Limitless Possibilities at Oasis: Insights from Our Social Services Program Director

Our entire team brings a wealth of experience to their roles and our work. For some, their career paths are planned and they’ve always known what they want to do. For others, like Eric Cline, they can pinpoint the exact moment when they decided, in the face of harsh realities, to dedicate their lives to advocating for others.

Today, we learn from Eric, our Social Services Program Director, what brought him to Oasis and the things that bring him joy, even as his work is often heavy. He speaks about the challenges and rewards of his journey and his vision for the future. We are fortunate to have such a passionate and innovative leader spearheading our Social Services Program*.

NS: How did you end up doing the work you do now?

EC: In the time I spent living in Guatemala, I met hundreds of people with family members who were living in the United States, and who shared with me their stories of needing to emigrate. That knowledge pushed me to work with immigrants once I was back in the U.S., and it didn’t take long for me to see the enormous barrier that a lack of immigration status creates. I felt pulled toward the legal work because of the tangible benefit it provides, and I ended up here.

MS: I know you’ve spent most of your career working with unaccompanied children who enter the U.S. without a parent. What were the hardest and the most rewarding parts of working with unaccompanied children? 

EC: Unaccompanied children make a horribly dangerous journey on their own, often at a very young age. Seeing children as young as three who had traveled only with other children as their guardians…it was a heavy reality to face. On the other side of that, the compassion of the children I worked with melted my heart. A Spanish-speaking teenage Honduran boy who intentionally befriended a French-speaking Haitian boy and helped him understand what was happening through gestures and some sort of telepathy, sticks in my mind as one of the more beautiful kindnesses I got to witness. 

NS: What are you looking forward to in the coming year? 

EC: The upcoming year, working with our MSW (Master of Social Work) Interns. I’m so excited to get to have a small team of social workers with all sorts of amazing experience coming in to support our clients and our legal team. It feels like the possibilities are limitless! Personally, I’m really hoping to get my DOJ Full Accreditation. It’s something I’ve been working on since 2019, but is somehow never at the top of my priority list. It would mean that I can provide a higher level of support to our clients and more thoroughly collaborate with our legal team.

MS: You’re passionate about the intersection of social work, immigration, education, and technology. What is your interest in technology as it relates to social work and immigration?

EC: I am always looking for simple ways to use technology to make our jobs easier. Small examples are simple formulas or functions in spreadsheets that automate things that would otherwise be done manually. On a larger scale, it looks like building digital systems that help us avoid repeating the same work over and over. Like when one of us spends hours researching a resource that someone else found the week before. 

NS: What do you like to do in your free time?

EC: I spend most of my free time now with my toddler, playing, going to parks, reading, and singing constantly, with interspersed toddler…antics. We like going to free outdoor concerts, water fountains or swimming (in warm weather), or spending time with family and friends. I’m also joining a choir this year, trying to restart having a little bit of a life after these first years of adjusting to new-parent life.

MS: We know that you sing constantly, and in fact, you performed an electric musical number for our Annual Community Celebration last month! Do you have a favorite or “go-to” karaoke song?

EC: My favorites are duets: different songs depending on who I’m with. If I am by myself I used to always do “The First, the Last, My Everything” by Barry White, but have broadened that to range from “Hello” by Adele to “Fuiste Tú” by Ricardo Arjona and Gabi Moreno (I need a duet partner for that one) to “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars. 

NS: One of the things you like to do in your free time is “find joy in ridiculousness”. What is the most ridiculous thing that has ever happened to you? 

EC: On New Year's Day, about 10 years ago, I was getting out of a car and ripped a giant hole in the back of my pants the size of a soccer ball. That was the first of FIVE times that year that I tore the back out of a pair of pants. The most ridiculous time was as I was getting out of a car to go into a choir audition. I was wearing dress clothes, and had nothing to change into, so I had to audition in those pants and just try to keep the people I was singing for in front of me, which involved some odd walking behavior on my part. Nonetheless, I got into the choir! I haven’t torn a single pair of pants in any year before or since…

Eric brings a unique perspective to his role at Oasis. From his time spent living in Guatemala to the difficulties and even the heartwarming moments of working with unaccompanied children, his journey has been one of great dedication and compassion. As he looks forward to the coming year, we are reminded of the immense impact that each of our team members has on our clients and community.

And as we all manifest indestructible pants in Eric’s future, make sure to keep an eye out for him at your nearest karaoke bar, and perhaps join him for a duet! 🎙️

*Our Social Services Program equips our clients with resources and care to address their intersecting needs. Eric, along with our Social Services Coordinator, and several Social Services interns help clients navigate resources as needs around housing, employment, and health care arise.