so what exactly do you do again?

that is the question that i have been asked countless times since i moved to san antonio. i know it sounds crazy, but i didn't really go looking for my current job, rather it found me. in a strange twist of events and some very divine intervention, i accepted a job in january with a non-profit organization called joven - y si conozcas tu español, significa la palabra "youth" in english. it also stands for a complicated acronym: youth outreach vocational educational network. check out our website www.jovensa.org because it explains things much better than i can.

essentially, our organization is charged with meeting the emotional, physical, and mental needs of the VERY at-risk children (K-12) that live in the southern san antonio region. yes, that definition was extremely broad, but basically we make sure that students who are being raised in an unstable environment develop character, resilience, competency, ambition, and coping mechanisms. the organization offers several different programs ranging in everything from health education, substance abuse prevention, leaderships skills, case management, higher education development, and the list goes on and on and on...

in addition to providing vital services to people that desperately need them, we also have to work very hard to get out into the sa community to form partnerships, networks, and relationships. anyone who has ever worked for an NPO (non-prof organization in social world jargon) knows that relationship management is EVERYTHING. if you can't work with people, you have no resources, no funding, and zero credibility. our organization operates through grants (federal and state) and contributions from foundations and corporations so it is so important to maintain the ability to reach out to these people and keep them interested in what you're doing.

specifically, i work on a grant from the texas department of health that gives me the opportunity to run youth leadership clubs at 12 different sites in three different school districts. i work with about 145 (the number is growing everyday) kids ages 11-15 and help them develop "leadership skills", but more than anything i just try to invest everything i have into them. though my official title is "children's service specialist," i really wear the hats of a counselor/educator/mentor/case worker/friend/ and sometimes surrogate parent. i have learned that in 100% of all cases, once again, it all boils down to building relationships. nine times out of ten, these kids aren't receiving any kind of guidance, discipline, or attention at home and so somehow, someway i try to give that to them.

i would say that the hardest part of my job is removing myself personally from the situation. to do this job, you have to put your whole heart into it because to be good at it, that's what's required of you. you have to care and you have to advocate for every single individual child so that you can help his or her welfare. but there's a doubled-edged sword there because at the end of the day when you have a child literally hanging onto your legs begging to come home with you so that they don't have to face the situation going on at their own home, you can't rescue them. that part of the job hasn't been easy on me and it's something i really struggle with, but i do the best i can.

anyway...all that serious stuff aside; after all the grant writing and paper work is over, i get to have so much fun! and yes, i get to be a kid again!



this picture was taken today...gosh, we all had so much fun. we set up a moon bounce, ordered pizzas, and i even made brownies for some of our kids from harlandale middle school. we had to reward these kids for doing such a good job and getting good grades back on their report cards...



this was a total success...they loved it!



and miss shannan even got inside and jumped around in the deathly hot, sweaty moon bounce...



i also get to take the kids on really cool field trips...on this particular day, we took them to the hospital for a teen health camp. they learned how to sew stitches and even put real casts on each other! boy those were fun to get off...(not)



i also took them to the houston street fair in front of the alamo which just so happened coincided with the texas independence day festival.



afterwards, they talked me into taking them to peter piper's pizza. note to self: on a saturday, there are generally 200 people having their birthday parties there simultaneously...but i did beat 15 of them in an intense DDR competition, they doubted the gringa's skills.



it's also very important to me that the kids have a service component to what they learn, so i try to provide them with as many service opportunities as possible. they tend to like the ones that accompany holidays, so here we are making valentine's cards for a local nursing home....they made over 200 of them!



cutie!



i found this message inside one of their cards and i thought it said everything just perfectly. this is why i get up every morning and do what i do. i love those kids to death and i love my job!