10th Anniversary - Reflections & Growth

·         

What will I remember most about this class in 2022  --

My classmates exemplified heart & soul during the class discussions about what social issue to address and which nonprofit organizations should be funded and why. They divulged their struggles with poverty, lack of meals, growing up on food stamps, being homeless, mounting bills, and surviving abuse. They stood their ground to dispel common notions – more like damning with faint praise – that are merely ingrained stereotypes about the homeless eschewing job opportunities, incapable of working, and preferring to live on the streets as being carefree. They enlightened us about why the homeless must retain their pets and about how survival depends more on keeping families together than having a bed for the night.

My classmates walk their talk – they pay it forward by volunteering, advocating for the poor, and fashioning a college education and career that dovetails with their passion for social justice and their dream – actually expectations - for a better world. During heated discussions, a handful of classmates – males and females -- would become teary. I witnessed raw pain, still ever glaring many years later. I was touched that they spoke frankly about their childhood. This poignancy and their grace will live with me. I am honoured.

What did I learn from this experience?

On first blush, I learned the nuts & bolts of being a funder or grantmaker, even though we weren’t awarding large grants. I appreciated more what my grant writing professors taught me and what professional grant writers struggle with – engender the grant application to come to life, yet be succinct, don’t bore the reader, and instigate curiosity about their clients so that they would be tapped for funding. That’s the clinical, analytical and rational sides of me when learning about and working in the sphere of nonprofits.

The gritty aspects of grants encompass separating the wheat from the chaff. I clashed with classmates, drilled down on financial reports, peeled away expenses listed in budgets, and posed cutting queries of applicants. Obtaining and confirming factoids, numbers, and details contained in grant applications that I’ve assisted with crafting did annoy me at times. However, in this class, I embraced those inputs, outputs, and outcomes, both the small and large figures.

A few lessons were felt in my gut. Denying a worthy applicant. Turning down help for children with cancer. Sorrow for those grant writers who toiled for nothing to show for. My gut churned at times because I’ve been that person who was rejected and who felt dejected. On a cheerier note, I was most impressed about the nonprofit applicants and their programs, successes, and growth. It was auspicious that so many people in Oregon volunteer, work with nonprofits, and/or donate. One in three Oregonians volunteer.

  

What did I accomplish?

I am but a cog in a wheel.

This class accomplished something intangible – granting the ability for children to anticipate frivolity and stability while at Community Transitional School. With expenses for a van covered for the summer of 2017, they can stay in school, partake in a carefree season of activities, and remain with their friends, parents, and teachers.

To anticipate fun means the world to homeless children.

Too often, children without homes become friends with hunger, chilled nights, weird smells, intrusive strangers, scratchy blankets and interrupted slumber. They cannot afford to anticipate. To do so would mean that they carry hope, which is the kernel to budding daydreams, entertaining future plans, and sparking confidence to feel secure about themselves and about their world.

Having transportation may seem so pedestrian of an accomplishment. Funding a van isn’t flashy nor makes a splash in brochures or on a website. But to allow a child to anticipate a summer of fun is most precious. We honour the sacredness of a child’s heart and whim.

What surprised me the most?

Several things surprised me. First, how much passion my younger colleagues showed every week during class, for the applicants, for the homeless, and for our selections. I realized that I was holding onto stereotypes of young students (teens and early 20s) of being indifferent, or worse, too self-absorbed. Not true.

Another surprise was the harsh reaction of one of the finalists. The executive director lashed out in an e-mail and voice message to our instructor upon learning about being denied a grant. This executive director apparently believed that being a finalist meant that the nonprofit organization was already selected, with the amount of the grant as the only unanswered question. Portland is a small world, and the sphere of nonprofits in Oregon is even smaller. Many of us were stunned by such unprofessionalism.

Lastly, what surprised me the most was the depth of services for homeless families. The number of housing units in the Portland metropolis was much larger, and some key organizations provide a plethora of wraparound services, a variety of education/courses for clients & their children, and maintain rental homes in nicer neighborhoods. By nestling homes in better school districts and near mass transit, their clients will have greater success to remain in their homes and with their families. It’s not just about putting a roof over their heads.

I hope that other students, especially on the community college level, will be able to take this Students For Giving course, as we celebrate the 10-year anniversary. I graduated from a major university with a science degree and am blessed to have taken courses at this thriving community college. Portland Community College is the only community college among 40+ universities to participate in this innovative and moving course sponsored by the Learning by Giving Program. I am deeply grateful for this support and selection of our community college among major universities and highly lauded colleges nationwide.