Estrella

In this time in this country, we have seen an uptick in loneliness, depression and youth delinquency that have been unprecedented. What can be done to battle such upheavals in Ferguson, Boston during the Boston Marathon, school shootings in Connecticut and other shootings elsewhere? Is America to only decay into a violent society where it picks itself apart to the soundtrack and script of a Chris Nolan film? I believe that we have the power as Americans and residents in this country to resolve these issues and reclaim the former power, unity and peace of this spirited nation. With God as our guide, we have the power to reclaim the village. The Village versus Community Some may ask why I use the term “village” rather than “community”. They are both similar terms, but one has a deeper responsibility to a brother’s keeper than the other while the former term “village” carries with it some of the connotations of shunning, exile, social exclusion and moral puni...

--> On May 18 th , I will have reached the half-way point of my AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) term with Connections to Success, a non-profit that seeks to break the cycle of poverty through training, mentorship, support and hope. I have really enjoyed what I have learned so far, but there are a few things I wish I had known when I had started. 1. Don’t be afraid to take initiative. Yes, it’s always important to run things by your supervisor when working on a project. But your department’s team may be looking to someone with fresh new ideas who’s willing to make new connections with new individuals. And if you sometimes overstep your bounds and mess up, learn from your mistakes and head back on the right track. 2. You don’t have to like everyone that you work with, but you should respect them and perceive them as your ally. So you may be an extrovert, and your colleague may be an introvert. You may not see eye to eye on everything or may...

When I look back at the first two months of my new AmeriCorps position with Connections to Success (CtS) , I am shocked at how quickly it has flown by and by how much I have learned. Yet, there is so much more for me to learn. The weeks have flown by, and the first quarter of my term is coming closely to an end. And I think to myself, “Am I building capacity?” Image from Google Images When VISTAs (Volunteers in Service to America) talk about building capacity, they mean that they are establishing institutions and procedures to be put in place and utilized after the VISTA term ends to help the organization run more efficiently and to help more clients. My job as the program assistant is to track participant data and create project-tracking tools to enhance efficiency and performance of the poverty-fighting procedures and techniques at hands. You would say, “So you track numbers?” But I track more than numbers and data in Excel; I combine those numbers togethe...

On November 18 th , I stepped into the office of my new job as an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) with the non-profit Connections to Success. AmeriCorps is similar to a domestic version of the Peace Corps, but there are more venues and fields that participants can volunteer with. In addition, an AmeriCorps commitment is usually only one year long compared to the two-year commitment of the Peace Corps. The VISTA differentiation means that my position specifically focuses on the alleviation of poverty in a community through building capacity of current programs and processes.             Connections to Success Image from Google Images The non-profit organization for which my VISTA program partners with is called Connections to Success (CtS). Connections to Success seeks to break the cycle of poverty through the empowerment of individuals through professional development and access to...