Next Phase!

Due to some shifts at the Regional Internship Center, I am shifting the focus and structure of my project and the next four months will look quite different from the past 6. Things have been a little up in the air, as makes sense, because of these changes, but now I'm on the ground again and excited about what comes next. For the next 4 months, I will be focusing on the following areas:

1. Design and presentation of a comprehensive series of recommendations for Coro's organizational structure (including ways Coro influences its network and community) to ensure Coro stays far ahead of the curve when it comes to LGBT diversity and inclusivity. The recommendation plan will include a timeline of implementation (ex. what should be done by when).
• Examples of recommendations might include: requesting Coro alumni to include sexual orientation and gender identity when filling out surveys to keep track of LGBT people going through the programs, standardized informational packets of LGBT issues/best practices to be distributed among Coro partners and affiliates, procedures for ensuring transgender people's preferred names and pronouns are used when applying for programs & placement, etc.
2. LGBT community involvement and consultation for LGBT organizations in and around Pittsburgh:
• For those organizations who serve the LGBT community interested in strengthening or creating internship programs
• To create a LGBT community 5-year plan informed by LGBT organizations, community representatives and community members. This plan to be included as part of the overall 5 year plan for the region to be created at the 2011 Building Change conference. More info: http://trcfwpa.org/news-events/building-change-convergence/. Also planning an LGBT workplace issues training for employers as part of the conference.
3. To ensure continuity of responsibilities with the RIC and the ITL including social media work, tracking internships created, presenting another workshop on internship programs for employers, and creating and presenting a final presentation of my fellowship experience on November 18th, 2011 (save the date!).

Would love to chat about any of these projects with our readers. You can email me at rsorock [at] coropittsburgh [dot] com. More updates to come!

Upcoming "Creating a Successful Internship Program" Workshop

Last Wednesday, I sat in on another of the RIC's employer workshops on "Creating a Successful Internship Program" at the Allegheny Land Trust in Sewickley. I'm keeping an eye out for ways to tailor the presentation to organizations that primarily serve the LGBT community. The information in the presentation is designed to be helpful for any company or organization looking to improve upon an existing internship program or start a new one. There are so many misconceptions about interns: ("Oh, this totally annoying job? Let's make the intern do it! Ha, ha, ha!" or "We can't pay an intern so we can't have one!") but just getting people talking about internships and what they could be really offers a whole new frame through which to look at them. This is especially helpful when members of organizations hear from members of other organizations about problems they have faced and overcome.

In many ways, organizations who serve LGBT populations are facing the same challenges as organizations who don't (directly) serve them. LGBT organizations may need to work on updating infrastructure, developing a more distinct "brand", assessing resources, attracting and retaining the best talent for the job, making hard decisions about funding and programming...These are all challenges common to any organization. But I'm trying to get at the challenges specific to LGBT organizations, in the Pittsburgh-area. Do organizations feel torn between groups in our community that seem to be at odds with each other? What is an organization's current strategy to reach out and advertise to the LGBT community? Further, what kind of language is the organization using to carry out that strategy? How is our community changing and what resources to we need now that we didn't need 10 or 20 years ago? How do we ally ourselves with other organizations in the city to create change beyond our community?

On June 22nd, I am inviting local LGBT organizations to our internships and including time to discuss these and other questions. The workshop information is below as well as a video by the Regional Internship Center's director, Regina Anderson about what employers can expect from this workshop:

                                              

Workshop: “Creating a Successful Internship Program”

-and-

Discussion: Serving the LGBT community through internship programs

Who: Pittsburgh-area organizations that serve the LGBT community

What: “Creating a Successful Internship Program” Workshop and Discussion

When: Wednesday, June 22^nd from 1:00pm to 4:00pm

Where: Coro Center for Civic Leadership office

33 Terminal Way, Suite 429A

Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Cost: $35 (Make checks payable to: Coro Center for Civic Leadership)

RSVP by Monday, June 20^th by emailing Rayden Sorock at rsorock@coropittsburgh.org

Questions? Requests for accommodations? Email or call: (412) 208-0250

It's official!

I am writing this blog from my new cube at the Regional Internship Center on the South Side.

I started work here on Tuesday and since then:

I've gotten a run down on all the various social media outlets we use,
I've drafted my project plan and started thinking about how to get it really specific,
I've attended my first all-staff meeting of Coro Pittsburgh,
I've been introduced,
I've made small-talk,
I've tacked up my 2011 calendar,
I've commuted across the Smithfield Bridge in the gray morning and seen the frozen chunks of the river floating on top,
I've been thinking really big,
I've been thinking about how huge Coro's network really is,
I've posted my first entry on the Regional Internship Center's blog

So, probably after one more draft I'll post some of my project plan up here so you, dear reader, may get an idea of what I'll actually actually be doing. A lot of people have been asking me things like, "So tell me...what will you be, uh, doing?" And I can see how that is really a valid question. It's kind of a theme around here at the RIC to need a moderate amount of time to explain just what is it that we do. Explaining what the ITL is takes more time, and then if I have to come out on top of that, well...But, really, I think it's a good thing we'd really have to have a discussion to understand what we do here. It's hard to measure human interaction, social change, purpose and interconnectivity. I imagine I'll be working on a succinct quip until the end of the program. In the meanwhile--we're making connections here!

The Next Step

As the new year begins, I am thinking ahead to the start of my fellowship and all the ways it may change things in my life. I have met again with folks from the Regional Internship Center in order to get further acquainted and also to get a better idea about what it will be like to work with them. I met with Mad over dinner last week and she asked some really tough questions. I'm talking more and writing more and reflecting more...

I can more clearly now the scope of this project, how the missions of Coro Pittsburgh, the Regional Internship Center, the Initiative for Transgender Leadership are all wrapped up in my own mission now. This is not just a 10 month job to get me through. Here is a chance to do all that self-work and more I doubted I could do. Here is a chance to ally myself with a lot of people doing a lot of good work. All those goals and big ideas that have been clattering around in my head for some time might now get a chance to take center stage.

Michael Baltzer at the RIC asked me a great question when we met a few weeks ago: Where do I see myself and the ITL fitting into the RIC? Why here? Why now? I shared my own questions about how it would be to be more fully out on the job than I have ever been before. Being so out has great potential to initiate discussion and bolster the RIC's and its parent organization Coro Pittsburgh's missions.

So--why here? Why now? I think it helps that I am so excited about being in Pittsburgh now. I see myself as a part of this community--as a queer person, as a young person, as someone who votes, as a part-time farmer, as someone who cares about social justice and environmental issues, etc. This fellowship is one avenue by which I can serve all of these communities and all the parts of myself.

I see many themes emerging as this project moves forward: community, meaningful work, being one's whole self, commitment to diversity, "talking through it", why here? why now?, telling our stories, solidarity & support.

I like where this is going...

--Rayden