
Here is the front elevation of the large barrel vaulted building
Questions:
In your own words what is the organization’s mission?
The same as the company mission statement focusing on humanitarianism-not focusing on politics but on assistance-service-Church- They are an Evangelical Corporation
How many full time staff and part time staff do you have?
7 Fulltime employees and 2 Parttime employees. They do have volunteers but they work mostly outside of the office.
What are their roles?
The salaried employees job titles are-case management, employment and immigration assistanceDoes each person have a workspace?
Each employee has a work space, however small and inadequate. There are only two private offices and he believes they could use one more.
Are there employees who do not require workspace?
just the volunteers
Do you have volunteers?
yes-they mostly help move furniture, teach English, help with office paper work, and driving
Does your staff work in groups or independently?
They work as a team collaborating on projects when needed but they all do have individual tasks
What makes your group work and meeting spaces effective or ineffective?
Having a large enough table to discuss with everyone at once is effective but the space they have isn't a seperate room so they don't have total privacy and there is often alot of noise from the waiting area and the space is small.
Are there offices or spaces that need to be near each other or shared?
Yes the similar departments would idealy be grouped together.
Are there staff members who need their own offices?
The part time resource manager needs an office, right now she shares with co workers and uses their office space when they are not busy.
What is the number of the existing rooms in your facility and their functions?
There are only 5 actual rooms, the spaces are sectioned off with partitions. And there are 2 private offices and one shared office.
What do you think are the best aspects of your facility and what do you think it lacks?
The best aspects are the services they provide. They are lacking space. He would like more clearly defined spaces and a solution to the noise level.
If you were designing a new building what would you include in the new space that you don’t currently have?
A kitchen, more office spaces, a larger conference room, and storage.
Would you like to have spaces for over night stays?
No, we try to encourage self sufficiency and work with a realty companies to provide apartments.
Is community involvement one of your priorities?
yes they rely heavily on churches and civic organizations.
What kind of environments have you found that foster interaction between people?
Any environment the refugees just like to have people to talk to, especially someone who speaks their native language. If not they have interpreters.
What are the absolute necessities for the facility?
What they have now is the bare necessity.
What type of programs do you offer here?
case management, english classes, employment services, and immigration services
What is the buildings number one use?
office
If the building was adequate what new types of programs would you like to house here?
Child care and larger class rooms
Which of those needs do you think is of highest priority?
They are of equal importance.
What sort of furnishings and equipment is needed for all of the activities that go on in the building?
kitchen equipment, computers, and better internet network/connection
What type of environment do you try to provide?
welcoming-peaceful- they try to teach the refugees that here they don't have the same kind of fears. Their lives are not in dangers on a daily basis and they don't have to fear the police. While our society is not perfect and we do have criminals they don't have to worry about nightly raids that include rapes and kidnapping.
How do you feel you have achieved that in this space?
I didn't ask this question but it seems they provide this feeling with their personalities, their budget doesn't seem to allow them much freedom for decorating.
What improvements would you make?
Mark said he would focus on decorating.In what ways have you developed an environment to welcome visitors from different cultures?
There doesn't seem to be a need for a connection to their country. The refugees know they are coming here and are ready to embrace the American culture.
Lead Paint Education Project – Maura Nsonwu
What is the organization’s mission?
To educate immigrants and refugees on lead paint safety.
Staff:
How many full-time and part-time staff do you have?
Maura works with the immigrants and refugees one on one in their community training them in to deal with lead pain. There are volunteers, but people work on a case by case basis.
-does each person have a workspace?
She does not have a space at CNNC, only an office on campus. She would like to have a space at CNNC where she could keep information to give out to people on Lead paint and also a space for the volunteers that come to help her.
-Are there employees or volunteers who do not require a workspace? How many?
No, everyone that does work at CNNC should have some space somewhere in the building to keep their things or to meet with people.
How often are you at the facility and how often are you on site?
She only goes to the facility for meeting with the other staff members. She usually works with the immigrants and refugees in the community. She would like to have a place back at the center to do this, but right now there is not enough space.
Operations:
Does your staff work in groups or independently?
It depends on the project at hand. Sometimes she works alone and other times she works in a group. Everything is determined on a case by case basis.
What makes your group work spaces/ meeting spaces effective/ not effective?
There is only one conference room and it is incredibly small. There has to be more community meeting places. People shouldn’t have to fight for the space. Also there are not enough offices to accommodate everyone. Many have to share a single office and that can make working very difficult. When several people are working many times there is too much noise to concentrate. The space also doesn’t have adequate space for the printing and filing. They also don’t have a break room, which is important because many people bring their lunch to work.
Are there offices or spaces that need to be next to one another or in a shared space?
The offices should be grouped together. The conference rooms, classrooms, and other multi-functional spaces should be grouped.
Are there staff members who need their own offices?
Everyone needs their own office and space if they are apart of the staff. The only people that shouldn’t have their own space would be the volunteers, and staff that don’t work out of CNNC. In this case there should be an office for them to share so they could keep information at CNNC and have a place to leave their personal things if they do work there for the day.
Facility
existing facility:
What do you think are the best things about your facility and what do you think it lacks?
The building lack many things. There are not enough offices to accommodate everyone. Also they don’t have adequate space for meetings and other events. They don’t have a place where people can eat lunch, and they only have a mini-fridge for people to keep their food, which is not enough space.
What would you like to include in the new space that you don’t currently have?
A large kitchen that would be used by the staff and the immigrants that comes to the center. There needs to be several more meeting spaces that accommodates different numbers of people. Some for groups of 10, 20, or 30 people. Also parking needs to be improved. Classrooms would also be helpful for seminars. Also a mailbox for the people that don’t work out of CNNC.
Knowing community involvement is one of your priorities, what kind of environments foster interaction between people?
Needs:
clubs/ meeting space (ex. arts and crafts)
classrooms
conference space
Which of these needs do you think deserve the highest priority?
All are important and they could all be the same space. Multi-purpose spaces work well.
What sort of furnishings and equipment do you use to facilitate these activities?
A room with a projector and a screen. A TV/VCR unit to play videos. A chalk board or a dry erase board.
Environment
What do you think we can do to make the space more welcoming to visitors or connect to people from so many different cultures?
Showing art work from the different cultures that will be coming to the CNNC.