My Perspective on Community Engagement
By Paris Almon
My experience with Goodwill has been truly incredible.
Over these past eight weeks, I’ve learned so much and had opportunities I never would have without them. The team at Goodwill made me feel welcome and appreciated. This experience has taught me a lot about myself and offered many chances to improve my skills.
Thursday, July 14th
Today was a busy day for me. First, I had our weekly Career Development Services team meeting, where we discussed our schedules for the week. After that, I started replying to some emails. Then I had my weekly internship check-in with my supervisor, Celina.
Congdon Yards, High Point
After a lovely meeting, I headed to Congdon Yards in High Point and got some Matcha from Lil’s Coffee Bar. Congdon Yards is a community center initiative in the heart of downtown and part of the chamber of commerce, Business High Point. Triad Goodwill partners with them closely, including sponsoring learning opportunities and developing new programming together.
After acquiring my matcha, I started to add some finishing touches to my speech outline for the Teen Leadership High Point Workshop.
Teen Leadership High Point Workshop
During this workshop, I taught the teens about the difference between business casual and business professional clothing. Then I headed back to the office, and Celina and I put the clothes back on the hangers so we could return them to the Goodwill store we borrowed them from.
Before my internship with Goodwill, I had already been involved in community engagement and understood how important it is to give back. Goodwill allowed me to participate from a new perspective:
Instead of directly working one-on-one with participants, I connected with businesses and nonprofit organizations to build partnerships that could help our participants.
Knowing that the work I was doing made an impact kept me motivated and passionate about my internship and is something I’ll carry with me throughout my career.
A Note from Celina:
“The needs in our community are great—especially when it comes to the vital supports that help our participants to thrive in their career journeys. We are so fortunate to have Paris for the summer—her dedication and passion for our mission, as well as her skills in community engagement, have been critical in building a strong network of resources that can support our participants in High Point.”
-Celina McCrea, Community & Business Engagement Manager
About Paris
Paris Almon is an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, majoring in sociology with a concentration in criminology and justice studies with a minor in political science. She is the founder of the UNCG chapter of Spread Da Luv Co. which is a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading awareness about mental health by creating safe spaces for conversations about mental health and providing community support. She is currently interning with Triad Goodwill as the Community Resource Assistant (Intern) through the statewide nonprofit internship program with Foundation for a Healthy High Point.