Leadership at New Pathways for Youth

Leadership plays a huge role at New Pathways for Youth. All members of their organization have a role in leadership, including the kids. Many of the employees are in charge of different programs to include the program that I am apart of. For example, my supervisor oversee's all of the mentoring programs, manages the grant reporting, and oversee's the evaluation of all programs. The pals program coordinator is in charge of overseeing each volunteer match. I am also allowed to utilize my leadership skills. Recently, I was asked to attend the pals camp, where I was able to coordinate the meal prep and eating schedule. 

All of the staff have a passion for guiding the matches and all of the volunteers instead of making decisions for them. For example, Shae and I attended a bullying workshop and instead of telling the kids how to handle bullying, they asked the kids how they would stop bullying. They also asked the kids how others feel when they are bullied, and to make their own public service announcements on how to prevent bullying. The kids are very involved with leadership, and often take charge of their given tasks even when they are not called upon. While New Pathways for Youth has many leadership programs, their main focus is teamwork. Lastly, they let others take leadership roles, and are not afraid to admit when someone else can do a job more efficiently.

Reflections As a Mentor

Thus far, my journey as a mentor has been very rewarding. I had been with my youth for over a year, and got to watch her make decisions that would alter her everyday life. She has reminded me the value of mentorship, and how easy it is to simply ask for help. This has inspired me to go outside of my comfort zone this month and reach out to all my available resources. I have had several interviews with different professionals this month; I spoke with our deputy city manager, the director of programs for New Pathways for Youth, the youth and education program manager for the city of Phoenix, and the director of research and evaluation for the Arizona Charter Schools Association.

While all of these people may not become my mentor, they were all very excited about sharing their experiences and knowledge with a complete stranger. This made me realize the power of moving outside of my comfort zone, and seeing how important it is to ask for help when you need guidance or direction. Being a mentor is more than giving advice, it is recognizing when you also need mentorship. The cycle of mentorship should continue, regardless of what you know. We are all limited to our experiences, but limitless to the experiences of others. So, I encourage everyone to take advantage of the resources you have around you.

Interview, Deputy City Manager of Phoenix

Hello Everyone,

I recently scheduled a couple of interviews with some professionals in the public sector. The interview that I will be sharing is from our Deputy City Manager, Rick Niamark. Rick graduated with his masters degree in public policy and participated in the Phoenix management internship. He stated that he never planned to do the job that he has now, but he wanted to interact with the public and be apart of making positive changes for the community. His main responsibilities are to meet with several departments to gain an understanding on what these departments need from the city. Then he becomes apart of the solutions process, and often times presents many of these issues to the city council.

Rick explained that he is the odd ball in his office, as many of his coworkers have their degree's in public administration. Rick says that his skills in data analytics helps him bring diversity to his office, since he has an extensive background in numbers and economics as this is what his degree prepared him for. He explained that these skills were useful in finding solutions to problems, but he had to gain communication, writing, articulation, and leadership skills outside of his degree. He also stated that anyone that is interested in this career field should do the management internship for the city of Phoenix. However, you must have your masters degree to become eligible.

Rick advised me to become proficient in negotiation and diplomacy skills before I reached his position. He stated that these skills will set me ahead of my peers. The new trends for his career are simple; there is a shortage of city managers, and universities are starting to increase their degree programs for the public sector. He thinks that there is a bright outlook for students pursuing this career field, because of these trends. Even though, I am not interested in becoming a city manager, I set the interview to get an idea of what my options were. I think that this career would be very rewarding since I would physically see the results of my choices, but the long hours, stress, and politics may hinder my interest toward this career.