Week 10

This internship has made me question a lot of things about what kind of work I want to do in the future. I learned a lot about working in the public policy and became aware of the challenges that exist in that type of work. I became aware of the divisive internal politics of the community organizing world and learned that you can even meet with resistance from people who are supposed to be your allies. I also learned that when you achieve something politically, you often receive such a strong backlash afterwards that it is questionable how much your efforts actually help people. In addition, I found out that it is hard to stay motivated and passionate about your work when you meet with almost constant resistance. Furthermore, I found it less enjoyable to work in an office on a political campaign than experiences I have had working with immigrants in person. However, I have also seen a great need for the work that political activists do in my work with immigrants in Postville in other places. This kind of work is undoubtedly very valuable and very necessary. I am just not sure that it is where my passion lies and where my talents can be best used.

Week 9

In working at the Immigrant Freedom Network this summer, I have seen what challenges small non-profits must face. It is hard to find enough funding for staff, so people end up being paid very little for the time they put in. At this point, MIFN only has 2 staff members and they do not work full-time, which makes it hard to get things done, especially when your opponents have a lot more resources and man-power. It is also sometimes difficult to get things done, because there is not a set procedure for everything and there are no repercussions if you do not follow your own rules. This can make it hard to get things done efficiently. It also seems to me that a lot of what community organizers and non-profits do is call upon their connections to get support for whatever they are doing, and this is hard to do when you are a small organization. It is also hard to get people to listen to you until you make a name for yourself and this is hard to do without the support of others. So that can become a vicious cycle. Big organizations, like Lutheran Social Services, do not seem to have these same challenges. This makes me wonder if one can work for social justice more effectively by working with a small organization that is trying to do something different and new, or by working within a big organization that already has power in the public sphere and has specific services that they consistently work to provide.

Week 8

This week I called a lot of non-profit organizations to talk to them about the Reform Immigration for America campaign and see if they would be willing and able to endorse it. Most of the organizations told me that either they did not know if they could get involved in a political campaign or they had an strict policy that they do not get involved in political campaigns of any kind. When I told my supervisor about this, he told me that non-profits are able to spend a certain amount of money on lobbying each year, so he was surprised that I got that kind of response. That made me wonder what motives non-profits would have to stay away from political action. Not all non-profits work in providing social services, but it seems strange that those who do would have that kind of policy, because the existing laws affect the people that they serve. I think that it only makes sense to combine service with advocacy. This advocacy needs to happen on the local level and on the national political level. I think I need to consider whether I want to be able to involve this kind of political advocacy in my work as I consider my post-college plans or if I would be satisfied working in a non-political, service providing organization.