Today's program is sponsored by the number "60"
That's today's magic number "60"!
60 surveys to be completed and analyzed in 60 days. It's not often that I feel really daunted by a task. I'm usually pretty much able to see a challenge, find at least one road of attack and then jump in feet first. My ability to organize has always served me well in this capacity. This challenge however, just won't seem to budge. I have exhausted every idea that I have to entice the people that I'm supposed to be surveying (including begging and bribery), and I remain at only 20% of my goal.
It all boils down to...TRUST. I've mentioned the "class" issues surrounding my job briefly in other post, and this trust thing is a huge part of it. I'm struggling with being a white woman who although I lived in poverty my whole life I was exposed on a regular basis to upper-middle class society and norms and raised with many of those particular set of values. I'm working with **I hate the term "lower-class", but I'm at a loss for another phrase** mostly African American population that has consistently been screwed, and as such has learned to be suspicious. I learned early on that the way I may dress and my language greatly affects my ability to relate and connect with the families I serve. I want so much for them to trust me, in order to do my job effectively I need them to trust me. There have been some minor vicotries with the families I see day to day. I've been able to slowly gain some trust although I recognize that I'm one missed phone call or dropped ball away from losing it.
The families that I'm trying to survey are ones that have been out of the program for at least two years. We're trying to learn more about their experiences, but I can't even get them to call me back. *sigh* This challenges so much about me, and I'm finding it hard to not take it personally. That teeny little voice in the back of my head translating the snub as a personal attack. I know this is about cultural differences. I know that this is about centuries of learned behavior and survival mentality. I know that my skin affords me a lot of things. What I don't know is how to make that connection. What I don't know is how to apply the theories of poverty, racial disparity and social sturcture into a working model to help get these families to just give me a few moments.
This is the issue that caused me to pull away from the UU Young Adult movement...the practice in the theory. I could tell these families all day long, that I'm an Alley, that I've studied racial politics, genocide and oppression...and at the end of the day "it don't mean squat". I'm still white, I'm still in the South and oppression still exist...and I still have 60 surveys to complete in 60 days.
60 surveys to be completed and analyzed in 60 days. It's not often that I feel really daunted by a task. I'm usually pretty much able to see a challenge, find at least one road of attack and then jump in feet first. My ability to organize has always served me well in this capacity. This challenge however, just won't seem to budge. I have exhausted every idea that I have to entice the people that I'm supposed to be surveying (including begging and bribery), and I remain at only 20% of my goal.
It all boils down to...TRUST. I've mentioned the "class" issues surrounding my job briefly in other post, and this trust thing is a huge part of it. I'm struggling with being a white woman who although I lived in poverty my whole life I was exposed on a regular basis to upper-middle class society and norms and raised with many of those particular set of values. I'm working with **I hate the term "lower-class", but I'm at a loss for another phrase** mostly African American population that has consistently been screwed, and as such has learned to be suspicious. I learned early on that the way I may dress and my language greatly affects my ability to relate and connect with the families I serve. I want so much for them to trust me, in order to do my job effectively I need them to trust me. There have been some minor vicotries with the families I see day to day. I've been able to slowly gain some trust although I recognize that I'm one missed phone call or dropped ball away from losing it.
The families that I'm trying to survey are ones that have been out of the program for at least two years. We're trying to learn more about their experiences, but I can't even get them to call me back. *sigh* This challenges so much about me, and I'm finding it hard to not take it personally. That teeny little voice in the back of my head translating the snub as a personal attack. I know this is about cultural differences. I know that this is about centuries of learned behavior and survival mentality. I know that my skin affords me a lot of things. What I don't know is how to make that connection. What I don't know is how to apply the theories of poverty, racial disparity and social sturcture into a working model to help get these families to just give me a few moments.
This is the issue that caused me to pull away from the UU Young Adult movement...the practice in the theory. I could tell these families all day long, that I'm an Alley, that I've studied racial politics, genocide and oppression...and at the end of the day "it don't mean squat". I'm still white, I'm still in the South and oppression still exist...and I still have 60 surveys to complete in 60 days.