It’s a New Year!

Posting written by the Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

The beginning of a New Year is a great time to determine where you are going and how you are going to get there. We don’t really get many other chances throughout the year to step back and look at the vision of our service-learning program and the steps we should take to get there. But this is an important step that shouldn’t be neglected. That’s why Learn and Serve – Michigan gave our grantees time in November 2009 to take a look at their programs and decide where they wanted to see service-learning six years from now and what small step they were going to take this year to get to that vision.

Here are some of their answers:

So while you are making your New Year’s resolutions and planning on where you would like to see yourself in 2011, also take time to think about where you would like to see service-learning next year. Think about what small, but highly successful, step you can take to get there.

If you are a student, perhaps that step is making sure you participate in the 2010 Global Youth Service Day (April 23 – 25) and the 2010 Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, January 18). If you are a teacher, perhaps this is the year you conduct a small service-learning project in your classroom or give a presentation to your fellow teachers on why service-learning is important. Everyone has one small step they can do this year to help service-learning efforts in Michigan’s schools and communities.

I encourage you to take time today, whether it is 10 minutes or an hour and ask yourself: Where do you want to see service-learning in five years at you school, at the state level, and nationally and what step are you going to make today in order to get there?

Learn and Serve – Michigan’s Youth Voice

Posting written by the Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

Over the past couple of weeks perhaps you have heard us talking about the Service-Learning Youth Council or SLYC (pronounced “slick”). If you haven’t heard of these amazing kids yet, well it is about time you do!

The Service-Learning Youth Council is an opportunity for students to lend their voice to Learn and Serve – Michigan. We get to hear their input and encourage them to become youth advocates for service-learning in their schools. At the beginning of the school year we send around applications to our grantee districts. This year we were quite impressed with the group of applications we received.

Students from across the state joined our team in Hersey, Michigan for the 2009-2010 SLYC retreat earlier this December. During that weekend they learned how they can become voices for the youth of their community and how they can plan a service event. With each other’s help they climbed a huge wall and hoisted their friends into the sky as part of their leadership building at the Eagle Village Adventure Center.

During this time all of the SLYC students proved themselves capable leaders. They met and exceeded every challenge. Here at Learn and Serve – Michigan we don’t often get to see the wonderful students who work with our grantee districts so it was a great opportunity to meet an excellent group of youth. By the end of the weekend everyone was tired but proud of what we accomplished.

This is just the beginning of this year’s SLYC. Members are expected to do three things during their term:

1. Participate in one 2010 MLK Day of Service Project.
2. Plan one statewide 2010 Global Youth Service Day event with other SLYC members.
3. Do one thing to promote service-learning in their community (i.e. a guest blog post, a Facebook campaign, a presentation, a YouTube video, etc.)

We are excited to see how they meet these goals! At the retreat they were just beginning to plan their event for the 2010 Global Youth Service Day and they have some great ideas.

We’ll keep you updated as the year progresses and look out for our SLYC member’s guest blogs when we come back in 2010!

Michigan Needs Recruits!

“I’m Robyn Stegman from the Michigan Community Service Commission and we want you to rethink Michigan’s future.

Service is the solution we need to move Michigan forward.

We all know what is holding Michigan back: a high unemployment rate, a low graduation rate, and a terrible economy. We hear that every day.

But do we know Michigan’s assets?

More young people volunteer today then any previous generation. Every day people are retiring and entering second careers in service.

These people are Michigan’s assets. They are the creativity of Motown, the innovation of the assembly line, and the social consciousness of the six hour work week.

Michigan needs Michiganders. In service we rediscover our power and reinvest in our community. We rethink our future.”

This speech was produced during the Communicators Institute held in Mt. Pleasant on December 10. The Institute allowed some of the staff at the Michigan Community Service Commission to think about our message. What should people take away from our efforts?

Empowerment.

John F. Kennedy, who started the VISTA program I serve with, famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Service has always been about empowering people to change their community. It is about realizing you are the change maker in your community. With service you are the one who helps your neighbor instead of expecting someone else to come along.

The message at the MCSC is a call to action. It is also a call for the discovery of Michigan. The realization we have so many assets to help us get out of this rut and all of those assets lie in you, in the people of Michigan. To steal from Kennedy… it is not what your country can do for us but the realization that you are the country. You are Michigan. We are Michigan’s future, we the people.

It is time for us to think about service as more than just volunteering. It is about building a healthy community, a healthy state. It is about realizing there are more assets in our community then threats. It is realizing we already possess the tools to build a brighter future. For us at the Michigan Community Service Commission it means realizing all Michigan needs is Michiganders.

We’re accepting recruits.  Visit www.michigan.gov/volunteer today!

Celebrating Service in Michigan

Guest Posting by: MCSC AmeriCorps*VISTAs Shana Holet and Matt Reaume

This week was a week of celebration between the 4^th Annual Michigan’s Premier Mentoring Conference and the 2009 Michigan’s AmeriCorps Member Celebration. Our two new AmeriCorps*VISTAs reflect on their experience and how it relates to what they are doing at the Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC).

Shana Holet: Hello all. Wow!!! What an amazing week to be serving as the Inclusion VISTA with the Michigan Community Service Commission.

At the Mentor Michigan conference I was part of a standing ovation given to a young teenage boy who, with great passion and heart, spoke to the audience about his experience with First Gentlemen Daniel G. Mulhern as his mentor. Having never spoken into a microphone before; this teenager spoke to more than 250 individuals demonstrating the power of mentoring. Every young person needs a mentor whether it is a formal mentor or mentee relationship or someone a young person can consistently rely on. Seeing so many individuals who are dedicated to mentoring is powerful. Yet the most powerful part of this conference was seeing a young teenager, who may have had obstacles but overcame them, demonstrate the strength of the human spirit and show us that everyone has a voice.

Inclusion is letting a person speak for themselves. It would have been simple for someone to read the mentee’s speech for him, viewing him as inexperienced. This did not happen; the mentee was included. He spoke and read with support that made it possible for all to hear his voice. Being the Inclusion VISTA, I become very excited when I view inclusion and fired up to correct exclusion.

The next day it was off to Michigan State University’s Kellogg Center for the 2009 Michigan’s AmeriCorps Member Celebration. Member Celebration included more than 500 people who are giving a year to service. As a VISTA serving at the MCSC, I had the opportunity to direct people into registration. I was able to visually see service members as they came through the door. I was delighted to see mass diversity among the members. Many people who came through the door were of different nationalities and cultures, men, women, young, old, disabled, and non-disabled. The entire day was filled with a community of service members united to make a difference in Michigan. The physical space was more comfortably laid out and inclusion was apparent. I was very proud to be apart of the celebration.

Matt Reaume: The week of November 15, 2009 was a whirlwind of activity with both the 4^th Annual Michigan’s Premier Mentoring Conference and the Michigan’s AmeriCorps Member Celebration taking place one right after the other. It was a unique opportunity to be surrounded by passionate individuals committed to improving the lives of Michigan citizens through their selfless service and hard work.

It is rather difficult to choose one single event as being the highlight of the week. Amazing keynote speakers, touching personal stories, and an exciting atmosphere of energy and idealism provided the backdrop to an intense three days of personal and professional development.

It is without a doubt though; the most enjoyable aspect of the entire week for me personally was participating in the first meeting of the 2009-2010 Michigan’s AmeriCorps Member Council. Having served as a member of the Council last year, I was looking forward to meeting all the new representatives and even more excited to continue the work from last year.

All the representatives contribute a wealth of diverse skills and knowledge that will undoubtedly add immense value to the Council’s mission. I look forward to working with these dedicated members throughout our year of service together and feel blessed for the opportunity to do so!

Social Media – What does it all mean?

Guest Posting By: Robyn Stegman, Learn & Serve AmeriCorps*VISTA and the Learn & Serve – Michigan Team

In the past few weeks you might have noticed some changes here at Learn and Serve – Michigan. We have launched our Facebook Fan Page and a Twitter account. We have added new members to our NING site and new posts to our Youth Service Blog.  For some people these have been exciting changes – for others we are speaking a foreign language. NING? Blog? Twitter? Facebook? Perhaps you have only heard them in passing. Perhaps you have never heard them at all.

We have all used networking. Say Susan, the teacher, is at her friend Terry’s annual Christmas party where she runs into Joe. Joe is getting rid of all of his kid’s old art supplies. Susan knows her school’s art teacher would love the treasure trove of markers, paints, and paper Joe was planning on throwing away, so she offers to take them off his hands and the school’s art teacher now has more supplies.

Social media isn’t all that different! Except now Sue can still find out what Joe is up to, even if he moved to Uganda. Now Sue is connected with not only her friends but her friends of friends of friends. Now she is connected to a lot more opportunities to find art supplies or information through the internet. Facebook is not all that different then a get-together at Terry’s Christmas party, but now Sue is partying with thousands of people. Social media allows us to connect to each other in new and interesting ways.

Intrigued? We hope so! The fact is Facebook, Twitter, NING, and other social networking sites are being used in a lot of interesting ways.

Take Twitter for example: last year astronauts posted updates on Twitter from space and it was famously used to help combat fraud in the Iranian presidential election. Last year an event called “Tweetsgiving” raised over 10,000 dollars in 48 hours. Just think of what Twitter could do for you!

Let’s take a look at the way Learn and Serve – Michigan are taking advantage of these resources:

Facebook
What is it: A social networking site that allows you to post events, pictures, updates, links, videos, etc.
How we use it: We have a Fan Page that gives news updates and shares resources with our grantees and the general public.
Link: http://www.facebook.com/learnandservemi 

Twitter:
What is it: A social networking site that allows users to post news and updates that are 140 characters or less.
How we use it: We use it to update our followers with the latest resources, events, and news as well as report on events such as the annual grantee meeting.
Link: www.twitter.com/learnandservemi

Blog:
What is it: An online journal that allows you to post reflections, commentaries, and informative posts.
How we use it: Our blog is used to post on topics helpful for our grantees as well as post updates and successes of service-learning around the state.
Link: http://michiganslyc.blogspot.com

NING
What is it: A site that allows you to create your own private social networking site where users can create profiles, and post photos, videos, questions, etc.
How we use it: Our NING allows our grantees to network and share information and is a way for us to stay in touch with our grantees.
Link: www.learnandservemi.ning.com

YouTube
What is it: A site to post and share videos.
How we use it: We share our channel with others at the Michigan Community Service Commission to post our grantees stories along with PSAs and other useful videos.
Link: www.youtube.com/MCSConline

One last note: Many people at our recent grantee meeting have brought up an interesting point. What do you do when your school does not allow you to access sites like Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube during the day? Well there are two ways to go about it. The first is to talk with your tech folks and find solutions. Perhaps you should create your own social network like Deb Wagner of Ionia County ISD. Or you could create a way for teachers to bypass online restrictions. NING might be a solution. I have yet to hear of a school that blocks NING and it allows a private space for you to network with other students and teachers.

Our best advice for anyone looking at social media options it to just go through trial and error. If you want to get on Twitter, set up an account and follow five to 10 good organizations. Spend about 10 minutes every day on Twitter for about a month before you decide to do something big with it, just to get a feel for the culture and usage. It might work for you or it might not.