December 31, 2013
By Chloe Meyere, Duck Career Network Communications Associate and UO Student
Deputy Director, Community Action Agency
Previous Employment
Other fields: Figure Skating Coach, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
After career switch: Humane Society, United Way, Community Action
What are some of your responsibilities as the deputy director?
I oversee communications for the agency, which relates to our website and reports. I’m also solely responsible for two of our programs, which includes staffing, grant writing, strategic writing, and partner development. I also oversee IT and financials, and I take on the responsibilities of our executive director when she is unavailable. It’s a varied job.
What does a day in the life of look like?
It’s really a schizophrenic kind of day; it’s hard to say what a typical day would look like. I have such a varied range of responsibilities that very rarely does your schedule go as planned. It usually consists of 10 hours all day, every day.
Is this typical for your field?
The extent of the pace might be particular just to my job, but non-profit workers have to be able to multitask efficiently. We have to be able to drop what we’re doing immediately, because a community partner has a grant that’s due and wants to write you in on it. You may have less than a day to begin working on it and then to submit it. Non-profit work requires a lot of juggling.
You said you made a career switch twenty years ago. What attracted you to the non-profit sector, and how did you get involved?
I actually got into non-profit work completely by accident. When I moved to Salem, the only person I knew was a UO grad. I had lunch with her, and she worked at the Humane Society. I learned about what she did, and she mentioned she had a job opening available managing customer service for the shelter. When I asked if she would consider me, she said I was overqualified. Being a brand new mom, I said, “If you can let me be the mom that I want to be, I will be the best employee you’ve ever had.” I got that job, and I was able to work the hours that worked with being a mom. That initial step into non-profit work gave me a glimpse of what the need was in my community. It opened my eyes to the diversity of need, and I was hooked. From that point forward, every position I held filled my “skill bucket” of non-profit work.
What would you say is your favorite part of working in the non-profit sector?
My favorite part is knowing that I’ve made a difference. There was a young girl that we worked with, that since she was 15, struggled with homelessness. When you’re homeless and 15, it’s dramatically difficult, and it broke my heart. Her situation was so much more difficult, that she was on her own. Because she was able to access our youth shelter and the service that we were able to support her with this last spring, she flourished. She graduated from high school, built skills and got a job, and reconnected with family. Post high school, she began going to a community college in San Antonio, Texas, to be near her grandparents. She also got a job transfer with Starbucks. It took years, but she’s doing so well. That’s the part that keeps you going. That’s only one story, one life, but we have thousands just like that.
Cyndi Bopp Leinassar, BS ’92 Psychology
Deputy Director, Community Action Agency
Previous EmploymentOther fields: Figure Skating Coach, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
After career switch: Humane Society, United Way, Community Action
What are some of your responsibilities as the deputy director?
I oversee communications for the agency, which relates to our website and reports. I’m also solely responsible for two of our programs, which includes staffing, grant writing, strategic writing, and partner development. I also oversee IT and financials, and I take on the responsibilities of our executive director when she is unavailable. It’s a varied job.
What does a day in the life of look like?
It’s really a schizophrenic kind of day; it’s hard to say what a typical day would look like. I have such a varied range of responsibilities that very rarely does your schedule go as planned. It usually consists of 10 hours all day, every day.
Is this typical for your field?
The extent of the pace might be particular just to my job, but non-profit workers have to be able to multitask efficiently. We have to be able to drop what we’re doing immediately, because a community partner has a grant that’s due and wants to write you in on it. You may have less than a day to begin working on it and then to submit it. Non-profit work requires a lot of juggling.
You said you made a career switch twenty years ago. What attracted you to the non-profit sector, and how did you get involved?
I actually got into non-profit work completely by accident. When I moved to Salem, the only person I knew was a UO grad. I had lunch with her, and she worked at the Humane Society. I learned about what she did, and she mentioned she had a job opening available managing customer service for the shelter. When I asked if she would consider me, she said I was overqualified. Being a brand new mom, I said, “If you can let me be the mom that I want to be, I will be the best employee you’ve ever had.” I got that job, and I was able to work the hours that worked with being a mom. That initial step into non-profit work gave me a glimpse of what the need was in my community. It opened my eyes to the diversity of need, and I was hooked. From that point forward, every position I held filled my “skill bucket” of non-profit work.
What would you say is your favorite part of working in the non-profit sector?
My favorite part is knowing that I’ve made a difference. There was a young girl that we worked with, that since she was 15, struggled with homelessness. When you’re homeless and 15, it’s dramatically difficult, and it broke my heart. Her situation was so much more difficult, that she was on her own. Because she was able to access our youth shelter and the service that we were able to support her with this last spring, she flourished. She graduated from high school, built skills and got a job, and reconnected with family. Post high school, she began going to a community college in San Antonio, Texas, to be near her grandparents. She also got a job transfer with Starbucks. It took years, but she’s doing so well. That’s the part that keeps you going. That’s only one story, one life, but we have thousands just like that.