Juliana Tamayo

EXPL 390
1-26-18

Initial Reflection

Although I’m proud of all that I accomplished last semester at Catholic Charities, I

reached a slump during November. My tasks at CC were translations, case briefs, and

appointments for document pick-ups. I became very good at these three activities and while this

made my job easier, my role within the organization did not evolve. The legal specialists knew

that these were my three responsibilities and they continued to give me work in these fields. I

became comfortable with my assignments and didn’t ask for more to do. During this time two

knew legal specialists were hired and they have been training for the past three months. They

train all day with my supervisors so I’ve been working on my own a lot since then. In December,

I read over the intern handbook again and saw some of the work previous interns had done. I

realized that there were a lot of things that I had not been trained to do. In August, Nancy had

said that one of my responsibilities would be completing client fingerprints for their background

checks. This was one of the many things that we hadn’t gotten to throughout the semester.

Everyone in the office had been busy with training and I never asked about other activities so I

never learned how to do new things.

Before this new semester began, I wrote a list of things that I wanted to learn in the

organization. These activities included learning how to complete fingerprints and having a bigger

role in the Immigrant Survivors Program. I had a meeting with Nancy the first week back and

she agreed that I needed to do more things within the group. The toughest part has been getting

training. Nancy asked Melissa to train me but Melissa is still training the new specialists. Over

break one of the secretaries and another specialist left the organization. This means the office is
understaffed and everyone is busy all the time. The first week back was a little rough because I

felt out of place in the office. I felt like a burden asking for training when I knew everyone had

their schedules booked. Being bounced around from one person to the next left me feeling a little

awkward and confused about what I would be doing for the remainder of the semester.

I’ve gotten training on how to do fingerprints since then, and now it is something I can do

on my own. I’ve had my first two appointments with clients and they went smoothly. There are

still other things I need to learn but I’ve found a way to gain the training I need. The first thing I

do when I come into the office is check everyone’s schedule online. Once I see what

appointments they have, I can find out what specialist is doing something that is on my list of

things to learn. Then I ask the specialist if it is ok to shadow them during their appointment. This

way I get my training as I observe the specialist with their clients. This is my plan for the

semester and I think it will work. Instead of waiting for an opening in someone’s schedule, I can

learn by watching them work directly with clients. One of the biggest problems in the

organization is the way cases are kept and filed. There are open cases that haven’t been updated

since 2007. My job now is to go through all the cases and see if they are up to date. I try to

contact clients and if their case has been resolved or if they have moved to another agency I

proceed to close the case and delete their file. If instead, they tell me that want to continue

working with CC I make them an appointment so a specialist can take another look at their case.

I’ve created an excel sheet to help me keep track and with Nancy’s approval this is my project

for the semester.

There are hundreds of cases at Catholic Charities and I won’t get to all of them, but I

hope to leave behind a system for the next interns to work on. With this project, I hope to help

the organization clean up their space and have an efficient way of keeping the database up to
date. So many people come and go from the department and unfortunately some cases are

forgotten. Just last week I called a client whose case had not been touched since 2017. The

specialist she had been working with is no longer at CC and the client said she had been waiting

for a call from the department. She was very excited to see that her case was being looked at

again. I hope that with this new case updating system I can help the specialists know which cases

are still being worked on and reach out to clients who have active cases. This project also helps

me better understand the work the organization does. By reading the cases I can become familiar

with the forms that need to be completed for each process and become familiar with the steps

taken in each legal procedure.

To make this a successful semester at Catholic Charities I need to learn from my mistakes

and follow in the teachings of Palmer. Palmer said that we should listen to our emotions and act

courageously in our work place. Using the example of the overwhelmed surgical resident he says

that we shouldn’t let our emotions shut us down and we should instead use our feelings to guide

our actions (Palmer 2007). In his essay Palmer said, “We will not teach future professionals

emotional distancing as a strategy for personal survival. We will teach them instead how to stay

close to emotions that can generate energy for institutional change, which might help everyone

survive” (2007). Being in touch with my emotions is something I need to remember to do this

semester. I need to remember that it’s alright to be confused or feel lost. The whole point of this

experience is to continue learning and gain knowledge in immigration law. I won’t be able to

evolve as an intern if I shut myself out and refuse to ask questions. I also need to be honest with

what feel and recognize when I feel overwhelmed with a case or specific client. Some of these

cases are hard to read and reaching out to others in the organization is important if I want to do a

good job. I can’t expect to make an impact if I don’t contribute to team discussions or seek new
responsibilities. I think that to achieve social justice everyone in the community needs to do their

part, however small it may be. I play a small role in helping the immigrant population in the city,

but if I execute my role effectively I know I can help members of the community as they seek

legal status.

In Paul Rogat Loeb’s “Pieces of a Vision”, the author describes how a good society

promotes the wellbeing of its citizens. When speaking of this ideal world he says, “It gives all its

inhabitants the economic, emotional, and spiritual support needed to follow their dream. An

unjust society, in contrast, starves hopes, aspiration, and possibilities. It stunts lives and

potentials” (Loeb 2010). In these few lines, the author has summarized what I think makes up a

“good society”. To me, social justice means looking for what is best for the whole and not just

one person or group of people. A “good society” is one the gives its inhabitants the tools and

resources they need to succeed and evolve. This includes education, health care, transportation

and job security. Society can’t improve if social justice is not part of its core purpose. Social

justice means looking at our privilege and our place in society. We need to recognize that not

everyone in our world holds the same power and that there are laws and social structures in place

that continue to favor some groups while simultaneously pushing other groups down. Justice will

only come when we recognize the role we play in the suppression of other groups. We need to be

honest about the power we as individuals hold and the power that comes from the communities

we belong to.

One way this will be achieved is by making sure everyone is protected under the law and

has some form of legal status. Immigration reform and border protection are topics all over the

news. Every day we hear the president fight to obtain funds for his wall while ignoring the bigger

problems we have within the country. Justice will come the day the government sets up a proper
way for deserving people to get legal status. People keep saying the people should come to the

United States legally but today that’s almost impossible. People may be forced to wait decades if

they apply for a visa or adjustment of status under the current system. Another part of my just

and good society is integration. It amazes me that a city as diverse as Chicago is still completely

segregated. It is not fair that communities across the city are not given the same resources and

opportunities. The government should make sure that everyone has access to quality free

education, food and shelter. We should aim to have reliable public transportation across all

communities and community development programs. With these systems in place, members of

the community will be able to prepare for interviews and have a way to get to these

opportunities.

It’s not about giving everyone the same benefits, but about seeing at how we can amend

the mistakes of the past and help all communities be at the same level. Only when everyone has

equal access to resources can we even begin to think about creating a good and just society. On

my part, I can work towards creating a more just world by continuing to advocate for what I

think is important. I will continue to work for organizations like Catholic Charities that offer

services to marginalized groups. I will continue to read about the issues that are affecting women

across the world so that I can facilitate conversations on this matter. I will continue to educate

myself and be involved in the community so that I am aware of the resources available and can

let others know about these opportunities. Being well informed and connected to members of the

community helps foster relationships that will lead to improvements.

 Works Cited

Loeb, P. (2010). Pieces of a Vision. In Soul of a citizen: Living with conviction in challenging

times (2nd ed., pp. 257-286). New York: St. Martin's Griffin.

Palmer, P. (2007, November-December). A New Professional: The Aims of Education Revisited.

Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 6-12