The Heart Behind the Process
By Michelle Maslanka & Anneliese Williams
There are jobs you do, and then there are callings. Being a VVF Resource Navigator is, without a doubt, a calling. From the outside, days might look like a series of applications, phone calls, emails, follow-ups, and resource lists. Hours are filled with forms to review, information to verify, questions to answer, and countless details that need attention.
But behind every application and every scholarship there is a person and they are what matters most.
In our most recent cycle, 135 applications were submitted. When an application is submitted we know we are not simply reviewing paperwork. As past Victory Scholarship recipients ourselves, we have been in our applicants’ shoes. We understand the uncertainty, financial stress, frustration, fear, and exhaustion that comes with living with a disability.
Resource Navigators typically spend 30 minutes reviewing each initial application. During this initial review we are making sure all the required information has been provided, but we are also getting a sense of the applicant's personality, current life situation, and thinking of other resources that they could be utilizing.
Afterwards, we may reach out with questions about an application, but those conversations often become something much more meaningful. They give us an opportunity to listen—to understand what someone is really experiencing, what they need, and what might make life just a little easier.
Once the applications have made it past the resource navigators, they are then passed on to a full committee who all read every application, comment and evaluate for funding. This means every story is read by at least five people, numerous hours are spent and hard decisions are made after much consideration.
It is easy in any organization that processes applications, to let a person become a name on a screen or a case number in a system. That is not the case at VVF. We never want anyone to go without information that could benefit them. Did you know that even applications that can't be funded receive an email from our resource navigators with a list of at least three potential other opportunities for support? For our most recent cycle that means 43 personalized emails, totaling 10-20 hours of cumulative work!
People might assume that the best part of this job is telling someone they've been approved for a scholarship. While the time spent notifying our 59 recipients this last cycle was incredibly rewarding, there is nothing quite like what comes after.
We love following up with all our recipients—not just to make sure they received what they needed, but to see how they're doing and what comes next. Currently about 50% of our recipients take advantage of the opportunity to connect one-on-one with a Resource Navigator and discover additional resources—meaning that half of our recipients are opening the door to possibilities beyond their scholarship. Since both of our Resource Navigators live with a disability, we get to know each recipient on a level of understanding that people without a disability may never fully comprehend. These conversations give us an opportunity to learn about each recipient's goals and connect them with additional resources that may help them to achieve more along the way. We hope more recipients will take advantage of this unique service, because sometimes one conversation can lead to a resource, a connection, or an opportunity they didn't know was available.
Based on the conversation, a Resource Navigator researches information tailored to the recipient’s needs, compiles the resources, and shares them in an easy-to-digest format. Each personalized follow-up email can represent up to two hours of a Resource Navigator’s time. Including face time, that is 2.5 hours of time well spent when someone reaches a goal, gets needed equipment, or accomplishes something they once thought was impossible.
In the end, we may not remember every form reviewed or every email sent, but we remember the people and their stories. From the moment an application arrives until the moment a scholarship is fulfilled—and often long after—there are countless hours, conversations, questions, decisions, and acts of care happening behind the scenes. A Resource Navigator may be the person speaking directly with an applicant, but we are just one part of a much larger team, with every person working toward the same goal: serving this community and helping people move closer to what they once thought might be impossible. Every minute spent reviewing an application, making a call, researching a resource, sending an email, processing an award, or simply listening adds up. The time is significant, but the impact is greater. Because at the center of all those hours is one person, the applicant—and the hope that when they reach out to VVF, they know they are not alone.
