Meet the Board: Q&A with Jordan
We sat down with Jordan Harris, CAAS Board President and Pastor at Connexion, to learn more about how he got involved with anti-poverty advocacy and his experience being on the CAAS Board of Directors! In this interview, Jordan shared his own experiences with housing insecurity, and talked about the personal importance that giving back to the community has for him.
What do you do outside of being the CAAS Board President? How did you get started in the field, and why are you passionate about it?
I’m pastor at a church called Connexion, which is the Methodist church here in East Somerville. I've been pastoring here since 2018, so five years. What drew me to this work actually was an experience of homelessness as a child growing up. Me and my siblings and my mom lived in our car, and it was actually a church in the middle of nowhere, Maryland that was able to find us and help us get back on our feet by allowing us to live in their parsonage for free. I started attending the church and really fell in love with the ways in which faith communities can move differently to help support folks in all aspects of their lives.
I grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. So middle of nowhere farm country. And we ended up being unhoused for maybe three or four months. I was about 11 or 12 years old and moved around a lot. Eventually, we ended up at a campground in Maryland because we were just going to “camp” for a while. And a Vacation Bible School was going around and inviting the kids to come to camp. I had no real religious background or understanding, but they were offering free food and games and that was more than enough for me and my siblings. That's really where that started. One of the adult leaders kind of noticed that we were around the camp for a long time and often had the same clothes on, and was able to connect with my mom. It was a really, I think, transformative experience for me as a child.
As a pastor, I like to kind of imagine myself as a “jack of all trades, but master of none.” I’m not a therapist, or a doctor, or a social worker, but I'm often a first point of contact for folks seeking mental health services, health care, or a whole variety of issues. And so I feel passionate about being able to be a relatable, kind of vulnerable, compassionate, and understanding presence in communities.
It's easy for people to not realize that the majority of people who are homeless or housing insecure in the U.S. are children. But that's the reality. It’s traumatic, and it impacts so many young people.
Yep, absolutely. Having an experience of homelessness myself really taught me not only the outward understanding of not having somewhere to stay or sleep that night, but those feelings of not knowing where to go, or what to do throughout your days, and not having a safe space that's yours, that locks, where you can go to the bathroom or go to the refrigerator. Every single aspect of your life is displaced when you are homeless. So being able to help folks, even if it's with those smaller aspects–like maintaining a building where folks know they can come get water, be indoors, use the bathroom–is really important to me, even if I'm not able to help find housing for someone immediately.
I'm assuming that that might have something to do with why you became involved at CAAS. Why did you decide to become a Board member? And how did you first connect with CAAS?
It's easy to see where my passions are just from. Anti-poverty work and housing work is incredibly important to me. My predecessor at the church, Justin, was a Board member. When he left, he invited me to his last CAAS Board meeting. He was passionate about the Head Start program in particular. When he was leaving, I was introduced to David and was told there would be a vacant Board seat. Justin had been a huge part of the Board for five years, and they wanted to know if I was interested. And while I love Head Start and early childhood education, a lot more of my own personal experience and passion is around housing and community organizing. So it felt like a good fit.
It also feels like a great use of my flexible time. As clergy, we really get to orient our own schedule. Being able to go to Board meetings and even be Board President for a little while is something that my job affords me the freedom and ability to do.
So you've been on the Board for three or four years now, or am I underestimating?
Probably five! I think I started on the Board when I started that Connexion. And I’ve been Board President for the last year and a half. My term is up in October, and we can only be president for two years. I'll probably be on the Board if they'll have me, and I'll probably stay on the Executive Committee as well, if they let me continue on with this work.
We definitely want you to continue being on the Board! What keeps you energized around doing this work with CAAS?
The success stories that we get to hear at Board meetings. David often will share, withholding private information, success stories around people achieving housing, or success stories around our Head Start program or Organizing. It's really inspiring to hear that and to be a piece in that success.
The other piece for me is the staff and the folks who work at CAAS. I get to meet housing advocates and teachers and all sorts of folks who are just so passionate about what they do. And it really inspires me to go to Board meetings, or attend events, or speak about CAAS positively in public, because I know that that is a drop in the bucket compared to what you all do day in and day out.
“I don’t believe it’s an exaggeration to say that the City of Somerville would have collapsed.”
I was Board President for most of the pandemic. While most people were working from home, our teachers and our staff were still getting up and going to work every single day because without them, large numbers of families wouldn't have child care, or wouldn't have resources to pay their rent. I don't believe it's an exaggeration to say that the City of Somerville would have collapsed. Folks all over the place would be displaced and out of work. Without that kind of sense of dedication, and willingness to show up every day, and do not just like a good job, but an amazing job really inspires me to show up and continue to volunteer.
What have you found challenging about this work?
The acronyms! There are so many. We have a cheat sheet on Google Drive that I have up during every Board meeting and often during every CAAS meeting I'm in because. Every time someone says DHCD or mentions HUD, I always have to look back and I'm like, “Who is this? And then what grant? And then what contact person?”
There’s so, so much specialized knowledge on that level. I feel like the more I've learned, the more I’ve felt connected to the work and can kind of see the bigger picture. Even when I hear Congress or the State Legislature talk about these bigger institutions, or as Board president, I have to meet with folks to talk about CAAS and the program, or folks who work for the federal government, it helps me see the larger movement known as Community Action that I didn't know much about at all prior to joining the Board. It's a big learning curve to be able to participate in some of the conversations at times.
I've done staff spotlights with people from HAP, and they can name departments and agencies like it's nothing! That also underscores the specialized knowledge that they have and the importance of their role. I remember a conversation with Michael where he mentioned that navigating these systems is a full time job.
Yeah, absolutely. And then tack on English as a second language, or being persons looking for these services without the help of folks in Organizing or HAP. It's nearly impossible to fully understand the ways in which all of this funding does or does not come to communities.
I feel like we are incredibly privileged to have an organization like CAAS exist in Somerville, because the federal government doesn't just drop this on our laps. People a long time ago, over 40 years ago, worked really hard to establish and develop this program. And folks throughout the last couple of decades have nurtured and watered and grown it so that now we employ over a hundred people. We have hundreds of Head Start kids. There are even older adults these days who are like, “Yeah, I was a Head Start kid back in the day,” and it's really cool to see the big ripple effects that CAAS has in the community.
It's beautiful that a nonprofit has had such a big impact not just in the city as a whole, but in the lives of individuals in our city as well. I think knowing that there's lots of folks who were Head Start kids is incredible to think about. Now they're adults, and these adults remember the program, remember their teachers and, and talk about it. We are helping to foster that next generation of adults who one day will say, “Yeah, I was a Head Start kid,” and we'll all be old and wrinkly and they'll be young. It's really incredible. Not all nonprofits are able to tell those stories.
What was an exciting project or a big win that you've experienced while working on the CAAS Board?
I think it's split. There’s Evicted, which was so much fun. So, so much work. I got to be the MC for some of the events, which is such a flashy job. I was definitely invited to it–I didn't fight for it. But I got a lot of attention and recognition because I ended up being the person on the stage with the microphone. People still recognize me from Evicted! It felt really good to help celebrate and present something that so many of us worked really hard on. For a while I felt like everyone was so focused on a particular issue–the book, and this exhibition–and it was really cool to be part of that big community moment.
The second is anytime I am able to refer someone to CAAS. I've had friends, or folks walk in from the street at the church, who needed help with rent, help with childcare. Being able to connect them immediately to CAAS is amazing. I know that they're going to be in really good hands. Connexion doesn't have the resources that CAAS does. I can't necessarily write a check to help someone pay a whole lot of back-owed rent. But as Board President, I get to sign a lot of checks. I don't know these people, but $10,000 of back-owed rent was probably a really heavy burden for a really long time, and to be able to help alleviate that helps me think back on my upbringing. It helps me to feel like I'm giving back in a way that folks were able to give back to me and my family in a time of great need. I can’t imagine the relief that must be for people.
Being able to be a part of keeping this organization in good order and standing, at least from the Board level–so that we can receive those federal funds and grants, helping with development so that people can stay housed and experience that, that sense of relief, and trust that their kids are going off to a safe and a good place when they go to work–all of it resonates with me.
Why should someone join the Board of Directors?
It helps give me a sense of integrity and understanding when talking about the issues our City is facing. Everyone knows we're in a housing crisis. Especially as we reach the end of August, finding housing in the city is so, so difficult. So learning about the reasons for our housing crisis, being able to advocate for solutions, and being a part of the solution, and being a part of an organization that is a part of the solution, gives me a deep sense of integrity and passion to continue this work. I think It's so easy for us these days to doom scroll or to watch the news and feel like everything is falling apart. But joining the Board at CAAS has helped me feel like there are solutions. There are other people out there who recognize that the issues are big and are working to solve them. I want to add my voice and effort and strength to theirs.