ACHIEVEability: A Place for an Idealist

When I joined the ACHIEVEability staff in June of 2009 I was seeking an opportunity to engage directly with members of a community facing the challenges of economic and social distress. The warnings of friends and family were numerous but unvaried. Universally there was a concern that working in social services or with under-resourced communities provides for its champions more embittering heartache than actual satisfaction or triumph. So many once determined and idealistic young people grow tired and indifferent after a seeming eternity in the fruitless endeavor of service to their communities. The steadfast refusal to sink into that very cynicism, which has become so the industry standard, is perhaps what is so unique and fundamentally wonderful about ACHIEVEability.


From my first day on the job, I have been struck by the commitment of all members of this community to the success of the program and its participants. The chance to work on issues with our participants ranging from the mundane to the imperative has truly been a privilege, not because of the nature of the work, but because of the passion I see in our participants everyday. To hear a participant recount the turmoil of balancing her work life with her studies while in the same breath citing the love of her child as her constant source of strength is enough to draw a tear from the most hardened of misanthropes. And still I feel that participants of the ACHIEVEability program may never truly know the way in which they touch our staff. The symbiosis of participant inspiring coach and coach motivating participant is that irreplicable facet which elevates the ACHIEVEability program.

I have been fascinated by the dynamic of the ACHIEVEability community, both in staff and participants. There is certainly wisdom to be found in the seasoned veterans of the staff and the program which serves to ground the naivety of younger staff members and participants. It is, however, the mutual interaction between the warranted pragmatism of the experienced and the youthful altruism of those new to the community which drives the mission of ACHIEVEability. This program would not be what it is without the new participants’ mixed excitement and trepidation about the daunting road ahead. And this program would not be what it is without the reassurance of the soon to be graduate for those earlier in their journeys. I remain in awe of the accomplishments of all the participants in this program and I am continuously grateful to have been welcomed into this community.



Tim Shepherd – Self-Sufficiency Coach


About the Author

Tim Shepherd has served as Self-Sufficiency Coach with ACHIEVEability since June of 2009.  Tim, along with fellow coach Brian Hoskins, is currently developing a summer youth initiative.  ACHIEVEability will miss Tim as he starts a new chapter of his life at NYU Law School this fall.