What Does Being a VISTA Mean to Me

As with any program or organization, there is an end goal; a main objective that the personnel are working towards. With NCCC it was to ‘strengthen communities and build leaders through national service.’ At Whole Foods, it’s to teach the community about natural and organic foods to make the earth more sustainable. At VISTA, the main objective- the end result we are all volunteering for, is to end poverty; to fight this epidemic in our country with national service. The way we do it is through community engagement and capacity building. VISTAs come into a poor community, make connections, engage the community, and are supposed to leave with certain tasks completed so that anyone could come into their role and know exactly what to do. That’s all good and great and seems fairly simple… if poverty can even be simple. So there are two questions here: 1. Have I been building capacity and engaging the community and 2. What does poverty and being a VISTA mean to me?

The first question is far easier to answer- like, WAY easier. Have I been building capacity? Well, okay, maybe not that easy, but nonetheless simpler than the question of poverty. I’m not entirely sure if I have begun to build any long lasting, sustaining partnership just yet. My previous blog about the connections I’m making may have been misleading. I am certainly in contact with many potential partners and attempting to create some sort of connection between agencies, but capacity building is all about making a sustainable partnership. Something that will last throughout the entirety of the two parties. A bond so strong that it almost seems foolish to not have had it in place all along. For example, if I were working at a food bank that was lacking in donations, one of my capacity building techniques could be reaching out to local grocery stores and receiving a portion of their goods that cannot be put on the shelves. This partnership makes sense, it should have been there all along. Am I doing anything at the CCC that is comparable to this? At first, I’m unsure. I sort of feel like day in and day out I’m not making a big impact- I’m working on projects that eventually just get put in the trash or won’t get funding to continue, but then I realize that capacity building is all about starting small. I can’t pick up the phone and call an apprenticeship, tell them how wonderful our corpsmembers are, and hang up with a direct hire connection made. It doesn't work that way. The small steps I make every day, the follow up emails, the phone calls I make to our current apprenticeship partner- that’s the sort of stuff that builds sustainable connections. Granted I have been blessed with a strong partnership already from the VISTA before me and all the hard work she had done before I got here- the partnership she created so I could step in and know exactly what to do and where to start. In a way, I am building capacity… in a way. I hope by the end of my year I’ll go back to this question and say, “I made that strong bond between agencies and that’s going to last for a while.”

As for engaging the community… It’s a little different at the CCC than it would be working at a food bank. The community we’re talking about here is the corpsmembers. They are the reason that I’m in the office every day and it is easy for people to lose sight of that. In fact, I feel as though there are many HQ employees that have lost sight of that. One thing I remember most at NCCC is the Regional Director always telling the Team Leaders “We are here for you and you are here for the corpsmembers.” He would always say that and anytime I would make a decision (well, majority of the time unless it involved going out of our way to see Dana’s team…) I would revert back to that advice. I am here for the corpsmembers. And a year later, I find myself thinking the same thing. I am not trying to making a connection with apprenticeships for myself, I mean, it might be kind of cool to become a sheet metal worker, but I am not in the business of self-promotion  right now. When I first started here, I was a little hesitant to talk to corpsmembers. To be quite honest, I found them sort of intimidating, which is strange considering I spent the previous 11 months bossing them around, but the corpsmembers here are always dirty and tired from the hard work they did and they were probably intimidated by me. More recently I've found that when I think back to the advice I got from NCCC, all I want to do is talk with the corpsmembers. So, really, the answer to the question is No, I haven’t engaged the community yet. I haven’t found out what they desire for employment after they leave the corps. If there is one thing I succeed at this year, I hope it’s being able to connect with corpsmembers and find some interests they have, instead of blinding creating partnerships that they don’t want any part of.

Now, onto the lighter subjects… Just kidding, we’re talking about poverty.

What does poverty and being a VISTA mean to me. Well, that’s a really tough subject. At our Pre-Service Orientation (PSO) in Denver in April, we had a very open and honest talk about what Poverty is. Now, growing up in Chelmsford and going to college in North Andover didn't expose me to much poverty, but my volunteer work with Campus Ministry at soup kitchens in Lawrence gave me a little taste. At first I thought poverty juts mean being poor or homeless- living on the streets and not having a job. And maybe that is what poverty overall is, but at PSO, I learned there are so many more levels of poverty, things I had never even realized, considered, thought about until other VISTAs opened my eyes to it. Poverty is an epidemic. It’s a cycle that’s never ending and it runs rampant in our country. Poverty doesn't discriminate against people. And not all people choose poverty. Who would willingly spend their days on the streets with no food, water, or clean clothing? There are people who are trapped in poverty and are complacent, sure, just like there are people content with their 9-5 desk job that they have done for 35 years. One thing that everyone should be aware of, though, is that these complacent people are not the majority of poor people. The majority of homeless people are struggling to make their ends meet and are motivated to do bigger and better things, but they are trapped. They can’t get a higher paying wage because they are homeless, but they can’t afford anything other than the homeless lifestyle. It’s a cycle- if you take nothing out of this lengthy paragraph, let it be that poverty and homelessness is a cycle and those who are able to get out of this cycle are what all VISTAs hope their communities become. Right here in Sacramento, I see more poor and homeless people than I have ever seen before. And it’s not pretty and it’s not easy to talk about and poverty has a different meaning to everyone, so don’t think that my definition or that my way of thinking about poverty is right because it certainly is not, it just my opinion of a hard way of life.

I don’t want to go down that path too much because it’s a sensitive and sort of controversial topic, as I’m learning through my year. The main point I wanted to touch on with poverty concerns my similar take on corpsmembers. That is who I am here for. The CCC recruits most of their corpsmembers from locations with at-risk youths. This includes young adults ages 18-25 who are homeless, don’t have a high school diploma, are aging out of foster care, or don’t have the necessary means to live independently. And like I said, poverty is a cycle, but those corpsmembers who come from a disadvantaged background enter the CCC with a different mindset and leave with what we hope to be the ultimate success story. So, like I said- these are the people I am here for. I have committed myself to another year of national service to give back to young people who may not be able to help themselves. These members may have been stuck in poverty for the entire lives with no idea how to get out and then they find themselves learning the meaning of hard work and bringing in minimum wage. We hope that these members will be able to grasp their new reality and continue on this lifestyle. That is who I’m here for. That’s what being a VISTA means to me. That’s why I live on a living stipend less than a CCC corpsmember- to engage with my community and to help them succeed in life and become something greater. I plan on doing another post like this closer to the end of my year and seeing how my mindset has changed or not changed… I guess we will wait to see what else this year has in store.

Sacto

Wow, talk about the worst blog updater this side of the Mississippi. How do I ever expect to get a career in social media when I can barely manage my own blog?! My apologies!

What would you like an update about first? Work or California life? Well, I’ll give you some brief updates about work and then tell you about what else I’ve been up to!

Things here at the CCC are going well. Tony had me create a list of personal goals I would like to achieve by the end of my year- things like better time management, professional presentation skills, or website design and social media expertise. So far, he has been giving me some tips on staying organized and been giving me opportunities to gain the skills I want. For example, last week I had 6 small tasks I needed to complete by Tuesday and I couldn’t figure out how to prioritize them. Tony helped me set up task assignments on my email, schedule calendar reminders, and plan out multiple steps for each task in order to get them accomplished on time. Like a total boss, I completed all my tasks in the time parameters and now am waiting on other partners to get back to me.

I wrote a draft MOU (memorandum of understanding- it’s just a casual agreement between two or more partners) and submitted it to NCCC for review. Once I hear back, I will be finalizing the draft, submitting it to the Corpsmember Development director and then possibly creating a professional presentation to give to executive and legal staff for final approval. While creating the document, I learned new skills, too. I learned different writing styles and how to create a giant DRAFT watermark over a document in Word. Google is a lifesaver, I tell ya. Other tasks I completed included getting statistical data about former corpsmembers who have been accepted to apprenticeship partners, creating flyers for CCC centers about apprenticeship opportunities, and working to create a consistent organizational system in my cubicle and computer. The connections I’ve been making and the work I’ve been doing so far is what I thought it would be, but it is a little slower than I had anticipated. That’s not always a bad thing, though, especially considering: 1. I have several partnerships I’m working on at once so it’s easier to keep them on track and 2. Dana and I are still getting settled in here in Sacto (that’s what the locals call it… sometimes.) and it’s more difficult to focus on my tasks when I have a lot going on at home.

Although I have many ideas work to do by the executives/ anyone I cross paths with in this place, I cannot possibly finish everything I have been given ideas about. There are a few tasks I will be able to complete, however. This potential partnership with NCCC, for one and continuing the partnership with the labor union that was created earlier this year will be my second objective. I will also be creating a few more apprenticeship partnerships that will fulfill the rest of my requirements. I’m not scared- I’m crushing this VISTA year.

As for my achievements outside of work… Dana and I have been getting acquainted with our surroundings at our new apartment. I know I have said it about a billion times by now, but we really do have such a great spot. We practically walk wherever we need to go or to do whatever we want to do- unless we wanted to go for a hike or something. We could even walk to go swimming in the river, if we really wanted it! It’s great to have our own things and be able to cook delicious and healthy meals, take walks around the city after dinner, come back to the apartment and just hang out or watch TV. Soon enough all our belongings will be here from Wisconsin (or New Jersey- because why not send our stuff across the country for no reason…that’s a long story that I will not bore you with.) and we’ll be really settled in. The last two things we need are a coffee table and a dresser, but our next stop to get one is at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Hopefully we will be able to go this weekend and pick out a few things. We are really into getting furniture but sort of making it our own. For example, we got a cart from Scott, who I used to share a cubicle with, and we spray painted it a teal/ bright blue color and then pulled the wheels off the bottom and now we use it to hold our toaster oven and other miscellaneous kitchen items. We also got some polyurethane spray and used it on our new kitchen island cart to make sure the wood doesn’t get damaged by the craziness that happens when I cook.

We have also been hanging out with our friends Allison and Andy a lot because they just moved here, too. For those of you who may not know- Allison and Andy are the second cutest AmeriCouple from last year (i.e. they met in FEMA Corps too) and now Andy will be working with Dana on the IMAT team. We have also been out with the team I work with once, so we are being as social as possible. Other than that, things are pretty boring around here, which isn’t bad. I kept saying I couldn’t wait to have my own place and get into the routine of things, and that has certainly happened and I love every second of it. I’m sorry that I have been slacking on keeping up here- I will try to do better. Things at work have slowed down for the next week or so, but who really knows. Speaking of work… I should get back to that…

P.s. I apologize for the lack of photos on this entire page. Dana is the photographer, not me.

I Got to Midtown!!

Where to begin… with work or with play? I suppose I’ll just begin where we left off and go chronologically so you can all pretend like you’re soaking up the sun here in California with me and Dana.

Friday was a big step into “big girl world” over here. Dana had lunch with her new supervisor at FEMA and a few other members of her team, then headed over to NCCC campus to see some old pals. Meanwhile, I was in a meeting with Tony creating a master list of projects I’m going to do this year… Okay, Tony, I get that I said I wanted to be more organized, but come on, I’M READY TO DO SOME WORK! It’s not that I haven’t been doing work here at the CCC- I have. I have been attending meetings and sending emails, but I have done a lot of talking about what I’m going to do this year and less doing of said things. I know I know- be patient, I’ve only been here a month, but a month is a lot of time in the terms of a year! Especially if I am going to try and complete all these tasks! I have started taking more initiative though and expressing my concerns to Tony, so I’m confident that if I keep on this path and pattern then I’ll be doing so much and feel like i’m really making a difference.

Okay, so anyways back to being a “real grown up” (i’m sorry.. WHAT?!) Dana picked me up at work on Friday and we headed to our apartment to patiently await the arrival of our new furniture. We had picked out a couch and a loveseat from a furniture outlet and it came right on time. We were so excited! The apartment was finally starting to look like a home… a little. After that we went back to Tami and Mike’s (Janet and Steve’s, right mom?) to pick up the rest of our stuff. Our new bed wasn’t supposed to arrive until Saturday morning, but we were so eager to get into our new place that we decided one night on the floor wouldn’t kill our backs- and it didn’t… for the most part. Saturday morning the delivery guys came with our mattress! Now we had a bed, too! As tempting as it was to put the sheets on our bed and lounge in all its comfort for the day, we knew that we needed to get things done (not for America- I’ll get to that later) We headed to the mall to make a few returns, get an internet plan set up, and then go grocery shopping. After we checked everything off our list and made one very important phone call to my dad (thanks again, the kitchen island is going to work great!), we went back home to get ready for the night. We had planned a special night to celebrate finally moving into our place, so we got all dolled up and walked over to a brewery a few blocks away where they have one of my new favorite beers. How awesome! We could walk! And we could keep walking to the sushi restaurant we went to for dinner- Half price sushi!! All within 10 blocks of our house! WOO!! I never thought I would like living in a city, but with all the trees, little parks, and old Victorian homes, Sacramento doesn’t seem so metropolitan. Sunday we met up with one of Dana’s coworkers for brunch and chatted for a while, then we went home to do some arts and crafts. We applied polyurethane to our mobile kitchen island to protect it and spray painted the cart we’re putting the microwave on bright blue. PS, shout out to Auntie Lynne and Auntie Gail for a microwave! After our projects were complete we got all our things ready for work. Monday was Dana’s first day of work, so we hit the hay early to be bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning.

Hmm.. I guess that I didn’t really go in chronological order but I just told you about all the fun things we did and none about work… Okay I will do that now!

A big change here at work is that I now have my own cubicle! It is quite small, but it has a lot of space to hang things (hint hint… send me some pics!) and it is alllll mine! As far as projects go, I am working on a few things right now. Aside from my list of lists, I am working with a Northern California Union (NorCal) to create a partnership between their apprenticeship program and the CCC centers in the northern region. the partnership was already in place before I began my year, but I am working to expand it to the last center in the northern region so we can then move forward and connect the union’s southern counterpart with our southern centers. I think the latter half of partnership will take up a lot of my time this year, if I can get the apprenticeship program to be interested in the CCC. I have a meeting with NorCal and the CCC Tahoe center in two weeks and it will be my first time promoting this partnership on my own.

Another partnership I am working on is with AmeriCorps NCCC and the CCC. Tony wants me to take this project on independently because he think that with my knowledge of NCCC and the skills I want to personally gain this year, everyone will benefit. The next step we are looking at in this process is two-fold. I have to create an unofficial document as an understanding between the two agencies and get each side to agree on the jargon. I also am going to have to present this idea to the CCC executive team before the partnership is in full effect. In addition, I may have to present the idea to NCCC leadership! Needless to say I am nervous but excited about this opportunity. I have expressed to Tony that I want to get better at doing formal presentations this year, so he wants this project to help me reach that goal.

I have also expressed to Tony that I am very interested in learning to professionally manage social media, so he is going to plug me into one of his projects so I can learn. He also wants me to help him redesign some aspects of a website he is in charge of. Everytime we talk about this particular project, I get very excited. It seems like something I would be really interested in and could become talented in. I have been giving a lot of thought to what I want to do after this year and I’m not even close to sure yet, but I think that having a variety of different tasks and projects and having a supervisor who cares about my interests is going to help me find my way. I have also been thinking about educating myself in marketing or maybe website design! Who knows?! The possibilities are endless.