Calling all current VISTA members!
Rhode Island Campus Compact is pleased to begin its search for an AmeriCorps*VISTA Leader position to support its corps of 10 VISTA members for 2012-2013!

Click here for more info or see below for more details.

Check out this latest story of service from Sam!


AmeriCorps*VISTA Member:  Samantha Hightower
VISTA Host Site:  Roger Williams University, Feinstein Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement
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New Beginnings

Beginning my service year as an AmeriCorps VISTA, I was anxious and excited to start a new journey into the service world. My original assignment was to work in higher education at Roger Williams University to promote, recruit for, and sustain programs involving K-12 education and tutoring. As I arrived at Roger Williams and communicated with the program advisors, I realized that a few of the stakeholder K-12 programs were going to be discontinued due to a lack of resources. Most would assume that this sudden change in venture would rattle their spirits. Fortunately for me, this position has provided a great support team and mentors who suggested that I take a new approach and develop a whole new program. As this initially seemed to be an intimidating and daunting task, I felt overwhelmed. Where do I begin? Who do I contact? What are the potential obstacles ahead of me?  

As a result of the sudden change in site, the idea to incorporate serving the Veteran population into the Roger Williams community service partnership was initiated. I was completely honored and excited to learn that I was going to be working with the Veteran population. Growing up in the Arlington, Virginia area, with a family that has a strong military background, I was constantly surrounded by the incredible men and women that have served our country. I have had the opportunity to swap war stories with Veterans and current men and women of in service which has helped to broaden my perspective of military service.

I am now working with Pam Dow, the Director of Activities and Volunteer Services, at the Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol, RI. We have worked together to create a laundry list of potential activities that the residents and participating university students would be interested in including: reading, writing, fine arts, music lessons, landscaping and yard work activities, basic physical activities, and providing general companionship.

While the program is still in the startup stages, I have found that there is a bit more work involved in creating a new project: recruiting volunteer, assessing the site’s needs, maintaining contact with volunteers, establishing protocol, and scheduling site visits.  After many suggestions and researching the topic of volunteering with the local Veteran population, my supervisor, KC Ferrara, and I decided to contact Pam for our own tour of the facilities.  We needed an idea of what the residents want or need from our student volunteers.

Although the program is still at the beginning stages, I have already recruited students, coordinated a group meeting, and scheduled a tour of the facility.  Thus far, there are over nine students interested and excited to begin their new community service outreach project. The excitement really began as I sat in the meeting with the students and watched Pam’s face light up. She has been the sole coordinator of activities in her department and for her to see that there are active young members of her community that are willing to give back to the people that she works so desperately to support, she is thrilled. 

I am completely exhilarated at the thought that I will have the opportunity to leave behind a legacy for Roger Williams University as proud servers of their community within the local Veteran population. By linking students with civic service opportunities in their neighborhood, I believe that they will create a since of community and partnership that will overall benefit the students and their surrounding population. 

Check out this latest story of service from Ryan!


AmeriCorps*VISTA Member:  Ryan Dwyer
VISTA Host Site:  Brown University, Rhode Island Urban Debate League
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The Rhode Island Urban Debate League partners with 12 high schools across Rhode Island. Twice a week, we send Coaching Assistant volunteers from Brown to teach these high school students debate. During winter, since our participating high schools’ breaks ended, I was given the opportunity to host a debate practice.

This opportunity was especially exciting for me. This is the exact kind of work I love doing. I am an alumni of the Rhode Island Urban Debate League. I participated from 2002-2004 as a debater, and judged several rounds in the following few years. Some of my fondest memories are of high school debate practices. During some practices debaters would argue until red in the face. Some would be so emotional, and many of us would be in tears. Then there were the really silly ones. We would often end up laughing non-stop about the absurd yet genius arguments we would often come up with.

So here was an opportunity for me to directly interact with our debaters, and have an amazing practice. My plan for the practice was simple, but I knew we would all gain a lot from it.

I decided I would start the practice with a fun speech exercise. This years debate topic is “Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its exploration and/or development of space beyond the Earth’s mesosphere.” It happened that within an hour’s time of the practice, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was meeting with many NASA officials in Florida to speak about space exploration. This was being streamed live on FloridaToday.com.

I envisioned this as an opportunity for the debaters to see the relevance of what they’ve been debating about all year. We would take notes during the speeches, and then discuss/ debate issues that were brought up.

With that plan in mind, the practice began. I had the debaters randomly pick papers from two hats. On one paper a topic would be listed. The topics ranged from “School should continue into the summer” to “The United States should hire Nicki Minaj to write a new National Anthem.” The second paper listed a bad habit that had to be performed while speaking. This could be anything from speaking in a monotone voice, to saying “like” and “umm” way too much.

After the speeches we had discussions guessing the bad habit, and how to avoid said habit. The activity proved very useful and fun. Some students attending had never given a speech before, so this was an opportunity which allowed them to be comfortable, and have fun with it.

After that activity, it was Newt time. I loaded up the website, only to be greeted by color bars and a message saying that Newt was on his way. We all waited patiently, and eventually video came up. But alas, Newt was still running late, and the video was simply showing his supporters clad in sparkling red white and blue American flag shirts holding signs with drawings of owls proclaiming “Give a hoot! Vote 4 Newt!”

We had enough. I decided we could hold practice debate rounds to the realization that only two students had actually brought evidence. Realizing that couldn’t happen, I spoke to a debater named Sarah. When Sarah had first joined debate she was extraordinarily shy, and had trouble even holding conversations. She has since become one of our most successful debaters, and the captain of her school’s debate team. I knew that the best thing I could do was to allow Sarah to run the rest of the practice.

Next thing I knew, Sarah had all of the debaters split up into two different sides of the room, having fast paced back and forth debates over Harry Potter vs. Twilight. While it may sound silly, and trust me, it was, there were some extraordinarily genius arguments coming forth from both sides. This kind of activity really allows debaters to think on their feet, and have instant back and forth clash with their arguments. After our Harry Potter/ Twilight debate, Sarah decided to lead a discussion about affirmative action. It was incredible!

Debate gives a chance for young students to feel empowered. They transform from shy disenfranchised students, to empowered leaders. These students are able to take their education in their own hands, and become passionate and informed citizens. I believe that people affected by poverty often feel powerless, and as if they have nothing worth saying, and that their education does not matter. Debate completely alleviates those feelings. Through high school debate, students get up, speak up, and take pride in everything they do, and rise to success. I couldn’t be more proud of the work I am doing, and couldn’t be more awestruck about the results I see every single day.

Check out this latest story of service from Stephanie!


AmeriCorps*VISTA Member:  Stephanie Nunes
VISTA Host Site:  Providence College, Feinstein Institute for Public Service
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EXPLORE! is a college access and readiness program geared towards ninth and tenth grade students in four local urban high schools in Rhode Island. A major component of the EXPLORE! program is exposing Providence College students to a different environment than what they may be accustomed. We are simultaneously showing them to value differences and hope they leave with an understanding of how much they have learned from the high school participants of the program.

The mission of the EXPLORE! program is, “to promote awareness of, access to, and readiness for college and career among first-generation local urban high school students while, at the same time, supporting and enhancing the educational experiences of Providence College students.” Up until recently, my main focus has been on the high school student, as I was once in the category of students that we aim to target. At the final EXPLORE! Reflection in the Fall of 2011, in which volunteers from all the school sites came together to talk about their experiences, I realized how much the PC student is also important to focus on.

One student in particular stands out to me. At first glance he fits the typical “bro/prep/emo” stereotype of whatever characterization that can placed on him, of a freshman white male, most likely middle class. But when he shared his experience, he spoke about how important EXPLORE! was to him and the change it had made in his life. He talked about the visible differences he saw between the participants’ experiences and his own while he was in high school and how he could see himself in a role as a teacher having gone through this experience with EXPLORE!

I was surprised to hear this. I know why I do this work, and I thought I knew why he did it (it was a class requirement) but at that moment I realized, once again, the impact that serving others could have on a person. As a result of this experience, he was considering a change in his academic track. Could he possibly be considering a career in education? Could he go on to dedicate his efforts to urban, disenfranchised schools? It is too soon to make all those assumptions; however, I can say for certain that something in his life has changed.

If people do service for no other reason it should be, at the very least, to make themselves aware of some of the issues that impact our country. In the case of EXPLORE! we want our middle class, predominantly white students to realize that the problems within our education that affect our urban youth and even more importantly, that they can do something as students and future leaders to bring about change. I can only hope, but I am confident in saying, this is precisely the revelation that student came to while working with EXPLORE!. In my role as a VISTA I was able to help this connection happen for this student. Having a VISTA with EXPLORE! the past two years has brought strength to the program and having a person who can focus on the small experiences is making the program beneficial for the Providence College students involved. As my VISTA year progresses, I know that there will be more PC students who EXPLORE! will impact as they continue to serve in the disenfranchised communities.

Check out this latest story of service from Kim!


AmeriCorps*VISTA Member:  Kim Hanson
VISTA Host Site:  Social Venture Partners RI
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In the last 2 weeks I have had a great experience with one of the young people in our Young Social Innovators program. I run the Young Social Innovators program along with a VISTA member who works for an organization called Youth Venture. Our aim is to empower Rhode Island youth to be changemakers now by facilitating their development as leaders and young social entrepreneurs through a multi-tiered approach which includes an interactive curriculum, seed funding opportunities, resource-filled workshops and mentorship. The first phase of the program involves us working with young people to develop an action (or business) plan for a business or club that will benefit the community. We prepare Venture Teams to present their ideas to a panel of judges who will determine if they qualify for up to $1,000 in seed funding for their social venture. Not only do we hope our efforts will support the launching of their ventures, but also that the process of creating an action plan will give them skills to succeed in the workforce, as well as the motivation and confidence to pursue their dreams and to create positive social change.

We have been working with Anta (name has been changed to protect her identity) since September, but she was not ready to present with other teams in December. We are very proud of her because she is the only young person from our site in Woonsocket to stick with the program. Her progress has been delayed because her venture went through a number of changes but more recently she has been making a lot of headway. Although Anta is not the biggest fan of math in an afterschool setting, I was able to show her how to apply her knowledge of percentages to figure out what portion of her profits should go to a charitable cause.

Originally, she had hoped to work with Adopt-A-Family, which provides low-income families with holiday gifts for their children. She wanted her profits to support gifts for teenagers, since Adopt-A-Family has a cut off age of 13. Although we were not sure Adopt-A-Family had the resources (money, staff time, and structure) to support gifts for teenagers, we encouraged her to contact them and find out. We felt it was important for her to gain the experience of contacting an organization and exchanging information. As it turns out, Adopt-A-Family does not have the resources to support gifts for teenagers. When we asked about other organizations she might want to support, she recognized that additional funds for running programs she participates in at this site in Woonsocket were needed. Anta has decided that 20% of her profits will go towards end-of-summer field trips (a reward for doing summer reading) and service learning projects. She was able to easily articulate the importance of supporting these programs and her commitment to improving services provided to her direct community. We have no doubt of Anta’s determination in running her own business and are happy to have contributed to her realizing that she can make a difference as a fourteen year old.

Check out this latest story of service from Liz!

AmeriCorps*VISTA Member:  Elizabeth DeGrandpre
  VISTA Host Site:  Johnson & Wales University, Feinstein Community Service Center
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Over the last three years, Johnson & Wales University (JWU) has collaborated with the Cranston YMCA. It has consisted of homework help, playing games, doing arts and crafts and keeping an eye on youth at the teen center. This year, two students from the Student leaders in Community Engagement (SLICE) program initiated a Community Service Club. Last term, every Wednesday afternoon, they spent an hour with 6 middle school youth from Bain Middle School, which is located next door to the YMCA. Bain Middle School also runs after school programming similar to the YMCA. Recently, the two afterschool programs have begun to collaborate through a number of afterschool activities, run by staff and volunteers. As the AmeriCorps*VISTA at JWU, I am one of the advisors for SLICE and go to the YMCA to see where the collaboration between JWU, the YMCA and Bain Middle School can be developed. When I observed the Community Service Club, I saw the success and struggles the students had running the program. Usually the group was only able to get through parts of each lesson due to the short amount of time to meet, constant interruption by other staff and youth and disinterest in activities. I found all of these barriers to be frustrating for the JWU students that were working hard to plan the weekly activities and lessons. Midway through the 10 week program, I made sure that the two students knew I was more than happy to assist them with planning each week and meet with them to plan out future ideas for the group. Weeks went by after I mentioned this and I heard nothing from the students. I struggled with ideas on how I could have played a more supportive role, but knew I couldn’t force help if it was not wanted.

Over a month later, I had a surprise visit by one of the two students leading the Community Service Club, to ask for my advice and help. The second session of the club had started with 14 youth signed up. I was blown away by the increase of interest in the group. The student went on to explain their initiative of going out into the community more this term to show the students different services that are provided for people and connect it to the discussions and service activities they were leading each week. They had already visited the RI Food Bank and were hoping to visit more places in the coming weeks, although they were unsure how to pull off all of their ideas with a short amount of time and little knowledge on other community-based organizations they would be able to visit.

At the time, I was excited and shocked that this student decided to take me up on my offer and I was glad to help. We planned out what they were hoping to accomplish over the course of this term and discussed the next steps necessary for this to be successful with 14 youth involved. Overall it was a beneficial conversation for both of us. I learnt about the changes that happened at the YMCA to increase the participation number and allow for field trips, while I shared the knowledge I had regarding community service topics and potential trips to community-based organizations.

Today, I am still working with these students. I had offered to assist them in any capacity they needed, and they decided to reach out to me for help. Together, we are focusing on organizing and improving the Community Service Club. We are working towards sustaining our current efforts in order for the program to continue year to year at the YMCA, as a valuable way for the youth at the teen center to see the benefits of service through direct and indirect community action and advocacy.

Check out this latest story of service from Adrienne!


AmeriCorps*VISTA Member:  Adrienne Adeyemi
VISTA Host Site:  Rhode Island School of Design, Public Engagement
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In mid November a staff member who works closely with the President of the Rhode Island School of Design, John Maeda, contacted me requesting my assistance on an initiative called The Grandma Project. I was then introduced to Nobuhiro Irie, a creative director for a font company in Japan called Morisawa, who RISD is hosting for the year as a research follow. He has been studying RISD’s organizational communication structure and plans to return to Japan with communication models that his company can implement.

He brought The Grandma Project with him in the hope that RISD could help his cause. The Project is a response to the devastating affect that the March earthquake had on the Japan’s textile industry region. It started with a group of elderly woman met and hand crafted delicate Christmas tree ornaments, as a way of encouraging each other while their community is recovering from the disaster.  The news of the woman’s group spread throughout the country and Morisawa began to sell these ornaments to help. The story eventually reached RISD, and this is how I as RISD’s Public Engagement VISTA came to have a part of this great effort.

We were able to secure a table at RISD’s annual Alumni Holiday Craft Sale and began advertising. We also recruited a number of RISD students to volunteer their time by tabling. The event proved to be the perfect opportunity to sell these Japanese hand made Christmas tree ornaments to shoppers as the holidays were approaching. Stationed right at the entrance of the large convention center, we told the story and sold ornaments as the venue filled with more and more holiday shoppers. Because we had posted an article about the Grandma Project on the RISD Alumni blog prior to the sale, many people came up to the table already aware of the cause excited to purchase.

We also set up a message table with paper and markers where people could write a word of encouragement to the Grandmas directly. Many people told us stories of their own loved ones who were in Japan during the earthquake and others even summoned up their rusty Japanese writing skills to send a message!

The Grandma Project proved to be a great success and at the end of the day we had made over $1,820 in sales! RISD made no profit in this and sent all the money directly back to the affected region through the Japanese Red Cross. Looking back on this particular experience during my VISTA year thus far, I am glad to have been able to step into the global community in this way, having brought this important movement to the attention of my local community. I am also truly glad to have been able to help this amazing group of women play an important role in their own community’s recovery.

Check out this latest story of service from Katie! 

 AmeriCorps*VISTA Member:  Katie Brym
VISTA Host Site:  Bryant University/Blackstone Academy Charter School
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We weren’t sure at first. You rarely ever will be when working in a high school—my first lesson as the Americorps * VISTA at Blackstone Academy Charter School (BACS). Literally. They told me in the interview.  This has been oddly reassuring during my work with the BACS and Bryant University partnership, a partnership with a unique set of strengths (common goals, access to a wide range of resources, commitment by staff at each institution) and challenges (lack of public transportation connecting the schools, conflicting academic calendars). So, we weren’t sure at first that the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet would be a success.

The event itself, an interactive experience that demonstrates the inequalities in access to resources present in our global community, seemed like the perfect fit for Blackstone, a public high school of choice that focuses on community involvement and community improvement. Nevertheless, it would require recruiting a dedicated group of college students willing to take on organizing a fairly complex event, gathering food donations, sorting through a mess of logistical conflicts, and convincing a significant number of high school students to skip lunch and sign up for an hour long educational activity. No small task. Especially considering many of Blackstone’s students qualify for free or reduced lunch and have no alternative to this meal.

The Bryant volunteers were a group of students from a management class who were somewhat familiar with the idea of a Hunger Banquet. The Blackstone volunteers had never heard of the event before, but were interested in learning more about global poverty and injustice. The food donation came from Sudexho, the company that does Bryant’s food service. The speaker was Toby Simon, a professor from Bryant who spoke about her experiences doing relief work abroad. Together the Bryant and BACS volunteers were able to persuade over 80 of the school’s 165 students to skip lunch and participate in the event, and most reported increased knowledge in the issues presented at the Hunger Banquet and a desire to help end world poverty. In the end, together Bryant and Blackstone had the resources and collective drive to make the event a success. As an Americorps * VISTA, it was my responsibility to identify those resources and match them with students who wanted to make a change. We did not need 100% certainty—just equal parts hard work and faith. 

Check out this latest story of service from Brittany!


AmeriCorps*VISTA Member:  Brittany Tedeschi
VISTA Host Site:  Salve Regina University, Office of Community Service
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Over the course of this past year, I have been serving as a VISTA for RI Campus Compact in the Office of Community Service at Salve Regina University. During the summer, we began meeting with the Middletown Senior Center to identify ways we could develop a stronger partnership between our two organizations and looked at ways we could encourage students to volunteer with seniors. As part of that collaboration, we have developed a Senior Outreach program, where seniors sign-up to have students assist with light housework and yard work.

I participated with a few Scholarships for Service students on one of our first projects where we were assisting a senior who lives alone in prepping her yard for the winter. While we were working, I was helping the homeowner search for some tools in the garage. During our hunt for supplies, she started talking to me about the fact she had recently lost her dog and was still very much grieving his loss. She then showed me the part of the garage where she had piled her pet supplies up and explained how she had asked us to come, in part, because it was too painful for her to get rid of the items herself. Later on, she also shared with me how she had lost her son the previous year.

It quickly became clear our role was much less about cleaning out the yard and more about providing the homeowner with support and companionship. After leaving her home, the students and I reflected on the experience, and during our reflection, I told them about my conversations with the homeowner. Upon hearing her story, the work the students had just completed took on a much deeper meaning for them, and as a result, the following week, they shared their experience with their peers during a Scholarships for Service meeting.  In turn, another Scholarships for Service student organized a group of her friends to return to this woman’s home and assist with the garage clean-out, while other Scholarships for Service students volunteered to help work on another senior’s home.

It is our hope that this cycle of service continues to grow and expand, and as the semester comes to a close, we are excited to continue to build and develop this partnership program. 

Check out this latest story of service from Khadiyjah! 

AmeriCorps*VISTA Member:  Khadiyjah Jordan
VISTA Host Site:  Community College of Rhode Island, Center for Excellence and College Readiness
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As a VISTA, I have the opportunity to be on the ground level of initiatives taken on by my host site (Community College of Rhode Island). At CCRI (Community College of Rhode Island) I work part-time in two offices, one of which being the Center for Excellence and College Readiness (CECR). CECR is a newly formed statewide hub for research, programming, and the development of best practices related to early college readiness and high school student preparation. CECR takes on a number of initiatives such as the College Access Network-Rhode Island (CAN-RI), which is a statewide college access network group designed to provide professional development opportunities for college access practitioners.

Being able to be on the ground level of CAN-RI has been an amazing experience thus far. I recently planned a panel event on adult education titled, “The Changing Role of Adult Education in RI College Access.” While event planning is not exactly a stroll in the park, it was thrilling and exciting to be able to gather a room of approximately 30 practitioners and observers of adult education.

Something remarkable happened at that event; on a Monday afternoon four panelists from statewide adult learning programs engaged with the audience about the educational challenges and needs of students, the needs of their organizations as well as other adult learning programs, and ways to collaborate. By the end of the event those in attendance were able to identify specific needs and ask those present in the room for assistance.

For instance, the whole group identified more longitudinal research as a necessity for effectively serving their population. Just as soon as this need was expressed, ideas were given. The keynote speaker—Administrator at the Office of Adult Basic Education and GED programs at the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE)—immediately said he has data on the 35 RIDE funded adult education programs. As soon as that comment came to an end someone suggested that a newly formed web portal that helps Rhode Islanders access education (WaytogoRI) serve as an access point to find new students that are seeking education and track where they go and how they use services available.

Input and ideas stretched beyond the confines of the room that day and will continue to do so. As I packed my materials at the end of the event, I was able to witness the immediate impact of my work. Everyone else departed to return to their busy workdays but a table of practitioners from schools and non-profits sat around a table on a conference call talking about what they have learned and ideas for collaboration. One of those individuals is the Associate Dean at the URI Feinstein College of Continuing Education, who later told me that the event brought to life statistics she has always known with stories that seem all too familiar to her stories.

In gathering those individuals for a luncheon event on a Monday afternoon I was not only able to educate myself and others, but also create a space in which those that previously worked adjacent to one another can now work with one another. The collaborations stemming from this event will better serve adult learners so that they are adequately equipped to participate in Rhode Island’s economy to make it more robust.