Biggest Challenges Faced By A Project Coordinator At Legal Aid
Maraina finds the most rewarding aspect of their career at The Legal Aid Society "hearing people, giving them a space to tell me what's going on," and connecting them with resources, fulfilling their desire for community-based work; this role also offers the added benefit of "learning from the people" and ongoing professional development opportunities, akin to "law school light."
Community Development, Legal Services, Nonprofit, Social Justice, Resource Connection
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Maraina Weyl
Project Coordinator
The Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County
Syracuse University
Santa Clara University School of Education and Counseling Psychology- M.A. Counseling
International Relations & Affairs
Government & Public Sector, Nonprofit, Foundations & Grantmaking
Consulting
Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Worked 20+ Hours in School, LGBTQ, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Working in a community-based setting and directly interacting with people to help them, providing a listening ear and connecting them with needed resources.
2. The opportunity to learn about different aspects of law through available seminars and interactions with colleagues, which is described as "law school light."
3. The ability to make a direct impact on people's lives and create positive change, even if it means sacrificing higher earning potential for a fulfilling career path that aligns with personal values
Transcript
What do you enjoy most about being in your industry?
There are two separate answers to this question. Technically, I'm in the legal industry, but it doesn't really feel like that because it's a nonprofit. It feels much more like community-based work.
I'm going to answer more for the second part of that because I touch the community much more than I touch the legal part of the industry. I'm not really interested in being a lawyer; I'm interested in doing community-based work.
What I enjoy most about being in this industry is hearing people, giving them a space to tell me what's going on, to complain sometimes, to vent sometimes, and then to actually connect dots to create more resources for a broader group of people. That's the truth for me with any kind of work that I do.
Almost all of my jobs have been with some kind of community-based organization, and I think that's going to continue. I'm definitely not seeking money in my career, and it's clear because this is not where the money is. This is the choice I've made because being able to impact people's lives like that, to be there when something serious is going on for them, and then really be able to connect the dots to make those resources is such a humbling and wonderful place to be.
But I also really like the legal piece because I get to learn. As a person who works at Legal Aid, I still get access to a lot of these seminars and things like that. It's kind of like going to law school light for free; you just get to learn things when they are available to you. So, I like learning from the people I work with and from the other teams. I enjoy hearing about housing law or immigration law that may come into play with my work and my life. It's just a really nice place to feel like you're still in school, and I love school.