Jasmin Rodriguez

I've been in social work for about 5 years now, and my journey has taken me through several meaningful roles. I worked with the New York City Department of Probation as a clinical advisor in both juvenile operations and adult operations, where I worked closely with officers to scout out and vet resources for troubled youth and adults in the criminal justice system. I loved it and would absolutely do it again, but I stopped working there because of the pandemic. My degree is in criminology, so that was right in my alley. Prior to that, I worked with the general population in the shelter system doing case management and working as a housing specialist, just to help that population find housing stability and making sure they were taken care of while in the shelter system, because many have gone unseen and unheard. I tried to make a difference in being that light once they come into the office, just to make them feel seen, because that could be any one of us, any given day. What led me to my current role was actually the pandemic. I wasn't really familiar with the IDD population until I started working as a program supervisor at a facility in the Hudson Valley, and just working with that population made my heart grow more. I transitioned into care management just to be a little bit more hands-on with their care. I've been in this specific role for about a year and a half, going on 2 years now, managing caseloads of 35 people with different individual disabilities. For me, inclusion is very important. I don't ever want anyone to feel that they're excluded in the community.