AMIE
Amie’s SI Story
Amie is a Director of Family and Youth Engagement at a non-profit organization. During the pandemic, she began partnering with other community organizations to respond to the needs of children, youth, and families. This has become a collaborative of over 70 organizations that are working together to build systems to support families now and into the future. Here are excerpts from our September conversation about her reflections on serving the community during this time.
How has your work looked throughout the pandemic?
My organization is typically focused on educational advocacy and supporting families as they navigate through the education system. As soon as things shut down, we realized we had to quickly pivot to make sure we were supporting people’s basic needs being met - food, hygiene supplies, financial support for rent, different things like that. Because we knew we couldn’t have conversations around at-home learning or best practices if people were stressed and distracted by just trying to have those basic needs being met.
We quickly pivoted and partnered with several local organizations. We did bus stop food distributions because families said they were having trouble getting to the grab and go site. As we were hearing about more people needing hygiene, cleaning, school and house supplies, we did a donation drive for those kinds of household items and partnered with some local groups that also contributed to that. Then we had an abundance of supplies that we divided up into boxes and we had those out at the bus stop food distributions and let people pick items that they needed.
Then all throughout the pandemic we were in communication with partners. We started having weekly calls, and now this group is a formal collaborative. We came together just to combine our resources, combine our efforts, and do whatever we had to do to support families with what we had.
How has this work grown through the pandemic?
Every week I hear from at least two new organizations that want to be added to the collaborative. People are saying, “I heard you’re doing this work together and I want to be a part of it.” So now it’s 70+ organizations and over 120 people that have participated throughout these last few months that have really come together to combine resources and efforts. It’s new and it just came out of that reactive approach to everything shutting down.
We’re really focused on, “Okay, we understand this is a barrier right now for families,” or “We understand families are going through this, what can we as a collective do to support them?” For example, we’ve done some work around advocating and providing supports for language translation needs and we have our family hotline now with fliers out in thirteen different languages. We’re engaged in a lot of different efforts like that to move straight to the solution. We’re busier than we ever were before, but it’s very focused and very clear what we need to do and what we should be doing so it makes the long days and nights worth it.
The hotline came to be a solution that we all decided to pursue because we were getting those calls individually and calling each other saying, “Do you have a laptop?”, “Do you have access to this for a family?”, “Do you know anything about rent assistance?” We were leaning on each other any which way so we figured why not just have a hotline number and field the calls together, so that’s how it came to be. The support is really all around for sure.
What I think has been really helpful in our weekly calls or just even, in general, being able to reach out to each other and share the newest information we know. There’s no way that just a few of our organizations could have known all of this or had this inside connection to all the different areas if it wasn’t for such a big collaborative like this.
How have relationships and interactions changed?
It used to be about the deeper connections and sustaining those relationships. Right now, I think it’s just about helping people in the exact moment and knowing that might be it and that’s enough. I think it’s important to respect that this is the kind of relationship people need right now, and not asking too much of them like following-up or like doing all of those things. They know how to reach us and we know how to reach them. So respecting those boundaries.
One thing we had to check ourselves on recently is to ask ourselves: “Where’s the student voice?” and making sure we’re listening to the kids. We’ve been doing a lot of, “What does the family need?” and the kid is included in that perspective and making sure there are things for them. But we need to listen to the kids more and I think that’s something we’re really trying to shift to just checking in and simply asking them “How are you feeling?”. I know there are a lot of amazing educators out there right now that are doing that on a regular basis and not just trying to treat it as business as usual. There are teachers we know that throughout the summer, leading up to the school year were just checking in with students and making sure they were connected to everyone who would be in their class. As out-of-school time providers, I think it’s important for everyone to remember to not have on their adult lens of “Let me fix it. I know what’s best,” and just listen to youth.
Where do you see your work in the next few months, in the next year?
Before, I think everyone was holding on to “We’re going to get back to normal real soon!” Now, I think we all kind of have a grasp that, even though there are so many variables, we see where we’re going to be and how this is impacting our families and what our role is there. So we’ve been shifting towards the long term solutions and trying to help promote opportunities if they exist. So that’s where I see our work heading, not that reactive approach that we had before, but putting the systems in place to have it exist for families. Now we have three working groups that people can join: Out-of-School Time Partnership, Technology, and At-home Learning & Family Communications. For example, in the out-of-school time partnerships group, we’ve been trying to figure out how do we get the funding, the supplies, and the staff trained up to function according to CDC regulations or things like that? I think, now especially, recognizing the value that out-of-school time programs bring and making sure they have what they need to continue to provide this resource and support to families.
What do you think we should advocate for now?
I think what people need to be advocating for and paying attention to are the huge inequities that have existed and have just been exacerbated in the current situation. There’s no reason why one school should have supports and resources and devices and so on while others struggle to even get a device which they need right now for at-home learning. Just hearing the stories that we’ve heard from families and knowing that there’s no reason why families should be having this huge of a difference in experience and opportunity for their child to learn - I think that’s where the issue lies. Not only is the system inequitable, but sometimes people think, “I got a device, so everything’s great and they’re handling it really well.”, and don’t recognize the bigger issues that exist. What about the other percentage of students that don’t have that experience. You have to care about them. People have a lot on their plate and so to fight the fight for others sometimes is a lot to ask of people, but it can be a simple, quick effort. Imagine if people did one effort that all combined would be flooding those that are making the decisions or shaping these experiences that people are having.
What has been a meaningful shift in your work?
We were already shifting more towards “How can we be supportive?” and just kind of lead-by-example as far as best practices in the partnerships that we were able to pursue. We’re not trying to bang our head against the wall about making sure we prove a point that there are these issues and inequities that people should care about. We’re more just saying, “Okay, that’s an issue. This principal is willing to work closely with us. Let’s pursue that path and make it work and show people how it can work in that area.” So I think that’s been a shift strategically.
We’re also asking: “What are the solutions that we can own?” and let’s do them. The long days and nights feel worth it too because you don’t just feel like you’re yelling into an empty room or like no one’s listening or no one’s taking this on with us. Now I feel like we’re getting things done… like there’s traction and everybody’s coming together.
If you are local to Pittsburgh, we want to share this resource with you. Amie’s work is part of the Pittsburgh Learning Collaborative. To learn more, click here: https://www.ourschoolspittsburgh.org/pgh-learning-collaborative.
How has your work looked throughout the pandemic?
My organization is typically focused on educational advocacy and supporting families as they navigate through the education system. As soon as things shut down, we realized we had to quickly pivot to make sure we were supporting people’s basic needs being met - food, hygiene supplies, financial support for rent, different things like that. Because we knew we couldn’t have conversations around at-home learning or best practices if people were stressed and distracted by just trying to have those basic needs being met.
We quickly pivoted and partnered with several local organizations. We did bus stop food distributions because families said they were having trouble getting to the grab and go site. As we were hearing about more people needing hygiene, cleaning, school and house supplies, we did a donation drive for those kinds of household items and partnered with some local groups that also contributed to that. Then we had an abundance of supplies that we divided up into boxes and we had those out at the bus stop food distributions and let people pick items that they needed.
Then all throughout the pandemic we were in communication with partners. We started having weekly calls, and now this group is a formal collaborative. We came together just to combine our resources, combine our efforts, and do whatever we had to do to support families with what we had.
How has this work grown through the pandemic?
Every week I hear from at least two new organizations that want to be added to the collaborative. People are saying, “I heard you’re doing this work together and I want to be a part of it.” So now it’s 70+ organizations and over 120 people that have participated throughout these last few months that have really come together to combine resources and efforts. It’s new and it just came out of that reactive approach to everything shutting down.
We’re really focused on, “Okay, we understand this is a barrier right now for families,” or “We understand families are going through this, what can we as a collective do to support them?” For example, we’ve done some work around advocating and providing supports for language translation needs and we have our family hotline now with fliers out in thirteen different languages. We’re engaged in a lot of different efforts like that to move straight to the solution. We’re busier than we ever were before, but it’s very focused and very clear what we need to do and what we should be doing so it makes the long days and nights worth it.
The hotline came to be a solution that we all decided to pursue because we were getting those calls individually and calling each other saying, “Do you have a laptop?”, “Do you have access to this for a family?”, “Do you know anything about rent assistance?” We were leaning on each other any which way so we figured why not just have a hotline number and field the calls together, so that’s how it came to be. The support is really all around for sure.
What I think has been really helpful in our weekly calls or just even, in general, being able to reach out to each other and share the newest information we know. There’s no way that just a few of our organizations could have known all of this or had this inside connection to all the different areas if it wasn’t for such a big collaborative like this.
How have relationships and interactions changed?
It used to be about the deeper connections and sustaining those relationships. Right now, I think it’s just about helping people in the exact moment and knowing that might be it and that’s enough. I think it’s important to respect that this is the kind of relationship people need right now, and not asking too much of them like following-up or like doing all of those things. They know how to reach us and we know how to reach them. So respecting those boundaries.
One thing we had to check ourselves on recently is to ask ourselves: “Where’s the student voice?” and making sure we’re listening to the kids. We’ve been doing a lot of, “What does the family need?” and the kid is included in that perspective and making sure there are things for them. But we need to listen to the kids more and I think that’s something we’re really trying to shift to just checking in and simply asking them “How are you feeling?”. I know there are a lot of amazing educators out there right now that are doing that on a regular basis and not just trying to treat it as business as usual. There are teachers we know that throughout the summer, leading up to the school year were just checking in with students and making sure they were connected to everyone who would be in their class. As out-of-school time providers, I think it’s important for everyone to remember to not have on their adult lens of “Let me fix it. I know what’s best,” and just listen to youth.
Where do you see your work in the next few months, in the next year?
Before, I think everyone was holding on to “We’re going to get back to normal real soon!” Now, I think we all kind of have a grasp that, even though there are so many variables, we see where we’re going to be and how this is impacting our families and what our role is there. So we’ve been shifting towards the long term solutions and trying to help promote opportunities if they exist. So that’s where I see our work heading, not that reactive approach that we had before, but putting the systems in place to have it exist for families. Now we have three working groups that people can join: Out-of-School Time Partnership, Technology, and At-home Learning & Family Communications. For example, in the out-of-school time partnerships group, we’ve been trying to figure out how do we get the funding, the supplies, and the staff trained up to function according to CDC regulations or things like that? I think, now especially, recognizing the value that out-of-school time programs bring and making sure they have what they need to continue to provide this resource and support to families.
What do you think we should advocate for now?
I think what people need to be advocating for and paying attention to are the huge inequities that have existed and have just been exacerbated in the current situation. There’s no reason why one school should have supports and resources and devices and so on while others struggle to even get a device which they need right now for at-home learning. Just hearing the stories that we’ve heard from families and knowing that there’s no reason why families should be having this huge of a difference in experience and opportunity for their child to learn - I think that’s where the issue lies. Not only is the system inequitable, but sometimes people think, “I got a device, so everything’s great and they’re handling it really well.”, and don’t recognize the bigger issues that exist. What about the other percentage of students that don’t have that experience. You have to care about them. People have a lot on their plate and so to fight the fight for others sometimes is a lot to ask of people, but it can be a simple, quick effort. Imagine if people did one effort that all combined would be flooding those that are making the decisions or shaping these experiences that people are having.
What has been a meaningful shift in your work?
We were already shifting more towards “How can we be supportive?” and just kind of lead-by-example as far as best practices in the partnerships that we were able to pursue. We’re not trying to bang our head against the wall about making sure we prove a point that there are these issues and inequities that people should care about. We’re more just saying, “Okay, that’s an issue. This principal is willing to work closely with us. Let’s pursue that path and make it work and show people how it can work in that area.” So I think that’s been a shift strategically.
We’re also asking: “What are the solutions that we can own?” and let’s do them. The long days and nights feel worth it too because you don’t just feel like you’re yelling into an empty room or like no one’s listening or no one’s taking this on with us. Now I feel like we’re getting things done… like there’s traction and everybody’s coming together.
If you are local to Pittsburgh, we want to share this resource with you. Amie’s work is part of the Pittsburgh Learning Collaborative. To learn more, click here: https://www.ourschoolspittsburgh.org/pgh-learning-collaborative.