IN THIS I SSUE:

• Lauren Pyatt

• Callie Frey

• Mike Schlegelmilch

• Niki Sylvia

• Christian Chorba

• Sunny Leporati

• John Gardner

• Jamal Cole

• Benji Thurber

• Sabrina Sears

• Isaac Lawrence

• Marisa James

• Jenn Ringrose

• Jessi Engelke

• Sadie Allen

• Taylor Newton

• Tasha Marvinney

• Ken Ward

WA S H I N G T O N

C O U N T Y Y O U T H

S E R V I C E B U R E A U /

B O Y S & G I R L S C L U B VYT Voices S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 V O L U M E I , I S S U E 3

VYT, an anti-poverty national service program, supports 19 Ameri-

Corps*VISTA members at Vermont community-based organizations,

schools, and municipalities working on youth related issues..

My Impact on the Community…

Dear Readers,

In this issue of VYT Voices,

our members were asked to

reflect on the impact

they’ve seen their service

make in the communities in

which they serve. From

successful grant writing

that’s lead to the formation

of new community gardens,

to teaching youth new art

mediums they can use to

express themselves and de-

velop confidence and self

worth, to designing and im-

plementing new programs

that educate youth on how

to make healthy decisions

regarding drugs and alcohol,

to organizing state-wide

events to offer support to

military members and their

families, VYT VISTAs have

given count-

less hours of

service to

help better

their com-

munities and

the lives of

Lauren Pyatt

AmeriCorps*VISTA Leader

Vermont Youth Tomorrow

Montpelier, VT

the people in them.

Please sit back, relax,

and enjoy the multi-

tude of stories our

members have to

share in this Spring

Edition of VYT Voices.

P A G E 2 Each year OMK offers a handful of Family Days, which provide family members with a chance to participate in a variety of fun activities whether it is a night full of pampering for Moth-ers and Daughters, a Cruise on Lake Champlain or a day at the YMCA full of Zumba classes and healthy cook-ing. They also act as a great opportu-nity for families to connect with oth-ers going through similar experi-ences. At many of these events OMK hands out Hero Packs to the children. Hero packs are backpacks filled by different community groups and non-military youth with cameras, photo

albums, a handwritten letter of ap-preciation and many other mementos that aid them with connecting with their deployed parent.

We also present each child with a give-a-hug doll. Kids are able to place a picture of their deployed parent as the face of these dolls. My favorite memory thus far is of when I ran into a mother whose son had received a doll a few weeks prior. She told me a story of how her son would not go anywhere without his “little daddy.”His “little daddy” ate din-ner, read stories and

even went to the park with them. She was so thankful for

how much this doll had helped her son that she gave me one of the big-gest hugs. It’s moments like these that really help me realize the im-portance of our program.

This last week OMK helped put together 3 different April Vacation Camps throughout the state. A high-light of the camps was hearing how many kids said that what they learned from that week was how to make new friends. One little girl even mentioned that she had learned how cool it is to be a National Guard kid!

Along with these opportunities for families OMK also offers many different training opportunities for community members. Over the last 2 years hundreds of educators, caregivers, youth leaders and com-munity members have been trained on the impact that deployment has on military families. It is truly im-pressive how Vermont residents have stepped up to support their Service Members and families in this time of need. And it is an honor to be serving with OMK in the ef-forts of helping this cause!

Over the past eight months I have witnessed Operation: Military Kids (OMK) help numerous Military fami-lies in the state of Vermont. When it comes to military life Vermont is a bit of a special case. Vermont began its first major troop send-off in De-cember 2010, the largest in our state’s history since World War II. We saw 1,500 Vermont National Guard Troops deploy to Afghani-stan, leaving an estimated 1,100 children at home. Vermont contin-ues to experience further deploy-ments from the Army Medics and the Vermont Air National Guard. The children of these service mem-bers live in every county in the state, often in geographic isolation from other military families and services. In order to support our Military families, OMK collaborates with numerous partners through-out the state. We strive to create posi-tive opportunities for these youth by offering family days, hero packs, camps and community training.

Project Give-A-Hug provides OMK with dolls represent-

ing each branch of the Military. Above are dolls made for

children with a parent in the Army.

April is National Month of the Military Child. Vermont Gov-

ernor Peter Shumlin met with numerous military youth to

honor them for their strength and courage!

Mother and daughter at one of OMK’s recent

family days!

Callie Frey

AmeriCorps*VISTA

Operation Military Kids

Colchester, VT

Operation Military Kid Service Project

at the Stoweflake Conference.

AmeriCorps members from around Vermont gathered together for the state-wide National Service Confer-

ence at the Stoweflake Resort in Stowe, VT. VYT A*VISTA and VYDC AmeriCorps members spent the after-

noon designing cards and writing letters of encouragement to deployed troops and their families.

P A G E 4

V O L U M E I , I S S U E 3

Ask former VISTAs what the hardest part of their year of service was, and they will probably recite an anecdote (or several) about going into debt to pay for snow tires or wondering whether their weekly budget would support a Friday night beer with friends.

Ask them what the second hardest part was, and they will probably say that there were times when it was difficult to keep a healthy perspec-tive on the impact of their service. Dark weeks in February spent bleary-eyed in front of a computer. Grant proposals declined. April days star-ing out the office window at what may or may not be the last blizzard of the winter, wondering just for a moment whether your organization will EVER be able to help young peo-ple build life and job skills through agriculture on its two-acre farm site, which is currently covered in two feet of snow and rising. These are moments when it’s easy to lose per-spective; when it’s hard to remember just what the point is in writing that ten-page grant due at noon tomor-row.

As a VISTA, you inhabit the world of indirect service, of capacity-building. Rather than tutoring the kids, maintaining the hiking trails, saving the whales, you are writing the manual that will enable the vol-unteer coordinator to train the vol-unteers to tutor the kids, maintain the hiking trails, and so on. You may be “getting things done,” but what you’re actually getting done is in-creasing your organization’s capacity to get things done. When you’re at a low point, this task, essential though it is, can seem abstract and lacking in concrete results.

Luckily, there are also times when the fog clears and you get the satisfaction of seeing the benefits of your work.

One morning in May I was sitting around our meeting table with our farm manager and spring intern,

evaluating some programming Youth Ag had implemented last week, when my supervisor hung up the phone, turned around in her desk chair to face us – the four of us all work in the same slanty-ceilinged office – and announced, “Let me know when you want to hear good news!”

We wanted to hear good news right then and there.

“The grant Mike submitted to _____ is being funded for $_____!”

This was a considerable sum of money. Without revealing any sensi-tive financial information, I can say that you would have to use a comma when writing it out.

To organizations like Youth Ag, money means an increased capacity to provide programming, to serve – and maybe another step on the road to sustainability. In the eyes of a ser-vice organization, a pile of money always dissolves into something else: the good that can be done with that money. The tutoring sessions, the well-groomed hiking trails, the saved whales, and what have you.

So for us, that grant was not an abstract figure but a concrete good. Among other things, it would fund salaries for “crew workers” in Youth Ag’s summer job readiness program, enabling us to hire more youth from low-income backgrounds. At the end of the summer, after the money was gone, the result would endure: a few more young people would be better able to make healthy life-style decisions; would have some concrete agricultural skills and be able to raise some of their own food; and would hopefully be bet-ter prepared to navigate an ex-tremely difficult and unforgiving economy.

That morning, I could conceive that concrete good as a direct re-sult, more or less, of my VISTA position. The whole elaborate bal-let of grant writing – “cultivating” the funder, writing the proposal, calculating and recalculating the budget, getting the approval of the organizational hierarchy – had paid off. I felt some personal satis-faction for sure, but what I felt

even more strongly was how critical VISTA is for the work of so many service organiza-tions, how truly valuable the program is, even if that value doesn’t always take the form of a tutoring session, a well-groomed hiking trail, or a saved whale.

Mike Schlegelmilch

AmeriCorps*VISTA

Youth Agriculture Project

Brattleboro, VT

Mike, two Youth Agriculture summer program alumni, and staff . The Youth Agri-

culture Project was recognized for its work around food systems.

P A G E 5 V O L U M E I , I S S U E 3

Niki Sylvia

AmeriCorps*VISTA

The Collaborative

Londonderry, VT

No doubt due to Burlington’s welcoming atmos-phere, becoming an active member of the commu-nity after moving here last August has been a sur-prisingly easy process. I serve through VYT at Link-ing Learning to Life at Burlington High School, where I am able to make a positive difference in our community each day. One of the programs I have worked most closely on this spring has been L-Works, an afterschool employment skills program for English Language Learners that incorporates an internship component at a local employer. This se-mester, we worked with a small group of students from Nepal, Burma, and the Congo, implementing a curriculum not only to help them learn vital skills to ensure their success in the workforce but also to give them the confidence and understanding to navigate the often-confusing job market.

When we began the program in March, our stu-dents were very motivated to get started but had lit-tle formal work experience. Working with them over the next several weeks, we began with basics like in-terview skills, filling out job applications, writing resumes, and emphasizing communication and co-operation skills. We ended by setting up internships for the students around the area for five days, allow-ing them to choose a field that interested them and would test their new skills. For the students, this was easily the most rewarding part of the program, as they all proved they had not only the drive to suc-ceed in the workforce but also had a greater under-standing of how employment works. At the end of their internship period, the students were excited to share their stories with us, each other, their friends, and their family.

Now, our students are well on their way to careers after their time in high school or college, and I feel like I’ve made a difference in their lives, both as an instructor and as a source of guidance. Our students are setting their sights high, with goals like becoming a doctor or an accountant. I’m certain that with the same dedication they gave to L-Works, our students will be able to reach their dreams.

Christian Chorba

AmeriCorps*VISTA

Linking Learning to Life

Burlington, VT

Christian Chorba and Isaac Lawrence at our May

Service Project in Hubbard Park, Montpelier, VT.

Christian Chorba (back), Jamal Cole, Benji Thurber, Mike

Schlegelmilch, Isaac Lawrence, and Taylor Newton take a break from

planting trees during VYT’s May 2011 Service Project in Montpelier.

P A G E 6

P A G E 7

Sunny Leporati

AmeriCorps*VISTA

VT Affordable Housing

Coalition

Burlington, VT

Youth from the Brookside Mobile Home Park enjoy getting their garden

plots ready for the season.

Part of my role at the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition is to bring youth programming into Brookside Mobile Home Park in Starksboro, VT. This park is isolated in a rural part of the state, limiting access to programs available to lar-ger, more urban populations. I began my work and introductions to the residents last August and have been working with the community to de-velop a summer-long youth educa-tion program based around a com-munity youth garden.

The idea for this project came eas-ily, the kids in the park participated in a Global Youth Service Day activity last year in which they planted 30 container gardens. This activity sparked great interest among the children and residents in the park. It was our goal from the beginning to expand on this and bring a more sus-tainable garden into the park.

With that in mind, I went to work writing grants to get funding for the raised-bed materials and the summer program. I applied to a number of places for small grants to help us get the materials to build raised-beds. I spent time talking with the residents and parents to hear what they wanted and to determine where to place the gardens. We reached out to the local garden-ing community and were flooded with resources and help-ful hints on how to get started.

Our luck panned-out, we found out in late March that we were one of twenty organizations/groups in the nation to be awarded with one of the Disney Friends for Change Grants through Youth Service America to participate in a Global Youth Service Day event. Global Youth Service Day fell on the weekend of April 15-17. This gave us about two weeks to plan and implement an event.

We were able to reach out to local businesses to source our materials and ask for in-kind donations. Over-all, we received about $250 of in-kind donations, on top of our $500 Disney Friends for Change Grant. We bought local rough lumber, found organic raised-bed compost and top

soil mix, and received donations of materials to build, decorate, and to feed all of the volunteers.

Overall, 16 youth and 11 adult volunteers participated in this event on Saturday, April 16, 2011. We built three 4ft. by 8ft. raised-beds and filled them up with soil. It was a great day and the kids are really looking forward to have someone work with them in the gardens throughout the summer. They couldn’t be more excited to grow their own food and neither could I.

AmeriCorps*VISTA, Sunny Leporati, and other volunteers show

off one of the newly built raised beds in the community garden.

V O L U M E I , I S S U E 3

Over the past few months I have had the opportunity to develop digital pho-tography curriculum for at-risk youth in Southern Vermont. Every week I dream up different projects that explore camera use or Photoshop skills. Students travel to In-Sight from as far as 40 minutes away to have the opportunity to learn about digital photography.

We have completed light paintings using slow shutter speeds, blended ani-mals together to make octoducks and created clone self-portraits. These stu-dents have shown tremendous growth in using real life design and photography skills in their creative projects.

Not only have these students learned a great deal but I have also witnessed as they developed into skateboarding pho-tography buddies. Due to my presence and involvement at In-Sight I believe that I have had a positive impact on these students. They now use photography and digital me-dia as a healthy creative out-let. It is my hope that In-Sight students continue to share their skills and experi-ences with the greater com-munity.

P A G E 8

John Gardner

AmeriCorps*VISTA

In-Sight Photography

Brattleboro, VT

In-Sight students Jordan and Andrew .

Jordan’s clone self-portrait

V O L U M E I , I S S U E 3 P A G E 9

In-Sight students Andrew and Jordan experiment with clone self-portraits in downtown Brattleboro, VT.

Light paintings created by students at In-Sight

Photography.

The Vermont 4-H Science program is designed

to address our state’s declining proficiency in

science and a critical workforce shortage in sci-

ence-related industries. My recent community

engagement on this subject was my science

teaching project at Kurn Hattin. Since 1894,

Kurn Hattin has helped thousands of at-risk

children and their families by offering a safe

home and quality education in a nurturing envi-

ronment. For a week I taught two science classes

about sharks from a historical, genealogical,

anatomical, and social aspect. At the end I put

together a jeopardy quiz game and handed-out

prizes for all participants. This community en-

Benji Thurber

AmeriCorps*VISTA

Mobius Mentoring

Burlington, VT

Jamal Cole

AmeriCorps*VISTA

UVM Extension—4H

Brattleboro, VT

gagement project was a great learning experience

for me and an even better one for the kids I

taught. While they’ve learned to have more of an

appreciation for science and how science is in-

volved in their everyday lives, as well as in the

lives of every living organism in the cosmos, I’ve

learned that engaging my community, especially

when it come to kids and science, is very reward-

ing and makes me feel more committed and in-

volved to a Vermont that is better educated and

scientifically literate

P A G E 1 0

Since my second year of service began in November, I have seen a transformation take place within the Chittenden County mentoring community. In the broader, more detached sense of the term “capacity building,” Mobius has al-ways been successful in its efforts. As we so often like to bring up when we market ourselves, the total num-

ber of mentors has more than doubled since 2003, the year that Mobius was founded.

Despite our success in recruit-ing volunteers, however, there has been a fundamental discon-nect between our indirect service efforts of volunteer recruitment and the direct service work of the mentors we recruit. I was mostly unaware that this disconnect ex-isted until I begin to witness glimpses of how Mobius’ goal of building a mentoring community could be fully realized.

It started with a renewed fo-cus on mentor pair events during National Mentoring Month. Throughout January, mentors and mentees of all ages came to-

gether to enjoy free sleigh rides, learn cooking recipes and go bowl-ing and eat pizza. The increase in pair events worked twofold: men-tors, many of whom were discour-aged by the lack of available activi-ties during the winter months, were excited for free opportunities to bond with their mentees and meet other pairs from throughout the county; secondly, it gave my supervisor and me the opportunity to meet these mentor pairs, get to know them, and gather their sto-ries to share with the world and help raise public awareness of the local mentoring need.

Our increased focus on mentor pair events has continued through-out 2011, most notably with a suc-

P A G E 1 1

Mentoring pair visits Shelburne Farms on another

Mobius sponsored Mentoring Pair Event this winter.

cessful event at the ECHO Aquarium and Science Center. Another important element in our journey toward a fully connected and interactive mentoring community has been the launch of a monthly new mentor training sessions beginning in January. By taking the added responsibility of mentor training off the shoulders of program coordinators, we are allowing them to spend more time nur-turing current mentoring relationships and increase their mentor capacity. More impor-tantly, however, we are bringing mentors from various programs and towns together right from the start, and making them feel that they are a part of a larger mentoring community. And now, after these mentors have been trained and sent off to their vari-ous programs, we make sure that these new mentors retain their connection to the men-toring community. Every four months, we are offering follow-up training sessions that allow these newly matched mentors to share their experiences with other volunteers, and ask questions of our trainer and other long-time mentors in attendance. Another new

series of trainings we offer, the Mentor Sup-port Series, allows current mentors with the opportunity to choose workshop topics and issues that most interest them. Based on men-tor feedback, we are charged with organizing sessions led by experts in a given field, such as socio-economic diversity, substance abuse or sexuality.

Over the past few months, I’ve come to see that raising numbers is only one part of the capacity building my VISTA assignment charges me with. It is one thing to build up impressive statistics, and quite another to make those stats actually mean something. Continuing to increase the number of men-tors for local children in need is a worthy goal, but one that’s true potential can only be real-ized by developing and nurturing relation-ships among Mobius, the mentoring pro-grams and the true heroes, the mentors them-selves. By continuing to work together, and by acting more effectively as a conduit for com-munity-building, I believe our mission of “developing a culture of mentoring” can be truly and fully realized.

Mentee and Mentor at a Mobius sponsored

Mentor Pair Event.

V O L U M E I , I S S U E 3

P A G E 1 2

One project I have been spending a lot of time on is the Pond Brook Con-servation Education Program. This program will make a big impact over the next few years in the Addison County community and beyond. The Pond Brook Conservation Program will be managed by the executive director of Willowell and implemented by AmeriCorps*VISTA and AmeriCorps State member(s), staff and partners. Key partners for this project include Monkton Central School, Mt. Abraham High School, Vergennes Union Middle School, Vergennes Union High School, the Vermont Nature Conservancy, the Lewis Creek Association, and Vermont Coverts.

Through study, hands-on activity, discussion, observation, and participa-tion in impact awareness games and activities, we will provide environ-mental education to a diversity of stu-dents and community members. The main educational priority will be fo-cused on community projects that ad-dress environmental stewardship in a local educational context and using community-based stewardship activi-ties as the primary teaching tool. We

will also participate in Environmental Education Teaching Skills. This will provide professional development for teachers, faculty, or non-formal educa-tors and help them to improve their teaching skills and/or knowledge about environmental issues and focus on is-sues such as water quality and conserv-ing wetland habitats.

The Project will add an educational component to Willowell’s Pond Brook Cedars Restoration Plan developed by the Vermont Nature Conservancy for Willowell’s recent 106-acre Pond Brook Conservation easement. The Plan de-tails steps over the years to restore, from agricultural us-age to native Valley Clayplain Forest vegetation, 12 acres bordering the Pond Brook. Pond Brook is a major tribu-tary in the Lewis Creek and Lake Champlain Watersheds and noted for its turbidity levels and high phosphorus content. The restored area will act as a buffer between local farms and the wetland, filter agricultural run-off into the watershed, and improve an important wildlife corridor between the Hog Back Ridges of the Green Mountains and the Champlain Valley. Steps for restoration include, removing inva-sive plants, creating contours for native species, soil and water testing, planting native species, site observation and fieldwork. The educational component will involve students from four schools

in restoration activities, while creating curriculum for students and informa-tion for community members around those activities – reinforcing the importance of the wetland to concentric circles of community; Monkton, Lewis Creek and Lake Champlain.

Approximately 170 K-12 students, in four Addi-son County Schools will directly participate in classes and field trips associated with the project.

Nearly 1,700 students in the four participating schools will attend presentations by students directly associated with the project. The pro-ject will include four key teachers/ coordinators, one from each of the four participating schools, who will coordinate school-wide involvement projects. These projects will include 200 local educators and 500 parents, family members and friends of stu-dents who will all attend events pre-sented by students of the program. Additionally Willowell will reach thirty educators who will attend eight WOW! (Wonders of Wetlands) work-

shops. Members of Vermont Nature Conservancy, Lewis Creek Associa-tion, Vermont Coverts, and student affiliates will also offer expertise to participating schools and engage in student-led stewardship activities and presentations. Willowell staff will be involved in the Pond Brook Conservation Education Program and through that, engage in hands-on conservation activities. Approxi-mately 30,000 residents of Chitten-den and Addison Counties, VT will become aware of the project and its goals by reading print articles in the Addison County Independent, the Burlington Free Press and Seven Days, listening to radio features and PSA’s on Vermont Public Radio and Farm Fresh Radio and through Wil-lowell’s and partnering organiza-tion’s e-mail marketing and social media portals. These include neighborhood email forums and list-

Sabrina Sears

AmeriCorps*VISTA

Willowell Foundation

Vergennes, VT

Sabrina Sears and youth at the Willowell Foundation in Ver-

gennes, VT.

Willowell AmeriCorps State volunteers lead a group of

students in a game.

V O L U M E I , I S S U E 3

ings in print and digital calendars and newsletters of many media and com-munity organizations in Chittenden and Addison County.

Willowell will be working with a diverse group of students on this pro-ject; from the selected school districts: 79% of students live in a rural setting, 92% of students attend public schools of varied income levels. Students will make 40 visits to Pond Brook and will learn, from hands-on activities and from curriculum developed around their restoration work, about the im-portance of their local wetland to the greater health of their community and the Lake Champlain Basin. Commu-nity groups will share their expertise with students and, with them, pro-mote the model of the Pond Brook Restoration and its educational com-ponent to community members and other organizations.

P A G E 1 3

Much of the work that makes up my VISTA service involves increasing stake-holder participation in the City of Mont-pelier’s community planning process. After a long public participation process culminating in the creation and adop-tion of the City of Montpelier’s Master Plan, Taylor Newton and myself have been tasked with coordinating efforts to continue to involve the public in guiding the implementation of the Master Plan. One of the primary implementation tasks is bringing our zoning code into compliance with our newly adopted Master Plan. As VISTAs, our job is to coordinate the volunteer citizens and groups that will guide the zoning rewrite process -- along the way, working to augment the com-munity’s capacity to participate mean-

ingfully in municipal government. Getting meaningful public comment on our new zoning code, however, has been among the greatest challenges of my VISTA year to-date. Zoning regulations determine, in part, the character of changes that occur in the built form of our communities. This can, in turn, significantly impact the look and feel of the places we live which again in turn can have lasting effects that ripple out through many areas of our lives. Naturally then, I assumed that the public would be in-terested leading the formation of these new regulations. Zoning, it turns out though, isn’t the world’s most exciting topic, despite these important im-pacts. And perhaps the public found out as much at the first of a planned series of three public meetings. In these first meetings, planning department staff introduced the rezoning project and gave some background on zoning gen-erally. These meetings, held in various locations across town, were well at-tended, with as many as 50 interested, engaged participants. Arriving at the first in our second series of public meetings, I expected the same level of participation. What I found, instead, was a series of empty, or nearly empty rooms. So what went wrong? Our level and ave-nues of outreach had been the same or greater. And the second meetings, unlike the first which combined multi-ple zoning districts, were district-by-district. Our total attendance, how-ever, was much lower in total than previously. A change in tact was necessary. Zon-ing, it turns out, is boring, and the importance of its implications aren’t immediately clear. Moreover, as the impact of land use regulations aren’t an intuitive thing to begin with, imag-ining the regulations we want for the future is harder still. So, we devised a plan. We would generate, as quickly as possible, a set of tentative new zoning district boundaries and then present these for comment. This, in theory,

would allow for a more immediate sense of the impacts of the regula-tions and, instead of there being an overwhelming range of possibilities, now there were two: what was pro-posed and what could be. Our new approach worked. Our re-vised city-wide second meeting had over 50 people who were very en-gaged throughout our two our ses-sions. The lesson seems pretty clear: imagining the future from a infinite world of possibilities is hard. Re-sponding to a specific proposal is relatively easy. Perhaps this is a cynical view to take but, nonethe-less, I take heart in the thought that insofar as we succeed in getting the public to participate in a meaningful way in the zoning discussions, Montpelier will become a better place to live. Planning for the sort of community we want to live in, in turn, increases the likelihood that Montpelier may in fact end up that better place. In a small way then, I think facilitating stronger public participation in zoning has a signifi-cant impact on the Montpelier com-munity now and for future genera-tions.

Isaac Lawrence

AmeriCorps*VISTA

EnVision Montpelier

Montpelier, VT

In the non-profit sector, it is sometimes

hard to obtain the instant fulfillment one

needs to know that she is doing a good job.

But when those moments do come, the

positive feelings last a long time. As a

VISTA behind the scenes, I know that the

work I am doing is important, but I also

want to make sure that I am leaving a last-

ing legacy. Over these past months, I have

planned and implemented several events

within our space, including the Essex

CHIPS Tree Lighting Celebration, the MLK

Volunteer Recognition Dinner, Teen Cen-

ter Family Dinner Nights and coming soon,

the first ever Essex CHIPS Memorial Day

Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser. By the end

of each event, I feel so proud of the work I

have done to provide our community with

these special events. These positive feel-

ings are fortified by the people that ap-

proach me with congratulations or by the

letters and emails we sometimes receive

from grateful community members.

Through the personal growth I have ex-

perienced this far into my service year, I

now realize that it is the small compli-

ments and the smiles from the youth and

parents that let us know that we are appre-

ciated and that we are doing good work. I

would like to be able to continue this posi-

tive legacy so that even when I am gone, all

the work I did in the past will help to make

our community better for the future.

Marisa James

AmeriCorps*VISTA

Essex CHIPS

Essex Junction, VT

Youth hanging out and enjoying family dinner night at Essex CHIPS in Essex

Junction, VT.

VYT and VYDC members eating lunch together at the Essex CHIPS MLK Day

event in January.

P A G E 1 4

P A G E 1 5

Community service can look one way, feel like something dif-ferent and still make a huge im-pact. Through my AmeriCorps VISTA year of service with The Chill Foundation I am learning the population of youth Chill works with cannot be defined from a distance and should not be lumped into one category. Chill kids are a melting pot of different families, schools, communities, and cultures that mold into a very special network of support.

The Mission:

“Chill provides unique and posi-tive experiences to underserved youth through snowboarding. Fo-cusing on youth development, we give thousands of youth in local communities the opportunity to make turns that forever change lives.”

As the AmeriCorps*VISTA for Chill I experience programming from the very first step of gearing up in snowboard apparel, engag-ing in life skill building lessons on the bus ride to Bolton Valley, and then translating those weekly themes into navigating a snow-

board for the first time. Youth selected for Chill’s program have never been given the opportunity to snowboard, and come with chaperones that may or may not know how to snowboard either!

The first couple nights are challeng-ing for everyone and the kids are scared, a lot of them believe this is something they could never do. But soon they will realize they are all in this together, and if they can stick through all 6-weeks of Chill, they can ALL be snowboarders.

Each week of the program, youth are given a word that will be the theme of their lessons that week.

Week One : Patience First time on a snowboard, learning parts and func-tions, falling down A LOT

Week Two : Persistence Picking your-self up when you fall, beginning to slide on edges, learning to stop!

Week Three : Responsibility Admit-ting your limits, trusting your skills, making turns, learning the mountain code

Week Four : Courage Trying some-thing new, connecting turns, riding the chairlift, making new friends

Week Five : Respect Riding within your ability, helping out others, adher-ing to the mountain code, practicing new skills, striving to be better.

Week Six : Pride Thanking those who helped, recognizing you met your goal, feeling good about yourself and your accomplishments, dreaming of what is next.

Looking back on my experience night by night, week by week, it is a blur. It goes by so fast and there are so many experi-ences, conversations, ideas, and connec-tions made, I feel my passion for the program takes over my consciousness and makes it all comes together each night.

One of my most memorable moments with Chill is reading through the Pride letters participants write on the last night. Youth are asked to answer four questions in the letter. To facilitate this

lesson I used my own adventure as an example. In the break room, on a large piece of white wall poster paper, I wrote: “Dear Jenn,

My proudest moment as Local Coordi-nator of Chill was seeing youth break down barriers, smile at successes and show gratitude for achieving what they worked so hard for. While at Chill the most important life lessons I learned were to stay persistent when working toward goals, have the courage to be-lieve you can achieve those goals and keep getting better, and have respect for the opportunities you are given. Chill is most important in my life be-cause it allows me to live my dreams of teaching snowboarding to youth while encouraging their confidence, expand-ing their experiences and helping them set attainable goals for the future.

If you are ever down, or unsure of your next step here are some positive re-minders to get you back on track; re-spect yourself, you are loved, winter is coming and the mountain will always be there, you are good at what you do when you love it.

Yours Truly,

Jenn Ringrose”

Jenn Ringrose

AmeriCorps*VISTA

Chill Foundation

Burlington, VT

CHILL Chaperone and participant hang at

Bolton Mountain.

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

(Continued on next page)

P A G E 1 6

The Chill Foundation has deeply im-pacted my life. After nearly complet-ing a year of service I have come to know Chill as a place for me to grow personally and professionally. Chill is an organization that encourages new ideas, promotes healthy choices and holds the tools to assist youth with learning what life is all about. For me, service at Chill is about do-ing something that makes me happy, allows me to help others and strengthens and skills and talents.

2010-2011 CHILL Participants!

It’s been too long since I’ve had the chance to sit down and really think about my service and the contribu-tions I make to this community. So much of my time has been spent just doing. It really is astounding to see everything I’ve done in 8 months’ time come together at once.

Teen Center Dinners:

Expanding our teen dinner program to include serving youth of all ages is one of my most meaningful contribu-tions. Now, the Teen Center serves hot meals to an average of 25 youth each evening. The total number of meals we’ve tallied this year (August-March) is 1,609.

Grants:

I’ve written grant proposals and re-ports for three separate youth-focused programs totaling over $51,000. My goal is to apply for a total of $65,000 by the end of my

service. So far I’ve received positive responses to six of these proposals. I expect to hear from the rest by the end of May.

My most considerable contribution to the grant process, however, is not the proposals I’ve written, but the tracking system I’ve developed. Col-lecting information on over 129 grant makers and compiling the informa-tion into an easy to understand for-mat has been a huge endeavor. While this project is weeks away from completion, I can say with con-fidence that I’ve created a grant tracking system that will endure for years with minimal maintenance.

Girls Only!:

Reaching out to high school girls has been a challenging, but rewarding part of my experience here in Winoo-ski. Currently, high school girls do not feel comfortable coming to the Teen Center, and I am working with my colleague, Danielle Moore, to es-tablish trust. We meet with the girls at Winooski High School once a week and make jewelry, dance to Somali music, whip up tasty snacks, and lis-ten to them tell us their stories about coming to America and their lives back in Africa. It’s been wonderful

getting to know them and I look forward to continuing the Girls Only! programming.

Volunteers:

Because the Teen Center is staffed with only two AmeriCorps mem-bers and supported by a VISTA, volunteers are a vital part of the Center’s success. Recruiting, train-ing and managing over 126 individ-ual volunteers has been an absolute joy. Together, they have served over 900 hours at the teen center cooking meals, playing pool, shoot-ing hoops, gathering data for an-thropology projects, researching for adolescent psychology courses, and giving talks about becoming successful Americans. Volunteer coordination is easily the most quantifiable contribution I make to the Teen Center, but is also the most important. Without the extra help, the Teen Center simply wouldn’t operate.

These are the most notable contri-butions that I’ve made this year. Serving the City of Winooski is truly a powerful experience and I’m very grateful for the opportunity.

Jessi Engelke

AmeriCorps*VISTA

City of Winooski

Winooski, VT

P A G E 1 7 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

Sadie Allen

AmeriCorps*VISTA

Kellogg-Hubbard Library

Montpelier, VT

Painted flowers showcase poetry submitted by students

from local elementary schools.

I serve at the Kellogg-Hubbard Li-

brary in Montpelier, VT. When I think of

my impact here at the library, I think of

the next VISTA taking my place in Au-

gust. I think of the excitement, and their

idealism. I want them the experience to

surpass my experience here.

This year I have assisted in our annual

Holiday fundraiser, An Evening at the

Library, and a month long celebration of

Vermont poets in April called, POETRY

Alive! The silent auction at the holiday

fundraiser raised over $18,000 more

than any previous year. POETRY Alive!

increased from 75 local poets the previ-

donations and their contact infor-

mation went on a page. All the

silent auction descriptions went

on the next. The set up process the

day went on other. Soon, my leg-

acy manual began to develop into

a small book. Anything I wish I

had known, or wish someone had

explained to me earlier I recorded

in the legacy manual. I wanted the

directions and explanations so

clear that a complete stranger

could walk in and take up where I

left off. I created a new chapter

for POETRY Alive! In this section,

I documented all the media con-

tacts on one page, along with old

press releases for inspiration.

My VISTA Legacy Manual is

around 16 pages long now with

many more events and a table of

contents. My hope is that organ-

izational work I did now, will

make it easier for the next incom-

ing VISTA to continue the tradi-

tion of success the library has es-

tablished.

ous year to over 130 local poets this

year. I along with many staff and vol-

unteers worked countless hours on

these events to make them success-

ful. With these large events it is diffi-

cult to quantify my exact contribu-

tion. For An Evening at the Library,

I wrote over 40 silent auction de-

scriptions, helped send out the invi-

tations, and designed the flyer for the

event. These actions had a positive

impact, and contributed to the suc-

cess, but I cannot say how much. For

POETRY Alive!, I sent out press re-

leases to all the local newspapers ask-

ing for submissions, but what percent

of the poets sent in work because of

these press releases?

Instead, I choose to focus docu-

menting and organizing the proc-

esses and relationships that I have

developed during my time as a

VISTA. My legacy manual will have

the largest impact for the incoming

VISTA and my organization. After

Evening at the Library, I organized

and documented all my work. All the

In fall of 2010, enVision Montpelier’s CAN! (Capital Area Neighborhoods) community group began to have diffi-culty attracting members to meetings. Neighborhood leaders were less en-gaged than previous VISTAs had re-ported and there seemed to be little interest in having VISTAs aid in any neighborhood projects. CAN! sadly looked like it was headed towards dis-bandment. With attendance and effectiveness lacking, Isaac, my co-VISTA, and I decided to reexamine the purpose of the group. CAN! had originally been

organized on the concept that our VIS-TAs could help neighborhood leaders complete projects within their respec-tive neighborhoods. VISTAs could help neighborhood leaders organize a neighborhood forum on a particular issue, or help gather materials for lead-ers concerning emergency services. Since there wasn’t any interest in start-ing new projects from neighborhood leaders, this model stopped working. Isaac and I decided to turn the original CAN! model on its head. Instead of waiting for neighborhood leaders to come to us about projects, we would bring the projects to them. In turn, neighborhood leaders would talk to their friends, family, and acquaintan-ces to spread the word about selected projects. In April, we decided to use CAN! to get the word out about two projects we thought would interest current neighborhood leaders: the city-wide rezoning process and Solar Montpelier, an incentive-based program created by

P A G E 1 8 VPIRG to entice Montpelierites to invest in solar energy. During our monthly CAN! meeting we had our department’s Executive Director and a representative from VPRIG present about their respective pro-jects. Success was immediate. We had more neighborhood leaders at our April CAN! meeting than we had had in months. A meeting about the city-wide rezoning proc-ess later in the month exceeded our expectations in terms of attendance. VPIRG has reported that it has had over 200 inquiries into its Solar Montpelier project this month. Clearly, our change in strategy has had an impact! CAN! is far from what Isaac and I envision it being. However, a small change in how CAN! operates has proven to focus our neighborhood leaders and has saved the group from irrelevance. We hope that the group continues to grow in strength and become a reliable community asset.

Taylor Newton

AmeriCorps*VISTA

EnVision Montpelier

Montpelier, VT

For me, the downfall of being a VISTA lays in the fact that I don’t often get to interact with the youth whose lives I toil behind the scenes to support. The one opportunity I have to hang out with the students I pass in our hallways happens under the guise of making sure that in-structors have adequate, up-to-date lesson plans for unexpected ab-sences.

On occasion, I am called to sub-stitute for one-on-one tutoring, and relish the chance to read with a stu-dent, figure out what kinetic energy is, and yes, I have even enjoyed teaching (while re-teaching myself) solving systems of equations. The students are usually mild-

mannered and great when I’m in class with them. No, not because I have extraordinary teaching talents, but because working with me is a break from the norm.

I often hear the instructors speaking about one student, let’s call him Jay, who drags his feet when it comes to reading. Being called in to sub for his reading teacher requires me to muster up all of my coaching and coaxing abilities to get him engaged in the book. Last week, while his teacher was away, I pulled out their current project: The Haunted Hotel, a rivet-ing tale of terror, complete with bullies, ghosts, and elderly, myste-rious scientists.

As I expected, the book was greeted by the groan of “I hate to read,” to which I dutifully re-sponded, “Well Jay, I just love to read and am thrilled to find out what happens in this story.” As we switched back and forth, reading page by page, I incorporated silly

voices, crazy questions and ideas about what could happen next. When it came time to take a break, Jay de-manded that we read more, as he wanted to find out what happened next and couldn’t bear to wait until next week. Who was I to say no?

Later in the week, Jay’s reading teacher thanked me for subbing as it allowed her to follow through with a professional development course. She told me that she was blown away by how much of the book we had read. Apparently, the first thing he asked in his next class was whether he could finish the book that day. I consider that a win.

Tasha Marvinney

AmeriCorps*VISTA

Stern Center

Williston, VT

P A G E 1 9 V O L U M E I , I S S U E 3

I never thought when I moved to Vermont for my service year that I, a man, would be wearing a dress—albeit over a snowsuit—in front of colleagues and community mem-bers. But that is exactly what I did on the evening of March 19, 2011.

I served as the fearless captain of the team Curls Just Wanna Have Fun, one of 46 teams that partici-pated in HowardCenter’s Second Annual Curling Challenge fundrais-ing event. I was the only one on my team wearing a dress, so I guess no one else got the memo. Maybe next time I will use a Tweet, or Facebook status update, or some tool that a frustrated Harvard student hasn’t invented yet, but I digress.

Teams composed of four mem-bers each fundraised and competed against each other in the thrilling, fast-paced game of curling. (You know, it’s that game you watched last year in the Olympics where people slid giant rocks across the ice while other people scrubbed with brushes in front of them, and you thought, “Hey, I could do that!”) The event raised nearly $50,000. In an age when resources are scarce and additional support is encouraging.

After last year’s event, a signifi-cant portion of that money trickled down to my HowardCenter pro-gram, Community Friends Mentor-

ing. As the only mentoring program in Chittenden County that serves every community in the county, CFM offers local children who need a little bit of extra support the chance to form meaningful, long-term friendships (the average length of the formal relationships last 3 years in the program, and some continue as many as 10 or more years) with adult volunteers on a one-on-one basis.

The event preparations began in October with the first planning meeting. After that, I spent the time leading up to the event recruiting volunteers—I also managed them at the event prior to my curling time

slot—hanging up posters in the community, forming a team of other AmeriCorps VISTAs, and raising money for the team’s regis-tration. Part of the process in-cluded me engaging with the com-munity and telling people about my program. I welcomed the com-ments from Vermonters that lauded the good work that Howard Center provides for the state.

People were less complimentary about my outfit choice, but if wearing a dress every now and then helps me support community pillars such as HowardCenter, I am happy to do so.

Ken and other VYT VISTAs from the Curls Just Wanna Have Fun team!

Ken Ward

AmeriCorps*VISTA

HowardCenter

Burlington, VT

P A G E 2 0

During the first six months of the program year, the 19 VYT

A* VISTA members across Vermont made substantial contribu-

tions to their communities and organizations. They have –

■ Procured more than $356,250 of in-kind donations, cash donations, and grant

funds

■ Managed 1,315 community volunteers and mentors who gave over 5,208 hours of

their time to their communities

■ Facilitated 22 events and initiatives to recognize community volunteers and men-

tors

■ Made 93 presentations to community groups, and developed and disseminated

more than 640 public relations tools (electronic media, flyers, press releases, videos,

etc.)

■ Collaborated with 156 community

groups

■ Planned or implemented 21 com-

munity service projects, and created

25 program curricula

■ Wrote 39 grant proposals

■ Increased diversification of fund-

ing sources by establishing 39 new

funding streams at 10 community-

based organizations

■ Developed 206 operational sys-

tems (data bases, evaluations, and

toolkits)

■ Built the capacity programs that

directly served more than 6,924

Vermont youth and indirectly served

51,240 additional youth.

VYT AmeriCorps*VISTA Members

Got Things Done!

VYT A*VISTA Member, Jessie Engelke, Gets Things Done for America at

the Operation Military Kid Service Project in May.

V O L U M E I , I S S U E 3

Focus of AmeriCorps*VISTA

Members serve through private organizations and public nonprofit agencies, addressing issues re-

lated to poverty--such as public health education, the environment, public safety, and employment--

by developing and mobilizing resources that create long-term sustainable benefits at a community

level. Focus is on resource development and capacity building and NOT on direct service. Vermont

Youth Tomorrow (VYT) members are national service members and not employees.

Vermont Youth Tomorrow A*VISTA Program (VYT)

VYT is a statewide national service program that places 28 A*VISTA members at community-based organizations, schools, and state and municipal agencies that promote or actively engage youth. VYT members help these youth-focused programs build and strengthen systems in order to offer exciting and meaningful activities that involve youth in the life of the community, help young people build job skills to lift them out of poverty, involve mentors with youth, and implement diverse and effective approaches to helping young people avoid poor decisions that result in ongoing poverty, delin-quency, and violence.

VYT, A*VISTA members support communities and help alleviate poverty through the following ac-tivities: recruit, train, and manage community volunteers and mentors; facilitate youth and mentor matches; develop curricula for job and skills development programs, as well as college preparatory programs for immigrants; create science and technology program; initiate efforts to support youth who parents have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan; support programs that teach youth about gardening and preparing nutritious food; develop public relations campaigns; create operational sys-tems (e.g., databases); identify and collaborate with community stakeholders; develop systems to en-sure low income families receive healthy, nutritious food; crate strategies to promote affordable housing; and develop resources (e.g., in-kind, cash donations, and grants). These activities will re-sult in stronger and more effective programs and enable the CBOs to fulfill their missions related to improving the lives of youth.

P A G E 2 1

2010 –2011 VYT A*VISTA Team!

Vermont Youth Tomorrow A*VISTA Program

A*VISTA Leader – Lauren Pyatt

Assistant Directors – Josh Muse and Nicholas Nicolet

Director - M. Kadie Schaeffer

Email: VYT.VYDC@gmail.com

Phone: 802.229.9151

Website: http://sites.google.com/site/vermontyouthtomorrowavista/

• Go To americorps.gov

• Under “Join AmeriCorps” (right), Click on “Advanced Opportunity Search” (under

the Search button)

• In the State field, click on arrow and choose “Vermont”

• In the Program Name field, type “VYT” and click the Search button

• All VYT Sites should appear. Apply to all that interest you.

VYT is recruiting for 2011—2012 Service Year!