YSEALI PFP Day 10: Reporting to Work at Metropolitan Family Services

29 April 2019

As part of the ACYPL YSEALI Professional Fellows Program, there is a 4-week attachment to a host organisation in our placement cities (Chicago, in my case). Each Fellow will be attached to one organisation. 

During the interview and pre-departure orientation, I had asked about the role of a "fellow" within the organisation. An observer? A visitor? The response was that the Professional Fellows would be treated as a staff of the organisation during the period of the fellowship. (COOL!)

I am attached to the Metropolitan Family Services (MFS), a non-profit organisation that offers comprehensive assistance to families to empower them. Some of the services include early childhood services, legal aid, support to domestic violence victims, combating human trafficking, job training and placement, reducing gun violence, mental health support. MFS operates seven major community centers in the City of Chicago. As the first official charitable organisation, founded in the 1800s, it was first known as Chicago Relief and Aid Society, then renamed to United Charities, before being known as Metropolitan Family Services.

I am privileged to be hosted by Ricardo Estrada, the President and CEO of Metropolitan Family Services. Prior to arrival in the United States, we had discussed over the phone (as per all other fellows) on my areas of interest during the fellowship.

The Administrative HQ is at Downtown Chicago

Few organisations can boast such a long and rich history of serving communities

The second oldest Legal Aid Society (LAS) in the United States. 

Portraits of beneficiaries

Had a conversation with my host, and was shocked when he mentioned that there were about 14 shot and 4 killed this week in Chicago. While back in Singapore, I had read news about shootings in the United States, I clearly did not expect that the extent of gun violence and the frequency of it. I asked about the nature of gangs and if they were syndicated, and was given a very insightful report by the UIC Great Cities Institute on the topic. If you are keen, you can read "The Fracturing of Gangs and Violence in Chicago: A Research-Based Reorientation of Violence Prevention and Intervention Policy".

I headed off to a training conducted by the Metropolitan Peace Academy for case managers and social workers as part of the Communities Partnering for Peace (CP4P). The CP4P is a collaborative platform, comprising MFS and 8 community organisations which are dealing with violence reduction work in 9 communities. The 8 organisations are:

1. Institute of Nonviolence Chicago
2. Precious Blood
3. Target Area DevCorp
4. Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN)
5. Breakthrough
6. ALSO
7. New Life Centers
8. UCAN

Some of these organisations either provide housing assistance, medical assistance, post-trauma suport and counselling services, but are all dedicated to combating the issue of gun violence in the communities they serve.

  

UCAN hosted the venue for the Peace Academy training 

Ice breaker by participants 

Sharing on Professionalism in Case Management by Domonique

Joined Vaughn to Lawndale Christian Health Center for the next meeting. Lawndale was where Martin Luther King Jr lived when he was in Chicago.

The City of Chicago had elected a new Mayor. As part of the transition, the Mayor-elect had set up Transition Committees to engage stakeholders to realise the election promises.

I joined in the second meeting of the Transition Committee on Public Safety and Accountability, chaired by a former Attorney-General. Participants self-selected discussion groups with topics on: Immediate Responses to Violence; Community Policing; A focus on Chicago Police Department (CPD) Police. The recommendations to the Transition Committee can be found online.

 

The committee comprised representatives from Police, County office, judiciary, academic institutions, community organisations, City Office

I joined in the discussion on Community Policing, with a preconception of how we would understand community policing in Singapore's context. The meeting gave me a deep insight into the dynamics between police and the community and community organisations; the position of the Police Union.

I declared that I might not be able to fully appreciate the ground issues on the topic, but shared about how the discussion seemed to gravitate on "policing" rather than "community" in "community policing", and shared about Citizens-on-Patrol programmes in Singapore.

Dinner at Revival Food Hall, recommended by Brian

My most sinful meal in United States so far

Quite a hip venue

Miro's Chicago sculpture

George W. Dunne Cook County Office Building

We headed to Laugh Factory for our first stand-up comedy experience.

Ha Ha Ha

No entrance fee but we just had to order two drinks per pax

Amy from the Bad Waves Remix

A jovial photo with the comedians

A happy ending for the day.

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A post shared by Warren Phynix Johnson (@phynixtown) on May 6, 2019 at 4:50pm PDT