In my fifth week at IRC Hellas, I was able to begin direct communication with community organizers, advocates, and legal representatives all working towards promoting equality for the Roma population in Greece and across Europe. Hearing direct experiences from these voices was invaluable in shaping the design of our own project proposal at IRC. Particularly, it highlighted some of the challenges faced by smaller non-profits. Working with the IRC, a well-established global organization with funding from the European Union, United Nations, and private donors was an incredible privilege. While our own projects were suffering due to wide-scale funding cuts, smaller community-based organizations were suffering even more. I was discussing this with my supervisor, and she gave some helpful insight, highlighting the importance of collaboration between larger and smaller organizations. While larger groups like IRC have financial and visibility access, smaller organizations have on-the-ground outreach that has taken years to establish. Many of these teams are entirely comprised of advocates from the target community itself, leading to a sense of connection that can be hard to reach with international teams who can seem aloof or lacking relevant lived experience. Thus, it is incredibly important to establish connections with various types of organizations all centered on the same goal, and all bringing different strategies and skillsets to the table.