Third-term AmeriCorps member Sarah Webb was honored during the national Youth Volunteer Corps Summit Awards Ceremony with the Catalyst Award. Sarah currently serves with the newly launched Marshfield Clinic Health Systems (MCHS) Community Corps program at the Volunteer Center of Racine. She previously served two terms there with MCHS Volunteer Wisconsin, where she became involved with Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC) Racine.

As the Youth Volunteer Coordinator, she runs the YVC program in Racine, which offers youth volunteer opportunities for students 11-18. Sarah’s efforts have made a significant impact, growing the number of youth and level of engagement of the chapter. Among the impacts of her service that were recognized was how her efforts increased youth participation by 650%, increased the number of youth service hours by 1000%, and increased the number of projects by 450%.

Reflecting on her work with YVC, Sarah said, “Serving with AmeriCorps as the Youth Volunteer Coordinator for the Volunteer Center of Racine has been a great experience. I love working with youth and getting out to help out the community of Racine. It is very important to me to instill a sense of volunteerism and responsibility in the youth that serve with the Youth Volunteer Corps Racine. I want youth volunteers to want to continue to give back to their community into and throughout their adulthood.” Sarah continued by describing her reaction to receiving the award, saying, “I was very surprised and honored to receive the Catalyst Award. I did not expect it; I just try to do my very best always and help my youth volunteers in any way I can.”

During the ceremony, Chief Executive Officer of YVC Tracy Hale explained that Webb raised the rank of Youth Volunteers Corps Racine within the network of YVCs from 28th to 9th for total number of hours and 6th for total youth. Congratulations Sarah!

To watch Sarah receive the award, view the award ceremony video starting at 14:47.

University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire (UWEC) ECLIPSE hosted its annual Tidy Up the Town event again this fall, with UWEC ECLIPSE AmeriCorps members partnering with community volunteers to rake and clean up yards for senior citizens and veterans that need assistance.

This year, the twenty-five Tidy Up the Town participants were a combination of UWEC ECLIPSE AmeriCorps members and recruited UWEC student volunteers and community members. The participants served at seven different locations around Eau Claire throughout the day, including multiple homes and their local senior center.

Gina Graveen, who is currently serving for her third year as an UWEC ECLIPSE AmeriCorps member, reflected upon the day by saying, "it was great seeing how grateful they were that we were there and willing to help them. It was very fulfilling knowing we were doing a service that was needed."

As part of their service, multiple North Central Community Action Program (NCCAP) AmeriCorps members serving at WIPPS Research Partners helped design and conduct research to examine the challenges faced by caregivers of Hmong individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

This fall, College Possible Milwaukee and its AmeriCorps members were recognized at two local awards ceremonies for the work they do helping Milwaukee students apply for and succeed in college. Driven by the value that America’s youth should go as far as their talent and motivation can take them, the AmeriCorps members at College Possible Milwaukee focus their service on providing intensive coaching and support to low-income high school and college students in order to make college admission and success possible. College Possible Milwaukee then supports students wherever they attend college throughout the country, helping them navigate resources and advocate for themselves on campus and navigate the various challenges faced by college students.

College Possible Milwaukee was a finalist for Collaboration of the Year as part of the Milwaukee Nonprofit Excellence awards in early November, which recognizes a project that encompasses developed collaborative relationships with other nonprofit organizations and engages multiple stakeholders within the community being served through an innovative approach to a community problem or issue. They were honored for their collaboration with Milwaukee Area Technical College for placing an AmeriCorps coach at their campus full-time. College Possible recognized that scholars in 2-year programs need more support in order to persist and either graduate or transfer to a Bachelor's granting institution. The MATC Campus-Based College Coach supports all college scholars, implements on-campus experiences targeted towards first-year college scholars, and serves as a liaison between College Possible and MATC to assist with on-campus recruitment activities.

College Possible Milwaukee also received honorable mention for the MMAC Focus on Future equity award. This award recognizes organizations addressing racial disparities by attracting a diverse workforce and cultivating an inclusive workplace culture. College Possible Milwaukee’s work makes a college degree more accessible and thus opens career doors for the future of Milwaukee’s workforce. 

Serve Wisconsin would like to thank Ruhamah Bauman for all of their work and dedication to Serve Wisconsin over the last three years. Ruhamah will be leaving Serve Wisconsin at the beginning of December for a position at Wisconsin Emergency Management.

Ruhamah served as a program officer for several AmeriCorps programs and expanded Serve Wisconsin’s disaster response efforts. Ruhamah then transitioned into heading up two new focus areas for Serve Wisconsin, our AmeriCorps VISTA initiative and our Volunteer Generation Fund grant focused on fostering the development of Volunteer Organizations Assisting in Disasters (VOADs). Ruhamah also took on numerous roles supporting the state response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including serving as acting State of Wisconsin Volunteer Agency Liaison during the initial months of the pandemic and as the lead volunteer coordinator for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Mobile Vaccination Teams during the first half of 2021. This September, Ruhamah Bauman was honored with the Outstanding Commission Staff award at the 2021 America’s Service Commissions (ASC) Innovation and Leadership Awards for leading these efforts at Serve Wisconsin and throughout the state.

Ruhamah will continue working towards the betterment of the people of our state at Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM), building upon experiences gained here at Serve Wisconsin. Ruhamah will act as WEM’s All-Hazards Planner in this new role, providing coordination and project management for all-hazards planning, including evacuation, special needs, regional planning, and interstate planning and coordination. Additionally, Ruhamah will work with stakeholders across numerous levels to enhance response efforts and build liaison relationships with county and municipal governments, state agencies, and neighboring states.

Ruhamah’s last day with Serve Wisconsin will be on December 1, so be sure to reach out to Ruhamah before then. We would like to wholeheartedly thank Ruhamah for all of their service and wish Ruhamah the best of luck in all of their new endeavors.

Across two episodes of The S-Files podcast series released this November, Serve Wisconsin explored the volunteer response to assist Afghan guests who relocated to Fort McCoy. The episodes examined multiple elements of these volunteers' efforts, speaking with representatives from Wisconsin Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (WIVOAD), Wisconsin Emergency Management, and two organizations creating regional VOADs as part of Serve Wisconsin’s Volunteer Generation Fund grant. In addition to discussing efforts to assist the Afghan guests, each episode also discusses how these organizations have mobilized volunteers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters and supported the creation of local VOADs.

The first episode focuses on statewide coordination efforts and how multiple organizations and agencies work together to facilitate these volunteer efforts. The episode starts with a conversation with John Stuhlmacher from Team Rubicon, who is currently the chair of Wisconsin Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (WIVOAD). The episode continues with Shane Goss from Wisconsin Emergency Management, who serves as the State Voluntary Agency Liaison.

The second episode focuses on regional coordination efforts by two organizations that are helping to create local Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOADs) through Serve Wisconsin’s Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF) grant. The episode starts with Jen Schmitz from River 2 Ridge Disaster Resilience, our West Central Wisconsin VGF grantee. The episode continues with Aimee Wollman Nesseth from the Northwestern Wisconsin Healthcare Emergency Readiness Coalition from Wisconsin Emergency Management, our Northwest Wisconsin VGF grantee.

Over the course of two episodes of The S-Files podcast series released this November, Serve Wisconsin sat down with recipients of the COVID-19 Response Service Award at the 2021 Governor’s Service Awards to examine how they assisted people throughout Wisconsin during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this episode of The S-Files, we looked at the service done by AmeriCorps members with Marshfield Clinic Health Systems AmeriCorps Volunteer Wisconsin since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The episode starts with a discussion with Shelly Kaiser, who was the program director for MCHS Volunteer Wisconsin, to get an overview of the different types of service that their AmeriCorps members have done to respond to COVID-19. The episode continues with a conversation with AmeriCorps member Mario Fregoso, who served with Volunteer Wisconsin last year and serves as part of MCHS Community Corps at United Way of Dane County, supporting their Wisconsin 211 program.

In this episode of The S-Files, we examined the AmeriCorps service done by Lisa Penterman with the Be Well Fox Valley AmeriCorps program while serving at Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin. Lisa discusses several aspects of her service, including helping operate mobile food banks, conducting pantry order reviews, doing outreach to members of the public about FoodShare, as well as some highlights from her time as an AmeriCorps member and how it influences the work she is currently doing at Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin.

Serve Wisconsin will be hosting our annual New Program Boot Camp on January 25th and 26th, 2022 in Madison at the Pyle Center. This training is geared for new program staff and is open to any program staff that would like additional training or a refresher or staff at organizations developing a new AmeriCorps program, with planning grant staff required to attend this training.

The boot camp covers several topics, including: an overview of larger landscape of AmeriCorps and national service, rules and regulations, program management, site monitoring and compliance, and enhancing the experience of AmeriCorps members. This boot camp is hosted every year as part of the cycle of trainings and workshops hosted by Serve Wisconsin to provide support for its AmeriCorps programs.

To register, please complete the registration form located here by December 10: https://forms.gle/NJ8Gks6sKQVMgwoH9

For questions and more information, please contact Tracey Brent at tracey.brent@wisconsin.gov

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