Typically, my blogs are about life in general, lessons, growth, travels, Bear, etc... I do not write a lot about work, but I am so overjoyed and filled with gratitude and that must be shared. Also, anytime I tell anyone what I 'do', they give me this deer in the headlights look. That happened in Tampa as well. In their defense, it was difficult to explain what I did in Tampa because I had so many positions (GAships typically require a lot of tasks, and my last non-GA position was building a repository for ACS linking survivorship services in Florida with the National Survivorship Center... basically, taking an inventory of services and creating a database... ok, I will stop trying to explain that one, I lose most people at repository)
Back to the here and now... The best part about my work is how it all came to fruition for me to be where I am. I have thought about this a lot.. while it was unfolding, while I was moving, after I started and learned more about the processes that took place to even create the position I hold, etc. etc. That would be a whole chapter for another time, but it is mind-blowing, heart-exploding, surreal...
So what do I 'do'? I work for the coolest agency one can be part of (well, if you value what I value and the organization values... you get the idea). VALUE. That is a good word. The agency is so valuable to our community (Native Americans in the SF and East Bay communities) At this point, I would need to go in to detail about urban indian population and how that came about... i would suggest googling relocation, BIA, terms like that... Because that is a whole other page and I want to get to the point here. Ha, me being succinct? I am still working on that (BTW, I thank goodness for the Truman process I went though at FSU to learn how to do that... even if I choose to scratch the succinctness on my blog. It's my blog, after all)
In a nutshell, we have a large urban Indian population, over 200 tribes represented in the SF area, all in need of many services including community wellness (that is my department.. we also have youth, medical, dental, etc) The areas in community wellness include clinicians (mental health), HIV testing and referrals, various projects and programs aimed at increasing HIV testing, education, prevention, substance abuse, etc. All of my loves. (Disclaimer- I am not representing my workplace in this blog, I am representing myself, just giving a background on the awesomeness of what I do on a daily basis)
So we get to me. I am under the evaluation team, newly constructed (which I also love because I have a supervisor who VALUES my input on structure and organization). We each have grants that we are assigned to as evaluators, and what that means is I am putting my undiagnosed (yet assumed by most) OCD to work. And loving it! Anyone who knows me knows that I crave structure, clarity, smooth processes, figuring things out, asking questions, running stats, playing with data, seeing results, and most importantly making a difference, affecting change, doing my part to help out where I can. I get to do this! And make a living doing it!
The icing on the cake is what happened my first week here, and is ongoing as of today. Everyone knows I love to write. Thanks to Dr. B and other professors (mainly Dr. B!), I was given to experience of grant writing, learning the process, flow, structure. So not only am I evaluator, I have the privilege of honing my grant writing skills. Day 3 of my new position (Monday will mark 3 weeks) came with a request from my unofficial supervisor (I consider her a mentor... thank you, Esther) to locate info on a smaller grant from a new funder and begin the process for this grant. Automatically, I started questioning myself, my ability, blah. That lasted for two seconds, as I then went in to "go" mode. I knew it wouldn't be asked of me if she didn't think I could do it.
Long story short, we worked on finishing that grant until 10ish last night, and turned it in today! Shortly after turning it over, I received an email from the director (my "big supervisor"- she's a thin woman, big as in head woman in charge of our department) She's allowing me to take the lead on a much larger grant! Much larger! Due July 16! Adrenaline rush like whoa, but a calm one at the same time... I am still overwhelmed with such gratitude that all of my emotions are flowing together.
So here I am, combining my skills, in an agency that shares the same values I do, and puts the community first! I do not know which I am more excited about, but I do know it has always been a dream to be able to combine my talents- writing, organizing, running numbers, leadership, community, all of it! I never thought I could find a job that would give me the opportunity to do data and writing. I didn't even have to seek this one out, it just came to me via a woman I consider my clan mom here. (I'll have to email her this, thank you Gayle)
That, in a nut shell is what I do, and why I cannot stop getting so excited about working. There are moments when I feel guilty because I haven't even walked with my masters degree yet, and this job literally fell out of the California sky in to my lap... I really need to write a whole blog about that series of events, but that could date back years. I do think of my cohort often and pray everyone is finding rewarding jobs (spiritually and emotionally rewarding) like I have. I have finally moved from the waiting for the other shoe to drop to there is no other shoe (Jess gave me that).
And now I need to go get that grant! Whoo hoo!! If you do read my blogs, please send positive energies, prayers, whatever you do in your spiritual life, up for our department and agency. We surely could use these grants to keep serving our amazing community members! Wado! (Thank you)
Love to all, Light to all
Dbear
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