Toolkits: Creating a Newsletter

By Jose Armendariz
Serving at the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Monica

Here, at the Boys and Girls Club of Mar Vista Gardens, we encounter so much creativity from every member. Members are able to apply and further develop their creativity with the different activities and resources available throughout the rooms inside the club. Also, the club incubates different groups such as Torch Club, Key Stone, Smart Girls, and Passport to Manhood, which interact within the club or the local community with their service or by organizing different events for the members to participate. So, there are always plenty of projects always going on, but photographs posted in the window’s office would be the only documentation of the happenings at the club. A newspaper emerged as an idea to engage members with creative writing, and as a source to document everything that was occurring at the club. A meeting was scheduled in order to designate roles for the members interested in participating as correspondents or editors. During that meeting members also voted for the newspaper’s name, “The Mar Vista Gardens BGC Bugle.”

The newspaper is a tool that will become sustainable after our service is completed because the content of it is brainstormed and elaborated by the members, and there is an official template that is only a click away from being updated each month.

The newspaper has been successful due to its flexible content, which changes every month according to the member’s topic of interest. The stories published in the newspaper depict the different likes, concerns, or queries of the writers involved in creating an article; and, each story is entertaining to read since it really portrays the character and spirit of the member in charge of it. Also, it is important to add that members rejoice being part of the newspaper crew since they discover new aspects of the club or the people inside of it. Members enjoy developing each story or article because they have to interact with other members or staff to get the information needed to finish their work. For example, members who are young and cannot explore the teen’s room; they can do so while writing a story regarding the teen’s perspective about a situation or an event. Members in charge of a story usually perform interviews in order to compile information to add to their story.

Overall, the newspaper has been well received by the members of the club, and the members in charge of it are truly excited to work on it.

Helping Students and Parents Learn to Love Reading

By Madeline S. Collazo, AmeriCorps VISTA Program Associate, Jewish Coalition for Literacy

Bio: Being an avid volunteer, Madeline has served in the East Coast, West Coast, Puerto Rico, and even American Samoa.

When I was a little girl, my favorite time of day was story-time. After I got ready for bed, I would pick out one of my favorite books. My mother would then read aloud as I listened and drifted off to sleep, cocooned in stories of dragons and princesses and children who would not eat their vegetables. I remember my excitement the day I looked down at the page and discovered I could read the words along with my mother, the stories I loved leaping off of the page.

For many children, there is no story-time. The only exposure they get to reading is in the classroom, and for many, this simply isn’t enough. Boosting reading skills at a young age is crucial for future success and, in order for students to get the most out of school, they should also have reading support at home. My current position as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Jewish Coalition for Literacy (JCL) is focused on Parent and Community Engagement; my top priority is organizing and facilitating workshops for parents who want to practice basic English vocabulary, pronunciation, and structure so that they can read books at home along with their children. Since September 2013 alone, JCL conducted more than 100 parent workshops in public schools across the Bay Area, helping communities that are often marginalized and underserved.

Phyllis Harrison, principal of North Shoreview Montessori School in San Mateo and long-time JCL partner, believes that JCL’s parent workshops have a multi-generational effect on families, benefiting the parents who come to the workshop, their children who now benefit from a reading-friendly home, and consequently, future generations in the family. “By coming to their child’s school every week, parents need and want to know that North Shoreview is their child’s home away for home,” Harrison told me.

Parents love the workshops as well, which provide them with the skills they need to help their children excel. Mothers, fathers, and guardians are their children’s first teachers, and the most trusted person in their sons’ and daughters’ lives. Sara L. Gomez, who faithfully goes to JCL’s “Reading Together in English” workshop every Tuesday morning at an elementary school in San Francisco, said: “I love to learn English so that I can help my daughter.” Dina Estevez, another regular at the Tuesday session, added that “it is very fun and we practice a lot of English.”

It is thanks to this enthusiasm and growing interest that JCL’s workshops are developing a new cadre of parents committed to their children’s reading success, and to creating supportive home reading experiences. Together, we are making story-time the new favorite time of day.

Interested in inspiring a young reader? Check out JCL’s website at www.jclread.org.

 
Read the Original Article

 

National Service VISTA* Video!

Neighborhood Advocate

by Anna Gettles
serving at Hands On Asheville-Buncombe in North Carolina

 

When I think of a community member that has made a significant impact to our Enka Middle Community School program, Terry School comes immediately to mind. She is passionate about Enka Middle School as it is the only public middle school option for youth in her neighborhood. The school is currently overcrowded with over 1000 students and 60% of these students qualify for free and reduced lunch. She sees the need for more community involvement and believes that it can make a difference in the lives of the students and families of Enka Middle.

(Terry using a hedge trimmer on an overgrown bush

 for our Make a Difference Day event.)

She lives just 5 minutes away from the school in Biltmore Lake, a neighborhood with over 500 families. Terry is such an asset to this program, and has emerged as a compassionate and devoted volunteer leader. She serves as a vital link between Enka Middle Community School and the Biltmore Lake neighborhood.



Here are a few ways she has served this year:

·          Member of Community School Advisory Committee (which meets monthly)

·          Volunteered for Make a Difference Day school beautification project

·          Organized a neighborhood meeting about Enka Middle Community School in order to recruit more volunteers  and spread the word about our program

·         Recruited over 15 volunteers  from her neighborhood so far

·         Volunteered for Enka Family Fun Night, helping to serve food to over 90 attendees

·         Provided outreach by emailing her entire neighborhood volunteer opportunities

·         Coordinated a clothing drive in her neighborhood for the Enka Middle School Clothing Closet (which provides clothing for students in need)

·         Assisted us in securing over $500 in donations to go towards student and family programming

·         Organized a volunteer event to assist Enka Middle’s AIG teacher in a class mosaic project

·         Committed to volunteering for our Healthy Cooking on a Budget classes this spring AND to becoming a volunteer Literacy Tutor, giving 1-2 hours of her time each week to work with a student in need of assistance in literacy skills

 Terry is an invaluable resource to the Enka Middle Community School. I believe that Terry is very important to the sustainability of our program and through her volunteer efforts she is helping to promote a positive image of the school within the Enka-Candler community. It is our hope to continue developing our relationship with Terry and her neighborhood to ensure many more years of community involvement for the Enka Middle Community School program.

Enka Middle School Creative Clubs for Students! by Kristen Muscaro

Narrative by Kristen Muscaro

 

I am the Student Success Coordinator for the Enka Community School Initiative at Enka Middle School in Candler, NC.  I work in tandem on the project with Anna Gettles who is the Parent/Community Engagement Coordinator.  Other partners involved in this initiative include: Hands On Asheville-Buncombe, United Way’s Middle School Success Initiative, Enka Middle School, and the YMCA of Western North Carolina. 

A large part of my job is to create new and enriching after school opportunities for students, and also maintain and improve opportunities that are already available for students.  So far for this school year, we have continued to offer two existing clubs created last year and have also created two brand new after-school clubs for students this year. 

The Creative Writing Club is in its second year of programming.  The club is a very enthusiastic group of 14 students who love attending our weekly meetings.  I have worked with the Language Arts teacher in charge of Creative Writing Club to strengthen the club curriculum, obtain teacher volunteer support, and bring in guest speakers with backgrounds in the writing field.  Our club goals are to continue bringing in speakers from different writing areas, improve writing skills and penmanship, and also to become more open to all areas in the writing field.  We also hope to publish a book that contains a piece of writing from each member of the club. Each student will get a copy of the book and one copy will go to the school’s Media Center permanent collection. 

The Service Learning Club is also in its second year of programming.  The club has spent most of its time developing and managing our Community School Garden and also volunteering weekly at our local food bank.  The students have learned about gardening practices, food insecurity, and felt the empowerment that comes along with helping others in need.  We have a total of 14 students participating in this club.

The Yoga Club is very new to the Enka Community School, and is in its second week of programming.  We have a total of nine students participating in the club.  The club is lead by a local volunteer/yoga instructor and a 7^th grade Science teacher from our school.  Although the club is in its early stages, the students in the club have said that it helped them relax after a busy school day.

The Knitting Club is also a recent addition to the programming offered by Enka Community School.  The club is lead by one of our school administrative assistants and is also in its second week of programming.  We have had very high attendance, and have a total of 15 girls actively enrolled in the club.  We also have several community volunteers who have attended the club to assist with our beginning knitters. 

Overall, I am having a great experience at Enka Middle and I think we are off to a great start for a successful school year!

Community Schools Collaboration!

Narrative by Dani Nispel

Community Schools Collaboration

Seattle, WA

I work directly in two elementary schools, places I haven’t spent a significant amount of time in since I was actually in elementary school myself. I’ve been helping to coordinate the after school programs. But mostly, I’ve found I’ve been doing a lot of listening. I’m listening to the counselors and what they think their kids and parents need. I’m listening to the family liaisons and what struggles they face. I’m listening to the PTA moms who want to support their schools as best they can. I’m listening to the kids who know that their parents work too many hours as it is.

I’ve worked with after-school programs before back on the East Coast, but those were with middle school students. I think elementary age kids are different, at least for me. I think it’s hard because for kids this age, a lot of things are out of their control. They don’t always get to choose if they’ll be walking home from the after school program, even if it’s dark out by early November. They don’t always get to control if they’ll get to school on time or get picked up on time. There are also some pieces that fall under the “ignorance is bliss” category. At this age, the kids don’t always recognize that they’re getting their dinner here at school because there won’t be food at home: it’s just fun to have pizza and yogurt after school. They don’t always understand that it’s a disadvantage to go home and have parents who can’t help with homework because they don’t speak English: it’s just a pain that they have to do their homework with us.

I get frustrated a lot, either because I feel like I don’t have enough to do during the days or because I feel like there are way too many avenues to start a project. But in the end, when the kids come in at 3:10 everyday and tell me about their days, those frustrations don’t really matter anymore. It’s worth it when a third grader comes in the next day excited because they remember how we did their long division homework together. Or when the parents reach out to me because they want to put together an MLK day of service at our schools.

The day-to-day work isn’t what’s hard. It’s hard because no one tells you what to do. You have to listen and understand and be a part of the community before you can make any kind of difference. But I’m glad I’m here. There are a lot of good ideas floating around. A lot of people who want to make positive changes at our schools. I’m glad I get to be a part of that.

National Service Video Challenge!

        

 

Hey Team, this is your March Monthly Story Prompt.  Looking forward to seeing all your great clips on

Why you Serve!