Through a Foley Center Non-Profit Internship at Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing Home, I held an in-service for CNA’s on dietary restrictions, their importance, and proper implementation with residents. The presentation will analyze such, plus give an overview of the organization and other projects completed with them.
FocusFirst is an initiative of Impact America that uses modern technology to change lives! The program recruits college-aged volunteers to provide vision screenings for children attending preschools or daycares, especially in underprivileged areas. This program is important because it raises awareness about the need for early detection of treatable vision impairments in young children. The goal of the program is to not only provide free vision screenings to students but to also refer students who do not "complete" the screening to free or reduced-cost eye care. Focus First partners with the Foley Center here on Spring Hill's campus which has allowed me, the intern, and volunteers David Toups and I'yana Joseph to travel around the Mobile Area, to provide free screenings in exchange for hours, and to meet really cute kids in the process! It has been beautiful journey, and I am excited to share it with you!
Gender, race, culture and migrant status are factors that create barriers for resettled refugee and immigrant women in finding employment. Gender barriers include the phenomena of the glass ceiling, as well as strict stereotypes of what it means to be a mother in the workplace (Cook & Glass, 2009). Patriarchal ideals in culture also limit the role of women working outside the home (Hutchings, Metcalfe, & Cooper, 2010). Worldwide, 65 million people are currently displaced, and only 40% of displaced people who are resettled are women (Boyd, 1999). Of those resettled women, the majority are married or move with their families. Barriers within the countries of resettlement often mean that resettled refugee women are worse off than natives in a country or resettled men in the job market. Overall, resettled women are limited by education level and lack of opportunity for employment. Ways that employment opportunities for resettled women can be improved include increasing worldwide education for girls, as well as educating boys to see education for girls to be a positive force (Her Turn, 2019). Culture can play a positive role for employed women as it can give women a support system of women with a similar cultural background (Lokort, 2018). Dwell Mobile is an organization that works to help resettled women in Mobile break barriers to employment. By offering the women skills through Foundation Classes, women are empowered develop skills needed for better employment opportunities.
Over the past year, I have served as an intern and volunteer for Lifelines Counseling Services. During my time as an intern, I served as the first form of contact for many families needing assistance through the Help Me Grow program providing developmental screenings for children ages 0-8. I also worked with United Way 2-1-1 and The Suicide Hotline answering phone calls and providing assistance. After my internship ended, I continued my relationship with Lifelines Counseling Services serving as a Rape Crisis Center Advocate and helping them implement a Teen Financial Roundtable Discussion Event where we provided teens with important information about budgeting, student loans, saving, and college readiness and a Financial Document Shredding Event where the community was invited out to shred any financial or medical documents they have for free. The mission and goal of Lifelines Counseling Services is to meet people where they are in their lives. Whether that is providing financial counseling, family counseling, outreach and education, prevention education, or support for survivors and veterans.
The South Alabama Volunteer Lawyers Program provides outreach to the Mobile community and its surrounding regions through pro bono legal services. Although its resources are limited, SAVLP works to provide outreach to low-income clients who qualify for the program. As an intern at SAVLP, I handle a number of tasks at the office. I manage status updates and create the status requests in the system, which will then be sent out to the lawyers handling the case. I also have direct contact with clients when I participate in legal clinics run by SAVLP. There, I set up the clinic, organize clients coming into the clinic, help clients fill out paperwork, and escort them to their respective legal counsel. I also make calls to clients and create new files in the Legal Files system with their information. SAVLP works to provide legal outreach to the low-income community in the Mobile area. It does so by providing pro bono legal services. They can help clients with a number of legal issues, including name change, custody, and divorce. These are services that such low-income clients cannot afford. SAVLP provides solutions to legal problems that can be draining on low-income clients. These issues can be both financially draining and time-consuming. Pro bono legal services remove the financial burden of civil legal issues. Clinics provide a more stream-lined method of helping to solve these issues, removing both the time-consuming and financially draining aspects of resolving such issues.