As I start my fellowship with WHEDco, I haven’t yet gotten the chance to interact with a lot of my co-workers, but I see myself fitting in pretty well with them. The few conversations I have had went well, and my team expressed excitement to have me on for the summer.
I think I am perceived by others as more on the quiet and reserved side. This is likely because the primary space I’ve interacted with my co-workers at WHEDco was at Southern Boulevard Coalition meetings, where people from several non-profit organizations take part in. It was interesting to be in a space that was simultaneously broad and intimate: there were people across many organizations, but they all worked around the same goals and seemed to know each other well. At first, I felt slightly overwhelmed to be in this setting before I’d had the chance to solidify my relationships with the people at WHEDco I work most directly with. As the summer unfolds, I am hoping to build more confidence so that I can take advantage of this unique opportunity to build cross-organizational relationships.
On that note, WHEDco’s interconnected relationships with other stakeholders in the South Bronx is what makes me feel most confident, as it opens the door for learning opportunities that directly relate to my central research question. WHEDco is in continuous conversation with a variety of non-profit organizations, coalitions, and City departments. Within the first couple weeks of my fellowship, I have already had the opportunity to participate in these cross-organizational spaces: I attended the Southern Boulevard Coalition’s Steering Committee Meeting, where people representing a number of organizations came together to discuss the Bronx-Wide Platform.
The main thing making me anxious is the lack of structure in my work with WHEDco so far. On some occasions, I will be given assignments without it being clear how the assignment connects to the larger project that it is a part of. Furthermore, I have yet to identify a central research project with Kerry and Yesmin – I am hoping that moving forward, clarifying a project will help me feel more grounded in my work with WHEDco for the duration of the summer.
Furthermore, I have been reflecting on the remote nature of my (and WHEDco’s) work. One of my tasks last week was to map out all the businesses located on Southern Boulevard on an Excel spreadsheet. I relied a lot on Yesmin, who walked along the Boulevard to make sure every address and corresponding business was documented on the spreadsheet. I, on the other hand, used Google Maps, Yelp, and social media to locate basic information about each business. I was surprised by how many of the businesses were not listed on Google Maps altogether. Even more of the businesses were missing hours of operation, reviews, and phone numbers.
As my remote setting had me relying entirely on online resources, I started to realize how this community around Southern Boulevard likely has a very different relationship to the internet than I do. This brings up questions around how this neighborhood’s local economy works. Does the consumer base of these hair salons, auto shops, locksmiths, and convenience stores rely more on word of mouth? If so, what implications does this have for WHEDco, since they primarily work with small businesses on Southern Boulevard in their projects to support the local economy? These are all questions I would love to keep exploring through the summer.
Thanks for sharing, Nosheen. That’s great that you’re getting to make connections with folks at other organizations. Developing those relationships could be great for future research and professional opportunities! That’s also really fascinating about the mapping exercise and the assumptions many of us tend to make these days about businesses being on Google Maps, etc. Sounds like you already have some great potential material for prompt #8!