Happy end of summer!
Well, almost. Schools in the area have started for many, and classes for me start in two short weeks. Since time tends to move faster than expected, my time is being spent right now by tying up loose ends and moving toward next steps in job seeking, preparing for my school class schedule, and balancing my internship commitments with AHO.
My latest work this week for AHO has been sending out emails to local alternative high schools to schedule meetings. The goal of this outreach is to share AHO’s resources so transition age youth who might need an extra helping hand while navigating life and school know there is hope and support out there for them in the community. Most school contacts have messaged back to me with notes of returning to their offices in the coming days. I will give them time to adjust to life back in school and will then reach out again to hopefully schedule some dates. With any luck some progress can be made.
On Sunday, I met the AHO youth I’m working with. We met soon after he met, for the first time, the famous Jimmy Hayes of AHO. Jimmy was the inspiration for Zara founding AHO 20 years ago and he is still involved in AHO as a mentor and supporter of AHO’s Youth Leadership Team projects. Each youth who works with AHO has the opportunity to become part of the Leadership team and is encouraged to do so! The two of them really hit it off and Jimmy will be a great mentor for him. During our meeting this week we also discussed a new youth coming into the folds of AHO who I am lucky enough to get to work with. She is from my neck of the woods in Sonoma County, and I am excited to meet her and see what her goals for the future are.
For my bi-weekly time with the AHO youth, we talked about financial literacy, or rather, we
were going to, until learning that his credit score is even better than mine. From that blow to my ego, but excitement for him, we moved on to getting him set-up with medical care, SNAP
benefits, and possible therapy. He’s about to start his semester too, so we are on the same page of getting everything set-up and ready for the new school year.
Cheers to all of us getting our ducks in a row,
Kayla