Alex Albrecht ’18 working at CAP’s Madison County office
In a showing of her passion for work in the not-for-profit field, senior Alexandra “Alex” Albrecht is working with Community Action Partnership of Madison County (CAP) this semester to “compile and analyze data from client satisfaction surveys at the various CAP locations and across the organization.” In doing so, she is helping CAP with their mission of serving the lower income residents of Madison County.
Community Action Partnership of Madison County services 1 in 16 Madison County residents. The not-for-profit was founded in 1983 to “provide education, guidance, and accessibility to resources” for low- and moderate-income Madison County residents. CAP does this in order to achieve their mission of building “resilience, well-being and safety at the individual, family and community level by meeting the basic needs of today and identifying the opportunities of tomorrow.” CAP primarily does this through creating and advertising programs with benefits to recipients of SNAP and WIC, as well as through the promotion of housing, and child services. Through these services, CAP provides education, advisement, and resources to help bring residents of Madison County out of poverty and foster economic self-sufficiency.
During her time at CAP, Alex has been assigned several projects concerning client satisfaction surveys. In addition to these surveys, she has completed general tasks around the CAP office, including assisting their soon-to-be-retiring receptionist, “researching prices for office supplies, and adding to data when new surveys come in.” Though her main priority is to compile the data on client satisfaction, Alex has predicted that her most important contribution to the organization will be “taking some of the easier, routine work off of [the outgoing receptionist’] hands so that they can focus on bigger projects and train a new receptionist.”
Alex first became interested in working with a community-based partner due to her desire to work “with non-profits and/or NGOs in the future.” Prior to joining CAP, Alex worked at an international NGO while abroad during the Spring 2017 semester. During her time at CAP, Alex hopes to “gain a greater idea of the day-to-day work” and engage with the greater Colgate community. Furthermore, she hopes to gain first-hand knowledge of the differences between international NGOs and local community-based organizations. While she regrets not having volunteered with COVE groups during her time at Colgate, Alex sees this partnership as an “ideal way to both gain more experience in a common-good field and support the surrounding community.”