Chasing the Dream Instagram Campaign
For Chasing the Dream's Instagram Page, I individually researched, reported, photographed and wrote three series: #MyEverydayHustle, Profiles of Sheltering Arms NY, and St. Francis College's Post-Prison Program. Please visit the Instagram page for more examples of my posts on these topics.
This week, we're telling the stories of 4 homeless youth at @shelteringarmsny and their hopes for the #newyear:
Mimi, 20, first came to Sheltering Arms when she graduated middle school in the area. Mimi was on probation and was struggling in school. She knew she needed more resources and help to self-manage, “I knew I wouldn’t get far with that anger. I was told I was going to get kicked out of school, so that’s when I thought ‘Something has to give.’ I came back to Sheltering Arms and they gave me advice. Eventually I was thinking about college,” Mimi recalls. Mimi says she wants to be a social worker and a pediatrician, and is looking for a college program with professional course options.
Currently, Mimi is working three jobs to save up money to pay for tuition: she works in an after-school program at a local public elementary school, she is a group leader that floats between classes for the same school, and she is a security guard for a family shelter in Brooklyn. Her only rest day is Sunday.
Sheltering Arms supports Mimi, providing her with food, clothes, professional guidance and connections to jobs. Most impactfully, they have given Mimi transitional housing. But the housing only allows youth to stay until their 21st birthday - and Mimi turns 21 this month. She’s used their saving system and has saved almost $2,000 from her jobs while receiving housing through Safe Space. Now, with 21 quickly approaching, Sheltering Arms is setting her up with new housing, which she will pay in part for, and which lasts for 5 years. She’ll be set-up with social security and government assistance. She’ll be paying 30% of her check towards rent, but is grateful that she has a 5-year plan ahead of her. “This system works,” Mimi says. Mimi’s hope for the 2018 #newyear is to return to college and continue her degree.
Frank Bruno//Vendor: "I had a company in the Empire State Building--clothing business--with over 130 people working for me in Huber Heights in Ohio. And we used to produce license T-shirts. The government wound up getting too friendly with China, if that's what you want to call it. And it killed our mills here and my business was gone after 30 years in about one year. I lost Wal-Mart, Kmart, and all of them to overseas imports. And I had to find something. A friend of mine was vending in front of the Empire State Building. Told me if you you're a disabled vet you could do this. So I applied for the license and got it. And I've been doing it ever since. So I've been doing it for 18 years." #MyEverydayHustle
#MyEverydayHustle - Meet Anai Rodriguez, a 35-year old Sunset Park resident. While Rodriguez works as an eldercare provider today, her journey to where she is now is unique. Rodriguez came to the United States from Mexico City in 1998, “I came to New York because that was my only option. My sister came first, so my mom sent me here.” She was 16 years old. “I love living here because I have my kids here now, but I miss my country. I haven’t been back,” she explains.
Over the years, Rodriguez worked several babysitting and factory jobs, until she started talking to a neighborhood friend who told her about the Center for Family Life Cooperative. They had eldercare job opportunities with a small, locally-run business called “Golden Steps.”
“I already had experience caring for my mother back home because she had diabetes and she was very sick, as was my grandma,” Rodriguez explains. So, in 2011, she applied for a position and got the job. “It’s a very flexible job, and I’m really happy with the Co-op because my schedule allows me to make time for my kids and stay at least one day a week home with them,” she said of spending time with her 4 children, ages 11 through 15.
Rodriguez says, however, that it isn’t all easy, “I am a single mom, so it’s difficult because I have to work and pay for everything in my house. My kids are not little anymore but they aren’t big [enough to work]. It’s difficult to pay rent and the bills and for the babysitter.” She says she gets some financial help from her ex-husband and from city benefits. Still, her Sunset Park apartment is the largest burden, with rent at $2500 a month.
“I believe in the American Dream, but it’s hard to find. We have doors closed to us sometimes when we don’t speak English. But they’re there.”
Richie Soto//Muralist: "Why did I choose it? I don't know if I chose it more or it chose me. Since I could hold a pen or a pencil, it's pretty much what I did. I've tried nine to five jobs. I've been good at them but I wasn't necessarily happy about them. So putting pressure on myself to kind of make a living doing what I want to do as opposed to what other people wanting me to do is kind of... I find you realize more who you are in stressed situations as opposed to comfort." #MyEverydayHustle
#MyEverydayHustle - Marta Martinez has been with Golden Steps, an elder-care Cooperative incubated by the Center for Family Life, for 3 years.
But this wasn’t always her career. When Martinez first came to New York 25 years ago, she was an independent babysitter in Brooklyn. She held this job for seven years, “I was shy - I didn’t speak English. But I stayed overnight. These people were very nice, but I spent seven years there, and most of those years seven days and nights a week.” Martinez found the less-than-ideal working conditions to be frustrating at times, “I got upset sometimes. I had to control myself and not forget why I need those dollars. Sometimes, I didn’t get my pay. They agreed to pay me $140 a week for 6 days. If I worked Sundays, it was $25 extra. It was really a sacrifice. But I needed those $140.” Martinez stayed motivated by family back home. Specifically, her daughter, who was back in El Salvador, “I left behind me a little girl, and I want her to have a good life - or at least a better life than I had. I want my girl to do something and be somebody. That’s the reason I came to America and took the job.” Martinez explained that the phone bills got very expensive, and that most of the wages went towards this expense. But hearing her daughter’s voice reassured her that she was doing the right thing by working in America. Martinez’s own parents could not read or write. But, she says, “I can proudly say my girl went to a university and hopefully soon I will have her with me here. It’s what motivated me to pursue my dream and not look sad.” The babysitting job afforded Martinez the opportunity to get her documents in order, and become a permanent resident in New York City. Then, after seven years, Martinez was introduced to the Center for Family Life. She was placed in Golden Steps, and has finally been able to do work she is passionate about, and that has just working conditions. “In my childhood, I spent time with my grandmother. It was the hardest part of my life when she left. I think it gives me some desire to work with the elderly because it see part of my childhood in it. You have to be passionate about what you do,” Martinez said.
#MyEverydayHustle - Meet Zenayda Bonilla, a 35 year-old eldercare worker. Bonilla was born in El Salvador and immigrated to New York in 2003 with some of her family. Despite there being some barriers that she had to overcome when first arriving in New York, Bonilla says she has a strong support system that motivates her. “My family motivates me. For them, I want to be somebody that my family feels proud of. My kids they celebrate me, and I can see it in their faces.”
Bonilla says she enjoys her work, which usually involves working with one client at a time and allows her to give them individualized attention. But sometimes there are emergency calls, which means that the hours can be unpredictable, forcing her to make alternative arrangements for childcare. Even harder, though, is no work at all.
“In the co-operative, we make sure we have just wages. But right now I don’t have a client. That’s because we are private care, we don’t take payment through Medicare or Medicaid. People like to hire us but when people find out we’re private they don’t want to pay out of pocket. It’s a little issue we have in the field.”
Despite the lull in work right now, Bonilla is not the primary breadwinner in the family - her husband works in construction. That, she says, relieves some financial stress.
Jordan, 21, grew up in Manhattan, but currently resides in Queens. He lives in housing with his partner, Monica, which was provided through PATH – a city service for pregnant women and families with children. Jordan and Monica are expecting their first child this month. Jordan is applying for more permanent housing using vouchers, as the rules in temporary housing have frustrated him. There’s little access to kitchen supplies and cooking independently, and restrictions on decorating your room to make it feel more like home. Jordan has been coming to @shelteringarmsny for the past year, “We came looking for a way to become eligible for housing. Then we got hot meals and made friends, and that community kept us coming back.” Jordan describes himself as a community leader at Sheltering Arms, “I can be a role model – people look up to me. I don’t know everything but I know enough.” For the New Year, Jordan is looking forward to his son being born, but hasn’t made any resolutions or goals for the near future, “I don’t want to mess things up, because I’m a perfectionist.” Recently, Jordan got his food handling license and is looking forward to getting a job in the restaurant industry soon.
Monica, 19, is originally from Maryland where she lived with her grandparents and her partner, Jordan, whom she met in a mental health facility in Pennsylvania. Monica recalls that the beginning of getting into shelters was very chaotic. Monica and Jordan were kicked out of her family’s home and Jordan suggested they move to New York City. “It was either stay in the shelters or sleep on the streets. I couldn’t go home.” Monica felt overwhelmed by the tall buildings and large crowds of New York, and was confused by the city’s shelter system. “We found out we were ineligible a bunch of times. When I found out I was pregnant last year, we actually ended up on the streets for a couple of nights.” Monica is currently due with a baby boy in 3 weeks.
At the time, Monica found the shelter beds to be painful, cardboard-like on her back which was sensitive from the pregnancy. They kept applying for housing and eventually, PATH [Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing] put Monica and Jordan in a hotel in Queens in early 2017.
Now, Monica has a housing voucher through NYCHA, but the system is overloaded and they have been struggling to get more permanent placement. For now, Monica spends time at Sheltering Arms in Jamaica, Queens, where she can get food, rest, and support. “For the past 4 months we’ve been coming here every day.” The staff at Sheltering Arms has helped Monica get into a therapy program and back on her medications, study for her GED, and prepare for job applications, “To get a legit job, because parenting doesn’t pay you.” Monica aspires to be a child psychologist, but right now is studying for her food handling license. “You have to start low. I’m just focusing on getting my GED and saving money for college.” Monica hopes to go back to work when she gives birth to her son this January. “I’m excited for him to get here. I’m not excited for him to come into the world in a shelter. I have support here - not so much outside of here,” Monica explains of Sheltering Arms.
#MyEverydayHustle - Meet Maribel Torres, a 45-year-old businesswoman who lives in Staten Island. Torres immigrated from Mexico in 2005 to meet family members who had come to New York a few years earlier. “I had a job in Mexico as an elementary school teacher, but for reasons of domestic violence I had to come here and I had to leave my job.”
When Torres first arrived, she started cleaning houses in Staten Island, but wasn’t finding enough work to earn the money she needed. “The jobs were really badly paid and I didn’t have my rights respected,” she explains. She was making $12/hour, on a good day. At the time, she was the only one in her household earning money, supporting her two children.
That’s when Torres decided to start her own business - Brightly, a home-cleaning service that works through the Center for Family Life Co-operative. With the help of Center for Family Life, Torres got administrative support and cleaning training for new members, in addition to guidance about enforcing just wages at work . “It made me more secure as a person and gave me a lot of trust knowing that there’s people who are backing me up. I know I can make my rights heard and defend my worker’s rights. I also get paid well now.”
“When I first came here my conditions for work were very hard. I had to work double to live a dignified life. But now, with my rights respected, I don’t feel like I have to underestimate myself as an immigrant of another country.” #AmericanDream#immigrant #nolimits #respect #selfrespect#movingonup #businesswoman