{"id":2327,"date":"2017-12-04T20:25:09","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T20:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/eriehouse\/?p=2327"},"modified":"2019-07-12T20:25:42","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T20:25:42","slug":"qa-with-monique-mervin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/eriehouse\/qa-with-monique-mervin\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A with Monique Mervin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monique Mervin serves as the \u200echief of strategic initiatives for Office of the City Clerk. A native Chicagoan, she is excited to have another way to give back to the community as a member of the board of directors at Erie House. We caught up with Monique to talk about\u00a0the launch of the Chicago CityKey, a civic engagement initiative for local youth, and more.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

How did you first get connected with Erie House?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I first met (Executive Director Kirstin Chernawsky) a little over a year ago during a reception at Erie House for Jaime Guzman, who had just joined the Board of Education. Then I found myself at Erie House again when working in a different setting as the Office of the City Clerk was hosting roundtables across the city talking about the Chicago CityKey program.<\/p>\n

We hosted a roundtable there in March: We had staff members from Erie House and folks who are benefitting from Erie House every single day. We really just wanted to hear from them why would the identification system would be relevant to them. Hearing their testimonials as to why Erie House has really been a true anchor in their lives was sort of like a little light bulb for me.<\/p>\n

Why did you feel like Erie House would be a good fit for you? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It was really about reconnecting back with the community and finding ways to directly impact people\u2019s lives through programs and services. I was drawn to Erie House\u2019s mission and the opportunities they have from cradle to adulthood\u2014from Head Start to ESL and adult learning\u2014and it was just really, really impactful for me to know that this is a good fit and to be able to use my experiences to give back. I worked at a nonprofit earlier on in my career and so I had really missed the client-focused purpose of that, and so I thought Erie House would be a great place for me.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s such a dynamic leadership team and staff at Erie House, people who are passionate about the work that they do and who use that passion to affect the lives of the people they serve.<\/p>\n

What do you enjoy about your work with the Office of the City Clerk?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would say the most enjoyable part is the people. Because it\u2019s a citywide office, I get to go out to every community in Chicago and talk about how we\u2019re bringing services to those communities. So it\u2019s really meeting people, trying to use my platform to be as helpful as possible and connecting people to other services. The Chicago CityKey program is just a real passion project. I\u2019ve heard stories from people who are seniors, homeless, disenfranchised youth\u2014and they all found some opportunity in this new ID card that we\u2019re launching and how it will benefit them. It\u2019s really about understanding the basic barriers that you and I take for granted every day and then hearing these stories and saying, \u201cWow, we have to execute on this and secure services for all of Chicago.\u201d That is really what I enjoy most about my job.<\/p>\n

And then also we\u2019re doing a civic engagement initiative with youth. Through CPS we\u2019re working on a new opportunity to get young folks interested in government and what we do every day. So we\u2019re launching monthly city hall visits and reimagining our curriculum and forming a council to help us do that work. So often we focus on national news when we can really be leveraging our platform here in our city to do great work and civically engage in our communities. This is just so important. And the one thing for our youth is exposure\u2014you can\u2019t be what you don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s really giving back to my community, both inside and outside of work. I\u2019m very involved in a local ministry and I go to church and I use my platform to ask, How can I give back on the weekend? Can I go visit a food pantry or a local organization? Can I go to an event? That\u2019s really what I love to do. I love people, and I love being able to make some else\u2019s life better. So that\u2019s me!<\/p>\n

Conversation edited for clarity and brevity.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monique Mervin serves as the \u200echief of strategic initiatives for Office of the City Clerk. 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