I was surprised that, when responding to the question "what are you doing after graduation?" many of my classmates and family members were surprised to hear that I would be working for Mid-Iowa Community Action, a social service organization that serves families in poverty. An alumnus that I talked with during Grinnell's reunion weekend asked "is there poverty in Grinnell?" Like every other place in the country, Poweshiek County is indeed home to families and individuals from every income level. Walking into MICA on my first day knowing that poverty existed in Grinnell meant I was on the right track, but I still had a lot to learn. Almost three months later, I've learned so much; still, I've only begun to scratch the surface of everything there is to know about poverty in Iowa and the work MICA and other organizations are doing to eliminate it.
Learning the ropes
I volunteered at MICA during my senior year, so I at least knew my way around the office and had met most of the staff, but still, I had plenty to learn. My days as a volunteer had allowed me to get to know Marie, the 2005-2006 Grinnell Corps MICA fellow, who left me some pretty big shoes to fill (I'm speaking figuratively, of course) but kindly answered my numerous questions about MICA and the fellowship, which helped me get started and settle in.
In case you're unfamiliar with MICA, it's a community action agency that strives to eliminate poverty for children and families. MICA's mission is "helping people, changing lives, building communities". We serve five core counties (Poweshiek, Tama, Story, Marshall and Hardin) in central Iowa and also offer services in 28 other Iowa counties. At the Family Development Center in Grinnell, our staff operates a food pantry, administers emergency grants for rent, utilities and medical expenses, and oversees a number of other programs and services, including two Head Start classrooms. The staff is made up of a Family Development Worker (Paula), four Family Development Specialists (Rachel, Mindy, Melissa and our newest team member Joy), an Infant/Toddler Development Specialist (Roma) and a County Director (Dick).There's really no "typical" day at MICA that I can describe to give a better picture of what I do here; some days in the office are very busy, spent working in the food pantry, handing out food boxes and filling out applications with families for emergency funds. And some hot summer days are slow, so I've been able to leave the office to go on home visits with several of the Family Development Specialists to learn about the work they do with families. I also substituted in the Head Start classroom for a few weeks while they were hiring a new teacher. And, I've been learning about and connecting with other social service organizations in Grinnell, which allows me to quickly refer our families to the services they need and gives me a clearer picture of how community agencies form coalitions and work together. For example, I recently attended a meeting of the Poweshiek County Healthy Choices Coalition, which is made up of organizations and agencies involved in physical and mental health services or treatment.
Head Start
MICA's Poweshiek County office oversees two Head Start classrooms; one is a full day program and the other half-day. To qualify for both programs, families must meet the income guidelines; additionally, for the full day program families must be working or going to school full time. During the two weeks that I substituted in the classroom, I learned a lot about Head Start and the impact it has on children's lives. By getting a "head start", these students will have be at an advantage when they get to kindergarten - they'll already know how to behave in a classroom, how to write their name, how to count and say the alphabet. The Head Start teachers track each student's progress to ensure that any student who needs extra help gets it. Students are encouraged to "make good decisions", which can apply to anything from resisting the urge to throw rocks down the slide to taking turns playing at the sand table. Although substituting at Head Start gave me great hope for students everywhere who have this opportunity, there were times that I wished we could do more. It was disheartening for me to watch as children who could barely write their own names turned blocks or pieces of wood into pretend guns. It seems as if no about of positive learning can help students unlearn the negative images and messages they are taking in outside of the Head Start classroom.
In addition to seeing how Head Start operates, I attended an Early Childhood Programming meeting to observe how decisions about Head Start and Early Head Start policies and programming are made. Policy Council is made up of parents of children in Head Start and several "community representatives" (community members who have an interest in early childhood programming). The council is completely run by parents, and while MICA staff members are on-hand to answer questions, they are not part of the decision-making process. It is inspiring to see parents shaping the policies and programs that will impact their children's Head Start experiences. It also gives me hope that MICA, by empowering individuals and communities through grassroots organizing, is actually a catalyst for social change.
Life in Iowa
Reading through the reports of previous fellows, it seems customary to make some comments about living in Grinnell after graduating from the college. Graduation was perhaps easier for me than for some of my classmates, because I didn't have to say goodbye to Grinnell, and while my classmates were moving across the country or to far corners of the world, I was moving two blocks down Broad Street. Still, many of my friends could not believe that I would voluntarily stay in Grinnell for a fifth year. But while some might think that Grinnell Corps in Grinnell is the least exhilarating and exotic of the fellowships, I have been having many exciting and eye-opening experiences. I suspected, and I have not been wrong about this, that working for MICA would teach me to see Grinnell differently. And while expanding my understanding of poverty in Iowa is challenging and difficult, during my first two and a half months at MICA I have been consistently impressed with the effective and empowering work that the MICA staff accomplishes.
Although this is the second summer I've spent living in Grinnell, it's been a very different experience. Last summer I was doing research, and although I had a little more time to explore Iowa than I did during the school year, most of my live still revolved around Burling Library. This summer, however, I've not only been able to see Grinnell differently through my job, I've also had more time to explore all of the excitement Iowa has to offer. I watched dozens of hot air balloons light up a night sky at the National Balloon Classic in Indianola, Iowa, saw a cow being carved out of butter at the State Fair in Des Moines, and made weekly visits to the Grinnell Farmer's Market, which is conveniently located right in front of MICA's office!
As students start to trickle back onto campus, it is finally starting to hit me that I've graduated. When asked what I'm doing still in Grinnell, I don't have a quick answer - I'm not a student, but I'm still connected to the college, and I work at MICA, but I'm not technically an employee. But I'm comforted knowing that I'm not the only recent college graduate to be in a transitional stage of life. And of course, one of great things about serving as the fellow at MICA is being able to bring my connections to the college to community organizations in Grinnell. For example, we are in need of volunteers in the food pantry and Head Start, so I plan on using my connections to campus groups and academic departments to spread the word to students who might be interested.
Until Next Quarterly Reportâ¦
The temperature is finally beginning to drop out of the 90s and summer is almost over. At MICA, I get calls every day about our winter energy assistance program (LIHEAP, which stands for Low-Income Energy Assistance Program), which means that soon we will be busy taking applications. Until my next report, I'd love to hear comments or questions about MICA or the Grinnell Corps fellowship! Please feel free to contact me at herethja@grinnell.edu.
