Greetings! My name is Mitch Port, a first-year AmeriCorps VISTA member serving with Washtenaw Literacy in Ypsilanti, MI. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin- Madison with a degree in Psychology and started working as a recruiter soon after graduation. I was looking to make an impact in the community around me. While I enjoyed recruiting, I had a desire to gain a better understanding of nonprofits and wanted to be closer to my family, which is what led me to start as a VISTA with Washtenaw Literacy. 

Moving to Michigan at the same time that I started my service year has given me a unique perspective of my new community. As I began to learn more about illiteracy through my work, I could only imagine how someone with low-literacy skills would navigate a situation similar to mine. Moving is stressful for everyone, but I imagine that everything from navigating a new city to changing your address to finding employment would be more difficult and more stressful for individuals with low-literacy skills. After completing the moving-related tasks, it further instilled the importance of the work that Washtenaw Literacy is doing. 

Even though I have been serving with Washtenaw Literacy in a virtual capacity, that has not stopped me from hitting the ground running. Thus far, I have been working on producing a podcast releasing in the coming weeks, which will focus on barriers to learning. For the first season of the podcast, I've been providing feedback on episodes, writing content for breaks in the episodes, and preparing to upload the season onto a hosting platform. For season two of the podcast, I look forward to taking a more hands-on role by conducting interviews and editing episodes myself. Additionally, I've been planning and executing social media content to increase Washtenaw Literacy’s reach. In December, we completed our Twelve Days of Virtual Learning posts. These highlighted our virtual literacy programming and challenges that adult literacy learners have faced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

When Washtenaw Literacy went virtual in March of 2020, they began implementing Slack, a digital workspace platform, for tutors to use as a resource and interact with staff and fellow tutors. I took over leading the evaluation of the Tutor Slack after the start of my VISTA service. This has involved running focus groups and distributing surveys; feedback that we collect will help us make changes to the Slack workspace so it is a better tool in the future.  

While I am no longer a recruiter, it is nice having some responsibilities that relate to volunteer recruitment. In addition to social media, I am also the point of contact for volunteers after completing volunteer orientation and registering existing tutors for Virtual Tutor Training. 

I am so grateful for the learning and growth experiences that I have had over the last few months and look forward to what the next few have to offer. 

Hi everybody!
 
My name is Lindsay Regalado. I am a first-year AmeriCorps VISTA serving with Detroit College Access Network (DCAN). I just graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelors in Communication and a concentration in Organizational Communication. After I graduated, I started a lovely job search. I knew I wanted to work for a nonprofit, but I wasn’t sure what exactly it was that I wanted to do or where I wanted to be. Then, I came across the opportunity to serve as a VISTA with DCAN and am beyond grateful and happy that I did!
 
I am learning new skills, understanding more about the nonprofit world, and meeting new people. The projects I have been working on have been fun while challenging at times. The challenging part stems from COVID-19. A lot of kids are not going to school right now, or are not putting in the efforts they normally do because school is virtual. This makes a few of my projects more challenging because I have to figure out how to engage and reach kids in new, fun ways.
 
My fellow VISTA co-worker, Olivia Tubaro, and I have been working hard on DCAN’s social media. It has been very rewarding to see our presence and following grow! As well as our quality of content and posts. Coming up with new posts each week is harder than it seems, so it’s great to see our hard work paying off!
 
These past few months at DCAN have been a great experience. I can’t wait to see what the next few will bring!

Hello, my name is Jeanette Devito and I am currently serving with the Carson City- Crystal Area School District. I have been working with the students and the parents of the community to help families in need find the resources that they need. I run and manage the Care Closet during school hours, and I am still currently collecting items for donations. I recently connected with the local Dollar general and built a relationship with them regarding the items in the store that penny out. The phrase “penny out” means that stores like Dollar General, are trying to get rid of items on their shelves, so that they can make room for other products. Normally they get sent back or thrown in the trash, but I am now going to start collecting the clothing and needed items, like toothpaste and toothbrushes, on a regular basis.

I also encourage many students and parents to get out into the community and help one another out like we did during one of our major events called the Serve-a-thon this past fall. In the Serve-a-thon, students got to get out of the classrooms and complete a myriad of service projects, ranging from cleaning school busses, to making tug toys for dogs out of old t-shirts, to weeding planters around the school. This is a helpful way to teach the students and the parents useful skills to prevent future poverty. A great example is that students who are able to introduce themselves and interact with community members and local businesses are more likely to be successful. It also gives them opportunities for potential employment and other opportunities to gain other experiences. Basic skills are not always taught at home and are necessary for being successful in the workforce.

​I anticipate this year to be a little harder than most with all the virtual learning going on. It's difficult to teach students and parents in person skills when not in-person. I look forward to finding new ways to work alongside Carson City Schools in teaching the youth of our community skills to help them be successful adults.

​When I joined the VISTA program, I already knew Washtenaw Literacy pretty well. I’d been tutoring for several years, and was also serving as a mentor and site coordinator. I knew everyone on staff in one capacity or another. Possibly because of this experience, I went in not realizing just how steep a learning curve there was ahead of me. (At times the curve felt like a vertical line.) I knew about the pivoting Washtenaw Literacy did immediately following the shutdown. In the haze of chaos and the desire to hide away from the world, I was aware of updates talking about how staff was reaching out to tutors and learners to pilot a virtual tutoring program. Eventually, I emerged from my metaphorical blanket fort to come back to tutoring. I was assigned some new learners and reunited with a few old ones.
 
And then came August, and I started at Washtenaw Literacy as an AmeriCorps VISTA. Wow. Remember what I said about that steep learning curve? Suddenly I wasn’t just tutoring in the Virtual Tutoring Program. I was coordinating it. The Program Manager described it as building an airplane while flying it. She’s right. While I knew staff had been hustling to make the transition as smooth and painless as possible for tutors and learners, I had no idea how much effort they’d had to put in to make it work. And suddenly, I was in charge of a large segment of it.
 
In some ways, this has been an intimidating experience. It’s a lot to take on all at once, even when you are supported, as I was and still am. I conduct learner orientations, place learners and tutors together, and track their progress. I provide necessary support to tutors, some of whom are brand new, and some of whom are experienced tutors exploring this strange new realm of online tutoring. I’ve been assisting with Virtual Tutor Training, and in December I’ll be leading the training. (Attendees will include the Program Manager and at least one tutor who’s far more experienced than I am. No pressure.)
 
On the other hand, I’ve been able to make my own tweaks to the program, and while I wouldn’t make any major changes on my own, it’s freeing to be able to make adjustments that support tutors without having to run everything by someone else. This month I’ve started scheduling Tutor Coffee Chats, where tutors can connect. Initial response has been good. I’ve adjusted the Tutor Monthly Update to start including resources for tutors. Even something as small as adapting the Update email to be screen reader-friendly is an important change.
 
Washtenaw Literacy mentors commit to providing additional support for tutors and staff. Now as a VISTA, it’s like that, but on a much, much larger scale. The broader scope means I’m able to support more tutors, and in turn support more learners. More than once, I’ve had a tutor get so excited when I make a suggestion that makes their tutoring easier, or in one specific case, gave the tutor the impetus to get back to tutoring her learner, rather than just keeping in touch.
 
As a tutor (yes, I’m still volunteering), I already know we make a difference for our learners. As a VISTA, what I’m enjoying most of all is helping tutors make that difference.

Hello! My name is Delesiya Davis. I was born and raised in Lansing, MI. I graduated from a wonderful school  called the University of Michigan with my BA in Women’s Studies and History and a minor in Judaic Studies. While this is my first year with MNA, I am a second-year VISTA. My previous VISTA year I served in Miami, FL working with an organization named Girl Power. As my year ended, I realized that I wanted to switch gears a bit and focus more so on the education sector. Now a year post graduation, I had come to realize just how much getting an education impacted my life and the amount of opportunities that had suddenly become available because I had a BA. I had always wanted to give back to my own community, so I began to look for opportunities back in Lansing. Luckily, I stumbled across MNA, which introduced me to my current site, the Michigan College Access Network (MCAN).

I knew that MCAN was a good fit for me when I read their, now our, mission statement. MCAN’s mission is to “Increase college readiness, participation, and completion in Michigan, particularly among low-income students, first-generation college-going students, and students of color.” Given that I fit all three of those categories, and that that those are also the communities that I want to create change in, MCAN was the obvious choice for me. Thankfully, they felt the same way about me.

During my time with MCAN, I have worked on a number of projects that I feel have had an impact on moving the needle on college access. The project that I am proudest of is hosting several webinars that were a part of our “Admissions Updates” webinar series. In my previous VISTA year, a lot of the work that I did was on the back end of things. For this webinar series, while I did much of the prep work which was on back end things, I also got to be front and center during the webinars. This was very rewarding and I felt that my talents were being utilized, while also pushing me outside of my comfort zone. Ironically, I am not the biggest fan of public speaking, however, I plan to be a lawyer and eventually run for office, makes perfect sense.

While I did enjoy my first VISTA year experience, I wish I had known about this AmeriCorps position at MCAN when looking for post-graduation options. MCAN is an amazing organization that really cares about their mission. In my short time being here I have witnessed nothing short of everyone being all hands on deck and rolling with the punches as they come. This is an organization that I am proud to be a part of and proud to represent!

​Hello everyone!
 
My name is Cyerra Haywood and I am a first-year AmeriCorps VISTA member currently serving as the Collective Impact Coordinator at the Flint & Genesee Literacy Network (FGLN) in Flint, MI. My VISTA Assignment is to build capacity in partnering organizations by engaging in activities that provide, support, and/or facilitate access to workforce development resources and services intended to improve employability. In short, I provide backbone support to organizations that in turn directly support the people of Flint.
 
My first year of service is already going very well and I have made many connections in my community. One of the most exciting aspects of my service is creating communication materials I actually am able to see circulated among the community, and see how these materials that I’ve made support the community. I have loved attending meetings via Zoom and learning about various organizations and what these wonderful organizations do to help the city of Flint, especially when it comes to the water crisis. Everyone that I have worked with genuinely loves this city and the people in it, and that is the driving force behind the work that they do.
 
I attended school in Washington, D.C., so for the past four years I have not been as active in my community as I wished to be. However, this opportunity to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA has been the perfect post-graduate opportunity. I am so fortunate to serve with such an impactful organization and to have this chance to boost FGLN’s impact. In the past few months, I’ve been lucky to contribute to a myriad of projects, such as being asked to serve on a review committee for the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce. I am also helping FGLN facilitate a community conversation around equity in education, especially as it concerns the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, I have had the opportunity to assist with the coordination of virtual gatherings and trainings. I’m excited by all that I’ve done in the past few months and look forward to what will come next!

Hi everyone!
My name is Carisma Ayala and it is my first time serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA. I am currently serving as the Alumni Coordinator at Alternatives for Girls in Detroit, MI. My main focus is helping girls who have graduated high school and are now attending a 4-year university by learning a new program and supporting them in ways I am able to. Some of my service duties include coordinating college tours for girls in our After School Program, collecting progress reports from girls to track their grades, coordinating workshops for our Asset Building Program and learning the GradSnapp program in order to benefit the girls in programming.
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The most exciting aspect of this first quarter of service has been meeting everyone who is on staff, interning, and volunteering at Alternatives for Girls. At my first All Agency Meeting, I was excited to see that the meeting was lead directly by the CEO. The staff at Alternatives for Girls is predominately female. It has been so nice to see, considering that it is my first time being involved at a non-profit agency. Those that I work alongside motivate me to work harder and make the time I have spent so far very enjoyable. 

In addition to coordinating multiple virtual college tours for our girls, I have also been coordinating a panel for the girls who are interested in cosmetology school or other trades. When I was in high school, I knew of other options besides a 4-year college, but I never had hands on interactions or information given to me about them. I think it’s important to educate our girls the best we can so they can be confident in the decisions they make, and then support them in their choices.

In the past two months I have had brief interactions in-person at my host site. Every Friday our department has been coordinating a contactless drive-through food drive due to COVID-19. I have got to safely meet everyone, meet some of the families we serve, and help in ways that I am able to. I have learned more about the families that are tied to the girls that I serve and hope that this knowledge will help me tailor some of the ways I interact with the girls and utilize GradSnapp. Many of the projects I have been working on are all in progress and will hopefully have some milestones completed soon for my personal and VISTA goals.