This week at Homeport I got to work with Resident Services. At the beginning of the week I met with the CFO of Homeport to discuss finances in relation to Resident Services. I learned how donors, grants, and other sources of money greatly influence Homeports’ ability to support its residents through their services. I also learned that working in Resident Services involves lots of resident survey taking as well as community engagement. For example, this week I got to visit two more Homeport properties. At Kenlawn I asked residents to complete surveys about their experiences at the property while today at Fieldstone I helped run a produce fair where residents could pick up their weekly groceries. 

In addition to visiting more of Homeports properties, I got to organize binders for future produce fairs and proofread a grant proposal for the CFO. I also sat in on a grant meeting with my supervisor Ms. Price. However, the most interesting part of my week was definitely when I attended the Uplift HER event at the Greater Columbus Convention Center on Wednesday. For anyone who is not familiar with this event, Uplift HER is an event that promotes women’s health. In addition to the speakers’ message, “get checked out, not checked in,” there was an entire section of the space where women could go get screened and learn their numbers. There were also areas dedicated to youth, seniors, resources, and beauty. 

Once I was done walking around the event space, I returned to Homeports table in the resource section and handed out informational flyers to attendants as they walked by. I also provided interested individuals with Homeports message as well as the actions taken to achieve this message. Though our table was often busy, I found these conversations to be engaging and fulfilling. 

Overall, my week at Homeport was exciting and informative.