The mission of NWNY is to empower young women immigrants from underserved neighborhoods in New York and give them tools to recognize and develop their potential. I worked on two projects during my time at New Women New Yorkers (NWNY): 1) I developed a feasibility and requirements paper outlining the process to setup a childcare center for immigrant mothers and 2) I edited the curriculum for and taught a hard and soft skills training program for young immigrant women.

The research project aimed to see what other needs young women immigrants in NYC have and strategized on one avenue to meet those needs. Affordable and safe childcare is a major barrier preventing immigrant women from obtaining employment and attending school. The research project looked at the current childcare system in NYC and how it can be navigated by immigrant mothers. The training program consisted of 12 workshops focused on different skills to help young women immigrants obtain internships, jobs, college access, and life skills. These workshops provided an excellent opportunity to advance that mission with one on one and group client work. The workshops included resume writing skills, use of the internet and software programs, networking, project management, teamwork, and time management.

One of the main skillsets we learn at the School of Social Work is the idea of “meeting the client where they are at.” I had the opportunity to work with seven amazing young women, all from different backgrounds and countries who brought excitement, thoughtfulness, and honesty to our workshops. There were several tough topics we discussed, like immigration, amnesty, separation from family members, fear of deportation, and cultural beliefs. Understanding that each individual has a unique and amazing voice and empathizing with their situations allowed for me to be a better workshop facilitator. Social Work is based on the actual, stated needs of the clients and not on what we as workers think they should need. These workshops were a clear picture of that. For example, I might think that they really need resume help, but what they truly need is more practice speaking in public. The ability to listen to clients and understand their entire picture and goals is what really helped me increase my facilitation skills.

New Women New Yorkers is a very small organization; the President receives a small stipend and she is the only paid staff member. Working with an organization with that small of budget was challenging as resources were scarce. Outreach involved literally knocking on doors in the Bronx and hoping that someone would take two minutes to listen to you describe an amazing free program offered in their community. That being said… that is exactly what was so appealing to me about NWNY when I started looking at summer opportunities.

Another challenge was the vagueness of the research project and time allotted to complete it. I was basically told to “figure out if we should and can open a childcare center for immigrant women.” That was a huge beast to tackle in six weeks. It is an immensely complicated topic and involves federal, state, and local regulations. I feel as though I did contribute to NWNY’s understanding of the system and opportunities within it, but I really wish I could have had more time to develop a more concrete final project.

I was completely amazed at what the President was able to accomplish with almost zero capital. She has built an amazing network of volunteers who take significant amounts of time to basically run this program for free. It is such a grassroots effort and the organization it takes to pull something like this off really shows what dedication and hard work from one individual can accomplish. I met at least 20 individuals who contribute on a weekly basis to helping grow this organization, which showed me that you really can make a difference when you develop a great idea that resonates and meets a community need. I feel much more capable of working with a small nonprofit than I did prior to the summer and learned how creative you can actually be when necessary.

I have worked in many different sized companies and my major goal of working at NWNY was to see what a very early stage nonprofit looks like, and how to grow something from a basic idea. In this case the idea was helping immigrant women. I think I definitely achieved my goal and developed/ am still developing ideas on how to translate this to my future career and how to contribute to future organizations.

This also made me look at company resources in a new light. When you have so few, decisions really matter: Should we get the participants snacks or should we provide a metro card? Many organizations have the ability to meet both of those needs, but I think it is a good takeaway to always analyze resources, no matter the size, to ensure that you are getting the most out of organizational capital.