VYT Voices Fall 2013

Inside this issue

Justin Henry ................ 2

Robby Salorio............... 3

Hannah Reckhow .......... 4

Alex Prolman ............... 4

Julie Markarian ............. 5

Emily Johnson .............. 6

Brandy Oswald ............. 7

Marcella Houghton ........ 8

Daron Blake ................. 9

Nikita Griffin ................ 10

Ashley Piatt ................. 10

Anna Berg ................... 11

Michelle Sayles ............. 12

Allie Pflughoeft ............. 13

Sara Dillingham ............ 14

Member Accomplishments .................................. 15

Professional Development

and Trainings .............. 16

Contact Information……..17

Dear Readers,

I am happy to bring you the first of three newsletters featuring the

2013-2014 Vermont Youth Tomorrow A*VISTA Program (VYT) team. VYT is an anti-poverty, national service program supporting 30 A*VISTA members at community-based organizations, schools, and municipalities

throughout Vermont.

Following orientation in August, VYT members hit the ground running and began building capacity at their organizations and in their communities. In just three months, they have organized fundraisers,

developed new programs, and connected youth with numerous opportunities. I have been fortunate enough to visit each member of

the team at their sites, and I continue to be amazed by the breadth of skills and experience they bring to their service. Their visions for the year ahead are inspiring and extensive and their enthusiasm is pro-

found. I can’t wait to see what they do this year.

In this issue, members were asked to introduce themselves and what led them to service, and to describe their vision for how their service

year will help their organizations more effectively alleviate poverty. Please take a moment to check out the accomplishments of last year’s

team as well – the numbers say it all.

In service, Anna Houston

VYT VISTA Leader Newsletter Editor

VYT VOICES

Fall 2013

Volume 12, Issue 1

Vermont Youth Tomorrow

A*VISTA Program

Alaina Wermers,

A*VISTA

City of Winooski

Community Service

Department

In college I spent a considerable

amount of time working as a

community organizer and an

advocate on issues concerning

poverty, homelessness, and

social justice. After graduating

college I wanted to use my skills

I had acquired to continue to help

others - but I was unsure of just

where I could have an impact. I

found a position with AmeriCorps

VISTA in Montana at a mental

health center. I served specifi-

cally at a drop-in center assisting

those experiencing homeless-

ness. Being immersed into a new

community, and having the op-

portunity to learn from those who

have dedicated their lives to the

war on poverty inspired me to

continue my VISTA service. See-

ing the challenges facing those in

poverty, as well as the institu-

tions that provide needed ser-

vices, also further resolved my

desire to continue in a service

capacity.

I discovered a position with

Vermont Youth Tomorrow sta-

tioned at the Vermont Coalition

to End Homelessness and Ver-

mont Affordable Housing Coali-

tion. The position I applied for

seemed like quite the opportunity

to continue working on homeless-

ness and housing issues, to de-

velop skills concerning communi-

ty outreach and communication,

and to learn about the non-profit

world in Vermont (both coalitions

combined having 90 plus organi-

zations as members). In my

short time at this VISTA position,

I can say I have not been disap-

pointed.

Being able to travel a bit across

the state of Vermont and to see

firsthand the needs facing our

service providers and state

agencies has made it apparent to

me the importance of programs

such as Vermont Youth Tomor-

row. This program has given me

the opportunity to build systems

to better improve communica-

tions between both of the coali-

tions I serve, to work on projects

such as improving the count of

youth homelessness, and to in-

crease information and access to

affordable housing.

I am very excited to continue my

year with Vermont Youth

Tomorrow and hope my service

makes a positive impact in these

tough economic times for the

most vulnerable Vermonters.

Justin Henry, VYT A*VISTA member

Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness and the Vermont

Affordable Housing Coalition (Burlington, VT )

AmeriShares Each month members are given an opportunity to

plan and lead an AmeriShare presentation. Members

choose a topic of their choice and then gain

experiencing in researching, planning, and

facilitating a presentation.

This year, members have facilitated the following

presentations: managing stress through making low-

cost stress balls; making apple print cards using

gleaned apples (pictured left).

After working in the private

sector for a little over two

years and being told in April I

would be losing my job in New

York City I began to think

about what I really wanted to

do with my life. I had studied

International Relations and

Spanish in college and hadn’t

been using either since I had

finished school. This was when

I decided I wanted to serve

with AmeriCorps and do

something with some meaning.

Browsing through all of the list-

ings on the AmeriCorps website

I came across the Migrant Edu-

cation Program, part of VYT.

The program serves families

and out-of-school youth who

move throughout the state for

agricultural work with educa-

tional resources. They were

looking for a VISTA to serve as

a volunteer coordinator primar-

ily to support the Latino out-of-

school youth population. It

was the perfect fit. The position

offered me the opportunity to

use my Spanish and work with

a sector of society I had always

admired and wanted to learn

more about; it also gave me

the chance to move to

Vermont, a place I had never

been.

Now that I am a few months in

to my year of service, I have a

much better vision of what I

would like my service to look

like. As we discussed at the

PSO and continue to discuss at

VYT training, poverty is an in-

credibly complex issue with

many faces and shapes, and in

the state of Vermont the faces

of Latino migrant workers are

often hidden. My goal for this

year of service is to provide

these men, women, and youth

with educational services that

will allow them to go above and

beyond what they may believe

possible. I want to provide

these incredibly hard workers

with access to education

through dedicated volunteers

who they can develop friend-

ships with and to ensure those

friendships continue.

An aspect of poverty we some-

times do not recognize is isola-

tion. The isolation of the Latino

migrant farm worker is an as-

pect of poverty that can be

eliminated by providing a

friendly face who cannot only

give the gift of education but

also can be someone to laugh

with, talk with, play soccer

with, and bring some

semblance of normalcy into the

life of the student. Through

this we can eliminate that

isolation and bring some joy to

lives of our students who give

us so much through their hard

work.

Latino migrant workers are

such an integral part of Ver-

mont’s economy and society

that it is time for us to pay it

forward through our own hard

work and service.

Robby Salorio, VYT A*VISTA member

UVM Extension— Vermont Migrant Education Program

(Berlin, VT )

The isolation of the Latino migrant farm worker is an aspect of poverty that can be

eliminated by providing a friendly face who cannot only give the gift of education but also

can be someone to laugh with, talk with, play soccer with, and bring some semblance of

normalcy into the life of the student.

Alex Prolman and Hannah Reckhow, VYT A*VISTA members

enVision Montpelier (Montpelier, VT)

Page 7

I am Alex. I am Hannah.

We both left the warm security of infinity in

1991.

I am a catamount alumnus; my degree says things like “Community Entrepreneur” and “Food Systems” and “Ecological Agricul-

ture” but,

I am a pachyderm alumnus; my degree says things like “Cathedrals” and “Materiality” and “Green Urban

Design” but,

That is only slightly more descriptive of us than is our collection of books, or music, or

grocery bills.

I enjoy biking, baking, canning and planning.

I enjoy playing, and working, and being,

and standing

But it is our inner drives that have brought

us here.

I am motivated by a sharp sense of responsibility, justice, and the fleeting

bursts of defiant hope in a society that is by any measure on the decline.

I am motivated by the promise of a more

efficient world - of a built environment that does not block health or happiness.

And now we are VISTAs with the Montpelier

Department of Planning and Community Development.

I was drawn by Montpelier’s repute as a forward-thinking capital, and by the chance

to contribute, and by the opportunity to learn and experience what it takes to

operate a city equitably.

I was drawn by the compelling idea of combining city planning and volunteer

service to create an even more powerful tool to alleviate poverty.

We were drawn by the enVision program’s ambition, by the process of creating and following through on a hundred year plan that includes the entire community and all

its assets.

Sometimes it is like herding cats. Opinionated cats.

Cranky cats. Distracted, frustrated, silly cats.

(O feral felines, why must thou not herd

easy?)

But the process is the point: inclusive de-mocracy is hard, and messy. Still, it is the

goal.

The goal is to promote food justice, The goal is to provide access to basic

needs,

The goal is to transition from a way of life that provides much for few, to one that

provides enough for all.

To a way by which the community meets its needs through ecologically regenerative

practices

To a city that is well connected with itself and its needs

And all of Montpelier’s many voices are a part of this urgent, slow, byzantine game.

Julie Markarian, VYT A*VISTA member

Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports (Burlington, VT)

My name is Julie Markarian; I’m a Massachusetts trans-

plant living in Burlington, Vermont and serving at my dream site for the year.

Thanks to AmeriCorps VISTA, I am serving with Vermont

Adaptive Ski and Sports, a nonprofit that mirrors my be-lief in the power of play. Ver-

mont Adaptive is dedicated to empowering individuals with

all levels of physical and

cognitive abilities through sports and recreation, and over the course of my service

year, I hope to gain skills in therapeutic recreation and

non-profit capacity building, while networking and enjoying lasting friendships with our

participants, volunteers, and affiliates. The programs offered through Vermont

Adaptive aim to increase

confidence, independence,

and overall quality of life for our participants and their sup-port networks (family, friends,

etc.); we equal the playing field and allow people to get out and recreate by address-

ing and breaking down obsta-cles that have oftentimes

stood in their way. When peo-ple face financial hardships, recreating moves to the bot-

tom of the list of importance in day-to-day life, replaced by

the need to pay bills, put food on the table, and simply sur-vive. Add a disability to that

factor, and recreating becomes even more un-

attainable. Vermont Adaptive offers scholar-ships lessons

to members of the

community who cannot afford to pay

full price; we also pair

participants

up with amazing volunteers

from the community

who serve more as peers than

instructors. We work as a team to encourage in-dependence, freedom,

confidence, and happi-

ness through our fun outings,

and allow people to simply be who they are. Increasing the quality of life for all of our

participants is our mission, but this especially rings true for our participants who are

low-income. Allowing people to have a safe space to

recreate and play helps to refuel from the mental toll their hardships and struggles

have taken on them, while helping them feel a sense of

self-worth and accomplish-ment. Feelings of pride in one’s abilities raise a level of

confidence that may have

been broken down due to poverty, so helping people feel good about who they are

and what they are capable of doing is a stepping stone towards fighting the battle to

transcend or alleviate poverty. Working with participants who

have faced unimaginable hardships and who are still fighting the odds with grace,

compassion, and humor reminds me every day of the

importance of providing a means of play to every body out there!

Helping people feel good about who they are and what they are capable of doing is a

stepping stone towards fighting the battle to alleviate poverty.

Julie (far left)

and race

participants

at the Bolton

5K to benefit

VT Adaptive.

Hello! I am serving as the Farm to School

Coordinator VISTA at the Schoolhouse Learning

Center in South Burlington. I came to VISTA

service in a roundabout way: I have always

loved gardening, and I grew up helping my par-

ents with their veggie garden at our home in Or-

egon. I did a lot of service at community gar-

dens throughout middle and high school, and

when home for breaks during college. I gradu-

ated from college with a geology-chemistry de-

gree and then went to New Zealand on a vege-

table horticultural internship working on a

small, family-run vegetable farm. When I re-

turned to the U.S. and began job searching, I

started volunteering again at the community

garden in my hometown and the idea popped

into my head to look for AmeriCorps positions

related to school and community gardens. And

here I am!

My service will help my site alleviate poverty by

starting a farm to school education program that

will give preschool and elementary students the

foundation they need to make healthy eating

and food choices. The program,

“Farm, Forest, Food,” has kids en-

gaged in learning where food

comes from, how to grow and pre-

pare food into healthy meals, and

enjoying, exploring and learning

about nature. We are collabo-

rating with Bread and Butter Farm

in developing a hands-on farm to

school curriculum that hopefully

can be used as a framework for

other schools and preschools in

the area wanting to start farm

to school programs.

We are now a month in to our Farm,

Forest, Food program and it’s exciting to

see how engaged the kids are and

already how the program is prompting

them to think more about what they eat and

where it comes from. They are enjoying the

time they spend in the forest, on the farm, and

in the kitchen, and have been really enthusiastic

about our “food of the day” activity, where I

bring in a food, we talk about the food, and then

plot its origin by sticking a picture of it up on a

Vermont, U.S., or world map.

I have already heard a few stories from parents

about how their kids are changing the way they

look at food. A mother at the school came up to

me last week and told me about how she was

grocery shopping with her daughter, and in the

produce section her daughter started talking

about the energy required to transport an apple

all the way from Argentina and how it makes so

much more sense to buy local. Another parent

told me that after the first day her son’s class

was in the kitchen helping to prepare apple

sauce, her son (a notoriously picky eater and

sugar-lover) came home and wanted to make

applesauce and when it was done, ate it without

adding any sugar. I hope that these stories

continue into the year.

Emily Johnson, VYT A*VISTA member

The Schoolhouse Learning Center (South Burlington, VT)

Emily plants cover crops in the school garden with

three and four year-old preschool students.

Hi everyone, I’m Brandy Oswald, the VYT Ameri-Corps VISTA for Operation: Military Kids. I am a twenty-something University of Vermont gradu-

ate with a B.A. in French. I‘m currently a third of the way through my coursework for a Master’s

Degree in Public Administration. Hopefully, upon completion of my year of service, I will complete my MPA at the University of Vermont.

I have much experience working in the state of

Vermont. Previously, I have worked as a Legisla-

tive Intern with Vermont State Representative Kesha Ram planning fundraisers, performing cam-paign duties, drafting legislation, and more. I

have also worked as an Intern at the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. At the Chamber I worked

most closely with the Legislative Assistant, the Events Coordinator, and the Tourism Department.

I decided to pursue a year of service with Ameri-Corps VISTA because I have lived in poverty my entire life. Growing up as the oldest of three chil-

dren to a young single mother, I know the strug-

gles of poverty. As a child I never knew my fami-

ly was in poverty. My mother, being the incredi-bly strong woman that she is, did a wonderful job to ensure that her children never went without (or

at least when we did, that it went unnoticed by us children). I knew that if there was any relief that I could give to struggling single mothers like my

own, and impoverished families in general, that I wanted to do all I could to give that much de-served assistance.

This is where AmeriCorps VISTA played a crucial

role. As the VISTA serving with Operation: Mili-tary Kids I hope to give military families the sup-

port that they deserve. Vermont’s military popu-

lation often goes overlooked because they are mostly National Guard members, and for the most part, are assimilated into civilian life. Without

proper access to military and community support systems these military families are more apt to fall into poverty than the “average” civilian. (I

put “average” in quotations because, well, good luck defining that word in today's crazy world!)

For the next year, I will work to build Operation: Military Kids’ capacity so that they can more

effectively support Vermont’s military families. I have already begun to push our Regional Team to explore more effective outreach methods,

re-organizing the organization’s database systems, and re-focusing the intent of the organi-

zation. I will also lend support to Operation: Mili-tary Kids’ AmeriCorps State and National Member in the form of volunteer recruitment, screening,

training, and management.

Operation: Military Kids is an amazing organiza-

tion with great potential. I will be spending the next year ensuring that the organization has all the tools needed to reach its full potential.

Brandy Oswald, VYT A*VISTA member

University of Vermont Extension 4H — Operation: Military Kids

(Burlington, VT)

Bra

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ilitary

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Marcella Houghton, VYT A*VISTA member

Laraway Youth and Family Services and Salvation Farms

(Johnson, VT)

Here in Johnson, I’m in thrall

with the bright late-afternoon

light and scent of just-

beginning-to-rot leaves. These

Northeastern autumns are bit-

tersweet, and since I spent

the past four school years in

nearby Middlebury, they’ll

probably always remind me of

the start of the new semester.

Last October, I stood at the

brink of my final semester of

college: unsure of my next

steps, feeling both homesick

for New York and itching to go

forth into a new location alto-

gether, and overall pretty sure

I wouldn’t be staying in Ver-

mont post-February. Yet here

I am, relishing another Ver-

mont fall with no regrets.

It was a longtime connection

to the agricultural world and a

growing interest in gleaning

that lead me to Johnson in

late April of this year to start

my position. As a teenager I

worked at a commercial herb

garden, and since then I’ve

sought summer jobs with an

agricultural thread: a teaching

farm, a New York City door-

stop-delivery CSA. In college I

signed up through Addison

County HOPE to be a volun-

teer gleaner, and the first

gleaning event at a nearby

orchard had me hooked on

the concept. There was some-

thing solid-feeling about it:

the chit-chat between volun-

teers who’d never before met

each other, the sense of ca-

maraderie as we filled a truck

bed with trees’ last tenacious

apples, the sense—made tan-

gible by the act of collecting

donated, surplus apples

for the food shelf—of in-

terconnectedness (and

indeed, the overlap) be-

tween farmer, volun-

teer, and apple-eater.

In the past half year with

LYFS and Salvation

Farms, I’ve enjoyed tak-

ing part in some of the

initiatives to capture ag-

ricultural surplus that

Salvation Farms seeks to

strengthen throughout

the state. This summer I

gleaned squash and

beans with a group orga-

nized by the VT Food-

bank; a few weeks ago I

helped process peppers

harvested by the Caledonia

Work Crew in partnership with

Salvation Farms. Most

recently, I spent a Saturday

with volunteers from

Burlington’s Intervale (with a

few other VYT A*VISTA

recruits from my end!) at an

apple orchard. In a nod to my

first-ever gleaning experience

with HOPE, I enjoyed myself

immensely. The weather

smiled down on us with sun

and light breezes; the

volunteers were

multi-generational and all

very genial. The final yield

was around 6,700 lbs. of ap-

ples, over 6,500 lbs. of which

were later sorted and bagged

(for shelf life and ease of

distribution) at the Southeast

State Correctional Facility by

the crew working with my

Salvation Farms supervisor,

Theresa Snow. These will be

distributed to organizations

that help feed low-income

Vermonters.

As fall turns on, I’m looking

forward to exploring more

deeply the impact of gleaning.

My point of departure as a

volunteer primarily involves

feeling impactful in a positive

way, and it’s easy to focus on

the good interconnectedness

that I believe results from

gleaning. I hope my experi-

ences challenge me to under-

stand the nuances of my

service year and guide me to

both be critical and to

celebrate.

8

Marcella processes peppers at the

Hardwick Food Venture Center.

As I’ve gotten to know my fellow VISTAs over

the past few months, I’ve discovered that the

men and women serving through Vermont

Youth Tomorrow this year have come to Ver-

mont from a wide spectrum of backgrounds,

experiences, and belief systems. One of the

things we have in common is a desire for work

that is fulfilling and which promotes a sense of

community. My own background is relatively

academic—after graduating with my Master’s

degree in Environmental History last summer, I

realized that academia was not the best

professional fit for me. I’m tempted to say I

took a fork in my career path, but in reality, I

jumped off the path and started wandering in

the woods. I started a temporary job and

began to think about what I wanted to do for a

living: I wanted work that was challenging and

dynamic, that let me work with a diverse set of

people, and which made me feel connected

with community and purpose. I was ecstatic to

land the position as Communications and Tech-

nology Specialist VISTA at Mobius, Vermont’s

Mentoring Partnership, because I knew I’d be

meeting passionate and dedicated people who

value community and service.

In my first two months as an AmeriCorps

VISTA member serving through the Vermont

Youth Tomorrow program with Mobius, I’ve

learned something new every day. I love that

each week at Mobius is different; the (mostly)

quiet days working in the office are inter-

spersed with days spent shuttling from meeting

to meeting or making a longer trip to a

mentoring event. My favorite part of the posi-

tion so far is the opportunities to visit and learn

about different mentoring programs across the

state. Not only do I look forward to the breath-

takingly beautiful car rides through Vermont, I

also get to meet hardworking people who

love working for youth in Vermont. The

mentoring movement here is so strong

and I am inspired by program staff who

are constantly thinking and working crea-

tively to open up new opportunities for

mentor pairs.

I enter my third month of service, I have

taken on more responsibility in outreach

and communications through online media

and by publishing Vermont’s Mentoring

Newsletter. I am also working

with Vermont’s Mentoring Database, a

statewide data management for

mentoring programs across the state. As I

become more familiar with the system, I

will be helping program staff and mentors

get to know the database and learn how to

maximize its potential for each individual men-

toring program. My future projects include ex-

panding Mobius’ current Mentor Discount

Card program throughout Vermont and

beginning to volunteer as a mentor! One of the

best parts of my experience in moving to Ver-

mont and joining the AmeriCorps program has

been working with other VISTAs not only

through my work with Mobius, but also at

events and volunteer opportunities held by

other organizations. It’s been a wonderful way

to learn about the state and meet new friends.

Daron Blake, VYT A*VISTA member

Mobius, Vermont’s Mentoring Partnership (Winooski, VT)

Daron tests out mentoring tools with Communications and Technology

Manager Benji Thurber and Executive Director Chad Butt.

Hello, my name is Ashley Piatt and I am serving at Cornerstone

Bridges to Life Community Cen-ter in Richford, Vermont. I antici-pate this service year not only to

be filled with firsts, but to also challenge me to live independent-ly. I have already started this

year with two large firsts: my first year doing AmeriCorps and this is the farthest I have ever been

from home (a small, rural farming town of Rensselaer, Indiana). I recently graduated from college

this past May with a Bachelor of Science degree in Educational Studies and a minor in psycholo-

gy and sociology. And my original plan involved me heading to graduate school right after

graduation, but as the date grew closer the more I realized that I

wanted to take a year and do something meaningful before

heading to graduate school for Educational Psychology. I first

heard about AmeriCorps in one of my social work courses and when I was researching possible ways

to spend the next year, I just happened to remember AmeriCorps. I really liked what

AmeriCorps had to offer and the mission of the program, so I created an application and began

applying to nonprofits. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to be somewhere outside of

Indiana, but I had no idea that I would end up accepting a position in Vermont.

The goal of the community center is to provide the people in this town with means to improve their

skills and education by providing them with services that may

otherwise be inaccessible due to

physical isolation. While doing so, they are also aiming to build

and strengthen the relationships amongst people in the communi-ty. The area of my focus is to

give the youth in the community a safe place to spend their time, as well as providing funding for

Cornerstone to keep the center and its programs sustained.

Ashley Piatt, VYT A*VISTA member

Cornerstone Bridges to Life Community Center

(Richford, VT)

Ashley and a community

member at Cornerstone.

Nikita Griffin, VYT A*VISTA member

Essex CHIPS (Essex Junction, VT)

My name is Nikita (Kiki to those that

know me personally). I am 26

years old, and I relocated from

Tampa, FL to serve as the VYT

VISTA Communications Coordinator

at Essex CHIPS in Essex Junction,

VT. My interest in joining the

AmeriCorps stems from my passion

for helping those in need. Altruism

has always been a core part of my

value base, and upon finishing my

Bachelor’s degree in 2009 I knew

that I wanted to work toward mak-

ing a difference using the

knowledge and skills I had gained

as an undergrad.

A well-established way of going

about this came in the form of

AmeriCorps VISTA -- which a col-

lege pal had brought to my atten-

tion after I expressed frustration

with getting my path to “making a

difference” underway. After much

research and deliberation I decided

that becoming a VISTA was a

surefire way of moving even

closer to completing my personal

and professional goals.

I was pretty nervous once the

beginning of my assignment official-

ly rolled around, but it did not take

long for me to just take a deep

breath and remind myself that I

have a lot to bring to the table in

the realm of communications, mar-

keting, and designing print and web

media. With that said, I hope that

by the end of my year of service I

have helped my project site fully

realize all of their communication/

marketing needs. I hope they come

to understand that having a pres-

ence that is easily recognizable,

tastefully designed, and appeals to

their core audience will take them a

Kiki at

Essex

CHIPS.

Hello, My name is Anna Berg; I am the AmeriCorps VISTA serv-

ing as the Youth Leadership Co-ordinator of the Vermont Youth Development Program. My role

is to build the capacity of the Program’s Youth Development

Committee, which is a group of youth in foster care who serve as an advisory board for statewide

policy making in the area of child welfare. I do this through mem-ber recruitment and support, as

well as program development, such as organizing leadership op-portunities and developing pro-

fessional skills training.

The idea to apply for an

AmeriCorps position really came

to me by chance. I was close to

finishing my degree at the University of New Hampshire, floating around it that period

before graduation clueless as to what my next step would look

like. Grad school was unappealing; I knew I needed

some time outside of the class-

room both for my personal sanity and my bank account. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to commit to

a real “grown-up” long-term job. I had tossed around the idea of doing the Peace Corps, but that

wasn’t quite right either. And then an acquaintance at a birth-

day party suggested I check out

AmeriCorps, and suddenly that became “the plan.”

As anyone who has ever looked at the AmeriCorps website knows, the process of finding a

suitable position can be overwhelming. I spent weeks

narrowing down the positions to a few that peaked my interest, until the perfect one was

discovered. With a background in child advocacy and family

policy from my studies at UNH I

knew that I was interested in a position that centered on child welfare or social policy develop-

ment. I found one that had both!

Addressing poverty from within

the foster care system is exciting

in that it is somewhat unique

from other poverty-eradication programs. Youth who leave the foster care system without a sta-

ble “forever home” have such limited social, let alone financial,

supports and are at tremendous risk of becoming homeless and/

or acquiring huge amounts of

debt. Statistically, populations of people who are homeless or in-carcerated are made up dispro-

portionally of people who at one time were in foster care. It is all too common for foster care alum-

ni to be left with little opportunity because the system failed to

provide them with an adequate

education, whether because they were forced to move from school

to school or because their resi-dential home only provided them with remedial classes.

The number of barriers that these children and youth face is

unimaginable to anyone who has never been directly involved. The beautiful thing about the Youth

Development Program’s charge for youth leadership is that we

work to break down barriers for

individual youth – through pro-fessional skills development and helping them access various

leadership opportunities – and using those skills and opportuni-

ties to get youth involved in

making systemic changes to

Family Services. The youth I serve are not only bettering themselves, they also are helping

to create a framework in which those who come after them may

have fewer barriers.

Anna Berg, VYT A*VISTA member

Vermont Youth Development Program (Montpelier, VT)

The youth I work with are not only bettering themselves; they are helping to create a

framework in which those who come after them may have fewer barriers.

I’ve always been fascinated by the power and

energizing flavor of grassroots community organi-

zations. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, I’ve

known many wonderful local leaders who have tak-

en on environmental and social concerns as part of

an ethic of community responsibility. After all, the

beautiful landscapes, towns, and cities that we call

home are also places that need to be cared for.

And who could possibly steward a place better

than those that call it home?

I always had a strong sense of attachment to place

when I thought of home. Growing up, I had a big

wooded backyard where I was free to roam around,

and I always envisioned those woods as a safe ha-

ven. This early exposure to nature would later

draw me into the world of environmental advocacy

as a young woman—both to protect the land as well

as the people who lived on it. Throughout college,

I lent my artistic and organizing abilities to different

environmental groups striving for more sustainable

energy and agricultural policies.

On the heels of my college graduation this summer

past, I interned at my county planning commission,

and cultivated a greater understanding of how

planning ordinances and policies create the frame-

works that direct community development and

growth. I also spent a chunk of time researching

different ways the commission might reach out and

gauge local opinion on different planning issues.

Community engagement is often so critical in a

participatory democracy, and yet many people of-

ten feel disengaged from this process. When I left

my internship, I knew the next step for me would

be working to engage people directly as a commu-

nity organizer.

This year I’m excited to be serving as the new Resi-

dent Organizer VISTA with the Vermont Affordable

Housing Coalition (VAHC). Working with families

and individuals living in affordable housing develop-

ments, I will be serving as a resource for those in

need of social services, as well as a facilitator for

community-building events and programming. I

am hoping to bring arts-based activities to commu-

nity residents as a way of inspiring community co-

hesion amongst residents. My service as an organ-

izer with VAHC is part of a legacy of tenant organiz-

ing that dates back to the 1980s when the Burling-

ton Northgate Apartments in the New North End

were saved from possible redevelopment into mar-

ket-rate condominiums. My service will hopefully

cultivate the core community strength needed to

support the ongoing availability of

affordable housing in Vermont.

Michelle Sayles, A*VISTA member

Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition (Burlington, VT)

Team Meetings

At VYT team meetings,

members share

accomplishments and

challenges, give and receive

feedback, and participate in

discussions about VISTA and

VYT requirements. Each

month, 3 members develop

agendas which include

objectives and intended

outcomes and facilitate a

small group of 8 members in

reflection and discussion.

Books have been one of my greatest loves as

long as I can remember. My mother said before I

could read, I would demand she read to me every

night, even if she had read the same story count-

less times. Once I had the ability to make sense

of words on the page, I read almost anything I

could get my hands on. My taste continued to

grow and almost every genre captured my atten-

tion. I loved fiction for its ability to transport me

to different worlds, and I also adored reading non-

fiction which helped teach me about the world

around me.

Books have continued to be one of my deepest

loves and play a part in how I perceive the world

around me. As an AmeriCorps VISTA at the

Franklin Grand Isle Bookmobile, I hope to pass on

my love for reading and knowledge to kids

throughout the counties of Grand Isle and Franklin

in northern Vermont. The Bookmobile provides a

huge collection of books to youth who might not

otherwise have access to them, and helps them

both in literacy and their imagination. Every year,

we visit over 800 children in rural communities

through stops at childcare providers and pre-

schools (and that number is growing every year!).

When we make a patron stop, we sing songs

and/or tell riddles, read a variety of stories, and

help the kids find books to check out and take

home with them. It is such a great feeling to see

children get excited about reading and wanting to

check out as many books as they can possibly

hold. The Bookmobile helps fight the vicious cycle

of the poverty by giving youth the tools they need

to succeed in school. With improved literacy skills,

they will be more successful in school and have

access to a wider range of options to have pros-

perous futures. The Bookmobile’s presence in the

community instills a positive image of reading as

fun and accessible to everyone, no matter their

situation. In addition, our collection contains

books and resources for adults, parents and

childcare providers to help them find the

knowledge to help them raise healthy, happy kids

and help continue their love of reading. Besides

my work with the Bookmobile, I am also assisting

with an after-school CrossRoads class called Ver-

Money, which will help teach 3rd-6th graders about

financial literacy. With the knowledge I hope to

teach them, they can begin to develop smart

spending and saving habits from an early age and

bring those habits into adulthood.

Throughout my year of service, I hope to make

the Bookmobile stronger as an organization

through increasing our funding stream, planning

fundraising and PR events, developing and

continuing programs, and making our relationship

with the community stronger and

farther-reaching. The Bookmobile’s mission is

important to me, and I look forward to

contributing my ideas and hard work to this great

organization.

The Franklin-Grand Isle Bookmobile

Allie Pflughoeft, VYT A*VISTA member

Franklin Grand-Isle Bookmobile

(Swanton, VT)

Every year in May there is a ritual

within the Social Work depart-ment at the University of New Hampshire. As each graduating

class prepares to take off their metaphorical training wheels, the

Social Work department invites our families and friends to a cere-monial breakfast celebration,

where we as the graduates boast about our next adventures and

life plans. Unfortunately, for

graduates much like myself, this highlighted the fact that I didn’t have my life in order and that my

plans for after college consisted of my mother’s couch. I had

applied to and got accepted to multiple prestigious graduate programs but felt that “real life”

experience would be better than sitting in a classroom again.

As you may have guessed, the “real life” experience I was looking for landed me an

AmeriCorps VISTA position in Vermont. I was unlike many of

my social work colleagues--I didn’t have a specific population I wanted to work with; instead, I

wanted to work with communities (a macro social worker if you will), in particular, communities

with high needs. Being able to shepherd positive impacts and

help a community at large is what

got me inspired and jazzed about the otherwise depressing work we

social workers do.

Filling my car to the brim with clothing and random belongings, I

made my trek up Interstate 89, eager to begin a new chapter of my life. I felt a little like the Joan

of Arc (minus the whole burning at the stake part), setting off to a

land unknown, hopeful of being victorious against an enemy. My

enemy being poverty, a foe that

has proved to be unwavering to the people I would be serving. Hopeful, I made my way to

Vermont with barely enough money for a tank of gas and a dream, a dream that I would

leave Burlington better off than when I arrived.

I believe that the Nigerian proverb, “it takes a whole village to raise a child” is true, especially

in today’s society. In order to

fight poverty, it has to be a collaborative approach.

Community Friends Mentoring (CFM) offers a one-on-one friend-ship to children that might not

have a positive adult role model in their lives or children that just

need that extra support. The children referred to CFM, for whatever reason, just need a

solid friend, someone to hang out with and get their minds off of the

worries at home. The really cool thing about CFM is that not only do the kids benefit from the

friendship but mentors benefit from time spent with their

mentees as well.

You may be asking yourself “how does mentoring fix the issue of

poverty?” and well, I will tell you. By being a mentor to a child, we plant the seeds of hope and

future within them. Sometimes without knowing it, we inspire

kids to dream and hope, things

that are usually stripped of those who are impoverished. Talking

about a high school tassel around your rearview mirror might inspire your mentee to graduate

high school, a life milestone that may not be within your mentee’s radar. Or bringing a kid to a

restaurant that they’ve never been to might give them enough

excitement to stay out of trouble for a week and something to look

forward to each week. Being a

confidant to children, who otherwise have no one to talk to, might allow them to get things off

their chests that they may have had bottled up inside. You get the point. As minimal as hanging

out with a kid for a few hours a week may appear, it truly does

affect the lives of these children and ultimately their families.

The work that I do here at CFM

does in no way completely

reverse the effects of poverty; instead, it offers these children a

friend and the ability to dream. It is my goal to coordinate fun events for our matches, update

social media, compile and communicate resources within the

community, and provide support for our mentors in hopes that my efforts will ultimately make the

lives of these children a little better.

Sara Dillingham, VYT A*VISTA member

Community Friends Mentoring (Burlington, VT)

Sara and her supervisor,

Catherine, at a recent fundraising

event for Community Friends.

VYT MEMBER ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2012-2013

We are very proud of the accomplishments of the Vermont Youth Tomorrow

A*VISTA members.

100% of organizations hosting VYT members reported that the members’ capacity building

activities made the organization more effective.

95% of organizations hosting VYT members reported that the members’ capacity building activities made the organization more efficient.

89% of organizations hosting VYT members reported that they had an increase in request for

services as a result of members’ service.

During the 2012-2013 program year, members accomplished the following:

Procured $557,432 in cash and in-kind donations used to create and improve programs that support low-income youth and families.

Recruited and/or managed 1,664 community volunteers, mentors, and tutors who gave 43,977

hours of service to communities, organizations, and youth (the equivalent of $791,586 in services).

Served 7,966 individual youth (unduplicated count) who benefited directly from their service; another 56,781 individual youth benefited indirectly from their service.

Managed 365 youth/mentor matches.

Established 198 new funding streams (donors, grants, events) benefitting 20 community-based organizations.

Provided services 598 family members of veterans and active duty troops.

Created 40 job training programs and activities benefiting 1,506 individuals.

Assisted 312 individuals with housing and basic needs.

Provided nutrition information and programs benefitting 2,137 youth and adults.

Developed 141 initiatives that engaged 1,230 youth in structured physical activity.

Developed and implemented 115 feeding programs or initiatives that provided healthy meals for 1,010 individuals.

Developed 547 public relations tools that will be used to create more awareness of the services,

programs, and initiatives our members help support.

Created or enhanced 230 business operations systems to make services more efficient and effective.

Members built community partnerships through collaborations with 424 community groups.

Members facilitated 130 presentations to community groups, reaching 2,848 individuals.

VYT VISTA provides members the opportunity to participate in a comprehensive professional development and

skills building training program. Members gather monthly to reflect on service experiences, receive peer

support, strengthen professional and communication skills, and build their commitment to service.

Throughout their service terms, VYT members help build the capacity and viability of their organizations by

creating curricula, recruiting volunteers, increasing funding and identifying new funding streams, and creating

databases and sustainable systems. VYT Training and Member Development is designed to help members

acquire the skills needed to fulfill VISTA activities and tasks, help them find jobs after completing service, and

provide opportunities for members to support one another, and explore local resources most effective in

alleviating poverty and addressing other community conditions.

Since meeting the 2013-2014 VYT team in August 2013 for the 3-day VYT orientation, we have participated in

training related to temperament and personality styles, the structure of nonprofits, poverty, positive youth de-

velopment theory, and grant writing and fundraising.

Myers Briggs Type Indicator and Temperament Styles with Markey Read, Career Networks: Members

learned about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator model, which is an assessment designed to measure psychologi-

cal preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. Members learned about their own prefer-

ences and gained a better understanding of how others approach situations and how to better work with all

types. In a separate Temperament Styles training, members and their supervisors learned about the various

temperament styles and learn to work with other temperament styles.

Structure of Non-Profit Organizations with Christine Graham, CPG Enterprises: Members learned about

the legal requirements, structure, and nature of non-profit organizations.

Poverty Workshop with Jennifer Jewiss, Ed.D., University of Vermont: The purpose of this training was

for members to explore poverty through theoretical constructs and personal experience; examine how poverty

manifests in rural, suburban, and urban areas; and reflect on what they have observed at their sites and in their

communities.

Positive Youth Development with Kreig Pinkham, Executive Director, Washington County Youth Ser-

vice Bureau/Boys and Girls Club: Members discussed the various factors that affect adolescent development

(environmental, social, biological). Members learned how to use positive youth development theory to improve

their interactions with youth and include youth in planning and implementation of programs and services.

Grant Writing and Fundraising Workshop with Andy Robinson, Consultant: Members learned the basics

of grant writing, fundraising and developing relationships with funders at this training. They also learned how to

best research funding opportunities and practiced approaching potential funders.

Professional Development and Trainings

Members participate in tower building activity during the

MBTI Training with Markey Read in October.

A member-drawn illustration of a small group discussion about

the various challenges and opportunities facing those living in

rural, urban, and suburban poverty.

Vermont Youth Tomorrow

AmeriCorps VISTA Program

PO Box 627/ 38 Elm St.

Montpelier, VT

05601-0627

Phone: 802-229-9151

Program Director:

M. Kadie Schaeffer

[email protected]

Assistant Directors:

Jessi Engelke

[email protected]

Callie Frey

[email protected]

Kirsten Brewer

[email protected]

A*VISTA Leader:

Anna Houston

[email protected]

The opinions expressed in the articles in this newsletter

belong to the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect

the views of the site where the VISTA serves, Vermont Youth

Tomorrow, the Washington County Youth Service Bureau,

the Boys & Girls Club, SerVermont, or CNCS.

VYT is sponsored by

the Washington

County Youth

Service Bureau/Boys

& Girls Club.

2013-2014 VYT A*VISTA Team

https://www.facebook.com/vermontyouthtomorrow

VYT Voices Fall 2013

Documents

Transcript of VYT Voices Fall 2013