First Week Done

Well I have now completed my first full week of work as a volunteer fellow with Jericho Road, and it has been a long informative, tiring week. I have learned sooo much about community organizing and development, learning everything from how to set up meetings with community members  to what it actually means to be doing community organizing and development. For the first few days it seemed all we were doing was learning about the different aspects of community organizing and the influences it has on Jericho Road, as well as the neighborhoods which JR serves in Central City.

Central City is basically highlighted.

Central City is the district in New Orleans that Jericho Road has decided to place it's focus on, and this was a plan put in place before Hurricane Katrina. My job with JR is called Neighborhood Coordinator, which means I am responsible for helping one of the neighborhoods in Central City. I will be attending community meetings, facilitating neighborhood circles (or meetings held in homes by people in a specific block), updating the neighborhood on community events, and attending events held by the community. Alongside this we are also responsible for helping other parts of the JR organization, such as helping with the community green spaces, or selling houses. It sounds like a lot, and it probably will be, I am going to be working hard to make sure I stay organized (what an organized community organizer...lol?). Essentially I am managing the community, and helping provide information where it is needed.

It was when we took a tour of the neighborhoods that I realized just how messy this situation is going to be, especially since one of our neighborhoods doesn't have a clue that JR exists, and those that do are not really in favor of JR involvement. While I hope that I am not responsible for that neighborhood, I will take it if my supervisor assigns it to me. However I am excited because this coming week we are going into the individual neighborhoods to do surveys and talk to the people directly. While we are not being assigned a neighborhood directly yet, we are getting a chance to do the work that we have been learning about for the past week.

http://www.jerichohousing.org/

Well I have to stop talking about my life for now. So until next time.

Peace