NeighborScapes

I just signed a long-term lease on my first adult apartment. It’s modest- a living room, a bedroom, kitchen, and tiny office space- but it’s close to my social base, and a short walk from a cute little organic greengrocer and park, a slightly longer walk to the seasonal farmer’s market. It’s bus and train accessible to most of the city and the suburbs where I work, and with which I’m gradually falling in love, only now, even though I grew up in them.

And, for the first time, my parents aren’t on the lease or paying my charge card, meals and gas. They can’t. I have a younger sister they have to pay for, and heck, I’m 23 and have my college degree and three jobs. It’s time.

The landlord was skeptical when I described my prospects. I’ve got great credit, thanks to two CPA parents and an absolutely puritanical internal need to start off right. But my AmeriCorps term is ending and funding for NeighborScapes is uncertain until we get that grant, and until then, I’m working hourly on whatever projects I can take from my consulting job. I’ve got too much of a high on saving the world and commitment to doing this work right to take the time for any other part-time jobs, and no time to do them anyway. It’s a leap of faith, saying I can afford this apartment in the first place, and shouldn’t keep moving every three to six months and taking subleases for a few hundred dollars less- or move back in with my parents, leave the Chicago metro completely and take a full-time job somewhere I won’t have to pay rent. It’s not what I want to do with myself or what will make me happy, but I’ve heard everywhere that adulthood is about making concessions, not doing what you’re happy because you have to do what you need to in order to survive.

I know, though, that this is what I need- somewhere stable, somewhere home, so I don’t have to worry about the basics while I’m off catalyzing meaningful change. That’s why I’m in start-ups in the first place. I love being an entrepreneur for the same reasons I love baking and knitting- I bring together all the right materials, put hours of work into doing it right, and then wait for the bread to rise, the stitches to bloom, the grant to come in and the nonprofit to grow. I’ve put the work into this lease. Now I need to trust that it will work out.

NeighborScapes is in a very similar place. I tell people, at least a few times a day, that Congress has the money for youth and summer jobs, but they’re far backlogged and haven’t allocated it yet. We haven’t written the grant to hire people- including the operations staff- because it isn’t out yet. I explain it to parents who need their kids to work, to give them something productive to do during their summers- and to potential Civic Leadership Corps, who need the money to support themselves in the same way I need money to support myself. The message across the board is to keep the faith, keep working, everything will come through because the formula is there, and the NeighborScapes leadership team are darn good chefs.

I’m doing everything I can to help the Executive Director and the Board President to fundraise, build partnerships, get NeighborScapes out there. So far, I’ve just got water, yeast, salt, milk and flour sitting in a hot pan, and I promised people bread and am hungry myself, so it’s getting very, very difficult not to worry, especially when the oven has to stay closed.

Keep the faith.

Chris Furuya is the program coordinator for NeighborScapes, a volunteering, community organizing, and civic leadership nonprofit located in the South suburbs of Chicago. Her twitter handle is earthangelNS.