Jesus (Mentor, Friends of the Children PDX)
Appearances
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 178
Yeah, I think you touched on a lot of them. I think it's hard to stay in this job if you are looking to have a family. There's been issues, yeah, with pay, with insurance, with other sorts of things that have led to mentors leaving rather than like staying there forever.
Behind the Bastards
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even if they like really wanted to stay there, just wouldn't necessarily allow for them to have maybe like the life they wanted. And also just honoring, I think with like bereavement leave and critical issue leave has been areas that haven't really been addressed. We have had very tragic things happen in our working community with the families that have drastically affected
Behind the Bastards
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yeah, the wellbeing of mentors and staff members alike.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah. Yeah, I think one of the things that is, like, hardest to see while, like, working there is the ways in which this, like, job that you do, like, that, like, I care so much about and love doing. But, like, seeing this, like, institution in a way be, like, part of the problem. Because if we aren't, like, having it so that employees feel safe.
Behind the Bastards
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supported in the way that they need to, like life happens. Sometimes people leave and like move and get a different job for various reasons. But a lot of the times it's, it's because it's not sustainable and it's really hard to leave. And like, it's a heartbreaking thing because I like, I want to graduate many of my youth and, And it is something that I think about of like, how feasible is that?
Behind the Bastards
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Like I want to do it. And like also, okay, then that means I got to be frugal in all these other ways or et cetera. And yeah, and working with youth that have already kind of experienced loss and wanting to continue to show up for them. The job itself feels so sacred. And like, I feel so lucky to be in these kids' lives.
Behind the Bastards
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So we had our petition for recognition on March 23rd, 2023. So that was over two years ago. And then our employer didn't formally recognize us. But through the process of like voting, we got over 93%. Wow. Yeah. that's incredible it's super great and it's also like wow we all really needed this yeah yeah um And like there were some other barriers, including like not being formally recognized.
Behind the Bastards
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Like we also had management contest a few positions that I believe most, if not all, we were able to successfully have be part of our unit. And then we didn't have our first bargaining session until September of 2023. So like almost six months, I think if I did the math right, after we...
Behind the Bastards
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formally presented our letter for recognition yeah yeah and like throughout that process so now it has been like Jesus is quite good at keeping track of it but I think as of today we're about at 580 days of bargaining god yeah
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, it's been a long one and it hasn't been, it's been like also a choppy journey where there has been delays in scheduling, delays in just getting different articles back in time. One of the biggest ones obviously was compensation. And I think, I can't quite remember the period of time, but we presented it over a year ago, I think. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
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maybe oh my god i could be wrong and it took like it took several several several months for us to um get anything back from management which yeah was a big bummer amongst other things it sucks it sucks like
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, it is. Insurance and compensation are still our last two articles left.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah. So Friends of the Children is, it's a national organization. It's a nonprofit, but there are individual chapters throughout different cities. We work out of Portland, which is the founding chapter and also the largest one. Some of the language I'll say that is like used from the website and from like the mission statement that really encompasses
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, I wanted to add in to, yeah, very much realizing that like our management is also in a way operating, you know, maybe like a corporation, which isn't the hope you would have for a nonprofit. And one of the steps we had to take as a union was filing a UOP, so unfair labor practice, which cited, like I had mentioned before, like delays in scheduling and also regressive bargaining issues.
Behind the Bastards
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which just means that like the way in which they were presenting things would have lessened our like quality of conditions. So definitely not what you want to be getting. Not what you want to be handed across from the bargaining table. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Behind the Bastards
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Which, again, like, we're always working, you know? We're always working. So unless you want to pay me for 24 hours...
Behind the Bastards
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what our role is and also how it is told to like our community partnerships and the families and youth that we work with is that we are committing to youth when they are typically around kindergarten age level and they're being paired with a mentor and they will have a mentor until they graduate the program so that usually ends up being a total of 12 and a half years
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, like this isn't a job that people are going to take for the money. But we do need to be receiving like equitable pay and benefits so that we stay at this job. Like this, by all means, and like still like this is the same way I feel about it to this day. I remember like reading the little like job description for this role and was like, oh, this is dude, this is like my dream job.
Behind the Bastards
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This is like a hundred percent what I want to spend my, my energy towards. Um, and yeah, I think that's a huge part of why we were able to get like that 93% and to have also like routine support for different actions and stuff is just cause we have people that care so much about wanting to stick around. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, we've had a multitude of different actions over the past 580 days. I think one of our biggest ones by far, which I think also was just...
Behind the Bastards
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one of our most beautiful in a way was November of last year, we did an info picket and it was one of those things too, where it was very well planned out, but also even with the best of planning midway through it, we had a shift location, um, based off of just changing information we were getting. And we had one of our like little bits is because our union is called fun. A lot of our, um,
Behind the Bastards
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posters were spongebob themed so instead of imagination you know it's compensation and yeah and i think it's indicative of like also how much people that work with us are playful and sweet and why we're are good at our jobs of working with kids um yeah and yeah Yeah, we had very high turnout. I think we had 40 something people within our own organization that showed up for that.
Behind the Bastards
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We've done smaller actions too by just asking for community support. Like we've had caregivers write letters of support to different people in management. We've also done a few pack the rooms for bargaining sessions, like especially when there have been times that have felt like there's been some semblance of stalling. Yeah, those are just some of them. He's chiming in with others.
Behind the Bastards
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And that like within that, we were doing a lot of like individualized care and support. We work with them in the schools. We work with them outside the schools. We help them get into extracurriculars. We help them with like social emotional regulation, developing relationships with other youth in the program, and really just like being a consistently reliable human being.
Behind the Bastards
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And one of the big like pillars of our organization is the commitment to long term. Which sometimes can be an issue when you are facing a lot of high turnover as an organization. We both have eight kids on our roster as do most mentors. And within that, we have youth.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah. And recently, one of the things that we did do just like a run through of just to kind of boost morale since marketing has gone on for so long was compile all the wins that we have so far just through TAs. So still tentative. But yeah, it did map out a lot of huge things. One of the things we do a lot in this job is drive. And we don't have many things in policy about...
Behind the Bastards
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cleanings or repairs when something happens in your car with a youth like say they throw up it happens with kids like that isn't necessarily something that would have been like covered we would have had to just pay for that cleaning ourselves and like mileage is a huge thing where one of our potential like big wins is that we'll get like full mileage covered rather than having to like deduct time from like this illusion of having an office where we would have to minus some mileage
Behind the Bastards
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in whatever way made sense with where our buildings were located. Um, despite even if our kids were like totally somewhere else where we were picking them up. Um, it definitely wasn't like the most sensible way for us to be like being fully reimbursed for what we were doing. And, um, Those are all huge wins that we do have.
Behind the Bastards
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Obviously, compensation and insurance are two of the biggest that we're still working on. I think recently, almost within this week, we've started to tip in a way that feels like we may be close to having a contract soon, which I do want to say, as inspiration to everybody out there that works for a nonprofit...
Behind the Bastards
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unionize and you know what you might yeah it might fare well for you i have hope for everybody um and like right now i think a lot of our like a lot of my co-workers are starting to have hope again because i do think like you said it is totally a manipulation tool to have it drawn out so long And yeah, it is exhausting to be basically stalled in your wage for two and a half years.
Behind the Bastards
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But we are gaining some traction again, which I do think is something that we're still being cautious with. Just because right now it does feel like management is working with us a little bit more. But I also think that there are... Reasonings around that, like we're about to have in a few weeks our biggest fundraiser for our work, because like Jesus said, we are majority donor based.
Behind the Bastards
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And I do think there's an appeal to management to have a contract by then. It adds to the whole we're doing good work and we treat our employees well. Yeah. I hope that that is something then that is fulfilled by them in an honest way, not just a superficial way, because we are still pushing for a little bit more right now and have bargaining coming up next week.
Behind the Bastards
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So yeah, I'm really hoping that what they're showing us isn't just performative, that we really might be able to get to a point where there is something that is truly good for us because we're all ready. We're all ready for a contract. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
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I personally have youth that have been assigned to me that have just started in the program, meaning that they were like maybe first grade when I was assigned to them. And then I also have youth that are middle school level that have had several different mentors in the past. Some that have stayed there for maybe a few years. And sometimes there's ones that have been there for months.
Behind the Bastards
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Honestly, most of our like people in like management positions information is public. If you want to email them and support, go for it. Also, just like encouraging either your workplace if you work in kind of a social work setting or like, you know, if you know people that are because this whole field of work takes such a toll on people and it is the most necessary work.
Behind the Bastards
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And I think it's really easy to fall into the mindset of I'm doing this for the greater good, not for money, not for these things. But you also deserve to feel okay and taken care of and have the things you need to be saying. Yeah. Jesus, anything else you want to add?
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah, thank you so much for having us. Yeah, of course. Honestly, it's been great talking about the work because it is really important work and I'm happy we get to do it.
Behind the Bastards
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And yeah, just adding like one that made me think of how within the work, like I think social work is a very apt choice of words because we are paired with the youth and it doesn't like stop there. Like we work, like we work with the families. We also work with like the siblings too, because sometimes you'll have a youth that maybe is the only child.
Behind the Bastards
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child in that family that for whatever reason, um, got a mentor and then you support also, I mean, it's a choice, but I would say that most mentors definitely opt in to being there for siblings and family members in the household and making sure that they're also showing up for the caregivers, um, to yeah, help them create a loving home.
Behind the Bastards
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Yeah. Which I will say we do. And I want to do, I want to give so many props to one of our mentors who has stayed for, for 12 years and has graduated their youth. But of all of our, of all of our coworkers, I believe it's only one that has currently been able to do that and has stayed there as long as I have.
Behind the Bastards
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And just to clarify for history, that's been in our time there. I don't know if over the 30 years, I hope that other people have. But yeah, in recent years, it's only been the one. And also, yeah, this is a job where you are...
Behind the Bastards
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not necessarily able to like undo the systems at play but trying to support them and like we as mentors are inevitably also facing those systems against ourselves and like one of the reasons that I think people gravitate towards this job is Is there empathy because they have those shared experiences?
Behind the Bastards
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One of the things that is kind of heavy in the culture of friends is being asked your why when you start. Like, why did you choose friends? And for a lot of people, it is because of wanting to be the person that they needed when they were going through those periods of time. So there's bound to be like a lot of like reactivation of feelings inside yourself and
Behind the Bastards
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That I think we all, like I want to say, like every mentor I've worked with does an incredible job of like handling that and like taking good care of themselves. But it is definitely something that like takes a lot of regulation. And I think empathy is one of the greatest skills in this job. But it also, yeah, it also then leads to us needing greater needs of self-care and things like that.
Behind the Bastards
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It's hard and it doesn't like really have an end point. Like we have the hours we work with kids and then we have the hours we think about them and the things going on in their lives. And sometimes it's like sweet things. Like a lot of times it's sweet things where I'll see something and be like, oh my gosh, you know who would love that? And like things like that are like, oh, great idea.
Behind the Bastards
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Or, oh, let's go see this movie. And a lot of times it's like worrying though too.
Behind the Bastards
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knowing that there is, there is only so many things we can control. Um, and some things we just have to be the person that's there as they have to go through something. Um, which, yeah, it's, it's hard. Cause we also obviously like develop such loving relationships with these kids. It's hard to see like kids that you care about so much. Um, that sometimes the most you can do is just be there.