Fellow volunteers and LIFT staff have come to think of Nicole as a “go-to” person when questions arise about a local resource need. Site Coordinator Nadia Shamsi says, “Volunteers appreciate Nicole’s knowledge of resources in the community. This summer, volunteers would often need advice from Nicole on ‘best referrals’ for clients. Nicole does an excellent job of checking in with a client, ensuring that they have support in other areas beyond their immediate needs, and then immediately connects them to the right resource.”
Throughout the school year, Nicole manages LIFT-Chicago’s online housing database, a free, wiki-based website that allows both volunteers and other community partners to post affordable, subsidized, and transitional housing availability and information. The student-driven initiative has proven invaluable to volunteers and community partners by providing resources for harder-to-place clients like people living with HIV/AIDS and formerly incarcerated individuals, as well as offering Section 8 housing lists and contact information for rental and utility assistance programs.
This summer, as a full-time Summer Director, Nicole took even greater control of LIFT-Chicago’s housing resources. She trained seven staff members from four community organizations to use the database, and she plans on training more in the upcoming school year. She says, “It’s awesome to have community partners using our database, helping us keep it up-to-date, and adding new resources that we didn’t know about.”
