Update on the Job Search

It has been a while I have written and since then a few good things have happened. First of all my father finally got out of the hospital, after spending over two weeks at UCSD. They fought of the virus that he initially went in for and while at it he left with a new pacemaker/difibulator, sort of an upgrade to his old pacemaker. He is still a little week but on his way to a full recovery. Since my last update I have had two final interviews with two diffren organizations.

I don’t think my interview with the first organization went really well. To be frank it is not were I would like to end up, but hey it’s a job. I feel I was a little to honest when asked if I could meet their fundraising goals for the year. I noticed that they have projected to triple their goals for this fiscal year in an economy that may not support it. Times are changing and the way fundraising worked just five years ago will not work in the upcoming years as philanthropist tighten their budgets. It will no longer be enough to have a great cause or great program. Board involvement, evaluation, objectives and goals, marketing, and stewardship will need to be part of a combined strategy. Those organizations that do not diversify their funding sources and nurture all those sources will quickly sink. Those organizations with unrealistic goals and no plans are doomed to fail, “when you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Don’t get me wrong could I develop that culture, I could but triple their development funds in one year….that’s a pretty tall order; just being realistic considering they have not met their goals over the last three years.

On the other hand the second interview went amazing. I think I made an impression. I did find out that originally they had a candidate pool of 50 qualified candidates, which they narrowed down to eight, and now they are down to three of us. I have heard a rumor that they have contacted some of you as my references, which is a move in the right direction! I think I can make an impact with this organization. Public Health is something I hold dear and of course access to health solutions for all is something I deeply believe in. Too much money is being spent on drugs to treat diabetes, cardiac problems, drug abuse, etc. What we nee to do is provide a prescription for better public health and support programs on the front end. I listened to a doctor speak last night and he made a great point, “a doctors office is not where we should go to get healthy,” We need more parks, supported recreation centers, programs that educate our communities on staying healthy. Our families need safe communities where they don’t feel afraid of spending time with their family’s outdoors. There needs to be healthy food options in the communities where they live. In the case that they do need treatment or support services those need to be there and easy to access regardless of any barriers.

Finally I have to get on my soap box a little bit. Over the last few weeks as I have traversed the world of the unemployed and support systems I have been disappointed by what I have seen. I have seen children turned away from services, rude and inconsiderate staff, and a bureaucracy that should not be. Did you know that in the world of MediCal there is a difference between “eligible” and “qualified,” it all seems so subjective?” I am fortunate I have a voice and when I see an injustice I can defend myself and my family but over the last few weeks I have been saddened by the treatment of members of our community. I keep thinking to myself that it’s hard enough to ask for help, especially when there are language and cultural variables, why do we as a community make it harder for individuals who are already struggling. What has happened to the compassion and respect that all people deserve? Being unemployed has been a great opportunity and reminder as to what our community goes through. I am blessed to have had this experience and makes me thankful for what my family went through when I was baby and for what thousands families go through everyday.

On behalf of me and my family thank you for all your help. Your support has been invaluable for the last two months. My Daughter (picuted to the left) celebrates her first birthday this Saturday and will also be baptized. That milestone has made me reflect on the last year, my family is so blessed to have come in contact with each of you!

Why I left my job

So after nearly four years in my cuurent positionI have resigned my position. My last day was last Saturday and one week later I still have not found a job. Even though financially things are unstable and everyday their is a new realization in regards to the world of the unemployed I would not have done anything different. In fact most of those who are close to me are glad I made the decision and in fact wonder what took so long. Of course the most popular question is why are you leaving...so let me try to lay this out in a professional manner....

Workload: The position itself is designed to fail. With the level of responsibility and the lack of human resource in my mind there is no human being who could possibly be successful at all of the elements in this position. If you are not schizophrenic before entering the position you will be if you don't leave. I understand multi-tasking and in general this is one of my strenghts but there is a huge difference between multi-tasking and over-tasking. In fact in my time at the Y the position doubled in responsibilities and just before I left I was assigned a few more items..and at no point was I ever asked for my opinion or brought into the decision making process...which leads me to my next point.

No authority: I was never able to established my formal authority within the organization. For those of you who have taken Dr. Monroe's classes at USD you will know exactly what I am talking about in this section. Luckily I was able to establish some informal authority with those I supervised and that helped me survive there. But of course my formal authority, my boss, was really good at assassinating my authority. I can't be sure if he did it intentionally ( I assume there was some hidden issues, per Tavistot Primer I) but I can be sure that he did it often. I can remember about two weeks before quitting running a management meeting in his absence and felt we where getting somewhere to resolve a severe budget crisis. Then he walks in to the meeting and tears apart what we had worked on without taking a minute to hear us out. You could literally see how demoralized and unmotivated everyone became simply by their body language. We went from a meeting with a lot of energy and solutions to a room full of anger and disappointment. Even before I gave notice my boss was making decisions on salary adjustments to staff I supervised without even consulting me. Of course I would have agreed but why would he not talk to me about those things If ultimately I am responsible for my staff and the completion of facility outcomes.

Salary: On the note of salary my close friends know that it has never been about the money for me. Of course now with a family I have to make sure I make enough to support our needs but ultimately it is about loving what I do. Sometimes people don't realize how perceptive I can be and that I can read between the lines. But I have to ask the question why is my former position the lowest paid associate position in the entire association. In fact there are new associates who have less experience, less education, and less time and are already making more than I was. There needs to be some equity amongst the association in the positions they offer. A big slap in the face was when the position was posted at a higher starting rate than what I was making. So obviously it was not budget that kept them from adjusting my pay. In fact before I left three staff had their salaries adjusted. This really told me where I stood and what my perceived value to the organization was...

Support from the corporate level: I still remember the day I decided to leave the organization and I attempted to call our VP of operations to file a complaint and get some guidance. To this day he has not returned my call. I think the corporate office has become negligent in regards to the situation at the YMCA. How many people have to file complaints before real change will occur, where is the real tipping point. The corporate office is more than aware of the conditions that employees face yet do nothing. As I told the YMCA VP of Human Resources, the corporate office has failed this branches employees for too long. Especially when they have proven that it is not safe to ask for help without facing retaliation. It is by no accident that the two senior Latino directors at this YMCA resigned within weeks of each other. Who can live with this stress...what more does the corporate office need to see their is a problem....

Balance: For an organization that preaches balance of spirit, mind, and body they don't support that amongst their employees. The 12-14 hour days, the verbal and mental abuse, the lack of resources combined with poor pay and lack of recognition are not worth it. Especially when you go home and realize that the only time you see your kid is when their sleeping, or that you are behind on your bills, and that your health is suffering. Diabetes is no joke and this job was only making it worse.

Diabetes: It is so sad that I can pinpoint the reason why my diabetes was out of control and link it directly back to the stress of the job. For those who know anything about diabetes stress is one of the major factors affecting blood sugar levels. In fact every time I would finally be getting healthy there was something or someone who would derail it at work. In fact the straw that broke the camels back was when my blood sugar had dropped to dangerous levels (meaning I could pass out and enter a diabetic comma) and I brought food to a staff meeting and was denied the opportunity to eat it even after explaining why I needed to eat . At no point had food ever been denied from these meetings, in fact we had shared food at these meetings on many occasions. Talk about the lack of reasonable accommodations for someone with a disability.

I could no longer let this job continue to kill me...I made the difficult decision of moving on and facing the consequences of not having a job rather than staying there and continue to get sick and not see my daughter as we fell deeper in debt...I had to ask myself a question. After years of working on farm worker and labor rights what would I have done if someone came to me and express a similar situation to me...the anwser was clear and encapsualeted in the following quote...

"What is at stake is human dignity. If a man is not accorded respect he cannot respect himself and if

he does not respect himself, he cannot demand it."

-Cesar E. Chavez

I have a bunch of board members, other employees, friends, asking why I left but ironically my boss never really asked why I was leaving which made two more things clear to me:

1. It confirmed where I stood (as the lack of a call from the VP of operations)

2. That things will never change at this Y.

He did ask If I was sure I wanted to make this decision. I replied, yes that I had been thinking about it for a while. That is what it was left at. No attempt to find a resolution or address any issues. Once again reminding me of my perceived value. My mom always reminded me that no one was indespensible but I know I brought some unique gifts to the Y and it is their loss.

The VP of HR did aske but after we talked it think she realized the latter of the items above (Change is not ocming soon). Or that at least that for me it was too late. In fact I think she realized she had to play it safe with what she said to me because I had the makings of a real complaint to the Equal Employment and Housing Office. I have a lot of respect for her but also know she has a role to play.

So now I am unemployed and looking and once again there is no regrets. In my time at the YMCA I know I had a positive impact on those we served, the staff i worked with, and the culture of the organization. I feel I grew as manager, and employee and as a person. I made some lifelong friends and colleague's and I am proud to have serve the families within our service area.I am looking forward to my next opportunity where i am sure I will be able to have a continued impact.