Alexandra Shore
Journal 398
Spring18 Internship
Amherst Community Connections Reflection
Joining the team this term as a new intern, I had no idea what a fun, challenging, and eye-opening experience ACC would provide to me. Whenever I stepped through the doors there was a new task to complete or a new hurdle to overcome, but when it was time to wrap-up the day I was always proud to say that ACC left the community in a better place even if it was just helping one individual that day. Hwei-ling Greeney, the executive director, always worked tirelessly while maintaining strong personal connections, not only to the community members, but also her interns making everyone feel welcome. Some of the tasks that ACC provided me with have been more challenging than others, but they have given me a chance to participate actively in my local community.
My work at ACC put me in touch with a part of Amherst I had noticed, but never had the opportunity to engage with before. I got to know many of the people experiencing homelessness around Amherst, and I got a glimpse into how the fight to provide housing for these individuals worked. I now have some insight into the functions of committees of municipalities, and how those function to handle some of the regular work of maintaining the town of Amherst. I got the opportunity to write as an advocate against the PVTA changes, and got an up close look at ACC's role in local politics. I also learned the opinions of people living out in the streets of Amherst and what they genuinely thought of the system that was supposed to support them. However it so often fails in that support and even does the opposite–it exploits their condition as homeless for town material resources and welfare. I became more critical of the support structure for the town's low-income folks and people who are homeless. I learned to appreciate the town of Amherst and what it does to try and help low income folks and people experiencing homelessness, as well as my own role in the support structure. I learned some humility and gained joy at having the opportunity to interact with and get to know the people who frequented the ACC space. In general, I think I walked away from ACC with a more comprehensive understanding of what it means to be part of a community and to support both the community itself and the members that make it up.
One of my most important jobs at ACC was getting the chance to interview the homeless participants that came through the door. We tend to talk about homelessness without talking to people who are homeless. In fact, every story I had the chance to listen to and write about was individual, yet somehow, we clump “the homeless” together without taking their distinct stories into account. More than being important for the people we work with, it’s important for everyone in the community to read these stories. To get a glimpse of someone else’s life is an important treasure, especially when that person has experienced struggles that you may be fortunate enough never to experience. Realizing that when having conversations about homelessness, we’re talking about real people is an important part of coming up with realistic options to ending homelessness.
Although I have always known that I wanted to work for a non-profit organization in one way or another, interning at ACC has changed my future career path. I have decided that I would like to work as a social justice journalist. This is because Amherst Community Connections advocates for people who do not have the ability to do so for themselves, and the basic premise of being a journalist is functioning as a monitor of those whose power most affect citizens. Journalists are even sometimes referred to as “watchdogs” because we try to provide a voice to the voiceless. I was able to incorporate my writing skills as a journalist and my job of being an advocate to the homeless through interviews and casework to compile information about problems that affect the homeless participants we work with. One of my favorite projects I worked on at ACC was fighting against the proposed PVTA fare hike and route changes. I was able to work directly with our participants through interviews to hear about their feelings toward the proposed PVTA changes and then I brought their opinions directly to the local newspaper as well as state and local representatives. Telling the untold stories of people who are vulnerable and oppressed shines the light on injustice and inequality and I discovered it is something I am very passionate about.
I faced many obstacles over the course of this internship, but my hardest to overcome was when I interviewed a participant for one of the PVTA articles I was going to submit to the local newspaper. After the initial interview, I did the write-up of the story and shared it with my boss, and then she passed it on to the lady I had interviewed. Once she read what I had wrote she got very embarrassed that the whole community would read about her hardships as a homeless woman who could barely afford to ride the PVTA now, never mind after the proposed fare rise. The woman wanted me to use her as an anonymous source in the article, but I remembered what I had just learned in journalism 300, anonymous sources are never any good, so I had to keep digging for someone we worked with to let me use their name and opinions.
Although interviewing our participants and writing up the stories they wanted to share were always interesting, some of them were deep and painful. I think getting the experience to interview people on touchy subjects such as how they ended up homeless, or the hardships they faced while being homeless opened up insight into how I can be an empathetic reporter. I was able to handle tough interviews about sexual harassment, drugs and abuse with respect and care because the participants trusted me to share their story.
There is obviously no better feeling than knowing I am helping someone who is struggling in the community I am part of, but unlike donating money or clothes, I am donating my time which gives me the chance to directly see how much my help impacts the homeless participants we work with. I will never forget when a participant I had been job searching with came in with the biggest smile because he had been accepted for hire at a job I had helped him fill out an application for. Although these victories do not come without losses and frustration, I have learned how to overcome obstacles with a determined, “I can handle this” mind set.
Non-profits are more than just advocating for the specific cause, but also requires so much more work behind the scenes. Overall, interning at ACC has been beneficial for me and has enlarged my goals and aspirations for my future career. ACC has shown me and helped me to pin point what exactly I am interested in and how I can use my interests in so many different aspects. I was able to use my interests for advocacy and public policy along with my passions for writing and photography toward my various projects at this non-profit organization. I now realize that I am fully capable of utilizing all my talents and passions in one career.