Get Me to Midtown!

Oh wow, it has been a loonggggg time since I wrote! My apologies, things have been a little crazy around here.

Let me update you briefly on what’s been going on:

Work is good. Tony is giving me a lot of projects to start into and there are a few that I am really excited about. The first one is working with AmeriCorps NCCC and creating a partnership between them and the CCC. I know what you’re thinking “Lisa, aren’t you the partnership there?” LOL no, not quite like that. Although I am very helpful when it comes to knowledge about AmeriCorps NCCC, my main goal of this project will be to make write an agreement for both agencies to help corpsmembers advance into the Team Leader role more easily. I’m excited about this project, not just because I get to work with my current employer and former employers alike, but also because I will gain so many skills like formal presentation skills, formal and technical writing, and capacity building. Another project I will be working on is to hopefully create a video and presentation to fit into a corpsmember development course. The video will show corpsmembers a step by step process of applying for a job, interviewing, and going to work. This project is going to test my creative skills and help me learn more about computer software like Photoshop and Prezi.

Outside of work, things have been very busy! As most of you know, I drove down to visit Auntie Gail for my birthday weekend. It was only 5 hours (“only 5 hours?!”… 5 hours to me is nothing! I’ve driven across the country like 5 times now!) We had a lot of fun!! We went to her school BBQ, walked around San Luis Obispo, walked around Pismo Beach, hung out with friends, went to breakfast, went on a walk, we did so much and in only 2 days!! It was a great time and it was so much fun to be with family on my birthday!

Last weekend was also AMAZING. Saturday I was able to pack up most of my room at Mike and Tami’s, go to the farmer’s market, and take some time to relax before Sunday. On Sunday morning I sprung out of bed, too excited to sleep any longer. I had to be in San Francisco by 3:20pm to PICK UP DANA AT THE AIRPORT!!! WOOOOHOOO!!!!! BEST DAY EVER!!!! I thought I gave myself plenty of time by leaving Elk Grove at 12:00pm. It takes about 2 hours to get to San Francisco airport from Sacramento, but I needed gas and it was Memorial Day weekend, so I was being extra cautious. Luckily I gave myself an extra hour to accomidate for any hiccups I would hit along the way because as soon as I got to Oakland, traffic hit a stand still. In an hour, I went less than 5 miles. I was so annoyed. This was supposed to be the best day ever, now I was stuck in traffic, had to pee, my hair was getting frizzy, and there was npthing good on the radio, and to top it all off: Dana’s flight arrived 20 mintues early! I finally made it to the airport, said a quick hello before I sprinted to the ladies room- leaving my Mini illegally parked on the curb. Ahhh, I felt so much better so Dana and I hit the road back to Sacramento. We headed straight to our soon to be apartment (after a quick stop at In N Out for some burger-, animal style, of course). We met with our landlord Rich, Dana admired the place (good job picking out an awesome apartment, Lisa), we signed our lease and were given the keys. WOOHOO!!! Our apartment is a one bedroom, smack-dab in the heart of Midtown Sacramento. It has an entry room (like a mudroom, I guess?), a living room, a huge kitchen, a bedroom, built in storage, one bathroom, and HUGE windows- like biggest windows I’ve ever seen and some are so pretty and have stained glass panels. IT’S GREAT! Now… if only we could move into it…. After we signed the lease we took a short walk around the corner and found a cool German beer garden. We knew we had made the right choice.

Monday was a holiday so we were able to get a lot done. We went shopping for a new mattress and some living room furniture. We got everything we needed and set up delivery times. After we shopped til we dropped, we headed back to Mike and Tami’s for the night- we knew Tuesday would be a busy day, too. We were not wrong in our assumptions, although Tuesday turned out to be more fun than Monday. The first thing we did was head from Mike and Tami’s to our apartment to drop off some of my clothes that I wouldn’t need for the next few days. On Monday we had measured out all the rooms in our apartment, so Teusday we were able to just start shopping! We hit up Target (who doesn’t love a good Target trip?!?), Walmart, and then Ikea. NOTE TO ANYONE WHO IS EVER TRYING TO BUY THINGS FOR YOUR HOUSE: GO. TO. IKEA. First of all, make sure you block off like 3 days to go there because I’m pretty sure that is exactly how long it takes to walk through the entire store. And secondly, GO TO IDEA FIRST BEFORE YOU GO ANYWHERE ELSE!!! Rookie mistake, Dana and I went to Ikea last and what did we find?? Everything we had been looking for and everything we had already bought but at lower prices and cuter colors or styles. Needless to say, yesterday after work we spent our time returning things to Target and Walmart.

We walked out of Ikea after what felt like 4 days and were ready to build some stuff! We had bought a mobile kitchen island and a shelving unit that we needed to put together and we were motivated. We got back to the apartment, ripped open the boxes, scanned the instructions and- oh crap, we need a screwdriver. Luckily we have very nice neighbors below us who offered to lend us some tools, so we were able to build the kitchen island. It looks great and I can’t wait to chop so many vegetables on it!

I’ve been at work the past two days now, but all I can think about is getting everything settled into our new little apartment. Tonight is the first night we are going to spend there and tomorrow I’ll be able to walk or ride my skateboard to work.

I can’t believe all of this is happening. I feel like a real grown-up; getting an apartment, having an 8-5 office job, living in California. I have a lot to be thankful for and I know that I wouldn’t be where I am, excited about all the things in my life, it I didn’t have the support of everyone back home. I miss everyone a lot, but there is not a doubt in my mind that where I am right now is exactly where I want to be and where I am supposed to be.

I hope I’ll be able to write more once everything gets more routine. I have all these day dreams in my head about longboarding to work, building partnerships and getting CCC corpsmembers meaningful employment, longboarding back home, cooking all the great food I got at the farmers market, and drinking some craft beer on the porch of my apartment in Midtown with Dana. Yeah, that’s the life.

A Change of Pace

Now, I am sure a lot of you are wondering where I live, who I live with, what my life is like outside of the office… Well, you’re in luck because today I will tell you all of that.

Currently I am renting a room from a couple named Tami and Mike. They have 3 dogs and 3 cats. They live in a neighborhood called Elk Grove that is about 10 miles south of downtown Sacramento. I met Tami and Mike through some other people. I inquired to a Craigslist posting from a girl about my age looking for a roommate. When I explained my situation- that I would only be needing a room for a month or two as I wait for Dana to come out here, she told me that she was unable to assist me because she needed a more long term roommate. She then went on the give me her mothers phone number because her mother often takes in foreign exchange students and has rented a room in her house before. I called her mom right away and we chatted for a quite a bit, getting to know me and what not. She explained that she was eager to help me get a room, but unfortunately she was unable to help because she was already renting to someone else. However, she was going to find me a place to stay. She asked around her work and some of the groups she is a part of and eventually I received a phone call from one of her friends, Tami. I worked out really well. Tami and Mike don’t have any children, so the dogs are like their kids. I have my own bedroom and don’t pay a lot to live with them. So far, everything has worked out really well. They are super nice and welcoming.

Now, let me tell you about their three dogs. The have a corgi named Robbie or Bobbie (I’m not really sure which or if it’s both…) he is really cute, but he whines a lot when he doesn’t get his way. Cameron is a dog like Toto from the Wizard of Oz. She is my new best friend, even though she likes to lick my face to wake me up. Cameron and I sit on this big comfy chair in the living room and watch TV… or I like to think we do that, but really what happens is that she is laying on the chair so I come try to sit with her, she gets annoyed and leaves me, but eventually comes and sits on the ottoman. It’s really quite nice. The youngest dog is named Max (or Moose) and although he is the youngest, he is by far the biggest. Max is an Anatolian shepherd and at 5 months old already weighs about 50 pounds. He is going to be a BIG dog… I just hope I have a place of my own before he gets too big!

Elk Grove is a really nice suburb of Sacramento. It has everything anyone could ever need in the town. Restaurants, shopping, grocery stores, parks, a bike path- everything. It’s also only about a 20 minute commute to downtown, without traffic. With traffic, my commute is about 30 minutes, which is still not bad. There are buses that run into the city, but it’s just as easy for me to drive and parking isn’t too bad, so I don’t think I’ll rely on public transit.

This past weekend I didn’t do too much. On Saturday I drove around a part of Midtown (Midtown is the more residential part of Sac, whereas downtown is more… well, downtown) called McKinley Park. It was really beautiful and there is a big park where there were many activities going on. Although it would be a really great place to live, I’m just not sure that Dana and I would be able to afford the rent at this time. We’re going to stick to places closer to where I work. After exploring for a little bit, I went home and took Robbie and Cameron for a walk around the neighborhood. It was so sunny and warm that I got to wear shorts and a t-shirt!! Late on Saturday night Tami and Mike came home. They had been on a vacation to Florida all week. Sunday morning I woke up and had coffee with Tami and when Mike got up he suggested we go out for breakfast… and we take the “bikes.” I thought, “oh how lovely, we’ll go on a nice bike ride to a breakfast place. Then I won’t feel so bad eating eggs, pancakes, and potatoes!” Wrong. I was so wrong. When I stepped outside, Mike had pulled his motorcycle out of the garage and Tami was on her little moped-scooter thing. They handed me a helmet and told me to get on the back of Mike’s bike. WOOHOO!!! What a cool thing to do on a sunny Sunday morning! They took me to a great breakfast place and then we ran a few errands (I think mostly so I could ride on the motorcycle more!). After that, I went on a walk around a big park in the neighborhood and then I had some errands of my own to do.

Overall, I think my time in Elk Grove with Tami and Mike is going to be very enjoyable. It is a great starting point for me this year. I’m not sure how long I will be living with them, but at least I know I will be safe and comfortable. Although, I really can’t wait for Dana Marie YOLO to get out here!!!

Learning, Learning, Learning

Day 5:

On Friday Tony took the VISTAs back up to the Greenwood site to watch the corpsmembers graduate from their fire training. We even got to watch a slideshow the crew had made for the members. The pictures were incredible and I can't believe what hard work the members did in just a few short days of training! After the graduation, Tony showed us around the site and introduced us to a few people. One of my goals for this year is to learn as much about the CCC as I can. The organiations history, values, and structure. I figure the more I know about the organization and its members, the better I can help them after their service years and I will have better insight into what they like to do. With that siad, I spent most of Friday talking to CCC staff and previous members about how the CCC works. I found that although the CCC is similar to NCCC in values, the structure of the program is quite different.

Here are some basic facts that I've learned about the CCC:

·         Members are 18-25, unless they are veterans, then they can be up to 29 years old.

·         Work on crews of approximately 8 individuals

o   There are many positions within a crew including corpsmembers, crew lead (I and II), C-1 (conservationist 1, which corpsmembers can get to once they have completed a year with the CCC and take an oral exam)

·         The CCC has 27 different sites. 7 of these are residential, which means that members live at the location full time. At the other non-residential sites, members commute from their home to the site and then to work each day.

·         Residential sites often send their crews on “spikes” which last anywhere from 4 to 14 days. These projects require crews to go to a remote location and work every day on the project.

·         CCC service terms are one year in length.

o   Teams do not all graduate at the same time.

o   Members join the program and join crews at intervals and graduate at intervals. Often times, three or four members- from different crews- will graduate at one time and then the crews where they have left will gain a new CCC member.

·         Because the California climate is vastly different throughout the state, Crews are trained in a variety of projects and the projects depend upon the location.

After we left Greenwood, we went back to the office and finished up our work for the day before taking off for the weekend. I learned so much about the CCC on Friday, but to be quite honest, I don’t remember every detail and even if I did, it’s so intertwined that it would be difficult for me to explain. A=I hope this gave you a little of an idea of how the CCC works and what it is all about.

Oh, also, the CCC motto is: “Hard work, low pay, miserable conditions… and more!”

And no, that is not a joke. That’s the actual motto. It’s a pretty cool place.

So Much to Learn, So Little Time

Day 3:

Wednesday was an exciting day as I was finally not alone as the “new VISTA.” On Wednesday morning, two new AmeriCorps VISTAs arrived at the CCC to begin their term of service. Scott, whom I had met at training in Colorado, is an Army vet who is now a reserve. His primary role will be to work alongside Craig and create and implement a program for veterans in the CCC after their term of service. Within the CCC they hire a number of veterans from all service areas. Although typical CCC corps members are 18-25, veterans are allowed to be older- up to 29, and because of this it has been a challenge for the CCC to implement any programs for them- hence where Scott comes in. The other VISTA who arrived on Wednesday is named Katie. She is from Indiana and she is the VISTA leader. This means that she will mostly be dealing with folks like me and Scott who are VISTAs. She has already completed one term of service as a VISTA, so she will most likely not be doing any work concerning the CCC unless she has some down time. The majority of her job is focused on keeping the relationship between volunteers and the sponsoring organization pleased as well as filing weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports. She will work directly with Susan and make sure that both VISTA and the CCC are holding up their ends of the service agreements.

When Scott and Katie arrived, Tony kept up his tradition and the six of us went to grab coffee (if you’re keeping track at home the six people would be: me, Tony, Scott, Craig, Katie, and Susan). We sat at the coffee shop and discussed some ideas and plans about what is to come over the next year. We talked about creating a better database for CCC members to use for exiting the program, implementing more social media into CMD (corpsmember development), and ways to make the relationship between corpsmembers and veterans more amiable. After coffee, we headed back to the office and I continued to do some research into apprenticeships and other things. At 1 o’clock we had to go to a conference room to begin our on-the-job training. The head of CMD, Hunt, came as well and introduced the department and what it all entails. We played a game of “never have I ever” and I learned that during the CMD weekly meetings, we will usually play some sort of team building activity. The group seems to work very fluidly and I am excited to be a part of it. Training lasted the rest of the day, so I headed home to hang out with the dogs and cats and just relax because Thursday was going to be a long day.

Day 4:

The CCC has a specific division of corpsmembers who are trained and certified by the US Forestry department to fight wildfires. On Thursday morning I had to arrive at the office at 6:30am so that Craig could take the VISTAs to witness a training and see one of the CCC’s residential training centers. We went to Greenwood, CA watched the members debrief the activities from the night before and prepare for the training of the day. The members who are part of this program have 5 days of training. The first two are classroom lessons with a few hands on activities and the last two days are field training. On Wednesday night (or early Thursday morning) the facilitators at the Greenwoods center woke up all the corpsmembers are 10pm and told them there was an emergency and they needed to go down the mountain to help. The crews had to put on all their gear as if the scenario were real and hike about 1.5 miles down and up a slope. This took them about 3 hours as they were learning how to react to such a situation. On Thursday, they proceeded to a different site where there was another “fire” and had to create a fire line. It was really neat to see the members in action with all their gear. They were taking everything so seriously! At one point the facilitator turned to us VISTAs and said “it’s time for the IWI- incident within an incident.” All of a sudden we heard a man yelling as if he had broken both his legs. The CCC members had to react and figure out a way to get the “injured” man out of the forest and into safety. It was such an exciting experience and I was really thankful I got to see how mature, strong, and focused the members are. At some points I found myself thinking that being a member of the CCC would be a really neat experience. I’d get to work outside all the time and I’d learn how to take care of the earth. I’m not sure if I would be able to handle all the physical labor, long days, and rough terrain that the members have to endure. I give them a lot of credit- their work is far from easy. I was excited to be out of the office for the day, watching the people I am going to help do work they are proud of. Being able to witness their abilities will help me assist them in more ways. I’ll be able to see what they are really capable of and what sorts of interests they have which will then allow me to place them in programs, get jobs, or further their education in those departments.

One week into this service term and I am feeling motivated, excited, and slightly nervous. I joined AmeriCorps to help people- that is the overall goal for me and for the program. Last year, I helped my team, but I never felt that I assisted those who really needed it. I never witnessed the disaster survivors gain back all the things they had lost, I never interacted with people who were struggling in a time of need, I never felt like I made a difference in the lives of those outside of the program; however, my year was still a success because of my teams accomplishments. This year, I plan on doing more than that. I want to help the CCC continue to create this program that will help members reach their goals after their service year.  I want to impact the lives of their members and sustain the success of the program and I know I am capable of doing so. I believe in the mission of the CCC and I especially believe in the mission of AmeriCorps. I want to bring Americans together to strengthen communities and continue to build leaders this year and beyond. I want to get things done. (If you’re wondering, yes I did just fist bump the last part of that… no shame).

A Great Start

Day 1:

When I arrived at the CCC headquarters on Monday April 28, I was excited and nervous and had just stopped crying. I got to the building a little early so I did my best to prepare myself for a new job. When I walked in, I was greeted by a CCC corpsmember who told me he would call my new supervisor and that I could have a seat while I waited. The door opened and three people walked through. I introduced myself to Tony Vasquez, my direct supervisor, Craig Zeff, the former VISTA programmer and now a CCC analyst, and Susan Jones, the current VISTA programmer. Essentially all three employees will be direct supervisors of a VISTA at headquarters. Tony immediately said, “do you drink coffee because I’m taking you to get some right now.” The three of us walked a few blocks and came to a Peet’s Coffee Shop. Tony said it was tradition that he buy the new VISTA a coffee on their first day. I was excited because I had only had a little bit of stale hotel coffee before that. The three of us chatted on the way back and they got to know a little about me and what experience I have/ what I am looking forward to in Sacramento. I learned a little about them, as well. Tony is about 35 with red hair and a beard. He is laid back, but organized and very intelligent. I think he will be a good supervisor for me, mainly because he likes to crack jokes with people. Craig is about the same age and will be the supervisor for Scott, who I met at pre-service orientation. Susan is super chill and really nice. She told me we were going to be lunch buddies… we’ll see about that. Her thoughts might change when she notices that I generally pack my lunch and it’s salad, pretzels, and an apple.

Once we got back to the office, Tony showed me my new cubicle and how to sign onto the network. The previous VISTA who had my job left me with a lot of material on what she did and where I can expect to pick up. She was VERY organized, which is probably for the best for me! I’ll be sharing my cubicle with Scott for a little bit until the CCC stops making their new hires and then we should be able to have our own space. I don’t think I’ll mind having to share though, cubicles can get awful lonely- not to mention my back is towards the opening of it, so I can never see when someone is standing there.

After I got acclimated with my own personal area, Tony came to show me around the office and introduce me to people. I think I met just about everyone and remember about 5 names. One woman I met is named Trish. Before arriving for my first day, I had received a few emails in my personal account about a lunch meeting with some staff at AmeriCorps NCCC (my old campus from last year). I thought it was funny because Trish, the sender of the email, obviously did not know that I was a former NCCC team leader. When I was introduced to her yesterday, she stated that she was attempting to connect the two agencies, so I told her about my previous year. She was so excited she literally started jumping up and down. She said that she was at my NCCC graduation and couldn’t believe that I was actually a Team Leader. I hope to help her build a strong relationship between the two because both do really great work! We will be attending a lunch meeting with NCCC staff on May 5^th, but until then the CCC is keeping it quiet that I will be there. It should be fun!

After lunch time, I focused on getting more acquainted with the materials I had and trying to gain a feel for what the CCC is all about and how I can help their members. Tony came by to my office about 2:30 to help me navigate the computer and Microsoft office. I am used to working on a Mac or on a FEMA laptop equipped with an old version of the programs. He showed me how to create meetings on my calendar, gave me access to look at his agendas, and how to find people in the CCC address book. He then took me around the office a bit more, introduced me to more people, showed me printers, and a lot more. By the end of the day I was slightly overwhelmed, but still excited and motivated. At first glance, it seems that my year will be filled with meetings, emails, and building strong connections through both. Last years VISTA focused solely on apprenticeship programs, but Tony wants to revamp the curriculum and change my focus to apprenticeships AND career transitioning. Overall, I think this year will give me a better idea of how to work independently on projects and be more accountable for my own work. It should be an interesting year.

Day 2:

Day 2 started out a little stressful. I couldn’t find a parking spot and I was going to be 5 minutes late. Luckily I found one just big enough for the mini right when I was going to give up and put my car in two hour parking. Phew! Tony was out of the office for the day because his wife is sick, but he has given me tasks to do while he is gone. Not that he really needed to, I have enough learning and organizing to do! Tomorrow Scott, the other VISTA, will be beginning work, as well as the VISTA leader, Katie. I am excited to have some other VISTAs in the office to bounce ideas off of.

A New Beginning

To start things off, I think I first need to explain exactly what I’m doing this year.

As you (hopefully) are aware, last year I completed 11 months of national service with AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps. This was a residential program based out of Sacramento, CA. This means that my home campus was in CA, but I traveled all over the country with members of my team working in disaster locations with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This program is one of the three AmeriCorps programs. In NCCC I was paid a monthly living stipend, wore a uniform, and had all other expenses paid for (food, housing, transportation, etc.). It was a challenging 11 months, but I completed all my hours and graduated in November.

This year I am doing something completely different. AmeriCorps VISTA stands for: Volunteers in Service to America. It is a program that was created by John F. Kennedy to help reduce the amount of poverty in this country. Since 1965, over 190,000 people have served through VISTA. The program holds the ideals that members are to get as connected as possible with the community they are serving and the way they do this is by placing members in deeply impoverish areas of the country, paying members at the poverty level of that location, and encouraging community involvement through their work. Different from NCCC, I have to pay for all my own expenses while living off a monthly stipend.

VISTAs serve in all different settings and locations. For example, my roommate at orientation will be serving in Maryland as part of the AmVets Call to Service Corps, helping Veterans gain employment and get out of poverty. Also different from NCCC is the type of service VISTAs do. NCCC members do direct service. They build trails, mentor students, or in FEMA Corps directly interact with survivors and write out documentation to get reimbursement for business owners. VISTA members serve more “behind the scenes.” The way in which we reduce poverty is to build capacity between organizations, members, and the population at risk.

My job this year will be working as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the California Conservation Corps at their headquarters in Sacramento, CA. My main responsibility will be to build connections between apprenticeship programs and the CCC and to build a database of career options for members once they graduate. As you can tell, I will not be directly interacting with CCC corpsmembers. Instead, I will be staying behind the scenes maintaining relationships. I am looking forward to my year here with the CCC and living in Sacramento. I think it will be challenging and I can already tell that it is going to open a lot of doors for me. As we go further into this year, I will attempt ot give more background and structural information concerning the CCC!

WOOHOO For National Service!!