May 1996, Vol. 2, No. 3

A Year After Graduation...Surving the Working World
By Eric Lock, second-year social administration student.

With graduation fast approaching, SSA's class of 1996 is anxiously anticipating the travails of the job market. And while a few brave souls have already ventured into the murky waters, most must be wondering just what awaits them in their first year as an MSW. The following interview with Valerie Leon (AM '95) gives SSA students a glimpse of what one person's first year after the Master's program has been like.

Leon graduated last year with an interest in community development and a strong inclination to maintain a holistic approach to social work. After a brief job search over the summer, she found a position that met her desire to integrate her interests in both clinical and policy issues at People's Reinvestment and Development Effort (PRIDE) in the Austin community on Chicago's west side. A Community Development Corporation founded 15 years ago to foster community organizing around housing issues, PRIDE has become a prominent housing developer, rehabilitator and manager in the area. Today it directly manages over 450 units in Austin.

Leon works in PRIDE's Tenant Services Division as its Family Support Coordinator. She sees her position, a new one within the organization, as having five major components: 1) integrating family support principles into the operations of the organization; 2) providing case management for individuals and families living m PRIDE housing; 3) developing relationships with area social service agencies; 4) developing relationships with parks and schools to provide positive growth and development opportunities for residents; and 5) helping to coordinate the Austin Housing and Services Collaborative and a Community Building Initiative in the area.

Advocate's Forum: You are developing a new position at PRIDE as well as number of new projects (such as representing PRIDE on the Austin Human Services Collaborative). Are you as far along on these projects as you thought you would be?

Valerie Leon: I'm as far along as I could've hoped considering what my long-term goals are, but I can see that its going to be a long road to realize them. Its just so hard getting people to invest-that's the hardest part.... Relationship-building is really time-consuming. Our society is so individualistic and not very civic-minded, and that's no different in a poor community. Because people have been through so much and they've seen so many different efforts come in and go out and not work it makes a lot of people cynical and apathetic.

AF: Why did you choose to work at PRIDE?

VL: The reason I went to PRIDE was that I didn't want to work in a social service agency where people only come in when they have a problem.... I wanted to do a lot of different things and work with people at all stages of their lives. I feel like my interests kind of go along with the Settlement House model of social work-just being in the community and getting to know people and being with them in good and bad times.

I like being in a position where I am involved in community-building. For example, one of the things I'm trying to do is get funding for tenants just to be able to put on social events and rebuild those internal systems of support. We need to rebuild a sense of community. To me, this is an issue that goes across class and race. We need a lot more than social services. For instance, when you talk about crime with the tenants, they don't just say "we need big gates and more police." They say, "I think it would help a lot if I knew my neighbor." And so how do we facilitate that, how do we make that kind of interaction more feasible? That's what we need to be thinking about.

AF: Was there anything about your education at SSA that particularly influenced the direction you have chosen to take professionally?

VL: My experience at SSA was very much defined by my placement at the Housing Resource Center m Uptown (Leon's first-year placement). I think I've always been more of a generalist and being in that setting was kind of a good reality check because I wasn't among just human services-type people.

The classes have helped me understand what I am seeing.... I didn't realize it when I was [at SSA] and getting all that stuff drilled in my head, but really they are hitting on the same themes over and over and when you get out there, you can really start to see it.

AF: Did SSA prepare you well for life in the real world as a social worker?

VL: I think it did, but there wasn't much that focused on "what to do".... They didn't want to do that because they want you to get out there and determine what YOU think needs to happen.

AF: You are in a position where you are trying to start something new. What are the pros and cons of your job as compared to one that is more established and defined?

VL: On the downside, it's really hard because you don't have a framework for getting started, and you don't have the professional role models. So you can find yourself going in a million directions, and when you're not very experienced that can be hard. But on the upside, it allows me to be creative.

AF: What advice would you give to this year's graduating class?

VL: Oh, I'm too young to be giving advice. I don't know enough yet. I would say one thing though: remember that you're only one person and remember that the problems social workers face took a long time to accrue, so you have to resist the "conquer the world" mentality because it will make you very depressed very quickly. Keep things in perspective.

Eric Lock is a second-year administration student.
His placement is at the Family Resource Coalition.

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