Reflections from members of the Compass community during COVID-19
News about the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic is everywhere. The national story focuses on the big numbers - but behind each number is a story that matters, too.
To help bring these stories to our life, we’re sharing reflections from members of the Compass community - clients, financial coaches and other front-line staff, and our supporters - as we support families to navigate the economic impacts of this pandemic.
You Can’t Spell Compassion Without Compass
Dioneiris Medrano, Client Outreach & Engagement Specialist
Lashaunda Watson, Client Outreach & Engagement Specialist
As Client Outreach & Engagement Specialists at Compass, we spend every day talking to families about the Compass FSS program and how Compass can help them get back on track and reach their financial goals.
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented some challenges to reaching families, but it has also brought a fresh sense of urgency and energy to what we do. We know how difficult these times are for the families we are trying to reach. We get to come to work every day knowing we’ll have the chance to help someone take that first step toward changing their future.
We both know what it’s like to be the person on the other end of the phone or video call: one of us is a graduate of the FSS program that Compass operates with Metro Housing|Boston; the other was a teen single mom who remembers how hard it could be to simply open up about her economic situation. We both know what it’s like for families who have been let down so many times to believe that a place like Compass could even exist.
And, we have both seen firsthand how great the Compass team and program are. We are all real human beings who love the work we do and do it with humility. We see the commitment to serving low income communities in a dignified way, that is on par in terms of quality to what you would experience at a high-end firm. Lashaunda recently started saying “you can’t spell ‘compassion’ without Compass” because of our team and the way they all do their work.
As just one example, Dioneiris had the chance recently to sit in on a coaching appointment in order to understand more about how coaching works. The client had made a lot of progress, and very quickly – increasing her credit score, building savings, and getting ready to buy a home. The coach said to her: “Can we just stop for one second and celebrate?! I am so proud of you for being able to do all this on your own. Your children must also be so proud of you.” The client started crying (which led to the coach and Dioneiris crying!) and said she had never had anyone tell her that before.
We are often the first person at Compass that a prospective client speaks to, so we get to know a lot about our clients and what they are going through. These people and their stories stay with us: such as a domestic violence survivor who saw this program as an opportunity to finally be able to fully walk away financially from a person they did not want to be with; or a woman who had just lost her job as her son was getting ready to go off to college, and who felt like she was really starting to lose hope. For both of these women, and the many other people we’ve spoken with, this program feels like a silver lining and a reason for hope in these difficult times.
In addition to the pandemic, it has also been both challenging and rewarding to do this work as we both process the continued racism in our country – from the ways in which COVID has been so much worse in communities of color, to the killings of Black people by the police. Compass has acknowledged our feelings and given us the space and support to express and work through our emotions.
We see the ways that people with low incomes – especially women of color – are often portrayed. The truth is, we all have dreams for the future. We all want to help push the next generation forward. We all want our kids to do better than we did financially. When places like Compass illuminate the pathway, we will do the footwork ourselves if it means a better, brighter future for the people that we love.