WHEDCO TESTIMONIAL FROM A SUMMER INTERN

Meera Rao, MBA Class of 2006
Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

The number 4 train shoots out of a tunnel and offers its riders a peak into the historical Yankee Stadium. But as you move along the elevated track, the glory of the stadium fades and the reality of the South Bronx comes into view. It is not the Bronx of fifteen or twenty years ago, where drug deals happened in plain sight and graffiti prevailed over every surface. It is a place that is quietly rebuilding itself in the shadow of Manhattan, where parents are going to work and trying to keep their families together. In the heart of this effort stands the old Morrisania hospital, a stunning work of architecture that after a huge revitalization effort serves as the home for the Women's Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDCo).

WHEDCo is a Bronx-based organization dedicated to helping families enter and stay in the economic mainstream. Through a variety of innovative and practical programs, WHEDCo works with the entire family to help ensure their success. Parents are offered job training and placement services, housing relocation assistance, financial literacy training, and opportunities to begin their own small businesses. Children can take part in a Head Start program for pre-schoolers, an after-school education program for older kids, and they have access to day cares and social workers. As an intern, I managed a new branding effort for the organization that included a redesign of their website and marketing materials and culminated in the production of a short documentary-style video. On a professional level, I learned a lot about the non-profit sector and had the opportunity to work closely with board members and executives to lead an agency-wide marketing effort. However, on a personal level, I was challenged beyond my expectations to wrap my brain around the poverty of the Bronx and understand the importance of the agencies and people who are trying to make a change.

I agreed to teach a financial literacy class to the kids participating in WHEDCo's summer camp program. Every Friday for three hours I taught them things so basic that most of us don't even remember when we learned them. We went over how to write a check, how to open a savings account, how to earn and grow your money responsibly. I taught them how to budget their expenses, the importance of having good credit, and when it seemed like the lecture was getting a little dull; we learned how to play the stock market. Teaching this class was by far the most challenging and rewarding part of my summer. The students were bright and eager to learn. They were funny and awkward, the way that most middle school kids are. At times, they were mischievous and troublesome. But more than anything I saw in them the desire to make their lives better, despite the many challenges and obstacles that stand in their way.

I grew up in Westchester; a fifteen-minute drive from the South Bronx that feels like it is a million miles away. I went to a good public school and hung out with my friends who lived in nice houses and drove brand new cars. I never once doubted that I would go college and didn't question whether my family could pay for it. These and countless other luxuries I had simply because I was born into them. Working with the children at WHEDCo's summer camp got me thinking - where would I be if I had been born just fifteen miles south?

Arriving at this question was a very important moment for me this summer. It helped me understand why so few children who are born into poverty manage to make it out, and why so many children who are born into privilege stay that way. It is not that one group works harder, or is more driven. It is not about having stronger morals or superior values. Middle and upper class children have good teachers, babysitters, tutors and tennis coaches. They have parents who know how to save the money they earn and invest it responsibly. Quite simply, they have a support network to help them grow from middle class children to middle class adults. They have a support network that low-income families lack.

WHEDCo is trying to bring that support to low-income families. Teaching the kids there this summer helped me put a human face on that problem. I hope that I have helped some of them understand the importance of saving money and staying out of credit card debt. I would like to think I've helped a few of them realize that staying in college is an investment that will pay off in the end. I will never know whether I made any difference in their lives or whether my class was just another thing that stood between them and being able to play with their friends. But I leave WHEDCo with a sense of pride and fulfillment that - even if it was just for a summer - I was a teacher who helped strengthen their safety net.