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09-10 NUPIP Featured Fellows:

Sasha Tuzel, Chicago Public Schools,
Office of New Schools

Sasha's Story:
The mission of CPS is of course to provide all Chicago children an excellent education. The Office of New Schools is focused on providing parents excellent education options by authorizing and supporting high quality charter and contract schools. Our team (the Resources and Issues Management team) is support oriented, and my work at CPS has mostly centered on building off the work of a former fellow, Kristen Molloy, who developed a system of tracking the weekly contacts that coordinators in the Office of New Schools have with members of the charter and contract school community. This process enables us to identify what challenges (e.g. transfer and enrollment) are most prevalent for charter and contract schools, and helps to develop accountability standards (which Rob Huberman has emphasized since replacing Arne Duncan). For example, one team goal is respond to all calls within 24 hours, which we can track using coordinator weekly reports. We are also expanding this reporting system to a new campus manager program, which is in place for school buildings which house two different schools.

From a day to day perspective this means that I am involved in several projects, including data analysis and management using Excel, participating in goal setting meetings, producing evaluation tools, and writing presentations on how data can be used. It is an interesting mix of learning the most basic professional skills, such as managing Outlook contact lists, to higher level work, such as running my own weekly data meeting to inform my team members of findings and propose new ideas. One particularly fulfilling task was simply coordinating the collection of military recruitment opt-out forms for contract schools, as opt-out was something I had campaigned for in high school.

Doing this in the context of the PIP seminars has been great since our recent focus has been on education and we have been lucky enough to hear from a variety of school stakeholders such as charter operators and a representative from the Academy for Urban School Leadership. I’ve gotten a chance to discuss some of their talking points with my supervisor (Catherine) and it usually leads to interesting conversations about the history and challenges of school reform. In short, it keeps the mundane in perspective. As far as hopes and goals, I hope to continue to learn leadership skills and be part of school reform. I’m also increasingly interested in using technology to link school professionals to each other so they can serve as their own best resource. In many ways what I’ve learned since leaving school is that as hard as it is to get good data, it is harder and more important to figure out how to share and use that data. Working at CPS, especially as it has become more data-driven, has given me an opportunity to work on that challenge in a complex organizational environment, which I think will be a useful experience no matter what profession I choose to pursue.

Bradley Troast, Cabrini Connections

Bradley's Story:
"My name is Bradley Troast and I graduated from Northwestern University in June 2009 with a BS in Communication. In 2008-2009, I was co-chair of Northwestern Community Development Corps, the largest direct service organization at NU. I am now the Assistant Program Coordinator at Cabrini Connections, a tutoring program for 7th-12th graders, and the Tutor/Mentor Connection, a resource network for all 200+ tutor/mentor programs in Chicago. Our mission is to engage workplace adults in structured activities that make a life-changing difference for youth living in economically and educationally disadvantaged neighborhoods. My responsibilities include facilitating tutoring sessions, leading field trips, fund raising, and blogging.

I've been in this position for four months now and I absolutely love it. Working at a small nonprofit, I get to experience every piece of the puzzle. I can sit down and talk with the President at a moment's notice (a man who's been involved with tutoring and mentoring for 35+ years) and I get to interact with youth on a daily basis (we have almost 80 in the program). PIP is the ideal scenario for the recent graduate. My organization understands that this is a learning experience for me. I am encouraged to work on a variety of projects, and I can even take on my own initiatives! I am very grateful to be in the position and I look forward to growing further in this role as the year progresses."

Be sure to check out Bradley Troast's blog at http://cabrinipip.blogspot.com/!

Sarah Sumadi, Center on Halsted

Sarah's Story:
"I'm currently the director of the volunteer program at the Center on Halsted, the largest LGBT community center in the Midwest. We do focus on the LGBT community, but truly strive to serve all of our neighbors in Lakeview and across Chicago. The Center has a lot to offer -- cultural programming, like art, dance and theater events, free HIV testing, counseling and support groups, programs for youth and seniors, a free computer lab, a legal referral network, an anti-violence crisis hotline, a full-size gymnasium, and a laundry list of recreational and social events.

To support these programs, we employ more than 1,000 volunteers -- and that's where I come in. As Director of the Volunteer Program, I teach orientation classes to new volunteers (we add about 50 per month), and then help them find the job that's right for them. Sometimes, we’re blessed to have more volunteers than positions, so I’ve started partnerships at other organizations, like the Lakeview Food Pantry, to share our volunteers where they’re most needed in the neighborhood.

I'm incredibly lucky to work with a wonderful staff and executive team. When I started in August, they told me the volunteer department was mine to revamp any way I saw fit. Since then, I've replaced the paper application with an online application, creating a vastly more functional database and cutting down on data entry. I have improved communication about opportunities through both e-mail and Facebook, and as a result, volunteer hours have increased by 50%. Finally, I've created new jobs for volunteers, like our photography and publicity teams.

As the year goes on, I'd like to develop more external partnerships like the one we have with the Lakeview Pantry. Not only do these partnerships expand the number of fulfilling opportunities available to volunteers, they also help us carry our message beyond our doors. Spring brings our two biggest (and swankiest!) fundraisers, the Oscar Party and the Human First Gala. They're also my two biggest challenges -- whether or not they run smoothly depends almost solely on the 100 or so volunteers who work them. It will definitely take some planning ahead, but with help from the talented COH staff and volunteer team, I'm not worried."