I work at a Young Adult Internship Program sponsored by The Greater Ridgewood Youth Council, located on the corner of Catalpa Avenue in Ridgewood Queens. This program in not located in a building, but in a rustic church that has been in the community for hundreds of years. With cathedral ceilings, stonewall foundations and rusty metal fences, “The Church on the Corner” can be described as a building straight from Hogwarts. Funded by the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), the staff and I open our doors to about thirty participants in each cohort, who come from all over the five boroughs. With three cohorts a year, we have been servicing about ninety young people a year since 2011. The populations we serve are young men and woman between the ages 18–24 who are currently not in school, or are unemployed, which means they have not held a job for about a month. This 14-week program is a paid internship, guaranteeing a job placement, earning a total of $3,800 in the allotted time. Once completing the 14 weeks, the participants enter a nine-month follow up phase where we continue to keep in contact with them. The follow up phase is designed to get each of our participants to an outcome. If the participant does not land an outcome once the 14 weeks are completed, it is my job to continue working with them until they are placed in either an educational or work based.

Our space consists of two separate offices where the Program Director and Job Developer sit, an open floor where the Facilitator, Assistant Administrator and participants work and, if you walk up a couple steps you will see the Direct Supervisors office, where my co-supervisor and myself work. Our room is elevated because, when talking with the participants, any information shared is confidential. For the first four weeks of the program, the participants are required to be on site to attend workshops that help them become workforce ready. The workshops prepare them for the world of work, school and life itself. Work Readiness workshops include: Resume & Cover Letter Writing, Email Etiquette & Customer Service Skills, and Job Interviewing Techniques & Public Speaking. Some of our Educational workshops may include: Relationships & Dating, Nutrition & Healthy Living, College Survival Tips, Financial Literacy & Budgeting, and First-Aid & CPR. In addition, guest speakers will visit our program to make presentations and participants may also go on field trips. After the first 4 weeks, the participants complete the rest of the 10 weeks by reporting to their respective worksites where the job developer has placed them based on the interest the participants shared. Throughout the internship, I led many of the workshops to better prepare them for obstacles that might come along the way. I also lead in-group discussions, meetings and individual sessions with the participants, working with them directly to help them.

Being a Direct Supervisor at a Youth Internship Program, I am responsible for the participants in my caseload. When they are assigned to me, I become not only their supervisor, but also their therapist, mentor, “big brother” and basically someone who is there for them when they need someone to talk to. When meeting each person, I sit with them one-on-one to understand who they are, what they have been through, and what their goals are during and after this program. I am a 24 year old myself, around their age, which helps them accept the help that I can. It is not easy but as I establish rapport with each of my participants, they slowly open up to me, trusting me with private information. Establishing rapport consists of getting to know who they really are, not the person who they should be at a job. I am the type of person who would rather break an individual down to help them become a stronger person instead of allowing them to mask their weaknesses. Being in the Human Service field, you must keep an open mind with any issues that can be shared between the supervisor and participant.

On a normal day, during the first four weeks in the program, I run around like a chicken without a head, making it my duty to get to know each person on my caseload. Learning thirty new faces, thirty new names, and thirty new personalities, I quickly come to realize that this job requires a lot of heart and dedication. Each participant has their own story as to how they got to this point in their lives. One young woman is currently pregnant and is looking to support herself and her new baby. Another just graduated from high school and needs money, and another is here to supply an income for his family and help pay their rent. Although their goals seem easy, a handful of participants really struggle to find themselves, and it is up to my co-worker and me to help them do that.

Since I am a direct supervisor to these thirty strangers, who I now have to gain trust from, my line of work is very hard when it comes to establishing and maintaining boundaries. Boundaries are when the staff and participants establish this line of professionalism that sets guidelines when interacting with each other. This insures that our job will get done and the 14 weeks will go smoothly and also be successful. Writing about some of my participant’s struggle’s would be unprofessional, but I will say this much, not everyone can do what I do. To become someone’s mentor comes with huge responsibility. The job I have now, I do not go to just get paid, because believe me the money is not here. I do, however, wake up every morning to get ready and go to a place I love being at. To meet 30 new faces, three times a year, presents new obstacles, challenges, and personalities that I am not afraid to conquer. One thing I always tell my group, “I don’t care what you have done in the past, all I care about is the young men and woman I see that stands before me and the men and woman that you will become once the program ends”.