Midwest Consortium VISTA Spot

A Christmas Carol: Pausing to Realize Poverty

2008-12-22T14:47:00.000-06:00

Ericc, you speak from your heart and now with plenty of experience! I agree with you 110%. Even those that are full of pride and wish not to be a burden should not live such lives. I recently caught the Christmas Carol starring George C. Scott (one of my favorite actors of all time) as Ebenezer Scrooge. I had never seen this version and to be fully honest, have yet to fully read the tale as it was written, but this particular performance caught me by surprise.

During Scrooge's travel with the Ghost of Christmas Present, he is taken to a place where only the poor live - at the mouth of a tunnel beneath a bridge. Here, a family is observed crowded round a fire; two children, a young mother and young father. As Scrooge observes, he asks the Ghost of Christmas Present, "Why do these people live here? Why do they not use the proper services for which I am taxed?" To this remark, the Ghost of Christmas Present turns to Scrooge and states, "Have you ever visited those services, Ebenezer? Do you know their true state? Why not let them live this way? After all, wasn't it you that said it would suit society well to have such a population control?" After this exchange, we are taken back into the family discussion with the father stepping away from the fire. His wife follows. He exclaims with the frustration that only a father who cannot provide for his wife and children can exclaim, "Why is there no work? I want to work! I want to feed my family and give them a warm bed!" His wife, as supportive as she can be, beckons him not to send them to the state services because they will be broken up (even if only for a little while) - something she fears more than freezing and starvation.

I believe firmly that this tale matches your point about what you were saying in the second paragraph, Ericc. When I watched this scene, it clarified everything for which I've been fight these past few years. It came to my mind that we all see one another and interpret others' situations in our own way and with our own context. The unfortunate lesson here is that because we do not live others' lives, we cannot judge them nor can we assume that other people will provide the services or even a kind word the way we could and should. Of course, we cannot be everywhere all the time, but we can caution ourselves to not make the same mistake that Scrooge makes in assuming that the state will take care of the poor and that his tax dollars (something I'm sure all people hate to give up) are being used in a proper manner or are even enough to take care of the problem.

As a child growing up, I was a benefactor of the social programs for which the rich and middle class paid dearly. I cannot find the words to thank them for giving me a chance to not only grow up healthy, albeit without the Nike shoes, American Eagle clothing, or the brand new car, but to grow up, get a wonderful education, and contribute back to society. Before I knew this, I was naive and assumed that our social programs worked the way they should and were funded by everyone equally. After I learned this lesson and became conscientious of the class warfare that is still going on in our society, I immediately moved to find an explanation that which I could give to those more fortunate in exchange for their tax dollars.

As an answer to their challenge, I will always state that, yes, they could live on a hill alone with the money they have now and never need another dime. Still, what will happen when you run out of food and no farmers have worked their hands to the bone to raise the food that you always think just appears on your table? Who will clean the office buildings, the streets, and who will monitor the sanitation systems? If the poor are stripped away "population control" allowed to happen, the rich will have nothing upon which to stand and the entire economy will collapse. Just like in the animal kingdom and the food chain, it takes hundreds and thousands of people for the rich to get rich and be able to stand upon their backs. If they were suddenly wiped out, then so too would their fortunes disappear. When we peel away the layers of society, we find out just how interconnected it is.

Today's modern society has changed little in respect to the intricacies of human relationships. One unfortunate advent, however, has been that few people today know their neighbors and less and less time is spent on interacting with one another because of things like email, the telephone, and online chat programs. To keep our humanity alive, we have to remember that only through human interaction can we truly serve to remind one another that we are all part of the same society and that we all deserve the cornerstones of respect, appreciation, and compassion.

Still, I am hopeful for the future. If we can remember to take time for others and not leave things to the "nameless masses" or "government services" that we think will care for them when we could do so much more for one another. I think our society stands a chance of growing and prospering in a way that previous generations have forgotten; that it is not the measure of one's bank account or the acquisition of material goods, rather, it is the sharing of compassion, appreciation, and respect that will ultimately be the measure of our society and in each of us, the absolute measure of character. Perhaps an economic trial by fire such as the one we're experiencing will teach us what we need to mature into a more compassionate and service-oriented society.

Whatever the outcome, our destiny is in our hands and it is up to us as a people to collectively do something about it. Do we wish to follow Ebenezer into an early grave of compassion - a society devoid of the smallest gesture of good will and the spreading of just enough of our wealth to give everyone a fair shot at the American dream, or do we want to provide every child with adequate health care, education, and opportunity to succeed in our great society? We must make this choice.

Remember that history has all the lessons for us within its volumes, all we need do is heed it with caution and take action to help those who most need in our nation. To those that go to bed hungry; to those that cry themselves to sleep looking for another way to keep their children warm; to those people who have done everything they can and were still cast out into the cold; to all of you, I hope that we can say soon enough, come inside, take off the load of worry that is crushing you even if for one evening, and hope for a better tomorrow. No, I cannot do this alone - it will take a concerted effort from all of us if it is to work.

To those of you with a meal in your belly, a roof over your head, and to those that can go to bed without the crushing worry of making a better tomorrow for their children, I ask you to act. Stand up on the principles of Muhammad Yunus and risk a little to create a future for a child. Risk just a little to make the dreams of others reality. Risk just a bit of your time and your soul to finally help those in need even when they may refuse; try and try again to aid them in realizing that if they can start from just a little higher up, they might have other choices that can be made. Give of yourself and you will find reward in that time and effort given. In the end, the true measure of your character will be what you did to heal the wounds that our old traditions and narrow minded practices created - show compassion to those in need, award respect to those that try, and always let others know just how much you appreciate them for working with you and for having the courage to go the distance.

Meeting Deadlines

2008-10-23T15:54:00.003-05:00

Time and time again, I ask my fellow VISTA Members - "What is the hardest thing about your job?" Each time I ask, I get a few new answers, but a definite curve exists along the lines of "Meeting deadlines." For new VISTA members and old, I could not agree more.

Sure there are some of us that were always johnny on the spot with our work. Some of us may have even worked hard enough to meet every deadline ahead of time. To these people, I say, congratulations and keep up the hard work. I recognize that even for these people, it's not easy to turn things in on time and one would be lying to say that it comes naturally. It takes effort to make deadlines and when one has no control over setting them, sometimes these deadlines seem unfair or downright unrealistic.

What's the answer then? Having served nearly two years now as a VISTA, all I can say is that we're all human and no one is perfect. Sure, this excuse may not buy you much when you are in the private sector, but I've always found that honey is much more rewarding than vinegar. Thus, whenever someone cannot meet a deadline, it is best to negotiate with the person who set the deadline. At minimum, inform them of your latency and make a dedicated promise to finish as soon as is humanly possible. Sometimes, it may not buy you any flexibility, but the deadline setter will at least understand that you meant well - this will affect future encounters, I assure you.

Other than that - remember two things:

1. Get started early on a project. Never leave it for last minute, for when you do, you're assured to have bumps, distractions, and new projects vie for your time. To ensure you meet the deadline, start now rather than later. Trust me - you'll be glad you did.

2. Whenever starting out on a project or knowing that you have to meet a deadline for a report, always draw up an outline and time line. These can be extremely simple, but they will serve their purpose in making your life easier. Organization is key and if you already have it when you start the endeavor, it will be smooth sailing from then onto the deadline.

VISTA Members are asked to do much for very little, but all of you are more than capable of giving it your best effort. Your supervisors, the Consortium Office, and you, yourself, should expect nothing less. I will be here to assist you in that journey, so make it a habit to call me or email me.

Best of Luck, VISTA Members!

Balancing the Whole World on Your Shoulders...

2008-10-23T15:49:00.001-05:00

If you have ever felt like this, then you have been officially welcomed to VISTA. We all spend our days piling through reports, analyzing data, talking with students, collaborating with community partners, and finding ways to please our superiors. This is just part of the job, right? Well, perhaps a part of the job, but certainly not all of it. If it is, then you aren't getting the full VISTA experience that you should be getting.

As we serve our year as VISTA Members, we stumble around for the first three months finding our niche and deciding what projects will be worth our while. Sometimes, this process can take a little longer if we're in a situation that has its own nuances and complications. Hopefully, by the fourth month, you are engaging in some meaningful experiences and building those partnerships that you've been striving to build since you began. Most Service-Learning VISTA Members, depending upon their start dates, will experience an ebb and flow pattern that mirrors the semester flow at our institutions. What we fail to do in most cases is plan for the ebbs and flows so that we aren't left with too little to do when there seems to be a slow-down nor are we overwhelmed when things pile up on us.

Thus, the key to having a good year and a positive VISTA experience is planning. Do it whenever you can. Keep an accessible and useful calendar on you or on your computer; use social media to remind yourself of upcoming events or important deadlines where you'll need to have x, y, and z submitted. Whatever you do, always keep your plans handy so that when someone asks for a bit of your time, you will have an updated, realistic outlook of your schedule and can plan accordingly and with accuracy. Don't schedule yourself to the point that you exhaust yourself and burn out, but don't leave gigantic gaps where you could be strengthening a partnership or building repore with the students or administration. Do whatever it takes to keep to that schedule and remember to take time to reward yourself following any big victories.
After all, you deserve it.

Finally remember - Though it may feel like you're balancing the whole world on your shoulders, you have 17 other team members and a leader who might just make the load a little lighter.

Good Luck, VISTA Members!!!

Consortium Office Update

2008-08-04T10:14:00.003-05:00

Greetings to all you fellow VISTA members and VISTA Supervisors! I'm going to take a moment to update you on several of the things going on in the office in the next few weeks. We'll be having a staff meeting later today, so that will help to clearly delineate these goals.

The Consortium Office VISTA members will report to the office staff on their independent projects. Charles Coley is working with the Nebraska Wesleyan Service-Learning Program to support the Homeless Service Coalition. Chase Beyer will be working on a project that supports the cause of green energy and conservation. Will has been chugging away at a project called "Farm to School: Do you know what you are eating?" This project is a service-learning focused program that will expose students and community to community based agriculture. Finally, Vicki will focus her efforts and energy upon finalizing the annual conference. During and after this, she will be working as a community/higher education liaison, advancing the cause of service-learning in South Central Nebraska. I am extremely excited about the extra effort our Office VISTA members are pouring into their work and into advancing service-learning. As you can see, our members will not be sitting idly, rather, they will be leading the cause of service-learning and acting as role models to our institutional VISTA members.

I will add more to this report later today - as we're still finalizing several of the things I wish to share. STAY TUNED!!!

July Blaze - A Blazing Success!!!

2008-07-23T15:08:00.002-05:00

Dear VISTA members and Supervisors:

Having just completed our first ever July Blaze training, I want to share a few things with you. First, the entire Consortium office staff was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the VISTA members that serve at many of our institutions. We did not get to meet some of them due to conflicting issues, but we did meet the majority. Each member had his or her strength and shared that along with experience, questions, and impressions. As the VISTA Leader, I find myself supporting a superb team of energetic, talented, and friendly people. We have much to accomplish over the next year, and I am certain without a doubt, we can meet and surpass our objectives.

As for the supervisors, I ask that you keep watch for an extended summary report that I'll be sending out later this week. It will contain much of the input that the VISTA members provided as well as short summaries of the sessions and their overall success.

Now, to continue in my capacity as support officer, I will leave you with a brand new and exquisite resource that you should check out. If it had been available before the training, I would have included it. This was not the case, though, and I will pass it on as a link. Apparently, the Corporation has put together an extensive support website with everything that VISTA members have been asking for over the years. It seems they have finally listened to our needs and are providing us with a concrete support site containing everything from recipes and budget advice to discussion boards and much more!!!

Here is the link: http://vistacampus.org/index.php

Once you are there, please sign up for a new account. The registration page is simple and you'll be on the site in no time. Take a moment to comb through all of the resources! Best of luck and I salute you for your service!

JULY BLAZE

2008-06-19T11:10:00.003-05:00

Midwest Consortium Training July 20-22, 2008

Indeed, my VISTA friends, we are steaming toward a pivotal training session. Well, I guess that's how I'd like to view it. The truth, though, is much simpler. I just hope that we all can take something beneficial from the training - something we didn't know before; something we can graft back in our offices onto one of our many projects. If you take more than just one thing, we will have really achieved a phenomenon!

As you may or may not have seen, we've got quite a bit scheduled for your knowledge absorbing brains. There won't be a wasted second and we plan to feed your brains the kind of quality food that can keep them functioning as veritable sponges. Now, where was I? Oh yes...what exactly is going to be covered at the training. I already sent out a message, but in case you actually like to cover your bases and check out more than just your email in this virtual world, I'll list the categories beneath this paragraph. Warning, we have since added an entire topic so that we've made sure to cover everything a VISTA could want - minus what's given to you at PSO...in most cases, not the kind of stuff we use day to day, but it's nice to know you're going to get paid for your hard work. Oh, how I do love PSO. Here goes and if you have any questions, just email me at joemaffit@gmail.com:

In-Depth Introduction to the Midwest Consortium
Service-Learning 101
Leadership Training
Consortium Technology
Organization and Electronic File System Keeping - Best Practices
Grant-Writing
Successfully Navigating a College Campus - Now include Faculty Roles and Professionalism
Successfully Navigating a Community
Expanding Capacity & Sustainability of a Project
Open Space Technology - a participant driven interactive discussion

July 21 - 22, 2008 VISTA Training

2008-06-11T11:42:00.003-05:00

Salutations to all fellow VISTAs and VISTA Supervisors!!! I wanted to use the blog as a forum for idea generation as well as advice and information tidbit dispenser. Thus, I'd like to have all of your opinions on what VISTAs that are already serving have to gain through a mid-year or later training? Please be frank with the discussion and let me know that you believe you could benefit from skill X or philosophy Y. I will in turn collect all of this information and feed it into the training schedule. As of right now, we're nearly finished with the rough draft of the training schedule and I will set to work finalizing it soon.

I look forward to reading all of your input. Thank you very much for your submissions.

Paperwork and Protocol

2008-05-28T11:37:00.003-05:00

These two words are more frightening than anything else I can imagine, especially if they are left unquantified and without identifiable boundaries. VISTAs, especially those departing college for the first time, find that the outside world demands tetious obedience from them - sometimes at such a level that it nearly causes rebellion in the mind. I remember when I began my term at Morningside; from PSO to the end of my first week seemed a boundless skyhigh stack of paperwork. My mind, boggled from the incessant need of the bureaucracy to thrive on the stuff, began to shut down and I remember sitting in my office in disbelief wondering why so much paper was needed. As time passed, however, I adjusted and accustomed myself to the daily need to fax and file form after form.

What's the importance of all this paperwork? Well, one can answer that with pretty much anything, but every answer will lead back to protocol. Protocol suggests that enormous volumes of paper need be on hand to record every transaction and thought of any significance to the institution. Without this living record, an institution has no proof that it does what its mission, also on paper, states. Thus, we are all slaves to the incessant needs of producing one more document to prove one more little detail about the status of our service and the answer to all the universe (by the way, the answer is 42...for those of you who are Douglas Adams fans). Still, I find that the best way to take the edge off all this paper (this prevents papercuts), is to unwind each day and curl up with a good book. After all, what better way can one take a cheap trip to a land far far away than to read a book you can get for free from the library? No gas reimbursement needed and I don't even have to worry about protocol in this case. Sure, there's paper involved, but this paper is the soft, interesting version that doesn't need my signature nor a trip to the fax machine.

Of course, if action is more your thing and we are all VISTAs, so I'm sure that action is somewhere in your tool box, we can always try to help our offices conserve paper. How do we do this effectively? I've found that good computer filing systems that make logical sense and an excellent email client will help an office convert faster than anything else. Of course, make sure things are backed up and easily searchable. If you'd like tips on how to do this, contact me.

I suppose that's my two cents on avoiding the meltdown that paperwork and protocol can cause inside my VISTA trained mind, but I'm sure you all have your own ways. Please share them.

Great Inspiration!!!

2008-05-20T02:09:00.002-05:00

If you're like me, then even the lush verdant Spring can't always bring you out of those Winter doldrums. Sometimes, it takes more. How much more? Well, sometimes you need to be inspired. For those of you that don't have $1000 to spend on a conference of your choosing, and I presume that's every one of you, there is always hope via the internet. Now, some of you might already know the site, but for those of you that don't and for those of you that need a boost, check out http://www.ted.com Why? Some of the greatest minds in modern history along with many of the most inspiring and creative human beings come together once a year and the culmination of this grand conference is captured at this single web address.

I thought the universe could never be so ordered as to allow for the best that humanity has to offer to be collected and stored at a site called TED. Well, I was wrong, and thankfully, we are all to benefit. Thanks to this site, I find myself randomly watching 15 - 30 minute presentations on subjects ranging from green energy to creativy. From nutrition and astronomy to futurism and math. The range of topics at http://www.ted.com are as various as humanity itself. How inspirational, no? I admit, some of the talks are downright hilarious and you'll find yourself laughing with the audience; still others will make you reconsider laws of nature you thought were concrete and unquestionable. If you're not convinced, I challenge you to pick one presentation at random on the site and I guarantee you'll look at the future differently forever! Lofty? Maybe. Still, thanks to this site, I'm packing new ideas in my tool box and I suggest that every VISTA do the same.

Best Wishes!

Spring Fever

2008-05-13T15:10:00.004-05:00

Now that we've all been outside a few times this Spring, I think it is time to shed the winter doldrums and embrace Spring for its trademark warmth and renewal! I've never advocated against television and computer time, but as the years pass, we begin to realize just how much of a treat Spring really is. As a VISTA Leader, this could not come at a more important juncture for me, since I am already tapping this Spring vitality to help me create the VISTA training schedule, plan for the new VISTA recruits, and helping to ensure you are all aware of such important services such as the VISTA Member Support Unit (For more information, please see my comment following this post).

Indeed, Spring provides us with a sense of beginning; a chance to start fresh; and a time to get our hands and feet dirty as we get outside and enjoy the fresh air and bright sun. I think I'll go for a walk tonight and think about the overall meaning of Spring and why nature appoints one season as the season of rebirth. Of course the other seasons are special in their own right, but Spring sure has a power over me that I cannot truly fathom. Maybe it's the birds returning from their long winter retreat; maybe it's the fact that school is out; perhaps it's just that I enjoy a few less days of cold chills and a few more of sunny serenity. No matter how I slice it, I can't get enough of Spring and I hope you all have a chance to enjoy it, too - including the smell of fresh rain and the nightly chirp of crickets. I find myself always in search of these two things when in the depths of winter.

Enjoy your day, fellow VISTAs!!!

My AmeriCorps Week Video Pick!

2008-05-07T15:02:00.002-05:00

You have to see this...it's going to be the film of the summer!!!!

http://www.americorpscontest.org:80/public/StreamVideo.aspx?videoId=88&public=1

AMERICORPS WEEK!!! May 12-18

2008-05-07T13:12:00.003-05:00

Everyone needs to check out the new video featured in the AmeriCorps Week video contest. If you want to make a video, please let me know and I would gladly support you.

http://www.americorpscontest.org/public/StreamVideo.aspx?videoId=126&public=1

Now, onto AmeriCorps Week. What is AmeriCorps Week? Well, it is an entire week, usually the 2nd week in May, devoted entirely to the recognition of AmeriCorps members and alumni. Usually AmeriCorps VISTAs organize and carry out an acitivity or project during this week to pay tribute to this exceptional recognition. Depending on your service site, you may even have a picnic planned or other events commemorating your hard work and dedication. In Lincoln, the Nebraska Commission for Volunteerism and Service and the InterCorps Council throw a picnic. If you are from the area, it would be grand if you joined us. Details are below:

AmeriCorps Week is May 11 - 18, 2008. As an AmeriCorps Alum, we want to make sure that you are included in our plans. To honor and celebrate the accomplishments and efforts of AmeriCorps members past and present, ServeNebraska (the new working name of the Nebraska Volunteer Service Commission) is inviting you to a barbecue on Saturday, May 17 at Pioneers Park in Lincoln. This casual event is from 11:30 am - 2:00 pm, and family members are welcome. We are extending this invitation to all current and former AmeriCorps and VISTAs, so please forward it on to your service colleagues. In order to get an accurate count of people coming, we are asking that you RSVP at : http://www.regonline.com/Checkin.asp?EventId=618083

Let me know if you would like to attend. I hope that you all enjoy your AmeriCorps Week! I know I will. We just finished the grant and will be making preparations toward training and the quarterly meeting. See you all there!!!

Resource Development

2008-04-29T09:52:00.000-05:00

As you have all probably experienced in your own offices, resource development continues as one of those thorns in your side that won't go away easily. I remember when I was a VISTA at Morningside College and was given the ripe sum of $0 to begin the year. I didn't expect much, but I thought that I'd have something with which to sponsor student projects. It sure did chaff when Lacey, my partner, and I attended a training and the guy spoke about his $40,000 marketing budget; a category in which we surely could not compete.

Thanks to Morningside having explored its partnership with the Midwest Consortium and my partner and I having received great grant training from our Iowa State Office, we had the means and the knowhow to write for a receive a subgrant. I spent time cultivating a closer relationship with the Consortium because I knew that it would behoove Morningside to actively participate in such a fine collection of institutions. With it, we launched a full year of development. This included a faculty introduction luncheon as no member of our faculty had ever known you could get a mini-grant to develop service-learning. This inspired more faculty to join the ranks and it led into our intergenerational dialogue.

Thanks to resources we developed including the subgrant and partnerships we had cultivated that year, we conducted a great intergenerational dialogue that changed the face of service-learning at Morningside. We wanted to move from a transactional model to a transformational model of service-learning. To accomplish this, we needed community leadership input. We called upon non-profit and business leaders to work on the problems identified during the dialogue in three summer luncheons. They utilized the assets we had identified and showed Morningside's next service-learning coordinator where she could best plug in Morningside students and do a better job of cultivating the college and community partnership.

The grand finale of all this programming would happen in the Fall, after my term expired. A faculty training and sharing session allowed faculty to interface with one another and the Service-Learning Office. Several faculty produced quality research reports that demonstrated a greater interest in service-learning. Our ultimate goal was to institutionalize Morningside's Service-Learning Program which had always been run entirely by VISTAs. This next year, Morningside plans to bring aboard a full-time Service-Learning Coordinator.

Mission accomplished, right? Not so. Now that I have moved onto the Midwest Consortium, I am finding even more opportunities to develop necessary resources for all 26 institutions. Since we're a growing animal, we need to make sure that each program grows and thrives at least equally. Thus, I'd like to open this blog up for discussion. Please share with me your own drives to develop resources and they don't have to be cash. Just post it to the comment comments section on this blog. Also, if you have any ideas on recruitment, social media and improving our VISTA to VISTA communication network, this is the blog on which you should leave such a comment.

I wish you all the very best and hope that your respective years are as successful as my first one was and how my second year is shaping up to be.

Thoughtful Gestures

2008-04-12T13:48:00.001-05:00

I write today with a fond memory in mind, namely the gesture I just received from a friend made at the VISTA Leader Training. This friend, the VISTA Leader for the Illinois Campus Compact sent me a hand-written letter and special book in which he wrote a further hand-written dedication. As I checked the label on the package before opening, I found myself surprised and in a slight state of shock.

Having finished a full year of VISTA less than a year ago, I cannot say that I received much in terms of personal thoughtful mail like this. As VISTAs, we at times are cut off from friends, family, and the outside world now and then. The same is true for volunteers, students, and faculty in some cases. Even a supervisor at times, needs such a gesture to remind him or her of the preciousness of life and how we can as human beings, through the simplest of gestures improve the lives of others around us. Therefore, I'd like to remind everyone in the Midwest Consortium who reads this blog that if you are thoughtful and do pay such service, it will definitely repay itself many times over. How can I be so sure? Well, I can't promise it in a full 100% of the cases, but a vast majority would argue that even people feeling bitter and angry inside will be touched by such thoughtfulness. Thus, the act of appreciating one another becomes one of our most important tools in whatever capacity we serve.

I probably don't need to say more, but I wish to instill in all those VISTAs whom I serve, that no matter the feelings you may experience day to day, finding time to say "Thank You" will always make them subside. Most of the time, they will be replaced with a sense of euphoria and utter appreciation for every little moment of your life. I would just like to leave with you one last quote - written by a man I would call a sage dispenser of advice. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote "Every man [and woman] I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him [her]." The first time I read that quote, it automatically made sense to me. Each of us possesses gifts that others can and should appreciate as we all have our own original experience to bring to any discussion. Therefore, it would behoove us all if we might take a moment each day - just 30 seconds if you like and reflect upon the individual or individuals who made or make our day worth it!

Well, when I opened the package and found Muhammad Yunus' book "Creating a World Without Poverty", the very book we had used as a backdrop and theme during training, along with the hand-written goodies inside, I was moved almost to tears. Seldom do people put such thought into gifts and it is not often that they include a personal letter inside. The thoughtful gesture had more than served its original intent, rather, it moved the person it was intended to appreciate to write this blog and "pay it forward" through reminding others of our duty to one another. I will leave you all with that final thought. Take care and may your service continue to benefit humanity and the cause.

VISTA Leader Training - A Bright Future

2008-04-09T09:43:00.000-05:00

Welcome all my service-learning and VISTA comrades to the Midwest Consortium VISTA Leader's Blog. Having said this, I hope that you will continue to read this blog each and every time an update is made to it; this should be weekly at the least. As the Midwest Consortium's new VISTA Leader, I have the responsibility to inform each and every VISTA and VISTA Supervisor on my actions while enhancing communication between VISTA Leader and VISTAs. My mission in this endeavor remains the overall improvement in seamless electronic and voice communication between Consortium VISTAs. Look for more developments in the near future on this point.

Now, to my main reasoning for this blog - VISTA Leader Training. As many of you may or may not know, I spent the week of March 24 - 28th in Chicago soaking in a plethora of information and handy skills. Topics at this training were limitless with each day arranged in a completely different format packed with an array of choices and dialogue-rich forums. The event, held off the main training schedule, brought together far fewer leaders than normal, but many benefits came to fruition because of this. As leaders, we were given the chance to get to know every other person at that training intimately. I made a point to get to know six or seven new people each day and accomplished this.

The training had more significance than your normal training mainly because three English as a second language VISTAs attended. Usually, the language barrier forces people to struggle to find the right word to fit what the person wants to say, but thanks in part to one of them having the fortune to have along an interpreter, we were able to hear what these extremely bright individuals had to say - word for word exactly as they meant it. Due to this experience, even our trainers were brought to tears on the last day as we all noted how special the training was and how it would change how the Corporation did things in the future. Needless to say, the experience overwhelmed everyone with an appreciation of our fellow human beings.

Obviously, this one aspect occupied a back drop filled with many other useful trainings. Open Space Technology in particular caught my eye and I believe should be utilized in the future. What is Open Space Technology? Well, for those that aren't aware, it's pretty simple. Allot two to three hours for participants to submit and then carry out discussion groups on a host of issues that they themselves deem worthy of discussion. Our institutions could really use this type of activity so that issues of concern to more than one institution could finally be addressed without being on the formal agenda. It remains an important fact that the agenda is there for a reason - to keep our overall time commitment capped, but having participated in an Open Space Technology discussion, I think there is much we have to learn from one another.

Additionally, I found the Managing Up and Think Tank group faciliations to be extremely useful. Managing Up refers to the usage of conflict resolution, leadership, empathy, and responsibility to help VISTAs. This includes helping VISTAs help themselves and nudging them in the right direction if an issue arises. Keen attention was paid to reminding VISTAs that all issues at their own worksite should first be discussed and managed with their on-site supervisor. As a rule, I made it my central goal to figure out the correct path that a VISTA Leader should follow in an organization configuration like the Midwest Consortium. What I discovered was that VISTA Leaders play strong supporting roles to the VISTAs and VISTA Supervisors. This does not mean they step between the two, but rather facilitate a stronger bond while providing the support both need to carry on day to day operations. Like the criteria mentioned in the VISTA Leader Survey I sent out a few weeks ago, this means everything from orientation and training to VISTA questions about the Corporation, how to effectively recruit volunteers, and maximize coalition and partnership building.

The Think Tank group followed this line of thinking by allowing us to design a year-long plan for making our roles and expectations clear to the VISTAs and VISTA Supervisors, while giving us the organizational structure we need to do our jobs. Following this, I participated in a session that focused on helping VISTAs achieve a higher level. This session in particular polished the skills I had been working on as a VISTA and my curiosities as a VISTA Leader. In addition to these sessions, we were challenged to present an impromptu session in which I gave a speech on my passion as a leader and my decision to stay with the Midwest Consortium to continue what I had started. On the final day, I acted as narrator and overall commentator for our group presentation which was on Managing Up.

I found this training a highly beneficial and life-altering experience. While there, I also befriended the VISTA Leaders of the Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and California Campus Compacts and the Habitat for Humanity VISTA Leader for all of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. These individuals are exceptionally strong allies and I believe may offer unique opportunities for our campuses to serve during alternative breaks. The Illinois leader, California leader, and myself were asked to participate in the special think tank that will occur later this summer. Our facilitators expressed a wish to work with us on this project. Thus, I have a chance to effect change on a national level - quite an honor.

I thought it necessary to inform you all that my time in Chicago was well spent and has filled my toolbox with new skills and new ways of thinking. I believe it to be an honor to serve you all and hope that our relationship will blossom over the coming months. It goes without saying that big things are on the horizon for our organization and functioning in such a unique position at a time like this only multiplies that honor. As I said before, please look to more blogs coming your way soon! Take care and remember why you originally chose to be here - not just to eliminate poverty, but to serve and educate students in a crucial effort to enrich our democracy!