On Monday I got to go with the commissioner to a press conference at one of the neighborhood credit unions to promote America Saves week, a national movement to encourage household savings, especially for those with low income. DHS was invited, along with the Dept. of Consumer Affairs (DCA), because we both have asset building initiatives, and we are trying to link those initiatives to the more general initiatives that are going on around the country. Apparently it didn't rate high enough in either our agency or the DCA to make it on either website, and I think there were only a few (aka, two) actual press there, but I was still excited. I never thought I would be interested in the world of asset development and financial services, but as I learn more and continue to work with this program I am becoming convinced that basic financial literacy is essential for people to move out of poverty. And it's such a basic service, too - education about how to best use your money, and providing access to banking services to put that knowledge to work, are empowering in a way that other types of social services are not. I'm a fan.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
America Saves! (not to be confused with Jesus) (sorry, is that sacrilegious?)
On Monday I got to go with the commissioner to a press conference at one of the neighborhood credit unions to promote America Saves week, a national movement to encourage household savings, especially for those with low income. DHS was invited, along with the Dept. of Consumer Affairs (DCA), because we both have asset building initiatives, and we are trying to link those initiatives to the more general initiatives that are going on around the country. Apparently it didn't rate high enough in either our agency or the DCA to make it on either website, and I think there were only a few (aka, two) actual press there, but I was still excited. I never thought I would be interested in the world of asset development and financial services, but as I learn more and continue to work with this program I am becoming convinced that basic financial literacy is essential for people to move out of poverty. And it's such a basic service, too - education about how to best use your money, and providing access to banking services to put that knowledge to work, are empowering in a way that other types of social services are not. I'm a fan.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Seattle
So yes, the big trip to Seattle. I left at the crack of dawn with a coworker, flew for 6 straight hours and landed on the west coast at 12 noon. Thank you, time change. We rushed to the already-in-progress in time to here the luncheon speaker introduced, but sadly, we missed lunch. The introducer caused quite a stir when he announced, "Mr. Bill Gates...senior." It was pretty funny because you could tell the whole audience was expecting Bill Gates, and didn't know quite how to react to his father. Anyway, the conference was interesting and I learned about a few other programs, but for the most part I think conferences are pretty overrated. I did enjoy going on a site visit to some supportive housing units specifically for formerly homeless families with lots of kids.
On Saturday my Westerville friend KellyB, who lives in Seattle and works as an ASL interpreter, picked me up and gave me the grand tour of the city. It was great to tour with an expert! I like the city a lot; it is very densely built, but also interspersed with lots of trees and hills and water. A good mix to keep things interesting. There are also lots of cute, distinctive, walkable neighborhoods. And lots of parks. And bakeries. You really couldn't ask for much more. Except maybe some sun. I would love to visit again in the summertime, when it's not so overcast and you can see the surrounding mountains.
Saturday was caucus day in Washington, so Kelly and I stopped by her local elementary school to cast her vote. I've never seen anything like it! Everyone from the neighborhood milled around the school until they found their designated spot (hers was in a corner of the library, along with three other districts), and signed in with their choice. After everyone was signed in, one person was allowed to speak for one minute in support of each delegate, then there was a short period when people could mill around and ask each other questions. They, the precinct captain asked if anyone wanted to change their vote, then tallied up the results. She announced Obama the winner, to lots of cheers. From there, apparently, they elect a certain amount of delegates to go to the official state caucus and cast their votes. It was all very interesting to see the democratic process in action in a way in such a community-oriented, hands-on sort of way, that you don't usually get to see.
After the caucus we met my cousin Alan and his wife Michelle at Pike Place Market, which is like El Mercado in San Antonio only a lot cooler (Sorry, San An). In addition to the usual touristy souvenirs, the market also sold lots of fresh fruit and fish and cheese and products from local artists. You could wander in there all day. I spent the night with Alan and Michelle (many thanks), and in the morning they took me for a run around a nearby lake before heading to the airport. There was a Valentine's Day 5K going on called "Love 'em or Leave 'em," which made me laugh. Then it was time to go, and that was that! Next weekend is a holiday and I am headed to Texas, so lots of traveling going on. Until next time, a few pictures.
Skyline view from across the lake.
A troll under an overpass, made out of VW Bugs (you can see one under his left hand).
Pike Place Market
This is not Seattle, but last week's tickertape parade.
Subway steam and tickertape debris
On Saturday my Westerville friend KellyB, who lives in Seattle and works as an ASL interpreter, picked me up and gave me the grand tour of the city. It was great to tour with an expert! I like the city a lot; it is very densely built, but also interspersed with lots of trees and hills and water. A good mix to keep things interesting. There are also lots of cute, distinctive, walkable neighborhoods. And lots of parks. And bakeries. You really couldn't ask for much more. Except maybe some sun. I would love to visit again in the summertime, when it's not so overcast and you can see the surrounding mountains.
Saturday was caucus day in Washington, so Kelly and I stopped by her local elementary school to cast her vote. I've never seen anything like it! Everyone from the neighborhood milled around the school until they found their designated spot (hers was in a corner of the library, along with three other districts), and signed in with their choice. After everyone was signed in, one person was allowed to speak for one minute in support of each delegate, then there was a short period when people could mill around and ask each other questions. They, the precinct captain asked if anyone wanted to change their vote, then tallied up the results. She announced Obama the winner, to lots of cheers. From there, apparently, they elect a certain amount of delegates to go to the official state caucus and cast their votes. It was all very interesting to see the democratic process in action in a way in such a community-oriented, hands-on sort of way, that you don't usually get to see.
After the caucus we met my cousin Alan and his wife Michelle at Pike Place Market, which is like El Mercado in San Antonio only a lot cooler (Sorry, San An). In addition to the usual touristy souvenirs, the market also sold lots of fresh fruit and fish and cheese and products from local artists. You could wander in there all day. I spent the night with Alan and Michelle (many thanks), and in the morning they took me for a run around a nearby lake before heading to the airport. There was a Valentine's Day 5K going on called "Love 'em or Leave 'em," which made me laugh. Then it was time to go, and that was that! Next weekend is a holiday and I am headed to Texas, so lots of traveling going on. Until next time, a few pictures.
Skyline view from across the lake.
A troll under an overpass, made out of VW Bugs (you can see one under his left hand).
Pike Place Market
This is not Seattle, but last week's tickertape parade.
Subway steam and tickertape debris
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Ticker-tape
While I don't really care about the Superbowl, I do like a public spectacle (and confetti!), so I made my way out to Broadway, just one block from my office, to see what I could of the ticker tape parade for the NY Giants. Which turned out to be not much, since the crowd was about 50 deep from the street, but I still enjoyed the watching the fluttering debris and hearing the roar of the crowd when something exciting happened. Our venerable Mayor Bloomberg had urged people, “If you have an office along Broadway, you are encouraged to throw confetti out your windows … just don’t throw anything heavy out the window — paper only," and it was really funny to see what must have been raided from copiers and printers floating through the air, as well as rolls of toilet paper floating gently down a 20 story office building. I did see said mayor as he passed by on one of those double decker sightseeing bus, but he was the only I could recognize from as far away as I was (although, not going to lie, being closer up certainly wouldn't have made a difference...) So yes, fun times, but it was time to make our way back to the office for another day. Unfortunately I don't think I got any great pictures. Confetti doesn't photograph especially well.
Tomorrow is my last day of work for the week, because I get to go to Seattle for a conference on homelessness! I'm so excited!
Tomorrow is my last day of work for the week, because I get to go to Seattle for a conference on homelessness! I'm so excited!
Saturday, February 2, 2008
HOPE 2008
So, the previously mentioned HOPE count took place this Monday night. The city was divided into districts and volunteers were assigned to certain tracts within each district to survey. Supposedly, the NYC count is one of the most statistically sound counts in the country, but I don't know all the details about what makes it such, although I know it does have to do with how the tracts are selected to be surveyed, and the presence of decoys to serve as controls. As a DHS employee, I got to our base school at around 9:00 to set up for the volunteers. When the 30-some volunteers arrived at 11:00, we gave them a brief training on the rules. The basic gist of the evening is to give the survey to everyone you see on the street who is not actively working.
The survey asks 1. Is there someplace you call home that you are returning to tonight? 2. What type of dwelling is that place (apt/house/room/public space/abandoned building/etc) 3. Has anyone else asked you these questions tonight? You are supposed to ask everyone, because you can't really tell what's what on looks alone (and to make sure you find the decoys!). If you do find people who are homeless, you offer them a ride to the shelter intake facility (there were vans on call for this purpose). If they did not want to go, and didn't seem in danger, you just thanked them and handed them an outreach card with contact info if they should change their mind.
I went out in Bushwick, Brooklyn with fellow Fellow Ryan, our team leader Michelle and a police escort. I did most of the talking, which involved stopping those in the street, introducing myself and doing the survey. Now keep in mind, these questions are being asked to people between midnight and 2:00am. DHS does its best to publicize, but no one we talked to that night had any idea what we were doing. Only one guy refused to answer though, and we talked to around 25 people. We got some really confused looks, though, especially when we asked if anyone else had already asked them these questions.
Having a police officer with us made for an interesting dynamic. The officers were supposed to be out in pairs, and be trailing us a bit, but ours stayed close to us, which I think made a lot of the participants nervous. I don't blame them! We found one homeless guy, who told us he was a vet and had been living in a very abandoned building by the Long Island RR track for several years. He wanted to get back on his feet but didn't want to go into the shelter system. We didn't find any decoys, which wasn't unusual, but somehow we still felt like we'd missed something.
By the time we finished, I was frozen to the bone, and the night wasn't even that cold, I was only out for three hours and I was moving the whole time. I could never hack it as homeless in NYC in the winter. I don't know how people do it. What I enjoyed most was seeing the city from a completely different angle - I'm never out that late in that kind of neighborhood specifically looking for that kind of population. It was very, very interesting. Next year, I think I'd like to participate as a decoy.
Anyway, that's that. The rest of the week was eventful as well, as I attended at debate at the 92 Street Y about the existence of God, ate at a french bakery and listened to a folk singer/songwriter on the LES. That, my friends, is why I continue to love New York, although I do have to remind myself sometimes on days like today when it's cold, wet and windy.
Here's to a great weekend,
The survey asks 1. Is there someplace you call home that you are returning to tonight? 2. What type of dwelling is that place (apt/house/room/public space/abandoned building/etc) 3. Has anyone else asked you these questions tonight? You are supposed to ask everyone, because you can't really tell what's what on looks alone (and to make sure you find the decoys!). If you do find people who are homeless, you offer them a ride to the shelter intake facility (there were vans on call for this purpose). If they did not want to go, and didn't seem in danger, you just thanked them and handed them an outreach card with contact info if they should change their mind.
I went out in Bushwick, Brooklyn with fellow Fellow Ryan, our team leader Michelle and a police escort. I did most of the talking, which involved stopping those in the street, introducing myself and doing the survey. Now keep in mind, these questions are being asked to people between midnight and 2:00am. DHS does its best to publicize, but no one we talked to that night had any idea what we were doing. Only one guy refused to answer though, and we talked to around 25 people. We got some really confused looks, though, especially when we asked if anyone else had already asked them these questions.
Having a police officer with us made for an interesting dynamic. The officers were supposed to be out in pairs, and be trailing us a bit, but ours stayed close to us, which I think made a lot of the participants nervous. I don't blame them! We found one homeless guy, who told us he was a vet and had been living in a very abandoned building by the Long Island RR track for several years. He wanted to get back on his feet but didn't want to go into the shelter system. We didn't find any decoys, which wasn't unusual, but somehow we still felt like we'd missed something.
By the time we finished, I was frozen to the bone, and the night wasn't even that cold, I was only out for three hours and I was moving the whole time. I could never hack it as homeless in NYC in the winter. I don't know how people do it. What I enjoyed most was seeing the city from a completely different angle - I'm never out that late in that kind of neighborhood specifically looking for that kind of population. It was very, very interesting. Next year, I think I'd like to participate as a decoy.
Anyway, that's that. The rest of the week was eventful as well, as I attended at debate at the 92 Street Y about the existence of God, ate at a french bakery and listened to a folk singer/songwriter on the LES. That, my friends, is why I continue to love New York, although I do have to remind myself sometimes on days like today when it's cold, wet and windy.
Here's to a great weekend,
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