A Rising Leader's "Ah Ha" Moment

SVP Partner Rebecca Brown Schroeder cordially invited us into her home last month for a night of in-depth discussion with the Native American Youth and Family Center, where she serves as Lead Partner. Andrew Rodriguez, SVP Partner and a member of the 2015 Rising Leaders cohort, tells us about his first Chew on This experience and his "ah ha" moment.

NAYA and Rebecca Brown Schroeder hosted a “Chew on This” Dinner to discuss cultural resiliency--a topic close to the mission and work of the organization. For those who miss the days of school, with homework and a syllabus, you would have loved the 10+ pages of pre-reading, which outlined parts of the experience of indigenous peoples here in the U.S. that many of us had never learned of before. This was simply the appetizer, as the night’s discussion unfolded around cultural experience and identity.

So many SVP members were in attendance. We broke in to three groups to discuss our own experience of culture and how that had shaped who we are. NAYA facilitated the conversation and I was blown away by the depth and wisdom of their team. Through the conversation, it became apparent that we all had as much in common culturally as we did not. I spoke of the ways in which my family keeps Spanish traditions, while another spoke about the immigrant experience to the Northwest as both Russian and Jewish.  Another spoke of the eighth generation farm that her family still owns, and still another of the pride their mother takes in genealogy work.

At the end, the question was posed to the whole group, “what were the 'ah-ha' moments for you?”, and I immediately knew my answer. The discussion was rich and felt so important for SVP. While I am new, as a Rising Leader, I am already invested in the movement within SVP Portland to address diversity. And yet as a white male, I find it tough to know where to begin. My ah-ha moment was in realizing that the relationship between SVP and NAYA is only one way if we let it be. NAYA will be the first to say what a difference SVP and its members have made to the work they do, and yet I couldn’t shake the sense that NAYA may know where to start what I do not. There is a lot that NAYA can learn from SVP, but there is a lot that we can learn from NAYA too. It is my belief, new as I am, that we have an immense resource, right in front of us, should we decide to ask.