Interviewing in East New York

To strengthen my story, I went back to East New York today to interview some of Groundwork's former students to provide further proof that the program works. The two I spoke with today, Renee Warner and Skakaya Slay, both 18 and college freshmen, still work at Groundwork. Rather than students though, they are tutors/teachers assistants. The fact that they both work for Groundwork obviously makes their opinion of the program somewhat biased. They liked the program enough to return, and I assumed they would have mostly positive responses. But at the same time their experiences matter. It turns out they have very different ideas of what they liked or disliked.

Renee's family is originally from Trinidad, and she now lives in Queens. Groundwork had visited her classroom when she was a high school sophomore. She had a lot to say about the peer groups that are part of the program (along with the academic help and job training programs). She felt the gatherings, where students can talk about anything and none of it would be repeated (at least that is the promise), gave her and her friends in the group an outlet to discuss matters that they might not be able to bring up elsewhere, like a fight with a mother. Renee also mentioned how the adults at Groundwork seemed to really care, and would not give up on their students. She specifically mentioned a former Groundwork counselor who has since left but still keeps in contact with her. Renee talked alot about how they are a family there, and how people at Groundwork really believed in her and that made her work harder.

Shakaya, a fast talker, speaks with a certain equanimity that belies her age. She talked alot about the financial opportunities that Groundwork offered: fee wavers for college applications and SATs. Rather than just a way to save her money, Shakaya looked at these subsidies as opening new doors (if I'm allowed to use trite metaphors). Where as her classmates in high school had to wait months to get their fee wavers, a delay that set back their college plans because they couldn't apply to the schools they wanted to right away, Shakaya had the luxury of applying to multiple colleges. More than money, she found that Groundwork made things seem more possible. For example, she had won a state oratory contest, and could attend the national competition in Orlando, Florida if she could pay for the flight, hotel, food, and other expenses. Her high school could not help her. Originally she thought there was no way she could afford to go, but a Groundwork friend convinced her to ask the program if they could help. The deputy director of the program found her a sponsor who paid for everything--the hotel, food, and even a trip to Disney World--except the flight. Shakaya didn't win any awards at the national competition, but the trip included her first flight, first trip to Florida, and also first trip to Disney World, a place her mother had talked about taking her before but they never went. None of this would appear as a quantifiable result about the impact of Groundwork, but I think it's a telling story of opportunity afforded these teenagers that wouldn't otherwise be there without a group like Groundwork.