An Introduction

Good evening everyone,

Welcome to "Hope for Chicago!" I'm glad you're here. Before I dive into this project head first, I wanted to at the very least introduce myself and explain the purpose of this blog. My name is Tiffany, and I'm a social worker living and working in the beautiful city of Chicago. I'm a proud Ravenswood resident who recently graduated from Loyola University with my Master of Social Work (MSW) with an emphasis in Mental Health; however, I realized during my year-long practicum that I wanted instead to work in the "macro," or community context as opposed to the "micro," or strictly individual context. At the start of my program, I thought that I wanted to be a therapist working strictly with individual adults. When working as a mental health therapist at a methadone clinic during grad school, I couldn't ignore how strongly many of my clients' lives and symptoms were impacted by their environments. Many lacked affordable housing options given the absolutely insane wait lists in this city and were stuck in toxic living situations that enabled their opioid abuse and worsened their clinical symptoms or were homeless as a result of a combination of these factors. 

Being in this position forced me to confront my own privileges that I often took for granted: being able to afford a decent apartment in a safe and economically thriving neighborhood, regularly being able to afford food and clothing, and being able to avoid facing the harsh and unforgiving stigma surrounding opioid addiction and living with severe mental illness every day of my life, just to name a few. 

It was through these realizations that I shifted directions within the field of social work. Two days before my graduation from Loyola this past May, I accepted a full time position with an agency that has a contract with the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) to provide social services to public housing residents. I'm an employment specialist, which entails assisting residents in finding work and education opportunities by way of helping them develop strong resumes, referring them to job training programs and open positions, FAFSA assistance for those interested in going to college, and many more community resources. My work obviously entails working with individuals; however, this position that is one that also has many macro aspects: for instance, I've worked to organize several job fairs and information sessions for residents seeking employment by way of communicating and building relationships with  local employers and program administrators in what was formerly the Cabrini-Green area as well as the Chinatown/Near South Side community. 

In the future, I hope to eventually work in city government, and am still trying to figure out exactly in what capacity. The bottom line is that I feel it is my duty as a resident of this city that I've come to know and love even more over the past two years of living here to consider and do what I can to make a positive impact in the lives of not only my current clients but also my fellow Chicagoans as a whole. I have remained passionate about mental health awareness and the provision of affordable and quality mental health services in this city, but believe that these concerns cannot be separated or viewed apart from larger and widespread community issues such as the overall lack of affordable housing, the prevalence of poverty among residents and the ongoing racial and economic segregation. 

So where does "Hope for Chicago" come in? I've realized that the idea of having a positive impact in any of the aforementioned areas seems daunting. We all wonder what we can do as individuals and whether any of our efforts will truly make a difference. Even as social workers, I and my colleagues sometimes catch ourselves wondering aloud what can be done to assist our clients with complex and interconnected needs and challenges. At "Hope for Chicago," I plan to regularly share just that with all of you: hopeful stories of Chicagoans that have and are continuing to make a difference for their communities and struggling neighbors.

 In doing so, I hope to continually encourage and inspire my followers to find ways to do so themselves, whether that be through volunteering their time to assist at a local food pantry or choosing to speak out about social injustices and concerns in their neighborhoods. While we may be unable to fully eradicate poverty and suffering, I wholeheartedly believe that we can and should strive to serve and promote growth within our communities and actively seek to question why these deep seated social issues often continue to go unchecked in our city and elsewhere. This message is directly contradictory to what we tend to hear from the media, but I refuse to stop believing that there is and always will be hope for Chicago.

"For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"-Galatians 5:14

"Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause."-Isaiah 1:17

"Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all."-Romans 12:15-18