This week has been long. Monday seems like it was SO far away. This week, work was not as fast-paced as usual. There has been so much going on in our office- the new AmeriCorps members start on Monday, and the Development team is waiting on approval to submit 8 grants over the next week- but all of the work is tied up with other departments and people. I have tried my best to be helpful, but it just came down to one simple fact: I did not have much to do this week. That, to me, is a frustrating fact. I have been told many times that this is the nature of nonprofit work, and that some weeks are busier than others. This is the first time that I have experienced this at City Year.

While I have spent the week helping proofread grants and carrying out tasks around the office, one point of discussion from our Fellows discussion with Empowerbus CEO Aslyne Rodriguez has stayed in the back of my mind: “Continue to ask yourself- is the work that you are doing dignified?” In my own reflections, I have found this to be a more complex question than I originally assumed. I tend to think of nonprofits as “problem solving” organizations- grassroots in nature, immediately responsive, and tuned in to the community needs. While this may be true, I also unknowingly attributed a certain level of “pull yourself up by your bootstraps and be thankful for a solution” to the nonprofit sector- that ANY solution, however it was put together and presented, was better than nothing.

This week, my thinking has been challenged. While I used to applaud when nonprofits presented solutions for communities in need, Aslyne challenged me to think: are the solutions we are providing to communities dignified in nature? As nonprofits continue to establish themselves as public leaders and agents of change in communities, we can no longer accept A solution- but one that is THE best solution for the community it serves. I have applied this framework to the solutions I have been providing for City Year, and asking myself if they were the best for the City Year and Columbus City School communities we serve- I believe the best way to do this is by asking those impacted directly by the decision being made. Moving forward, dignity will be the standard by which I hold nonprofit solutions.