2019 CIIP Program Book CIIP Booklet 2019 | Page 34

My supervisor, Jamon, loves telling people his favorite story about me: on my first day of work, we were
walking outside when suddenly, on our right, a man sprinted past us down the street, followed by several
policemen and even more police cars. On our left side, a man on the road was yelling loudly and jumping
around. Overwhelmed, I tried to focus on what he was saying, but Jamon mistook my attentiveness as
alarm.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Just a mental episode.”
“Oh no, actually I was just thinking… it sounds like slam poetry,” I replied. I immediately regretted speak-
ing; I must have sounded so dumb.
I didn’t learn this until later, but that is my supervisor’s favorite story because, as he says, “you were so
unflinchingly yourself in that moment, no judgment, just trying to take it all in. That’s when I knew you’d do
a good job here.”
I think about this moment a lot and the questions that surfaced: how could I be this open-minded person
Jamon imagined me to be when I was just a stranger to the community? I was so scared of overstepping
that for the first two weeks, I played it safe and kept my mouth shut.
Well, Jamon was definitely not having any of that; hence, he began unapologetically throwing me into
the deep end. My favorite was when one woman came in for case management my third week. He sat her
down across from me, said “you got this, Grace!” then left. He forced me to flounder around and figure
out myself how I could empathize with people from this community in a way that was not ignorant to
the disparities between our lives. Finally, I decided this: advocacy is not about speaking the most or not
speaking at all. Advocacy at Martha’s Place is me calling over 50 organizations a day, every day, to hype
up our program. It’s me having lunch outside beside the road, inviting passersby to chat with me about
religion or what high school they went to. It’s me finding a GRE class for X, who lives across the street and
always says she wishes she had finished high school. Advocacy is us knowing that people are victims to a
terrible system, but also knowing it’s okay to celebrate the small things along the way.
• Contacted over 100 community organizations in West Baltimore to
increase awareness about Martha’s Place
• Created a Resources/Referrals Directory for
future employees
• Managed all case management appointments
with current residents and performed phone
intake for prospective residents
• Met with and gave presentations about our program at several
substance abuse treatment clinics and health care centers
Community Partner: Martha’s
Place
Peer Mentor: Grace Ren
Site Supervisor: Jamon McLean
What is Martha’s Place?
Martha’s Place is a Baltimore, MD
recovery program for women
overcoming substance abuse and
homelessness. Martha’s Place
provides a structured residen-
tial program with housing and
support services to help clients
maintain sobriety and develop
life-skills vital for independent
living.
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