preschool teacher

family support worker

nutrition services

case manager

bus driver

Neighborhood House Association

In the years I was employed at Neighborhood House, those years taught me how to become a successful Early-Childhood Educator. 

The facility taught me the good, the bad and the ugly of working in diverse a pre-school district, how state regulations impact a child's way of learning and how those regulations impact your ways of being an educator.

I was mainly responsible of the children's safety, disciplinary acts, teaching them independent skills, helping them get ready for lunch/nap/snack. Talking to the parents because a majority of the Lead-Teachers did not speak the language of the parents.

Working here taught me that being a Teacher's Assistant taught me to be the Lead-Teacher's house cleaner and nanny while they had ENDLESS paper work to do for the children's progress reports for the Board of Education, those teachers would be nothing without the TA's at this place and they paid the TA's peanuts!

It was a great experience, it taught me valuable tools to use to succeed with children under the age of five.

Neighborhood House, while having a great mission to care for children and adults in need of care, does not care about their employees. I worked there for almost 8 years, and put in extra effort for all the little things no one else wanted to do, but the company does not appreciate effort, and instead expects you to do more than your job description in order to even stay on as a teacher. I always felt that my job was in jeopardy. They value having a perfect, seamlessly run company, but don't create the kind of environment where that can happen. Management frequently nitpick and micromanage their employees, and there is a lack of trust and communication between management and staff. Their attendance policy and sick leave policy are also over the top. If you are sick for more than a day, you get written up. I do think, however, that the demographic that Neighborhood House serves is a vital one. They work with a lot of low-income families, minority groups, and high-risk youth, to whom childcare is vital. Neighborhood House has a sliding fee scale, so a lot of families that would otherwise not be able to afford childcare come to them. 

I'll start with the pros, I loved working here, I loved working with kids. The job itself can be fast-paced or slow, depends on what is going on, what deadlines are coming up, etc. Pay was good, hours are good, hour long lunch break, mostly relaxed environment.
The cons: Management is another story. Upper level managers are nice enough, don't really see much of them as they are usually in their nice cushy office away from the chaos. Site supervisors can be catty and rude, I worked with two at two different sties and what I gathered is that there is a lot of favoritism, if they don't like you, they make it known. They'll try and get you fired or make you quit. Felt very high school, there's cliques, gossip, and mean girls. Managers don't see what goes on day to day. Not a lot of direction is given from site supervisors, they want you out of the hair and are never willing to help you or guide you but are very quick to let you know when you're doing something wrong. They pile on a huge workload and expect it done ASAP but don't give deadlines until they've already passed. Basically felt like I needed to read people's minds in order to accomplish tasks. Don't ask for help or you'll be talked down to. Overall I enjoyed my job but not the people.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The company respects its employees. They care about your overall wellness. They have clear job expectations.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
It is sometimes challenging in my department because I work with a number of people trying to figure out the best way to help teachers, children and families be successful and different opinions/ strategies don't always agree.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is very calm and respectful. The culture promotes wellness of everyone and teamwork.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Busy, busy. I do a lot of traveling, paperwork and meetings.

A typical day at work is to go over my daily schedule before I start my day. I'm to follow that daily schedule as told by my supervisor and document all information in the files. Sometimes, follow-up calls are needed and a home visit. Myself, management and other social service technicians have a daily meeting once a week to follow-up on weekly schedule. The hardest part of the job is trying to reach the parents and have meetings or follow-up dental and physical appointments with them. The most enjoyable part of my job is supporting the families and getting to know them as well as their children.

The day was always planned with activities, but I liked having the flexibility of being spontaneous with the children. I learned that it takes someone extremely passionate about working with children & families to make a longtime positive impact on the families' lives we serve. The management for the organization had high expectations with a lack of resources in place to support Teachers successfully accomplishing the agency's/personal goals. My colleagues & I work great as a team we support each other in any way we can. The most challenging part about working for the company was not having enough time to complete work during work hours & having to stay later without pay or take work home. The most enjoyable part was knowing that I had the ability to lay a solid foundation for children to build on.

My typical day at work begins with working with the children, ages 2 through 5. I start my day by welcoming children in the classroom and end it by getting ready to meet their parents. What I learned in my time with this company is that they send you to workshops that I needed in order to constantly update my education and skills needed to teach.  About the management, they transfer teachers in different work area every school year, they don't have good management with their staff and they have favoritism among their staff. The hardest part of the job is working with children that have disability or difficulties at school.  The most enjoyable part of the job is when we have staff developments, potlucks at work and bonding with some co workers.

This is a great organization to work for. Not only has it been in operation for over 100 years, it provides programs for individuals across the full lifespan! I think the benefits are very lucrative and you earn healthcare benefits after one month (as opposed to after a longer probation periods) Though the programs are grant funded, there is room for growth if you want to promote and transfer to another department. 

I think the organization really values growth, diversity and inclusion, respect and wellness. They have ongoing culture competence, leadership, and other necessary trainings to foster morale and wellbeing. 

My tenure at Neighborhood House Association began with my status of client/employee. My mother had Alzeheimer's and needed a safe, secure place for care during the daytime to ensure my sisters and I could go to work. This agency's Adult Day Health Care program was our salvation and provide us with peace of mind and Mom a place of refuge during the daytime hours. They picked her up from the front curb of our residence and brought her safetly back there every weekeday; what a blessing.

What is the best part of working at the company?
There was no best part. Management is not supportive of staff. For the department I worked for, there was lack of leadership. Communication needs improvement. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Insufficient guidance and communication. Lack of management support. Management was not truthful or reliable. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment lacked feelings of support by management.  Very stressfull.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
It varied but mostly it was having the feeling of not being appreciated.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Preschool teacher 1 salary reported	$16.50 per hour
Family support worker 1 salary reported	$38,481 per year
Nutrition services 4 salaries reported	$32.10 per hour
Case manager 4 salaries reported	$27.70 per hour
Bus driver 1 salary reported	$19.60 per hour

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