Interview by Emily Hessney Lynch.

Published October 2, 2020.

Where are you from? How did you end up in Rochester?

I’m from Rochester, I was born here and have spent most of my life here. I think we have a lot of diversity and hidden gems in this city.

What are some hidden gems you've discovered around Rochester?

Village Gate is one of my favorite places to frequent. I love the art in the courtyard, the energy of the building, and the eclectic gathering of unique shops and art. I also love the bridges at High Falls, it’s so cool to look out over the city, the train tracks, and the waterfall.

What are some of your favorite local nonprofits to support?

My own agency, which is East House. It’s an agency that truly believes in the mission and the values. I also appreciate any agency that supports youth, like the Community Place of Greater Rochester, Center for Youth, the Villa, and Hillside.

If you had $100 and two hours to spend in Rochester, what would you do with the money/time?

I would go to French Quarter and have dinner, then I’d see a show at Geva afterwards.

If you could only eat one Rochester food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

The jambalaya at French Quarter.

What's one memory that captures what Rochester means to you? 

It’s the annual pictures you take at the Lilac Festival. Even though the same flowers come up every year, we’re all just coming out of our cold season into our warm season and we have that buzz. We want to get out, get involved, and come together. There are tons of different vendors, art, and natural beauty. The only thing that could make it better is if the lilacs were right by the water!

What makes Rochester unique? 

We’re a city that experiences all four seasons. I love our size and our waterways, not every city has that. We also have a large deaf community and LGBTQ+ community. We’re also a resource-rich region, and that’s so important.

What would you like to see change in Rochester over the next year? 

I would love to see fair development downtown. I hope that our downtown can be a place anyone and everyone can frequent, fellowship, and come together. I support the building up of downtown but hope it's done affordably. I’d also like to see continued efforts toward reducing poverty and improving educational systems within our city as well as rebuilding our neighborhoods, getting rid of abandoned homes and building new ones. We need to focus on quality of life for all our citizens. 

If Rochester was a person, who would it be? 

It would be Michelle Obama. Rochester is very classy, but still down to earth and rooted. Like Michelle Obama, we’re complex and have different facets. We have things we need to work on that are rough around the edges, but we are also grounded and full of natural beauty.

Tell me about East House, where you work. 

Our motto at East House is “moving lives forward.” We provide a host of services that support individuals who are in recovery from a mental health or chemical dependency diagnosis. Whether that’s providing housing, connecting them to providers, working with them on identifying symptoms and how to manage them, building natural supports and relationships, and being creative to keep folks out of the hospital.

What's a day in the life like in your job at East House? 

I’m responsible for five programs under the umbrella of enhanced supportive housing. For most of the programs I manage, our clients are out in the community in their own apartments. We provide stipends to make their living expenses more reasonable so they can focus on recovery and wellness. 

There’s no such thing as a typical day. There’s a lot of data, reporting, and meetings. In non-COVID times, my team is out in the community, helping with skill-building, wellness checks, seeing folks. It’s a wide spectrum of work.

How has COVID impacted your work?

It’s impacted us drastically. Being remote for all our meetings and being on the phone for client engagement is very different from our baseline culture. We started engaging in telehealth, so instead of face-to-face wellness checks they’re all done by phone. We’re continuing to admit people as needed. If there are health and safety concerns, we meet with the client face to face. It’s a tap dance of figuring out how to keep staff and clients safe.

What attracted you to this line of work?

I’ve dedicated my career to human services in one way or another; in the past I’ve worked with seniors, at-risk youth, and people struggling with eating disorders. I’ve always been with people. A close friend was a director at East House (and still is), and encouraged me to apply for the position. It wasn’t a population I’d work with before but it sounded interesting. Three years later I’m still here!

How can people get involved at East House or support your work?

You can check out our website, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or reach out to our development team to donate or volunteer.

What advice would you give to people who want to get involved in the community but don't know where to start?

Figure out what kind of cause you want to support, what sets your soul on fire. From there, ask questions and find out if there’s a specific agency doing that work. There are hubs you can explore, like the United Way, RYP, RBYP, or Roc City Coalition. Those people will be able to point you in the right direction.

Any final thoughts?

Rochester is a good city with so much potential. I encourage people to get out of their bubble, explore, and try new things and new places.