By Children’s Program Coordinator Josh Chittum
Nearly one month ago, I bid a difficult goodbye to my class of 3rd graders for the summer knowing I wouldn’t see them in the hallway on their first day of 4th grade. For a variety of reasons I had decided to leave the teaching profession, at least for the time being
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Because of the arbitrary privileges granted to me in life, I knew I could walk away from employment and everything would most likely turn out okay. That sentiment is startling to think about when juxtaposed with the situations so many of our families find themselves in at Community LINC.
The frenetic pace of teaching didn’t leave me with sufficient space or time to ruminate and meditate on those Big Questions, such as why I have a plethora of privileges amidst so many injustices in our world, nation, and city. And while the transition from the classroom to my new position has hurled me through the air with the speed of a cosmic event, I’ve found myself 10,000 feet in the air studying and obsessing over my position in life
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Among such an abundance to be fortunate and thankful for is the fact that I now find myself at an organization whose ideals and values so closely align with my own. Three of those shared values I’d like to highlight with the space I have left. (And no, I was not offered a signing bonus to say these things in my first blog post.)
One basic shared value - of monumental importance - is the commitment to justice that Community LINC carries out every day. While I am certainly interested in philosophizing and analyzing abstract arguments, this isn’t a theoretical or academic notion of justice. This is the everyday, face-to-face, sometimes exhausting struggle that hundreds of families take with us each year. While I did walk away from the traditional classroom, I did not, nor will I ever, walk away from this march and I am thrilled to join a team that has walked farther, and harder, and probably smarter than I have because I will learn so much from them and we will make a difference as a team.
Second, the staff here clearly values the people staying on our campus as individuals. I don’t hear generic client terminology or talk of faceless data points and numbers. I hear the names and stories and hopes and dreams of the men, and the women, and the children completing our program. I hear words to empower the individual, messages to encourage folks to lead the way to their individual goals and aspirations. We will be right behind them, but not in front, not dictating their path. And just as important, I see institutional value placed on staff as well - value placed on our time, our ideas, and our mental well-being.
And finally, Community LINC provides a vehicle for positive relationship building. There are many reasons humans are the most successful species on earth, but one reason is that we don’t find solitary shelter underneath sea-shells. We cooperate with, we learn from, and fellowship to each other. This is one reason why we have youth in Aftercare that literally walk a mile from their new home just to come to program night and maintain relationships with mentors, teachers, and friends.
Without allowing for strong relationships and valuing individuals, the World of Justice we are trying to build simply won’t happen. Thank you Community LINC for letting me be a part.
