Ken Siri is a Support Broker working in New York City. As a support broker, he works with people with disabilities in New York City to manage their state-funded budgets. Although in the name, support brokers do not actually broker anything. Instead, they assist with the financial allocation of resources to support disabled people in a variety of aspects of their life like paying for health aids and community classes. The distribution of funds depends on the individual’s goals and needs which are determined bi-annually in a meeting with the broker and compiled into a life plan. The contents of these plans are entirely unique to the individual and have a great deal of flexibility.
The day-to-day work that Support Brokers engage in is widely varied including tasks like drafting initial budgets, preparing and executing budget amendments, researching and suggesting community services to clients and families, approving community services and classes, preparing, attending, and taking minutes at bi-annual life plan meetings, preparing staff action plans on a semi-annual basis, meeting with clients regarding service needs and budget allocations, and processing monthly and periodic invoices for services rendered. In this profession, there is a lot of flexibility. For instance, you can easily work from home and for yourself. Additionally, it is a rewarding profession as you are actively serving communities and families in need. On the flip side, working with many agencies and with the state means that bureaucratic nonsense is rampant and can be very frustrating. The job requires traits like being able to build and maintain client relationships, perform financial analysis, and create budgets.
I really enjoyed learning more about this profession. As a sibling of someone with disabilities, I have been exposed to many different professions that have intrigued me over the years. In addition, because I see the benefits of this type of work nearly daily, much more when I am living at home, I feel particularly passionate about serving these communities. Being involved with disabled communities, particularly those is intellectual disabilities and/or autism, is important to me, and being able to work daily to serve these communities really interests me.
