Motivational Mondays

Good morning team!

A little dose of motivation to get you started this Monday morning:

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. ---John Quincy Adams

Have a great week!
---Laura; Durham, NC

The Holy Grail

Two Mondays ago when we were celebrating other victories here on the VISTA blog, the Winston-Salem office celebrated with me about some big news. In November 2009 I started working with Sonja to apply for grant funding in Winston-Salem to launch a Digital Connectors program. LaDeara Crest has benefited from every other aspect of One Economy's programming except for the youth technology piece. With help from our miracle working grant team, in April 2010 I submitted the final version of our grant application.

They kept pushing back the time for when they would notify us of our award. If they waited one more cycle my VISTA term would have been over. Deep down I felt that there was no way we wouldn't get funding but I knew the reality that all VISTAs do that nothing is a sure thing until it happens.

In the end WE GOT THE GRANT!!!! ($25,000)

For me this grant is the holy grail of my year. It was a project where all of the responsibility fell on my shoulders and if successful the community would benefit greatly. The residents in LaDeara Crest have been looking forward to having more opportunities for their young people and I am so elated that I can say at the end of my year that I was able to help them see this accomplishment.

So I leave Winston on a big high with a little side of bittersweet because the operation and success of the actual program is now in someone else's hands. However, that's how sustainability works. Someone passed this project on to me and now I'm doing the same. I'm happy that even without me here the show will go on.

Take that Indiana Jones!

~Adwoa

Motivational Mondays

Good Morning Team!

Hope you all have great weeks! Keep up the good work that's been happening around the country. Here's your quote for the week:

Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. ~Wendy Wasserstein


---Laura; Durham, NC

Eating on the Cheap

Hey VISTA team,
Do you have any tips or tricks for eating well on the VISTA stipend? Have you started cooking with your friends more? Do you have a go to meal you cook when you're waiting for your next stipend check to come in?

Share what you've learned -- whether its what to buy, where to shop, or a recipe -- in the comments section!

I'm curious to hear what you've been doing and eager to hopefully add a little variety to my recipe collection during the last couple months of my service.

---Laura; Durham, NC

Successful summer service-learning sessions!

Just so that this blog doesn't end up being Laura's blog (as Tommy says), I'll post some recent info about my summer computer lab workshops facilitated by my Rockhurst service-learning Education grad students:

Computer lab workshop outcomes where Rockhurst service-learning students led one-on-one sessions:
-30 service hours provided by 8 Rockhurst students
-19 program participants (residents and their guests) attended 9 workshops in 2 buildings - mostly resume/job search and a few computer basics
-14 unique people were served
-10 job applications submitted online
-7 Beehive accounts created
-9 resumes created
-4 email accounts created

Note that this was all accomplished in just 3 weeks in June! I'm waiting to hear reflections from my volunteers but the direct feedback I've received so far has been really positive. One student was recently laid off during the workshops -- she was so enthused about working with my residents, that she offered to continue volunteer past her service learning requirements since she had "more free time now"!

Another little vignette that will stick with me during this semeseter was working with a resident to create a resume on the Beehive. When we got to the work history part, I asked her what her last job was, she was quiet and then started crying. I was surprised and felt bad that I might have said something that triggered a sad or bad memory. When I returned with a tissue, I asked if that was the case but she said no -- she was just overwhelmed with emotion that she was able to take this positive step in her life. It was a really poignant moment, and summed up my year of service really well.

--
Tina from KCMO

Milestone in Atlanta: Community Technology Center

After 11 months of service I finally opened the Community Technology Center (a.k.a computer lab) at Seven Courts Apartments.

The first attempt, the apartment assigned was broken into.
Second attempt, new management was hired and the apartment assigned for the CTC was rented out.

And finally my last attempt with the help of April Penn, the AmeriCorps Summer Associate for Seven Courts, we finally open the doors on June 18, 2010.



April was influential in advocating to the new property management the importance of having a Community Technology Center in her community. We are now conducting training on The Beehive and GCFLearnFree (Word 2007 & Excel 2007). In addition, I am also using the curriculum that Ruqiyyah developed in subjects such as, Internet Basic's, Homework Help and Safety Online, etc.

-andy j. santamaria
Atlanta AmeriCoprs*VISTA

Motivational Mondays!

Good morning team!
Can you believe its almost July?! Time flies... Here's the quote for the week:

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. Robert Collier

---Laura; Durham, NC