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Marshfield Clinic Health System AmeriCorps celebrates
20 years of AmeriCorps programs and 1,000th AmeriCorps member
The Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS) AmeriCorps team brought together its 66 AmeriCorps members serving throughout the state in its Afterschool, Recovery Corps, and Volunteer Wisconsin programs for three days of team building and program training from January 8-10 in the Wisconsin Dells.
The event opened with a motivational presentation by Alexis Dean, a Schools of Hope AmeriCorps alumnus who was who honored this summer with the national CNCS Excellence in AmeriCorps Award. His talk highlighted his motivation for his service and included some of the music he has written to motivate his students and his original raps. Over the next three days, the AmeriCorps members participated in several trainings including financial management, trauma informed care, a poverty simulation, and 10 hours of program-specific technical training. To help build upon some of these skills and to further their team building, the AmeriCorps members had to plan, shop, and prepare meals together throughout the three days. The team building continued throughout the evenings, as the members had several different activities to explore and participate in while at the Wisconsin Dells.
The event closed with a recognition luncheon celebrating 20 years of AmeriCorps programming through the Marshfield Clinic Health System. As part of the celebration, the 1,000th member enrolled with MCHS AmeriCorps was recognized, three Volunteer Wisconsin alumni were presented with Rock Star Awards, and several AmeriCorps members conducted a style show of the two decades of service gear worn over the past twenty years. Additionally, MCHS AmeriCorps Manager, Brian Blahnik, who received a Governor's Service Award in 2019 for his extensive work with the MCHS AmeriCorps programs since their creation, was "caped" as Captain AmeriCorps for 20 years of excellence in national service leadership with Marshfield Clinic.
The MCHS AmeriCorps members and staff left the training recharged and excited to "get things done for America."
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Building Brighter Futures in Milwaukee
The impact of AmeriCorps service on a MCC YouthBuild alumna
Jasmine completed her AmeriCorps service last year with MCC YouthBuild, gaining hands-on construction training while helping to build affordable homes for low-income families in Milwaukee. Additionally, with the help of the teachers in the MCC YouthBuild program, she passed the GED last May and received her high school diploma at the Milwaukee Area Technical College's graduation ceremony.
garage from the ground up and to know that I was a part of it. Just the other day, when we were working on a roof, I climbed a ladder to the top and asked a friend to take a photo of me up there. It seems silly, but I wanted proof, something to hold on to, to remind myself that I am what success looks like."
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Blugold Beginnings engages students in robotics tournament
This fall, the AmeriCorps members with
Blugold Beginnings at UW-Eau Claire added a robotics program to further their ability to engage youth in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programming. Over the past several months, they worked with 6th-8th grade students from three middle schools from the Chippewa Valley to help them develop skills in coding and building robots as part of their efforts to expand access to STEM programming in the region, particularly for students that are first generation, low-income, or underrepresented in these fields.
These efforts culminated with their participation for the first time in a Vex IQ Robotics tournament, which took place in Black River Falls on December 14. After roughly thirteen weeks to prepare for the competition and
with the assistance of ten AmeriCorps members, 45 students participated
in the tournament as part of twelve different teams. The students had an excellent experience at the competition, with the teams from Blugold Beginnings taking home two trophies, Judges Choice and Most Creative Robot.
The AmeriCorps team at Blugold Beginnings is looking forward to continuing to build upon their participation in this program and serving as a host for a competition next year.
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Public Allies Milwaukee Awarded Greater Milwaukee Foundation Grant for Healing Justice Workshops
Photo Credits to Ana Martinez-Ortiz
Countless community-minded people, including AmeriCorps members and staff, are in service to others, but are they also in service to themselves? Do they examine the ways the invisible systems around them perpetuate inequality and negative health outcomes?
Public Allies Milwaukee believes they should, putting focus on these issues during the Greater Milwaukee Foundation's third annual On the Table MKE event in October that featured 5,000 people participating throughout the city. At Public Allies Milwaukee's session on Healing Justice at the Sherman Phoenix, attendees discussed racial equity and inclusion and their seen and unseen roles or effects on self-care and mental health, with special emphasis on Black people and other people of color.
This January, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation selected Public Allies Milwaukee as one of thirteen recipients of an Ideas to Action grant to broaden the discussion of these ideas through Healing Justice MKE workshops in 2020.
For more information, please go to the following resources:
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Volunteering for the 25th MLK Day of Service
This year will mark the 25th anniversary of national efforts to provide volunteer service on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Day, with federal legislation passed in 1994 to establish the Martin Luther King Day of Service on the national holiday. The MLK Day of Service is led by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and is one of only two national days of service in the United States, with the other being the September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.
Throughout Wisconsin and the nation, hundreds of projects are completed each year in honor of the MLK Day of Service, working to answer the question stated by Dr. King in 1957 that "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" Last year, AmeriCorps members throughout the state participated in multiple projects, helping to complete a house construction project, sorting food bank donations, serving meals at a food pantry, painting rooms and murals at schools, organizing school equipment, assembling teacher appreciation kits, supporting youth workshops and recognition events, and providing assistance at community MLK Day celebrations.
For more information on MLK Day of Service, including how to find or register a project, access the below resources:
- MLK Legacy Videos from CNCS
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New Program Boot Camp - January 21-22
Serve Wisconsin will be hosting its annual New Program Boot Camp on January 21-22, 2020 in Madison, with this training geared for new staff at existing Wisconsin AmeriCorps programs, organizations with a planning grant to develop a program, or organizations considering applying for AmeriCorps program funds. This training will include an overview of the national service and AmeriCorps landscape, rules and regulations, site monitoring and compliance, the AmeriCorps member experience, and other topics.
For questions regarding the New Program Boot Camp, contact Jeanne Duffy, Serve Wisconsin Executive Director, at
[email protected].
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AmeriCorps Grant Writing Workshop - February 10
Serve Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative are presenting a one-day AmeriCorps Grant Writing workshop that will help participants become familiar with the AmeriCorps program grant application process and requirements. Topics to be covered are the application instructions, program narrative, budget, logic models, performance measures, and data collection. Participants will learn to build a strong program design that is informed by data and evidence through individual and group activities.
EVENT LOGISTICS
Date: February 10
, 2020
Time:
9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location:
Pyle Center
--
702 Langdon St.,
Madison, WI 53706
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Become an AmeriCorps Member Today!
If you wish to engage in meaningful community service and acquire job skills, consider joining AmeriCorps!
To learn more about AmeriCorps or if you are ready to join and have questions about which program is right for you, contact us! We are happy to answer your questions and help you explore the different opportunities available.
Program information is also available on our
Serve Wisconsin
website.
We look forward to speaking with you!
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Interesting in serving as a member of the Wisconsin National and Community Service Board?
For those interested in taking an active role in promoting national service and volunteerism in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin National and Community Service Board currently has three vacancies for board members for the following appointment types:
- A representative of community-based agency
- An individual between the ages of 16 and 25, inclusive, who is a participant or supervisor of a service program for school-aged youth, or of a campus-based or national service program
- An open seat where the individual would meet any of the slot descriptions in state statute for one of the other appointed members
Those interested in serving are required to complete an application to the governor for the appointment. The online application for applying for a board position can be found
HERE, with additional information on the application process found at
Apply to Serve - Governor Tony Evers. If you are potentially interested in serving on the board and have any questions, please contact Serve Wisconsin Executive Director Jeanne Duffy at
[email protected].
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Calendar: Upcoming Events and Key Dates
January
- January 20 - MLK Day of Service (MLK Day Project Sign-Up and Resources)
- January 20 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (State Holiday - Serve Wisconsin office closed)
- January 21-22 - New Program Staff Boot Camp (Pyle Center - Madison, WI)
- January 31 - AmeriCorps Transformational Leadership Training (College Possible - Milwaukee, WI)
February
- February 10 - AmeriCorps Grant Writing Workshop (Pyle Center - Madison, WI)
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See what's happening on our social media sites:
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