Blair De Haan - Transcript

Interviewee: Blair De Haan
Date: August 18, 2023
Place: Edgewater Library, 6000 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60657
Interviewer: Dorothy Nygren
Transcriber: Dorothy Nygren
Length of Transcription: 06:45

Copyright © 2023 Edgewater Historical Society

DN: This is Dorothy Nygren of the Edgewater Historical Society. I’m interviewing Blair De Haan, one of our Living Treasures. First of all, I’d like to thank you for all the work you do and wish you congratulations on being a Living Treasure. We are here at the Edgewater Library at 6000 N Broadway Avenue, Chicago Illinois on August 18, 2023. Let’s just jump in and get started.

00:32

DN: Blair, maybe some background. When did you come to Edgewater?

BH: Well, I came to Chicago in 2010 and started Girl Forward in 2011. We didn’t have an office here in 2011 but we were already operating throughout 2011. Sometime between 2011 and 2013 we finally found a home in Edgewater.

001:00

DN: What did you find interesting or different about Edgewater from other communities?

BH: I love Edgewater’s diversity but it also how it can feel more like a smaller town within a big city. So having a store front office next to other store fronts, getting to know the people who owned the coffee shop next door, the pet shop next door – it made it a really special place.

01:34

DN: What prompted you to start volunteering initially?

BH: When I first came to Chicago, I was an Americorps VISTA volunteer with Refugee One and I got involved with the refugee settlement in Chicago. Through that experience I saw there wasn’t any specific support for adolescent girls who came as resettlement refugees. That’s how the idea for Girl Forward came to be. I was volunteering as a tutor for one high school girl in particular. My coworker and I started a small group for high school girls. I eventually thought it was pretty special and found it hard to let go. So I evolved this small group into an organization called GirlForward. It was really the first girl I tutored in high school. I guess it was that experience that inspired me to keep going.

0:25

DN: When you were mentoring and tutoring her, what were you helping her with?

BH: She was in high school and had never been in school prior to coming to the United States. Any education she had had was for a short time when she was very young. She had a major gap in her education, but we place students in school primarily on their age. She had so much catching up to do in addition to learning English. We were working on all subjects. I was a few years out of college, but trying to do algebra and other high school subjects that I barely remembered. So we worked on homework together, but also we had a lot of conversations and talked about her goals, like going to college… So it was tutoring, but also kind of a mentoring role, which is why Girl Forward has a mentoring program. There is a lot of homework to be done but there are also have a lot of other things that girls need support with.

03:17

DN: How large is GirlForward now?

BH: Now I believe GirlForward serves several hundred girls every year here in Chicago and in Austin.

DN: What is your mission statement or your focus on helping these girls?

BH: Girl Forward is dedicated to providing support for adolescent girls who identify as immigration refugees and creating community support and really just being there with girls on their journeys after high school and beyond. Its been awhile since I’ve had to recall our mission from memory.

04:03

DN: What do feel has been left undone as far as helping refugees?

BH: You mean, what still remains to be done?

DN: Yes.

BH: A lot. I think that right now in particular there are all these different populations who are coming to the U,S. or are not coming. So a few years ago there were no refugee settlement and because of that many agencies lost funding and couldn’t provide as much support to the families that were here. Now as many people in Chicago. You see them all the time. There are families of immigrants who are now in the city. And so I think there’s so much to be done all the time. Things are always changing. Education .in terms of figuring out how our schools can best support English language learners. It’s something that they haven’t already figured out and still have a long way to go.

04:58

DN: Why do you feel it’s important to volunteer?

BH: I think getting a better sense of your community and who your neighbors are and getting energized about something you are passionate about. Whether it’s people working with teenagers or other people working with the environment, Being around people who care about those things is really inspiring and motivating and I think gives you a sense of purpose in your community and in our world.

DN: What advice would you give younger people, who are just getting out of college and who are trying to get a job. You are so busy with everything. But yet you still found time to follow your vision. So what advice would you give people who have those busy lives and are just starting their careers?

BH: I think that at the very beginning of my career I really threw myself into that role at my job from 8:30 to 4:30. Then I would do my volunteering after that. I took advantage of not having a lot of other responsibilities. I didn’t have pets. I didn’t have kids. I had a lot of freedom. Not everyone has all that freedom. But if you do, figure out what is responsibility that you have, then embrace it while you have it because many of us do not have that time and energy forever.

06:24

DN: Very true. This is your interview. I’ve asked all the questions that I have. But it’s your interview. Would you like to add anything else to this?

BH: Well, I guess I would say I’m not permanently at GirlForward working anymore, but I’m still involved with the organization. It’s still thriving. It’s still in Edgewater. I would like to encourage everyone if they’re not familiar with Girl Forward to find out more, to find out what they are doing right now and get involved.

DN: Thank you. At this point I’m going to conclude my interview. It’s been great. Thank you very much.

06:45

End of interview