Erica Mawbey-Lance's Adventures with the JVC

JVC Homes and Our Robbery

Emawbeylance@gmail.com (Erica Mawbey-Lance) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:36:00 PST

A JV house is normally a house. Because previous Jesuit Volunteer have lived there it is filled with all sorts of odds and ends. I'd compare it to a more cluttered and decorated college house. Usually, the walls are filled with stuff left behind from previous JVs. Sometimes, to have more solidarity with socioeconomically challenged people, the houses are also not in the nicest areas. This is great though. For it gives volunteers a chance to see what poverty looks like by living in a diverse and poorer community than many of us volunteers came into. And ultimately realize that even in neighborhoods that are not the typical American suburbia, you can still find beauty and wonderful things.

However, this is not always the case. Our home is in Little Italy, near University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). This neighborhood is nice. It has become increasingly gentrified over the years though. It used to be a rougher neighborhood where many of Chicago's Public Housing was, or as known in Chicago the Henry Horner homes. Walking down the street you can see evidence of what I think were probably low income housing or public housing. And walking down a few streets south of us, some of Chicago's projects are still there. However, our neighborhood is very nice. There are cute shops, quiet streets. Joggers and people walking their dogs frequent that cute Little Italy neighborhood and it feels and is relatively safe.

Also, one of Chicago's best high schools, St. Ignatius High School, a Jesuit school is our neighbor (and actually our landlord). Our building is an old convent, St. Aloysius Convent. However, 2 non-profits work on the bottom floors and we occupy the 3rd and 4th floors. Since we living in such a building, security is not great. It is not set up like an apartment building, but very open. The stairwell used to be open from the basement up, if you climbed up through the railings of the stairwell you could access the entire building. Even though we have a door blocking off our 3rd and 4th floor from the rest of the building, security is not great.

At the end of September, our building was broken into. All of our laptops, cameras, ipods, jewelery were stolen. It happened while we were gone at the grocery store for an hour and a half. I believe that someone was hiding out on the 3rd floor while were gone and waited till they knew we left and then robbed it. The scariest part is, there is no sign of intrusion. It probably was an inside job or someone who knew how to steal a key from someone who had access to the building.

This has further made my year more difficult. While I am surviving, the idea that someone violated our privacy still bothers me. Especially after many of us did tell JVC that we felt uncomfortable with our security because it was so easy to access our building and break into. Since then, the high school has really stepped up security. It was frustrating though that JVC (the actual tenant of the lease, not us), did not take us seriously until something happened. It seems that they did not take us seriously until something happened.

For me, I have really lost my faith in many non-profits. I feel that JVC as a whole is quite naive and does not really think about practical measures or has any business sense. Instead, they live in an idealistic world and do not worry about the future. I do believe that sometimes you can't prevent a break in. However, in this case it probably could of been prevented. It is another frustrating part of my year and yet another challenge I take. It does remind me though that sometimes even in the nicest neighborhoods theft and bad things do happen. It further breaks down the stereotype of bad neighborhoods and makes me question, is it really unsafe or is my fear making me feel this way?

If you would like to know more about how my neighborhood used to be and read more about Chicago Public Housing, I recommend this wonderful book. There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz. It is wonderful. I saw him speak earlier this year. He truly is an inspiration and works to uncover and discuss the problems in society that people simply want to sweep under the rug.

GED Class

EMawbeylance@gmail.com (Erica Mawbey-Lance) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:04:00 PST

I have not had internet or computer access recently so these posts are a little late getting up! I apologize for that and hope soon I will have more access to work on my blog at my house.

The Peace Corner has a GED class that occurs bi-annually here. In the past it has been for free and usually draws a few students who want to get their GED to it. This year, we are fortunate enough to have Sister Aster, a Comboni Sister helping to teach the class and also be a continual presence in the class. Hopefully, to be a person that the students can rely on and trust as well as get used to her teaching style. We have a volunteer Social Studies teacher and also one of the Peace Corner’s most loved volunteers, Alex, will be teaching the English class.

The class started on October 5 and is planning to run through the middle of December and possibly start up again in January if some students still are preparing for the test. This year, to create and incentive to stay in the class and to attend all the classes we charged $20 as a fee, but this money would go towards the cost of taking the test in the end, $50, and Peace Corner would pay this for each student who finished the class. The classes would be Monday-Thursday from 5:30-7:00 and have one subject each day: Math, English, Social Studies, and Science.

Sister Aster is from Eretria, Africa. She is a math teacher and a very good one. She started coming to Peace Corner in mid-September. Never having taught the GED class before, she wanted to find a teacher’s manual to the GED books. Already, we have The Princeton Review’s GED 2009 Edition book here. It was used last in the Spring and is still fine for the test. However, it might not be the best resource out there, as a non-profit we try to make do and use it along with other GED materials.

Also, we wanted to find out when the next GED tests dates would be at near by sites. Not just in the next month, but in October, November, December, and into the early part of next year. This way, we could let students know when all the possible test dates were so that they could mentally prepare for the test.

Our plans seemed good; however, we were met with many disappointments based on the system of the GED and how it is set up.

First, after Sister Aster looked endlessly online and in multiple bookstores she could not find a teacher’s manual for any companies that produce GED books. I went online to help her and found nothing on Amazon or any other website. Even with a general Google search I found no teachers manuals for the GED. I decided to call Barnes and Noble. The woman on the phone with me searched the entire store inventory and also came up with nothing, finally she went to the website for Barnes and Noble. Eventually, one book came up. It was a teacher’s manual for the GED from the 1980s. And only second hand editions were left. We concluded that GED books that are printed are only designed to be self study books. Like an LSAT prep book or a SAT study book. Nothing for a small class setting or for an individual to help guide students through the material they need to know for the GED. I found this quite odd because it seems that individuals in need of their GED might need some help, and that the only option would be to enroll in an expensive class, or self teach oneself to prepare seems very limited. Thus, anyone who was preparing to do a practically free small group class had no resources and only had to rely on looking at the books for self teaching and come up with lessons based on that. It seems as though the publishers for these books do not have any idea of common populations who would be taking the GED.

Next disappointment, I went on a search to find out all the possible dates for the GED test to be offered in our neighborhood. I first went to the Cook County’s website for GED information, the county of Chicago. They only had listed test dates for October and November. I then contact a local community college that was an approved testing site for the GED. They did not have test dates past November and referenced me back to the website. I discussed my problem with the man on the phone and we concluded that the GED test dates only were given 2 months in advance. I thanked him and hung up.

Overall, my search to learn more about the GED dates and teachers manuals was a complete failure and disappointment. In both cases, I found out that the answers I wanted do not exist. It seems as though if an individual needs to take the GED, they cannot plan to study for a test several months away but instead have to start studying and then only a short time before he takes the test learn the date it will be offered. The system seems to be making it very difficult for individuals to take the test, which seems completely counteractive to how it should be. If someone needs their GED, make it easy for them to study and to plan to take it. Do not punish them with red-tape and lack of information because they want to receive it. Reward them by at least making information and access more accessible.

Life at The Peace Corner

Emawbeylance@gmail.com (Erica Mawbey-Lance) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:55:00 PST

I have now been working at the Peace Corner for a little more than a month. Overall, I love my job. I really have no complaints at all. I work with kids all day long and really have very little of office work. It’s great! School for everyone started last Tuesday. A few youth started earlier if they go to an all year round school, but now everyone is back and the summer days of coming to Peace Corner at noon to play pool and ping pong are over.

The average ages right now of youth that come into Peace Corner are 12-14. Most of the kids are in 6^th grade and Middle School. Right now we want to try to attract more of the older guys to come into Peace Corner so we have set up a new time table. After school until 5:00pm the age is 12 and up. But from 5:00pm until close at 7:00pm the age 15 and up. The younger guys really don’t like it when we kick them out, but I think it will help to get the older guys coming back to the building.

My mornings are pretty quiet, consisting of e-mails, projects, and thinking of other fun ideas and programs to set up here. School gets out around 2:45 and the kids show up at 2:47 on the dot to start homework and eventually to play pool. We try to make sure everyone does homework or something productive for about an hour afterschool, but it’s hard to enforce. Tutoring is one of my favorite things to do. So many kids are so smart and really get their homework done fast. A lot of them struggle with one subject, but in others have an easy time. Considering how many kids come into the Peace Corner afterschool for homework help and to hang out, homework time is actually fairly productive. Any day, around 3:00 we have about 30+ kids that show up.

One of my favorite things is seeing how after just a week of being back, a student who claimed they were bad at math or reading has already made noticeable improvements. It seems that just being back at school makes everything easier. Every once in a while, I’ll try to explain something and a student will say “explain it again.” And it reminds me of how I needed to hear how to do a math problem over and over until I’d finally get it and remember it. Explaining math and grammar is quite hard. And it is a challenge for me to not seem confused or like I too need a second to think about their homework before I help them. I think I’m getting better at it, or at least faking like I know what I’m doing long enough to figure out their work so that I can explain it.

Sometimes some kids will challenge my math skills and want me to “prove” I can do their math. I’m waiting for the day one of their problems really stumps me or I make a mistake. After all, it’s been 3 years since I did math being an Art History and Political Science major. And I completely understand all frustrations about math and science, because while I understand the value, today in my post-college life, I use a calculator for everything!

Chicago and The Peace Corner

Emawbeylance@gmail.com (Erica Mawbey-Lance) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:11:00 PST

Local Orientation was really fun! Charlie, the JV who had my placement last year, volunteered to take my community around Chicago and to show us the sights as well as our neighborhood. It was really great going around with him. He took us on a driving tour at night of downtown our first night in Chicago. Our second day he took us to mass at the outdoor Italian festival down the street from our house. Our JV house is located next to the University of Illinois at Chicago in Little Italy. It is a very cute neighborhood. We have learned as well as observed that many of the Chicago Projects were located in this area, and ways to “improve” the community they tore a lot down. Now, while the neighborhood is very quaint, it is also gentrified and lacks much diversity.

After mass, we went on an adventure to the beach. We took the bus downtown and learned a good bus route. Waking downtown was great! Chicago feels like New York, but a lot cleaner. It is a beautiful city. So many tall skyscrapers and wonderfully interesting buildings surrounded us. The beach surprised me too! I have been skeptical about this beach idea in Chicago, knowing on ocean is near I am not sure how people can call it a beach, but the lake, Lake Michigan, was really quite beautiful. The water was freezing! But the sand was great to lie on and just relax in the sun. Our local orientation happened to be one of the hottest weekends ever in Chicago so we took it easy. This day concluded most of our local orientation, and after the beach we headed back to our house for our first cooking adventure!

The next two days we spent visiting each other’s placements. The first stop of the day was the Elam Davis Social Service Center, a place for homeless and low-income people to get help in the way of clothes, food, hot meals, job training, and housing workshops. The next was a house for HIV and AIDS patients recovering from alcoholism or other addictions. The next stop on this day was The Peace Corner Youth Center.

I was quite excited to go to The Peace Corner. As many of you know, I was nervous to start my placement because I knew that most of the kids who went to it were boys, and being located in Austin, a rougher neighborhood I was not sure what to expect. While it was clear while we rode the bus to The Peace Corner that the neighborhood was mostly African American and in a poor area of Chicago, it did not feel as dangerous as I have heard it was. Walking into the door of The Peace Corner I felt nervous, but knew that it was going to be a placement that I would love. The Peace Corner is one big room with a pool table, ping-pong table, and some couches. Two small rooms, a computer lab and classroom make up the rest of the center. Charlie met us at the door, holding down the fort as he stayed strong not letting the kids come back inside. He closed down the center early for us, allowing us to be in the center when it was quiet. After a brief introduction about the center and some pizza, he let the kids come back in. I chatted with my future co-workers and convinced them I was 22, and not 16 like the thought. I also met a few of the guys that frequent the center. While I was unsure of my whereabouts and what I would be doing, I felt a lot more comfortable and at ease. And was looking forward to work in two days.

Unfortunately, shortly after visiting The Peace Corner I discovered my boxes I mailed were gone, and the next day instead of going to the last 3 placements, I worked on recovering items that were still at the clothing pantry.

Unexpected Events

Emawbeylance@gmail.com (Erica Mawbey-Lance) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:56:00 PST

It has been a little while since I last posted on my blog. Due to technical difficulties and unexpected obstacles in my transition, I have not found the time!

So far I have been in JVC for about a month! I completed an orientation in Indiana with the entire Midwest region, and also finished local orientation in Chicago with my Community. During local orientation I had a very difficult experience that I encountered. The boxes I mailed to what I believed to be my JVC house were stolen. However, it turned out that JVC told us to mail boxes to one of my community member’s placements. The placement turned out to be a food and clothing pantry in Chicago. Somehow an individual who received the boxes did not read the label or pay attention when they arrived and put them in the same place donations get received and all of my possessions were donated. This has been quite a difficult experience because in a year where I have committed to live simply, I did not bring much with me. I also worked this summer while home in Seattle to clean out my room and minimize my possessions because I know that as my life is changing in the next few years I wanted to make it easy to do a fast move.

Besides just the overall frustration and annoyance of having all of the clothes and personal items I took with me for the year to be taken away from me with nothing available or that I own to replace it, I struggle with the feeling of giving too much. Since I am committing my year to service, it has been hard to understand how all of my possessions could be donated. However, I have been dealing with the loss of practically everything I own, including many irreplaceable personal items, and working to enjoy my time here in Chicago as a JV.

From this experience, I am hoping that my clothes and personal items like LSAT study books, books, toiletries, linens and odds and ends have wound up with a homeless girl that really need the stuff more than I did. I hope it did not somehow get lost or wind up with a person who works at the clothing pantry. I also am working to make this an experience in simple living, and to learn to live with much less. I am not planning on replacing everything. Of course I cannot replace the gifts or really personal tokens I lost, but as for clothes, I am working to only replace what I need to survive. I still do miss a lot of what I lost, but I am working to let go and to move on.

Summer gear up for JVC

Emawbeylance@gmail.com (Erica Mawbey-Lance) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:16:00 PST

Hello Everyone!

Thank you for taking the time to check out my blog! Thanks to Santa Clara University and Campus Ministry I will be using this blog to describe and reflect on my experiences I will be encountering this next year.

I will try to update my blog on a weekly basis depending on my time and internet access, but I definitely will be posting with significant events. Please feel free to e-mail me or post about my entries. I will do my best to respond.

A little about myself...

I graduated this June with a Bachelors of Art and Science in Art History and Political Science minors in Italian and International Studies. At Santa Clara I was active in the dance department performing in Images multiple years and participated in several immersion trips through the Ignatius Center or Campus Ministry. I went through RCIA with campus ministry at Santa Clara. And I was also an active member of Alpha Phi.

This next year I will be living in Chicago and working at The Peace Corner Youth Center as a Program Director. My work will involve various jobs. Right now I think that overall I will be be a mentor a support for the kids who frequent the Youth Center. I am very excited and happy that my job will be keeping me on my toes!

More later!

Peace