I am a mentor for a non-profit that my job started called, Golden Door Scholars (GDS). Not to talk too much about the program but it is to help undocumented students who are scholar’s receive scholarships into college. Most of the students have either 4.0+ GPAs and would be excellent candidates for college, however; since they are undocumented, they receive $0 funding from the government. Most of them are from a poorer background and most of them have to work to help support their families, so paying for college is not totally possible. GDS is a program where we work with colleges who offer full scholarships for undocumented students to allow them the chance to make a difference and pay it forward. Being that I am also for a poorer background and have “made it out”, I found that it was my duty to pay it forward and help others and becoming a mentor was an easy decision. My mentee is a sophomore at Agnes Scott and I make it my mission to check in with her (especially during the Trump era) to make sure she is good. Granted, from my background & upbringing, I understand the difficulties that a person in lower class may face but not all mentors may understand. So as a result, my job decided to have an Economic Class: It Really Matters training.
My first thought on the class was that I did not need to take it because let’s face it if you have ever been poor you know how it is and how to interact with people in that situation. I have family members who are technically “poor” and I understand the challenges they face. But out of pure curiosity, I decided to attend the class and see if I can have a better understanding and learning from it. I am never opposed to learning new things so despite it being a 3-hour training, I decided to go. During the intro, the instructor asked all attendees to raise their hands if they grew up poor and me being the honest person that I am I raised my hand. Because what did I have to hide, why wouldn’t I be honest, who cares if they judge me! Plus, I wanted some of the people in the room who were privileged growing up to know that not all people around them were awarded that same lifestyle and to keep that in mind as they interact with folks. The instructor then asked, “at what age did you know you were poor?” and that caught me off guard and took me a few moments to gather my answer. Honestly, I think it was in elementary school when I noticed that the things that others had that I didn’t have, or the free lunch pass, or going to a place to get free jackets and at those moments, I knew that this could not be how others were living.
Fast forward, during the training, he asked us “How do poor people look?”, “How do you know people are poor?”, “What do poor people think about daily?’ and the answers the group stated literally blew my mind (and I hate using the term literally because my mind did not literally blow, but if it could – it would have)! Some of the people that I work with and are responsible for mentoring these students had ridiculous responses. The answers I heard were that “poor people are lazy”, “waiting for their child support check”, “need alcohol”, and a bunch of other random comments that were completely insane. Luckily, we had an instructor who did a very good job of combating the stereotype and breaking down how people are poor and how it is a challenge to get out.
One thing I found was interesting that the instructor stated that one of the most judgmental people of poor people was an African-American woman. He stated that throughout his career he’s asked most people that were poor and no longer “how did you get out” and their answers were pretty typical, “I got my education”, “I worked hard”, “I challenged myself”, etc. But he then asked if they had siblings and if they were still poor. He stated that almost every person stated yes to that question. He challenged them (and myself) to really think about what made them different and what made them “get out”. The common theme was that we all had someone to push and challenge us. Someone, a family member, a mentor, a teacher that was there to make sure we took the extra mile and made sure that we did what we needed to do. In that moment, it dawned on me that he was 100% correct.
I had my grandmother that was really the push for me. She really challenged me to get good grades, maintain school while working, get rest when I needed it, encouraged me, offer advice on life, provide things that I needed (she bought my first laptop), and was the love that I needed (Oh how I miss that woman). But although there may not be any stats around this, I believe that that is true. That was the only thing I can think of that made a difference in my life and I feel that I can be that difference to someone else. I may not be an expert in working with young girls and women, I may not have all the answers, I may have the professional training but I know that I want to do something and I know that my effort will not be in vain.
I challenge people to do the same. Help others. Lose the judgment. Be a support system.
Love, Brown Girl
“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone” – Ronald Regan
