Resident Services in Denver

Last Wednesday Holly Park, one of Mercy Housing’s properties was having its initial KABOOM! day.  KABOOM! is an awesome organization that partners with companies to build playgrounds for low -income communities.  What makes this even cooler is that on this initial planning day, we rouvded-up all the kids who were available and had them draw their dream playground.  They then present their drawings to the adults.  After that the adults meet and get into committees to start making decisions like what color the body of the playground should be, avd how to deal with safety etc.

I was mainly hanging out with the playground designers (the kids) while their parents were meeting, but it just seemed like a really awesome process that involves the most important people.

In October, there will be 2 prep days, and then later in the month 200 volunteers will come together and build the entire playground.  I wish I could be around for that, but I’m so pumped for the Holly Park community.

Last week, my co-worker Sarah and I spent journeyed down to Durango (which is in the gorgeous SW corner of CO).  Our mission on this “business” trip was to talk to as many of the  residents at Mercy’s 3 Durango properties to see whta kind of services and programs they would like and aren’t receiving from other organizations and resources in the community.  Mercy recently received a grant to hire a Resident Service Coordinator in Durango, and so we were the first step, in this year-long process.

Durango is historically a very wealthy place, and affordable housing is very hard to come by.  Without an RSC, Mercy was unable to offer the kinds of programs that empower low-income families to change their situation, either with affordable daycare, GED or ESL classes, or something like a cooking class.  After a week there, and over 60 interviews, Sarah and I realized this was going to be a tricky, tricky job.  The three properties have very different populations, one is mainly people who mentally and physically differently abled, another one consists of mainly two parent families and elderly individuals, while the last is mainly single moms.  Times, interests, accessibility vary greatly.

The cycle of poverty was striking, depressing, and left me unsure of where it all even begins.  When you rent- furniture, dishes, houses, cars, there is a constant cycle of money lost and nothing gained.  So losing a job means losing most, if not everything.  I don’t know.  Daycare can cost easily $270/week, so there are moms and dads who don’t work because a min. wage job would pay the same.  It was just a lot of listening.  We need to begin to bridge the incredibly huge gap between rich and poor, and it needs to happen soon because the polarization will continue and more individuals and families will have to rent their posessions, and be one layoff away… amid all this Durango has restaurants that charge $20 for a burger…. and are doing well.

Happy posts later. I promise.

Better late than never, right? Let’s see, well I’ve been in Denver for about 6 weeks or so and have about 10 days left. Today, I was working with the Summer Program and we got to go to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for free through this awesome organization called ArtReach. We all had a blast looking at the Minerals and Gems exhibit- some of the crystals were from one of the caves featured on BBC’s Planet Earth- needless to say, it was awesome. Then we went up to the “stuffed” animals floor. Taxidermy was a bit challenging to describe to 6 year olds, but we all did our best and had fun posing s different animals. One of the highlights was riding on the escalators. As my last post said, the majority of the kids who come to Mercy Housing’s Summer Program aka Peace Pals are refugees from all over. East Africa and Burma are probably the most common places of origin, but kids reign from West Africa, Mexico, with a handful of Denver-natives. Some kids and their families have moved to the U.S from their home countries as little as 2 or 3 weeks ago, therefore escalator rides prove to be a scary and exciting adventure.

I spent last semester abroad in Ghana, and things that seem like ordinary chores (like going to the post office) often turned into adventures, so its been really awesome to be transitioning back to life in the Western-world with people who are as easily excited by “ordinary” experiences, as I was. Anywho, after the museum we played in one of those water fountains systems that spray up from the ground. All in all an awesome day.

Tomorrow, is the program’s last day, and since we this summer’s theme has been the Olympics we are having our own closing ceremonies just as the other Olympics are having their opening ceremonies.  This is of course, after my 7:30 AM meeting with my supervisor

This summer I am working for the non-profit Mercy Housing which is located in about 10 states, but has its corporate headquarters in Denver, CO.  Mercy Housing is an affordable and supportive housing organization that empowers low-income individuals and families to have safe, income-based housing.  Out here in Denver, I was originally going to be working with a new property to help set-up the resident services, but because of construction issues the property will not be opening until February.

Instead, my internship has allowed me to be involved in two other sides of resident services.  Some days I “work”(although play is a more acturate description) at a summer program for mainly refugee children whose families live in three properties throughout Denver.  The other part of my internship consists of interviewing residents at different properties to see the services and programs that are needed.  After the intervieweing, we make suggestions on how the needed programs could be implemented.

- Kathleen Abels ‘09