Welcome new VISTAs!!!

Wednesday marked the end of training for three new VISTAs: Katie, Audrey, and Delores. Welcome!

We celebrated the new arrivals to our team with a VISTA happy hour at Golden West Cafe in Hampden.

Next Wednesday we will be joined by Constance, a new-to-us VISTA who is transferring from another site.

VISTAs at Golden West:

VISTA Project Spotlight

Copied from the GHCC Digest, I'm going to share every two weeks:

VISTA Project Spotlight

Community Connections VISTA John Bernet has been collaborating with neighborhood residents, university partners, and school staff to plan a community garden in a now-unused lot near Dallas F. Nicholas Elementary School. Stakeholders identified so far include the Old Goucher and Barclay neighborhoods, Parks & People Foundation, Dallas Nicholas, and Goucher College. John is hoping for an after-school program at Dallas Nicholas to teach children to maintain the garden, which would be home to both vegetables and flowers.

Donation Only (!) Yoga Studio in Hampden

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! If you're like me you're feeling a little sluggish from all those mashed potatoes, so I thought I'd let you know about a new, donation only community yoga studio in Hampden. For those of us who love yoga but can't justify the cost while we're only making $10,000 a year, Let's Flow Yoga is perfect.

Check out the class schedules on their website and head on over! I haven't been yet, but I plan on visiting soon to work on getting my muscles in shape for skiing in January. Let's Flow is located on Falls Road at the Avenue in Hampden.

Save the Date! Maryland AmeriCorps Conference

Michelle Obama will be a champion for national service.

While talking to a woman from GEDCO at the GHIA luncheon today (yikes, acronyms), I learned that Michelle Obama is going to take on AmeriCorps as a major advocacy issue when she moves into the white house.

This, in addition to the fact that Obama's transition website puts national service front and center with a pledge to increase AmeriCorps to 250,000 (from the current 75,000), is great news for VISTAs.

See a Newsweek interview touching on this here.

A Creative Way to Use Your Ed Award

The CA Education Program (CAEP), in a partnership with the Minnesota State Community & Technical College (MSCTC)-Fergus Falls, has developed a program for AmeriCorps members and alumni to be able to use their Education Award to participate in our 3-12 month Domestic Apprentice Program and Outbound Program for Americans. CAEP is now offering educational experiences by providing AmeriCorps members and alumni with a domestic or international placement in one of its 8 Agriculture-related fields:

• Agriculture
• Horticulture
• Enology (Wine Making) & Viticulture
• Equine
• Agribusiness
• Citrus
• Apiary
• Turf Management

Benefits of the Program:

- Opportunity to travel the United States and the world

•- Learn new languages and cultures

•- Gain academic internship credit and opportunity to take future classes at MSCTC

•- Gain validated skills and certification through CAEP and the United States DoL

•- Paid apprenticeship and internship opportunities both here and abroad

•- Ability to use your AmeriCorps Education Award to supplement the program fees!

Program Fees:

CAEP Domestic Apprentice Fee: $1,250 (includes course fee + $250 Deposit)

CAEP Outbound Program Fee: $1,250 (includes course fee + $250 Deposit)

Country Partner/Work Visa Fee (International Program) Additional fees that vary by country

Medical Insurance (International Program) $85/month

Travel Expenses Members are responsible for travel costs

*AmeriCorps member and alumni can now use their Segal AmeriCorps Education Award to participate in both CAEP domestic and international prgorams and in return will be paid a monthly stipend and room and board while in the program.

To learn how to use your Segal AmeriCorps Education Award to participate in one of CAEP's programs, please visit www.caep.org or contact Eric Anderson (AmeriCorps Alum '00 & ‘01) at eric@cainc.org or at 1-800-432-3276 ext. 3351.

Halloween Fun

If you're looking for something fun and different to do for Halloween, this might be it:

See the spectacle of over a thousand candle-lit, paper and bamboo lanterns, carried through Patterson Park.

Beware the Jabberwocky! This year’s Parade is inspired by the wild imaginings of Lewis Carroll, with crazy creative floats, a totally new Parade route, a Grand Finale “monster raising,” hip-shaking music, and the best costume-watchin’ in town!

Click here for more info.

Join us!

Posting ability this blog is now going to be open to any GHCC VISTAs who want to contribute. That means you!

If you'd like to be able to post announcements, requests, opportunities, etc. on here, please let me know and I'll add you.

Also, I realize the link I gave in my RSS feed instructions a while back is wrong. If you're following those email directions the correct link to paste in is: http://ghccvistas.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

V is for...

“V is for” is a campaign aimed at developing the VISTA community through social media strategies such as Flickr, YouTube, Facebook and MySpace. The goal is to support VISTAs in taking an active role in defining the VISTA community during their year of service, and motivate them to remain connected as a second year VISTA, a Leader or Alumnus.

I think we could really spice up this campaign, and I strongly encourage you to post your “V” photos and videos. Important details:

• Make sure your post your project name and state with your photo.
• Check out the “V is for” page on the VISTA Campus for more information.
  
• Flickr Pool
• Facebook Page
• YouTube
  

Last day to submit entries: Wednesday, November 5th

Taking pictures to document your work

While it's easy for us to get caught up in the day-to-day rush, it's important to remember how we are going to look back on our VISTA year after it's over.

When I was applying to a grad program last year, I learned I not only needed a portfolio of fine arts work, I also needed a collection of images representing my work in the community. Even though I thought I had taken enough pictures, I was left scrambling and emailing people I knew trying to get photos from key events.

Regardless of the meaning they end up having to you down the line, I can guarantee you will appreciate having visual documentation of your work as a VISTA.

And, here's how you should be using pictures right now:

• The GHCC annual meeting and awards night on October 28 will feature a slideshow of GHCC's work. Not surprisingly, much of the work that creates great photos involves VISTAs. If you have pictures, please send them to me for inclusion in the slideshow.
• The yet-to-be-unveiled GHCC blog will be very image-heavy, capturing the great energy of our work in the community. VISTAs are at the heart of that energy, so expect to be asked for photos if I hear about you doing something cool (and I do read all your reports).
  

Whatever you do, take a lot of pictures. Most of you probably have cameras in your cell phones that are better than the GHCC digital camera, so if you don't have a little point-and-shoot you can stick in your pocket just use your phone. Then, stick it on the photo drive at GHCC so we can all share your awesome experience with vision screenings, painting the gym, or a new after-school program.

Free Box renewal

So, the VISTA Free Box is officially empty again! Our unwanted clothes and shoes were dropped off at the York Road Value Village on Wednesday.

This means it's time to clean out your closet! If you have some clothes that are in pretty good condition but you just don't wear anymore, please bring them in and deposit them in the Free Box. It's so much easier than remembering to take them to the Goodwill. Whether you contribute clothes or not, you're still free to shop!

Do you want to learn a foreign language?

Clarrissa and I have been learning French and Spanish...for free! Live Mocha is like a free, online version of the popular Rosetta Stone software, with the power of social networking thrown in. When you join, you become part of an international learning community. You can chat with native speakers in the language of your choice as well as tutor people learning your native tongue.

The list of available languages is huge and you'll be hard pressed to find a language you can't learn on Live Mocha.

All you need is an internet connection, speakers (or headphones), and a microphone for your computer.

Grant Writing Training Opportunity

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health is providing a grant writing training for community based organizations (that's us!)

Pertinent details:

Date	Friday, October 17
Time:	9:00am – 4:00pm
Location:	Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 615 N. Wolfe Street Feinstone Hall, E2030

Please take advantage of this workshop if you can. Topics include:

• Learn the elements of a successful grant proposal.
• Learn to critique grants.
• Learn how to develop a budget.
• Learn how to avoid the seven most common mistakes in grant writing.

Full details here.

Tell me or post a comment on here if you plan to attend. The $10 registration fee may be reimbursable so please let me know if you're interested.

Fun, Free Stuff to Do This Weekend

Fellow VISTA Lisa Morris from JHU sent me an email this morning with a couple fun and FREE weekend events. She's planning on going, so please get in touch if you'd like some company.

Originally started to raise funds and awareness when Fells Point was slated for demolition for highway construction, the 42nd annual Fells Point Fun Fest is this weekend! Over 700,000 people are expected to attend for the bazaar, arts and crafts, flea market, live entertainment, and food.

JHU is hosting a FREE classic comedy film festival. Showings include:
That Touch of Mink, Friday, Oct, 3 at 8 p.m.
Monty Python's Life of Brian, Saturday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m.
Young Frankenstein, Saturday, Oct. 4, at 9:30 p.m.
The Big Lebowski, Sunday, Oct. 5, at 5 p.m.
Airplane, Sunday, Oct. 5, at 7:30 p.m.

More info here.

Links!

I'm planning on adding a list of links in the side pane. One list will contain VISTA-related resources, but the other will be for you! If you have/contribute to a website, please leave the URL in the comments and I'll make sure it gets included.

Happy Hour This Evening!

An impromptu happy hour VISTA gathering has been planned by Becky, Catherine, and a flamboyant talking monkey. Meet us at The Dizz (what? It's always going to be Dizzy Izzie's to me...) at 7:00!

Refreshing the VISTA Free Box

Okay folks, I have promised this for months, but the time has finally come for the Free Box to go to a better place.

I will be taking the Free Box items to the nearest thrift store next Wednesday (October 8). That is, unless you have somewhere else you'd like them to go! Please make suggestions if you know of a worthy place in your neighborhood or school where these unwanted clothes would find a good home.

After the Free Box has been emptied, I will post an announcement and we can clean out our closets and fill it again!