Week Three: Burn Rates & Peacemaker Awards
This week was filled with more duties related to contracts and onboarding consultants for PRLP Myanmar. I also spent a significant amount of time supporting ProVoces in Mexico. Because the Project Manager for ProVoces is a new hire, I’ve helped her research various issues in relevant manuals to determine procedures related to tasks we’re both tackling for the first time like filing, allowances, and expense reports. We even had a last-minute, urgent request to secure document translation from Spanish to English. There is always lots of work to help with!
Aside from the usual tasks above, I was invited to sit in on a Burn Rate meeting between our Project Implementation Team, Business Development, and Finance departments which was really interesting. We went project-by-project looking at a large spreadsheet documenting actual expenditures for the month of May as compared to the operating budget, monthly projections for May and the months in the coming quarter, mid-year forecasts, etc. Each project manager is responsible for explaining any variances in spending and providing insight into how actual spending in May will impact the projections for the rest of the quarter and fiscal year. This is no easy task because the HO and project managers are so dependent upon the FO to implement and execute technical projects. HO staff is ultimately accountable, and have to manage FO staff and operations, but at the same time their influence can be limited. Burn Rate meetings really exemplify why HO visits to the field are so essential. Not all project-related information can be conveyed via email and skype calls. It’s important for HO and FO to stay connected and operate together rather than as two offices that seem like abstract entities to each other.
The highlight of my week was Friday, when I had the privilege and pleasure to represent Tetra Tech DPK at the Community Boards Eighth Annual San Francisco Peacemaker Awards. Tetra Tech DPK sponsors the Community Boards, which is a nonprofit that has provided affordable conflict resolution programs and services to San Franciscans since 1976. Community Boards helps resolve a wide range of disputes from employer/employee, landlord/tenant, roommate/roommate, and so on. Community Boards aims to provide community-based, affordable and peaceful alternatives to conflict resolution. The event started off with a two-hour workshop titled Culture, Power & Privilege: An Intersectional Dialogue. It was an incredible and vulnerable experience to reflect upon the complex factors that coalesce to create my own cultural lens and cultural privilege. It facilitated awareness and reflection to connect more effectively and empathetically with others. The workshop was followed by the awards ceremony that honored two individuals and one organization that significantly contributed to peacemaking within the SF community. It was a powerful reminder of the inspiring and selfless work that many people contribute. In a day when news headlines can seem so daunting, this event represented light, hope and awareness. As I consider post-graduation jobs, I will recall this event and my desire for my work to build peace and foster community.
Outside of work, I’ve had a blast. My friend/Portland roommate, who is now living in Jackson, Wyoming, called me Thursday night before the long holiday weekend. When we hung up, I had spontaneously used miles to buy a flight to Salt Lake City (SLC), a mere seven hours before check-in! I packed and took off for SLC before 6am Saturday morning. Michelle picked me up at SLC, and we drove down to Moab, UT to explore Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. We spent our nights camped on BLM land in the desert. It was so fun to explore the Utah landscapes! I had not spent any time there as an adult, and it has been on my to-travel list for a few years now! There is so much more to see, but we covered some impressive territory on foot and by car. We even followed in the footsteps of dinosaurs! It was such a reinvigorating long Memorial Day weekend – exploring and camping with one of my favorite adventure buddies!
This weekend, I did what all good San Franciscans do, I went to a Giants game on Friday night! I went with Anthony (whose name you may recognize from Summer 2017 Voices in the Field Blogs – he was in Kosovo), my one friend in SF. It is so nice to have one fellow William & Mary Law school friend here in the city. Saturday I visited the Moraga Steps and Grandview Park among other more monotonous things like laundry. As I write, I am taking the CalTrain down to Palo Alto to meet my former supervisor/friend, Rachael, from my time in Portland. I’m looking forward to catching up! Being back on the West Coast has allowed me to be closer to some of my people, and I love the opportunity to see them, which is always much more challenging to do while living in Williamsburg!
