Weekly Wrap-Up

The wrap-up from last week is coming to you on Monday morning, because the week spilled over a bit into my weekend. This was good, because I was having a more challenging time getting focused last week, and I was able to pick up momentum again over the weekend. The tasks that I have for this year are pretty in-depth and go in several different directions, so it is easy to get lost in it if I step back too far and look at all that there is to accomplish. I need to be able to focus in a bit more on the smaller things so that I can keep things moving towards that big picture.

Here is where I wound up on my goals:

• Attend city council meeting on Thursday (again) and make introductions. 
• I did this! Whew. I look forward to working with the city and council members as I go forward with the needs assessment and program development.
• Finish, or at least get close to finishing, the volunteer manual.
• Meeeerr. I need to get some more focus together for this. Lynn, the library director, had to make a last-minute trip out of town last week, and I was hoping to do this conjointly with her so that we cover all the bases. This will be tabled until she is back in town and has some free time. 
• Have a final draft of my survey/interview so that I can begin doing interviews.
• I am CLOSE. I chatted with several people in town over the week and have some of my questions narrowed down. I am going to spend some time with the city administrator tomorrow as we travel together to a meeting, so I will have this done (hopefully) tomorrow or the next day. 
• Promote and conduct the teleconference for people looking to start their own business.
• Done! I had three people attend the teleconference, which I thought was pretty good for the first one, especially because there were several other events going on at the same time. 
• Get some things together and scheduled for Alaska Book Week. 
•  Still working on collaborating with some folks to get this happening. 

Other things that happened:

•  I completed a volunteer assignment worksheet for my online class, which will actually be very useful to me in working on different volunteer positions.
• I was able to get some last-minute things together for the library computers to run a live web conference on gun wound first-aid, which was able to benefit a couple members of the community who will get CEU credits for their emergency responder certification. I was also able to learn from this that there are several members of the community who would be interested in having this kind of medical education for their own knowledge or for various certifications.
• I found some good resources that are made available through the Institute of Social and Economic Research through the University of Anchorage that will help inform the work that I am doing over the course of the year.
• I met with Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Thompkins, who is the elected state representative for the district in which POW Island is located. We brainstormed a bit about the question presented in my VAD and I was able to gain some insight into how Coffman fits into the island community and Southeast Alaska as a whole.
• I participated in a webinar on using social media at VISTA sites. It was somewhat helpful, but a lot of the ideas are not very applicable in rural communities. 

On the agenda for this week:

• Volunteer manual? This will be worked on throughout the week but may not be finished, as it is up for final review and input from Lynn when she returns.
• Have a final draft of my interview questions. Really! 
• Get an event together for Alaska Book Week.This has been dependent on me hearing back from teachers and getting their input, but if I don't nail down a way to coordinate with the schools this week, then I will go ahead and create an event that will not be run during school hours. 
• Attend POWCAC (Prince of Wales Community Advisory Council) meeting on Tuesday. This is where people from all the communities on the island come together to discuss matters that impact the people who live on the island.

I just want to keep writing things on here that I can be doing, but I am trying to keep myself from biting off more than I can chew, and I already have items on here that have been rolled over from last week. I am hoping that I will be able to stay a bit more focused and get some stuff done!

Heck Yeah It's Time to Start My Own Business: Resources from Our First Teleconference

Our first teleconference came to us from Diamond Dar of Eagle Vision Consulting. Here are some of the resources that she discussed as we were chatting:

US Small Business Administration
Alaska Small Business Development Center
Establishing a Business in Alaska: a big manual for getting a small business started

Our presenter discussed the major importance of having a business plan, and she recommended doing a search for business plan templates. I found some extensive templates here on SCORE, which connects entrepreneurs with mentors.

I also found a list of free templates here.

Dar also discussed how quickly people make perceptions about businesses, and they will determine their patronage based on the following things:

• Do they know you?
• Do they like you?
• Do they trust you?
• Then they will buy from you.

Other scattered thoughts:

• Do your research on similar businesses that may exist in other places. 
• The emotional things are what get people to buy.
• Social media is IMPORTANT. 
• In small communities, the relationships are particularly important.
• Can you collaborate with other people that are doing complimentary businesses?
• Business fairs: could be held at the library, other times that people could get discounts
• In Alaska, people are looking to come to small rural communities and there is a developing market around bed & breakfasts, etc.
• What are unfilled needs in your community? 
• "Alaska Made" products are big sellers. 
• How are you going to deal with competition if you have it?

A Great Resource: Community Tool Box

I just found this great resource called Community Tool Box that would be really helpful for anyone working on a needs assessment or similar project. Here is the link.





I found a bit of insight on one of the pages that I think is extremely helpful:

"Be prepared to learn from the community. Assume that you have a lot to learn, and approach the process with an open mind. Listen to what people have to say. Observe carefully."

Weekly Wrap Up

Goodness, it's already Friday!

Okay, let's see how I did on my plans:

• Attend meeting at the school on Tuesday, make introductions.
• I went to the ASC (school committee) meeting on Tuesday, and this proved to be very helpful. I learned some more about the community and made connections with the teachers so that we can hopefully work together on some projects. This was very productive.
• Attend city council meeting on Thursday, make introductions.
• I sort of did this. The city council meeting was last night, but a lot of the council members were out of town for various reasons, so the decision was made to postpone the meeting until next week. We'll try again then!
• Sit down with Lynn and compile a "dream list" of tasks that need to be accomplished in the library so that we can then prioritize them and make volunteer descriptions accordingly.
• Lynn and I have talked this over some, but thought that it would be good to get a library board meeting together so that this list can be a collaboration of everyone's ideas. This will be a work in progress, and I will put it back on the list of goals for next week.
• Begin to craft/revamp volunteer manual.
• Tougher than I thought it would be! I have been piecing together the tasks for daily running of the library, and I will hone in more on this next week.
• Get onto the library's facebook page and post upcoming events.  
• I now have access to the Coffman Cove Community Library Facebook Page and have been able to post some of our upcoming events.
• Look into the Center for Integrated Learning and Collaboration classes that can be offered over teleconference for kids or adults in the community. 
• A lot of these look really exciting. I have piggy-backed onto the event that the Craig Library is doing next week, so I will have my first real go at getting this running. I have looked at how I can incorporate some of these trainings into programs that the school or library will have running.

In addition to those things:

• I got the Coffman Cove Library signed up to participate in Alaska Book Week. I am working on getting in touch with the teachers in Coffman Cove and another nearby town so that we can get some events planned and scheduled. I am hoping to integrate a workshop/teleconference with a writing activity for the students and tie it into the books about Alaska that are here in the library.
• I have been working on carefully crafting the survey that I will use for the needs assessment. My VAD is very specific about the question that the needs assessment will seek to answer: what are the ways in which unemployment impacts members of the community. It has been very important that I talk with people and get to know the community before seeking to formulate a survey, because it became apparent to me very quickly once I arrived that the unemployment numbers and statistics don't seem to accurately represent what life is like in Coffman Cove. I want to be able to tease apart some of the things that might be helpful to know about the community in moving forward with program planning, which is going to require that I look beyond what may typically count as unemployment or underemployment. People live in this community for many reasons, but one of the reasons is that this is a place where a 40 hour per week office job is not on the menu. I am going to try to do interviews with people instead of distributing a survey so that I can talk more and get a clearer picture.
• Today, the library is hosting an event about the Dena’inaq’ (a native tribe) Way of Living. The Anchorage Museum sent a lot of great materials, and there will be some information shared by one of the volunteers along with a short video and a beading activity. I wish I could say that I had a role in the planning of this event, but it was all organized by a wonderful volunteer before I arrived!
• I am getting the word out for our first teleconference workshop, which will be next Thursday: Heck Yeah It's Time to Start My Own Business, which, as I mentioned, I jumped on with the Craig Library.
• I began to talk to the city administrator about forming a nonprofit for the library, which was fueled by my desire to get the library signed up for Amazon Smile. We are going to get together over the next few weeks and weigh out pros and cons.  
• I had my first webinar for class! I am taking Volunteer Mobilization through VISTA Blend, and that started this week.

Plans for next week:

• Attend city council meeting on Thursday (again) and make introductions. 
• Finish, or at least get close to finishing, the volunteer manual.
• Have a final draft of my survey/interview so that I can begin doing interviews.
• Promote and conduct the teleconference for people looking to start their own business.
• Get some things together and scheduled for Alaska Book Week.

That seems like a short list, but they are all big things!  Whew!

Alaska Book Week!

Alaska Book Week is coming up! This is a state-wide celebration that will take place October 3-10 that recognizes books about Alaska and books by Alaskan authors. I am trying to figure out what kind of events will be doable here at the Coffman Cove Library...

Getting to Know Howard Valentine School

Yesterday, I was able to attend the ASC (Advisory School Council) meeting at Howard Valentine, which is the K-12 school that is here in Coffman Cove. I went with the intention of building ties at the school so that the school and library can work in sync in developing or offering programs, ultimately expanding reach.

There were nine people in attendance, including myself, which I actually think is pretty impressive considering the fact that there are only 13 students enrolled at Howard Valentine this year. For anyone who is reading that doesn't have experience in a rural community, this may be hard to conceptualize.  There are two teachers who share the role of instructing all the students in most subjects, which is a tremendous task for which I have so much respect. I was excited to be able to share information about the CILC courses that can be offered over teleconference so that we can collaborate in picking out the ones that will best fit the community.

Another thing that was discussed was the sports programs that will be available to students and the challenges of fundraising for these activities. There is no general funding allotted for sports, so if kids want to participate in basketball, archery, etc., they or their families must raise the money to get the program going. I have heard people in town talk about the fundraisers that the kids put on and that everyone is very generous, but I would imagine that it's tough to fund-raise in such a small community.

An interesting thing that I learned after the meeting was over in talking with the principal is that there is currently legislation being considered that would change the amount of students necessary to maintain a public school. Right now, in Alaska, if there are 10 children in a community, then a school will remain open. The change that was proposed would require that there be 50 students, but that has been compromised down to 25. The principal of Howard Valentine School oversees two other schools- one in Naukati and one in Kasaan. He said that between those three schools, there are 50 students. This is a very interesting and important thing to consider: what would happen to these small communities if the schools closed?

Overall, it was good for me to meet more people in the community and learn a bit more about how the school system here functions. 

Weekly Wrap-Up

Each week, I will meet with my supervisor to make sure that we are staying on track, and then the two of us will phone into the program supervisor in Juneau. I think it will be helpful for everyone to make sure that we are going in the right direction, but it is also helpful to be able to step back and really look at the things that have been accomplished.

Things achieved this week:

• I met many of the volunteers as they have rotated through the library, and I have also begun to meet lots of people who live in town.
• I learned how to check books in and out using the computerized system. I also learned how to enter new books into the system, assign them a bar code, etc.
• I began to pick apart the steps needed to begin developing a plan for the needs assessment. (Note on this: about half of the town's population leaves for the winter, so embarking on the needs assessment during the winter will mean that fewer people are present to survey.)
• I participated in the OWL for early literacy with the other VISTAs and got some ideas for how to implement early literacy programs.
• I created a separate email address that can be passed on when my time here is done and have begun logging contacts.
• I created this blog to document progress.
• I enrolled in the VISTA Blend course on Volunteer Mobilization, which begins next week.

Plans for next week:

• Attend meeting at the school on Tuesday, make introductions.
• Attend city council meeting on Thursday, make introductions.
• Sit down with Lynn and compile a "dream list" of tasks that need to be accomplished in the library so that we can then prioritize them and make volunteer descriptions accordingly.
• Begin to craft/revamp volunteer manual.
• Get onto the library's facebook page and post upcoming events.  
• Look into the Center for Integrated Learning and Collaboration classes that can be offered over teleconference for kids or adults in the community.

Getting Started with Early Literacy

Today, I had my first run at operating the Alaska OWL (Online With Libraries) system. I didn't have to sent anything up for myself, so it was actually very easy; just turned on the monitor and the teleconferencing system automatically connected when the time came to meet.

Myself and the other VISTAs were able to get a training from Linda Klein, from the Ready to Read Resource Center in Anchorage. (If you follow that link, there is some good information about what the center does and what kinds of materials it can loan out.) We all checked in as to our progress on different projects, and since I am just starting out, I again was able to benefit by learning what the other VISTAs have done before me.

Currently, there is not a story time program running at the Coffman Cove Library, though there has been one in the past. There is a good sized collection of children's books, but nothing comparable to the literacy kits described here. 

Here are the notes that I gathered from the training:

Early Literacy Kits

• These kits contain a variety of materials that can be used in the library or taken home for parents and children to play and read together, with a focus on enhancing early literacy.
• When creating the kits, it is important to ask "what is the goal?" In other words, what is the library hoping to achieve in offering them? What age groups are being reached, etc.
• Each kit will typically have a theme, and I was able to get a good list of different themes from the Resource Center website listed above. For example, some themes listed for the lapsit (0-3 years) kits are Alaskan Animals, Beach, Potty Training, and Things That Go.
• Think about who will be using the kit when figuring out what books and themes should go in the kits. Younger children will need different things from their books that older children. Also take into consideration that the kits are designed for parent and child to sit together.
• "It's not just reading that improves literacy, it's reading together." 

What is in a kit?

• A bag, preferably with a zipper, with return information for the library and a code to check the item out.
• A laminated table of contents, which will help both library staff/volunteers and parents to know what should go into the kit. 
• Books- with consideration given to the age range and reading levels. Younger kids might have 5-6 books, possibly board books for the 0-3 range. Kits for older kids may have more books, 8-12.  Informational books can be integrated in with story books if they are age appropriate.
• CDs with music- again, things that are age appropriate and something that parents may enjoy listening and singing to with their children.
• Resources for parents to keep- a list of activities or ideas, nursery rhymes to sing with their kids, etc.  

Promoting Early Literacy Materials

• If the library has an online presence, this can be used to promote.
• If the library has a story time or similar program, using materials from the kits can help increase awareness.
• Make sure that volunteers are aware of the kits so that they can be recommending them.
• Word of mouth is the best way for people to learn about utilizing kits.

 Resources to Investigate

• Melissa and Doug- ideas about pairing toys with books
• Lakeshore Learning- educational toys and materials
• Folkmanis- for puppets

Getting Started with a Needs Assessment

Okay. This week, and the next two weeks, are about me learning about the library and getting used to the way that the organization runs and functions. I am picking up on that in bits and pieces as volunteers are in and out of the library, but I have also been left with some time to begin to get thinking about some other projects. One of the major things that I will be working on at the beginning of my term is getting a community needs assessment rolling, as laid out by the objective in my VAD (VISTA Assignment Description).

(Dates performance have changed, since the program was originally meant to begin in Feb. and I am staring in Sept.)

This is going to be a good chance to put into action some of the things that I learned about during the last few years in school. I was able to go back and draw from my Program Evaluation textbook from last year and refresh myself on the steps for a needs assessment, which are actually pretty well demonstrated in the objective shown above.

Going back, though, I made myself some more notes from the book to help guide my process. I must say that I am also majorly fortunate that there are 3 other VISTAs working on the same project in different locations in the area: Thorne Bay, Craig, and Kake. Those volunteers began their assignments in either February or May, which means that I have some nice foundations already laid out for me.

Here are some basic notes that I drew from the chapter on needs assessments in the book Program Evaluation: An Introduction, 5th ed.

 

Step 1: Define the parameters for the needs assessment. 

1. The purpose of the needs assessment 

2. The level of assessment (statewide, community, neighborhood) 

3. Budget and available resources 

4. Time allotted for the project 

Step 2: Identify the information needed for decision making. 

Step 3: Determine what information already exists. 

Step 4: Develop a needs assessment plan- a methodology that will structure data-gathering. 

Step 5: Collect the actual data. 

Step 6: Begin writing the needs assessment report. 

Step 7: Share the preliminary results with key stakeholders. 

Step 8: Disseminate the results to interested and sympathetic parties.



Some other questions that I have drawn from the reading of the chapter that are on my list of things to consider:

Who are the stakeholders?

Funders

Administrators

Politicians

Community members

Service providers and staff

Programs or organizations that will make referrals

Businesses

Unions

Current, past, and potential clients

 What information sources are available?

What resources are available?



So for now, that's what I'm workin' on! I have already created some things in my notes that are going to help guide me in this, but that's the basic outline.


Royse, D., Thyer, B. A., & Padgett, D. K. (2010). Program evaluation: An introduction, 5th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Starting Out

I arrived to town in Coffman Cove last Wednesday evening, so I have been here now for just over a week. It seems crazy that only three months ago, I was interviewing for this position and making the decision to come to Southeast Alaska for the year. I had begun to look into AmeriCorps positions as I was approaching my graduation date last April and May. Although I had just spent two years working on my MSW, the prospect of getting out of school and jumping right into the workforce didn't hold the same excitement for me as it did for some of my peers. I wanted a year to settle myself after two crazy busy years of school, but I also wanted to feel productive and make some contribution with the knowledge that I had gained. AmeriCorps had piqued my interest in the past, and it seemed that now would be a good time to take a more serious look at getting involved.

For those of you who don't know what AmeriCorps is, you can learn more about the program here, but here's the gist of it from the FAQ page:

AmeriCorps is a network of local, state, and national service programs that connects over 70,000 Americans each year in intensive service to meet community needs in education, the environment, public safety, health, and homeland security. AmeriCorps’ members serve with more than 2,000 non-profits, public agencies, and community organizations.Members serve in full or part-time positions over a 10-12 month period.

Within AmeriCorps, there are several different programs, and the one with the position that most caught my attention was the VISTA program- Volunteers in Service to America. VISTA, once a separate entity from AmeriCorps, has a different set of goals and projects that have a specific focus around capacity-building, not direct service. Again, from the AmeriCorps website:

AmeriCorps VISTA members live and serve in some of our nation’s poorest urban and rural areas. With passion, commitment, and hard work, they create or expand programs designed to bring individuals and communities out of poverty. Each VISTA member makes a year-long, full-time commitment to serve on a specific project at a nonprofit organization or public agency... 

VISTA members generally do not provide direct services, such as tutoring children or building homes. Instead, they focus their efforts on building the organizational, administrative, and financial capacity of organizations that fight illiteracy, improve health services, foster economic development, and otherwise assist low-income communities. VISTAs develop programs to meet a need, write grants, and recruit and train volunteers. 

When I was looking at different positions, the one that I liked best and ultimately accepted really appealed to the part of my brain that is fascinated by and passionate about macro-level work (though I do, at this point, hope to return to direct practice after the year is over).

So, without further ado, here is what I am doing for the next year!

 

It's a lot, right? But it's a lot of really good stuff. My program description is further broken down into five different areas with more specific goals, and I will be using this blog to post about my progress during my year of service. My hope is that this blog will serve several purposes: keep friends and family in-the-know about what I am doing, help keep me organized and give me a place to record my progress, be a resource for other VISTAs, and create a road map of the year for whoever comes into this work after me. (VISTA positions typically run in 3-year cycles, with a new person each year.) While I hope this will be useful, I do want to add the disclaimer that I am probably going to often be typing things up quickly and not proofreading too often- just be warned!

As I can,  I will be updating my personal blog with more fun stuff about my travels and adventures around Prince of Wales Island, and that can be found here (when I get around to posting).