About

NYU 19' B.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Human Cognition and a minor in Anthropology. Passionate about mental health and holistic living while integrating facets of cultural humility and human empathy. All things minimalistic, dietary, fitness and travel-related, homeopathic, anthropologic, alternatively medicinal, and mindful in nature.

Fellowships

AmeriCorps VISTA - 2019
Impact Evaluator
Building capacity to serve underrepresented youth population in the Providence metro area.

GivePulse Stats

Groups

  • BrownEngage

  • Beat the Streets

  • The Swearer Center

  • Swearer Center Community Partners

  • Brown University AmeriCorps VISTA Fellowship

  • Impacts

    Brown University AmeriCorps VISTA Fellowship

    Success: Things really picked up this week in terms of productivity! We were able to make our first ever wellness checks! We reached out directly to student athletes and/or their parents by way of phone to do a brief social-emotional checkin. They really appreciated it! It was well over 200+ athletes we were able to either speak to or leave a voicemail. I think we pioneered a culture of care through this exercise. It also gave our interns a taste of some direct service even in a time of social distancing! Also, major strides on the grants have been taking place. Each individual intern has selected their own and is moving forward at crafting a narrative with the guidance and assistance of myself and our Founder, Billy! This is exciting.

    Challenge: A challenge has been time management for me personally. Finding enough time to accomplish all the necessary tasks of the day. Directing and managing the interns, responding to emails, analyzing data with Silas, brainstorming programmatic structuring, and anything of the like. Not to mention personally studying and other duties that need attending to! It's been challenging. I have to pick up my adulting expertise!

    Aspiration: Meet the Founder, via Zoom, and introduce him to our first ever SPRINT cohort! I feel it would be valuable given he is also a Brown alum. Hopefully I can organize something as he has a full time job in NY and is sometimes difficult to get ahold of! Also, attend more of Silas' online Zoom workouts with the kids. Trying to get more in shape.

    Gave 40.00 hours between 07/11/2020 and 07/17/2020 with BrownEngage, Beat the Streets
    Brown University AmeriCorps VISTA Fellowship

    Success: Onboarding and getting all of our interns on the same page and feeling comfortable with the direction, culture, and vision of the organization. All in all, we have 6 interns at this point in time with various different roles and unique perspectives. I think these outside levels of support are such an invaluable asset to Beat the Streets! Everyone seems to have a good understanding of our pace and is starting to generate some quality work. Payroll templates, infographics, and grants are just a brief mentioning of what our great interns have been up to! Definitely a major stride for our org in the right direction!

    Challenge: Keeping levels of communication between the higher ups and the boots on the ground consistent and transparent! This is inherently difficulty due to the reconfiguration of our board and administration right now. Our Executive Director is transitioning on and there is a new chapter ahead! Exciting by a challenge nonetheless.

    Goal: Start writing grants and perhaps generate some capital for this upcoming year's programmatic expenses! The interns seem psyched to get on board with this process also, so I'm excited to get the ball rolling on grant narratives and data integration. Very cool stuff!

    Gave 39.00 hours between 07/04/2020 and 07/10/2020 with BrownEngage, Beat the Streets
    Brown University AmeriCorps VISTA Fellowship

    Success: Major success this week was welcoming the three SPRINT volunteers, an Up2Us Sports VISTA, and a web development designer intern from RIC. We currently have a cohort of 7 total interns/VISTAs. Silas has said we've never really had these levels of support or collaboration. It's pretty cool to be part of a larger unit with different and fresh points of views. We were able to get everyone familiarized with the program, what it is that we do, and allocate certain responsibilities. We did a multi-day orientation, intro's, several team-building exercises, synopses, and other games to build comfort levels! I think everyone is feeling positive about their start with us. Looking forward to what lies ahead!

    Challenge: A challenge I've sort of been experiencing is receiving a course of action and definitive tasks from the highest levels within the organization. Our Executive Director is transitioning into Grad School and we are hiring a new ED for BTS NE - an ongoing merger between Boston and Providence. So right now there is a bit of a lull in leadership. I don't have a ton of managerial experience, but I think I'm doing quite well co-leading a team. We are doing alright. Just more definitive guidelines from the top down might be of assistance.

    Goal: Output 2 grants with the SPRINT interns over their 4-week stay. Also work closely with one intern particularly who has expressed interest in the grant writing process. Another big goal of mine is developing some type of fundraising event for BTS. There is a restaurant with outdoor seating that gives us very discounted rates in terms of hosting events. There is a large upcoming wrestling match between two major opponents on July 25th I was considering trying to make the focal point. Hopefully I can generate some momentum in this regard!

    Gave 38.00 hours between 06/27/2020 and 07/03/2020 with BrownEngage, Beat the Streets
    Brown University AmeriCorps VISTA Fellowship

    Success: Silas and I completed a 'Return to Play' plan of action for outdoor fitness sessions through the rest of the summer. This comprehensive document included drop/pick-up procedures, a holistic overview of the current health climate, state and local level health guidelines, PPE, sanitization methodologies, social distancing measures, locations, a bird's-eye view breakdown, times, coach-athlete ratios, stable groups, CDC Covid-19 checklists, and other important parameters. We submitted it to our ED at the national level for review. If green-lighted we can eventually pass it along to our lawyers to be coupled with a consent, Covid-19 waiver. Exciting stuff!

    Challenge: A major challenge is all of the red tape surrounding the health crisis. It's all for good reason. But the multi-level approval necessary for a small, consistently grouped, socially-distant outdoor fitness program is pretty huge. So many concerns, liabilities, and insurance stipulations involved with this process that are definitely over my head.

    Goal: Eventually get some type of approved, safe, regulated, in-person programming available. Be it a coach social or a fitness module for kids. Hopefully the level of infections and the risk factors will eventually decrease enough for people to feel comfortable to workout!

    Gave 37.50 hours between 06/20/2020 and 06/26/2020 with BrownEngage, Beat the Streets
    Brown University AmeriCorps VISTA Fellowship

    Success: A major success I believe the Beat the Streets Organization had this week was the first ever 'Justice Talks' we hosted. These will be a series of Q&A's between us, our students, and an entity. Fittingly, this week was it was with 4 Boston and Providence police officers. This hour and a half long presentation/discussion was intended to address the ongoing racial injustices that people of color endure from law enforcement officers simply because of the complexion of their skin. About a dozen or so kids tuned in, and we, as staff fired off a multitude of questions to our esteemed guests. These questions were curated by student athletes and asked on their behalf. Powerful conversation arose from this event and, logistically, it went pretty seamlessly.

    Challenge: A challenge of mine has been staying track with impacts, logging hours, and monthly reports. I need to be better about the VISTA component of this service term. 99.9% of my professional focus goes into Beat the Streets. That last .1% simply sometimes isn't enough to not only satisfy the Swearer Center Obligations and VISTA backend work. I will be try to be more detail oriented and on top of this element moving forward.

    Goal: A goal of mine within the organization is to more effectively streamline an onboarding process for the SPRINT interns that will be joining us in the weeks to come. Establishing a firm rooted MOU, job description, teleservice request form, workflow model, and professional development opportunities so when they do join our team all the pieces will be in order for a headache-free transition!

    Gave 35.00 hours between 06/13/2020 and 06/19/2020 with BrownEngage, Beat the Streets
    Brown University AmeriCorps VISTA Fellowship

    Success: I've spearheaded increased levels of partnership with Boston Youth Wrestling on a variety of projects including but not limited to Annual Reports, volunteer practices, and operational methodologies. We have teamed up particularly on the Annual Report which is proving to be a strategically efficacious move on behalf of both parties. They have connected us to a resource by the name of Catchafire where professional volunteers are linked to non profits and specific tasks/projects within them.

    Challenge: The uncertainty around extracurricular activities, athletics, and gatherings in general surrounding Covid. This not knowing what we can and can't do is really disheartening as it makes for a constant state of limbo. We are trying to embrace this current state, but it proves formidable.

    Aspiration: One major goal I have moving forward is to facilitate the merger between Boston Youth Wrestling and Beat the Streets Providence into Beat the Streets New England as seamlessly as possible. I want to support this expansion process as dutifully as possible. I think this growth into a regional model is a great thing that I really want to be a part of. I also think BYW has a myriad of resources that was not only enhance BTS programming, but my own professional development.

    Gave 41.00 hours between 06/06/2020 and 06/12/2020 with BrownEngage, Beat the Streets
    Brown University AmeriCorps VISTA Fellowship

    Success/Challenge/Goal: I felt it was necessary to group the three of these criteria together this week. To be honest the achievements were sparse this week. With the inherent racial injustices being illuminated within our society, the protests, the pandemic, and the overall sentiment in our country and the world, people are just in a bereavement and an unrest state. I'll be real with you it was difficult to find the goodness in things this week. I'm sickened quite frankly by what has transpired within our law enforcement agencies and communities. The senseless and undeserved tragedies of so many innocent persons of color will not go in vain, I am sure of that. I'll chalk this up as a loss this week. Still trying to persevere despite everything that's been going on.

    Gave 38.00 hours between 05/30/2020 and 06/05/2020 with BrownEngage, Beat the Streets
    Brown University AmeriCorps VISTA Fellowship

    Success: One success this week was completing my first BTS workout facilitated by none other than Silas Murray himself! Definitely got a solid sweat in and encouraged some of our community to participate in the fitness event. It was good to do some direct service in a time so solely focused on systems building. The wins are sometimes few and far in between, though this one was particularly salient for me.

    Challenge: Two obstacles that translate into an overarching challenge are the weather and the conclusion phases of school. Between these two things our kids are in transitioning into a different state of mind. Because of this we've experienced some decrease in participation. The inability to be physically in one another's company and the nice weather and summer upon us, a lot of our kids are just elsewhere mentally. It's a tough one to grapple with though we are trying to maintain engagement.

    Aspiration: One goal I have in mind is attending more community partners and professional development events (Brown, VISTA, monthly PD, PPSD, and other partners we collaborate with). These canvases have become think tanks for adjusting programming through these difficult times. It's always nice to collaborate with like minded individuals about potential solutions and phenomena manifesting in the non-profit realm. These opportunities will only aid me in my quest for health equity!

    Gave 37.50 hours between 05/23/2020 and 05/29/2020 with BrownEngage, Beat the Streets
    Brown University AmeriCorps VISTA Fellowship

    Success: A huge success this week was the running of our virtual marathon. Over 40 runners nationwide ran for a total of 360 miles in support of our cause, me included!. BTS was able to raise 41 thousand dollars for our non profit! We submitted another grant albeit was small. Better than nothing I suppose! Our intern through Bryant University is also acclimating well to our work culture and familiarizing himself with our processes which is great.

    Challenge: One challenge I've been noticing is our city getting a little burnt out over the Million Minutes, which is understandable. We are ever so close to reaching our goal and I think the daily exercises are getting a little monotonous and obligatory for our community. Looking forward to reaching the goal and transitioning into more individually and locally tailored work that might resonate with our community better.

    Aspiration: Achieving the million minutes challenge! Securing one of these grants we've submitted and also developing some new ideas to keep our kids engaged. We were considering a TikTok wrestling contest or maybe a small miniseries Spotify podcast. We have a call specifically for that today!

    Gave 39.50 hours between 05/16/2020 and 05/22/2020 with BrownEngage, Beat the Streets
    Brown University AmeriCorps VISTA Fellowship

    Success: One major success we've had recently is the ability to effectively aggregate the data submitted through the million minutes challenge. Through this, we've been able to properly identify participation trends and incentivize student involvement through this. One such way, is posting a monthly leaderboard for student, staff, and community member minute submissions. We tabulate the results and show our community whose been invested. This creates more of a competitive atmosphere. Winners are offered a custom BTS schoolbag which is taken a liking particularly. This program is generating a lot of hype in our community as we hone in on the million minute mark in the coming weeks!

    Challenge: One challenge has been staying keeping up with the constant change information through the school district and giving our community definitive answers as to when we might be able to return to play. This uncertainty is making a lot kids uneasy. Another major hiccup that occurred this past week was a zoombombing that occurred on a national call unfortunately. An outside individual entered a Q&A setup by us and inappropriately berated the speaker. We are looking into increased security measures and filed a complaint with Zoom tech services.

    Aspiration: One goal I have is to start developing a concrete 'Return to Play' schematic by which we can use as a timeline and framework for getting back in the gym. It will take a lot of research and investigation into state, local, and USA wrestling guidelines but I'm hoping I can propel this effort to provide some sort of information around resuming physical programming.

    Gave 38.00 hours between 05/09/2020 and 05/15/2020 with BrownEngage, Beat the Streets