4 Jan, 2017

Ask Nicole: Any Advice for Social Workers Leaving New York City?

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:59:42-04:00January 4th, 2017|Categories: Public Health & Social Work|Tags: Ask Nicole, Social Work|0 Comments

If you have a question that you’d like to share with the Raise Your Voice community , contact me.

Ebony, a social work graduate student, writes:

I just completed my first semester in [my social work graduate program] and I have some questions which are not really being answered in my school. I’m not sure if it is because I am one of the few black women in [the program] or if the my advisor really does not have any answers for me.

I graduate in May of 2018 the the plan is for me to have my MSW along with a certification in child welfare. Shortly after graduation I plan to take the exam for me to get the LMSW. I really want to get the LCSW because I eventually I would like to open up my own practice working with the youth and obtain my DSW. My dilemma is that I would like to relocate south to Georgia or Florida. I would like to move to a place where it does not snow and the cost of living is lower. I have been living in New York all my life. Do you have any tips or suggestions for me? I do not want to wait until the last minute of my graduate school career to have a concrete plan.

You may recall that I was asked a similar question by another student, only Ebony’s question is the opposite: leaving New York City to work elsewhere as a social worker. Here, I focus on what I felt was Ebony’s primary need: how preparing for the LMSW or LCSW exam (and transferring those scores and licensure) varies by state.

Many students wait until their second year (and sometimes the final semester) to think of the next steps in their social work path, so it’s great that Ebony is thinking about her trajectory while in her first year.

And yes, the cost of living in New York City is significantly higher compared to many southern cities, and that’s always been a major draw for many folks moving down south. While it provides lots of career opportunities, it can feel like a completely different world to a native New Yorker. As a Georgia native, it didn’t take long for me to adjust to life in New York, but many of my native New York City friends had to get used to the slower pace of southern life, even in major cities like Atlanta, Orlando, and Miami. That doesn’t mean the same will apply to Ebony (or to you if you’re planning to make a similar decision), but I just wanted to throw that out there.

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29 Dec, 2016

Try This: Identify Self Care Activities to Start, Continue, & Stop

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:59:24-04:00December 29th, 2016|Categories: Self & Community Care|Tags: self care, Try This|0 Comments

I recently shared a self care exercise you can use to identify your recipes, remedies, rituals, and resources for self care.

Today, let’s try another exercise taken from “The Revolution Starts with Me!: Recipes, Remedies, Rituals, and Resources”, a workshop I co-facilitate with Adaku Utah.

When I facilitated this exercise a few weeks ago with the staff at Reproaction, I adapted it to fit the organization’s self care needs, rather than have the staff complete the exercise individually. This exercise, adapted from the MS Society of Canada, is can found in our self care zine. If you already have the zine, pull it out and follow along, (or you can get a free copy when you sign up for my weekly newsletter.) Like the previous exercise, this exercise can be done individually or by a staff or group.

Here’s what you’ll need:

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15 Dec, 2016

Try This: Create Your Recipes, Remedies, Rituals, and Resources for Self Care

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:58:56-04:00December 15th, 2016|Categories: Self & Community Care|Tags: self care, Strategic Planning, Try This|1 Comment

I recently attended a staff retreat for Reproaction, one of my clients. During the two-day retreat, I led a few discussions on self care and goal setting in 2017 from an organizational viewpoint.

In particular, I led the staff through two exercises taken from my workshop “The Revolution Starts with Me!: Recipes, Remedies, Rituals, and Resources for Activist Self Care“. This workshop is typically co-facilitated with Adaku Utah, and is tailored to meet the needs of the primary audience. Over the years, the workshop has focused more on young activists as we’ve been asked to facilitate in mostly activist settings, but for Reproaction’s staff retreat, I adapted it to fit the organization’s self care needs. Today, I’ll walk you through one of the exercises. Whether you’re a staff or a group of students, this exercise will work for you, and there’s no right or wrong way to do it.

Here’s what you’ll need:

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16 Nov, 2016

What Do You Want to See in a Reproductive Justice Action Toolkit?

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:57:52-04:00November 16th, 2016|Categories: Research & Evaluation|Tags: Announcements, reproductive justice|0 Comments

Share Your Feedback on the Reproductive Justice Action Toolkit!

Over the past several months, I’ve been focusing on creating a cohesive fusion between what I provide for clients: education and action planning using the Reproductive Justice (RJ) framework, education and training on program evaluation, and using design thinking to create programs and services for women and girls of color.

I became a Generative Fellow through CoreAlign’s Generative Fellows in March 2016 where my primary interest at the time was on developing a method for evaluating RJ programs and services.

Evaluation is an ever-evolving field, but since my first Fellows retreat in March, I’ve grown more interested in design thinking and how it can be used as a new entry point into the Reproductive Justice movement. As a result, I switched my project’s focus during my final Fellows retreat in September.

I’ve reached out to nonprofit professionals, community leaders, students, teachers and more, whom I hope this toolkit will be used by. I asked them about their struggles in applying the RJ framework into their professional and personal lives, and their struggles in articulating this framework to others. Also, in working with former and current clients, I’ve noticed something else: What people think Reproductive Justice looks likes isn’t really Reproductive Justice at all.

Why is that? Some work in environments that are more “Reproductive Health” or “Reproductive Rights” without a focus on intersectionality (one of the core principles of Reproductive Justice). This makes it hard to promote a framework that’s not acknowledged in the space, that’s not acknowledged, or is acknowledged but there will need to be a major shift in order for RJ to be centered.

And when you’re developing programs and campaigns that aren’t grounded in solid program theory and mutual collaboration, it won’t matter how well you know the RJ framework and what to include it in what you do.

Enter the Reproductive Justice Action Toolkit. (…or something like that. This is the name I’m going with for now.)

This toolkit focuses on a 3-part system: 1) A strong foundation in RJ, 2) solid program/campaign development, and 3) collaborative and engaging evaluation activities.

It’s my hope that this Action Toolkit will serve as a go-to reference for nonprofits, schools, community groups, and government agencies on creating collaborative and impactful Reproductive Justice programs and campaigns in their communities.

And I need your feedback! I’ve created a survey to get your opinion on what crucial elements you feel should be included. Share your feedback and let me know what you think. My goal is to begin piloting this toolkit with nonprofits, community groups, and more in late Winter 2016-early Spring 2017. As a token of appreciation, when you complete the survey, you’ll receive The Revolution Starts with Me! the self care zine I developed with my co-facilitator Adaku Utah.

RAISE YOUR VOICE: Take the Reproductive Justice Action Toolkit survey today, and share below in the comments section what you’d like to see in the toolkit.

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2 Nov, 2016

Ask Nicole: What’s the Best Way to Deliver Bad News?

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:57:13-04:00November 2nd, 2016|Categories: Research & Evaluation|Tags: Ask Nicole, program evaluation|0 Comments

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If you have a question that you’d like to share with the Raise Your Voice community , contact me.

It’s the worst thing ever. That moment when you’ve been working with a client, community members, or some other form of stakeholder, and you have to bring the bad news.

I recently got this email from a nonprofit professional (and FYI: I’ve removed identifying information):

My nonprofit has created a program that seeks to increase the importance of physical activity among young indigenous youth in a rural community where there’s a lack of access to gyms and other places that would make it easier for youth to be more active. The stakeholders were expecting that the activities included in the program would resonate with the youth. In my nonprofit, I’ve been charged to carry out an evaluation of this program. We used surveys and focus groups with the youth participants. The results of the evaluation were that the participants weren’t interested in the activities, which aligned with the lack of participation. In fact, the results showed that the participants have developed more creative means to get in physical activity, but they brought up the need for other quality of life services that the program wasn’t addressing. The results could potentially impact the funding that was given to this program, as the funders were expecting that the program would be a success. What’s the best way to handle this?

Dealing with funders and leadership can be tricky, and nonprofits know all too well the stress of proving that a program or service is successful to stakeholders.

So, how do you share unexpected results in a way that is diplomatic and addresses concern head on?

Make it participatory from the start

I’ve worked with clients who had the expectation that I would come in, ready to go, with all the surveys, focus group questions, and in-depth interviews scheduled. They just want someone to come in and do the work for them. When I noticed this happening, I began to push back against working with clients in this way, and in encouraging current clients and potential clients in developing a participatory way of working together. From determining data collection tools to developing questions to ask participants (and even getting everyone together to interpret the data), when you make feedback gathering participatory from the start, it creates buy-in, puts everyone on the same page, and makes everything more transparent. When people are more involved, it makes this process more fun (at least for me), and everyone learns in the process.

And here’s a secret: When you make it participatory, it improves the likelihood that recommendations from the evaluation are actually implemented.

Address expectations and potential consequences

When you ask your stakeholders what they intend the outcome of their program to be, also ask this:

“What if what we’re expecting doesn’t happen?”

Ideally, we create programs or services based on theory, research, and what’s happen in our community. It builds the foundation to do some meaningful work. Can you believe there are nonprofits actually create programs or services because it just sounds like a good idea? You’d be surprised. So, can we really feel some type of way when we get results that we weren’t expecting, and in the case of the nonprofit above, it sounds like a program was created to address a need that the community has already dealt with.

But when we follow the theory, research, and community input, yet the outcome is still not what we’re expecting?

Determine if it really is bad

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Ask Nicole: Any Advice for Social Workers Leaving New York City?

Try This: Identify Self Care Activities to Start, Continue, & Stop

Here’s what you’ll need:

Try This: Create Your Recipes, Remedies, Rituals, and Resources for Self Care

Here’s what you’ll need:

What Do You Want to See in a Reproductive Justice Action Toolkit?

RAISE YOUR VOICE: Take the Reproductive Justice Action Toolkit survey today, and share below in the comments section what you’d like to see in the toolkit.

Like this post? Subscribe to the Raise Your Voice newsletter to receive resources, advice, and tips to help you raise your voice for women and girls of color.

Ask Nicole: What’s the Best Way to Deliver Bad News?

Make it participatory from the start

Address expectations and potential consequences

Determine if it really is bad

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