we KNOW what causes homelessness, we can't stop it because of the stage of our intervention. For individuals like our Lead Advocate and Attournies, who work on lobbying for appropriate legislation and eviction prevention court cases, respectively, the planning sessions are helpful. But for the caseworkers who deal with individuals and families once they're inside the shelter network, the 'prediction' is a reality.
After the Panel Discussion I went wtih the Director of FaF to her office/furniture warehouse in Brooklyn, Bushwick, to be specific. On the way there (we had quite a bit of time for discussion because the train was stopped due to a police investigation, so we took a cab ride from Manhattan) she answered all of my questions about FaF, how it works, what the history of it is, the direction it's heading in, etc. It was a great information gathering session, as well as an opportunity to plug myself for future employment.
When we arrived, she showed me around the warehouse, we ordered lunch, she explained their database system so I could navigate my way through it (that's why I was there- to gather contact information for the HSP clients I have been researching- the ones with 100+ building code violations). Afterwards, we talked some more about a few of the side projects she has going on the back burner. I volunteered to help her with reseraching potential donors of furniture and/or household items; she gave me her idea of what she wanted, answered some basic questions and asked me to write up a template donation request letter. Wow. My first tabula rasa for grant writing! This will require thorough knowledge of FaF as well as a history and plan for the future. I am greatly looking forward to this assignment.
And yes, I worked a full 8 hours today.
posted by Ruth at 8:29 PM
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