​Greetings everyone! My Name is Damona Platt, I am a first year MNA VISTA member serving at Alternatives For Girls in southwest Detroit. If you didn’t know, I am finally in the last two months of my service term which is bitter sweet for me. Over the past 10 months, I have had the opportunity to grow professionally and impact several girls and women in my community who are striving for success.

Serving at Alternatives For Girls gave me the space to nurture my networking skills. I have also gained new skills such as event planning and how to navigate through computer systems that nonprofits use on a daily basis. I was able to collaborate with over twenty organizations and community partners, such as Detroit Public Schools and Urban Neighborhood Initiatives in efforts to provide middle school students with pathways to College and career exploration through afterschool workshops. The students loved the workshops I created and began to have a sense of hope when It comes to them actually going to college. I also had the pleasure of getting 30 participants of Alternatives For Girls summer jobs through Detroit’s Growing Young Talent summer employment program. It was a long and intensive enrollment process, but the young ladies remained patient and were grateful to be able to have a work experience for the summer.
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As I said earlier in my blog, this is a very bittersweet time for me. I am very sad that I will no longer be able to assist the young women at the capacity I am now, but I have faith that the next VISTA member will be able to pick up right where I left off along with the staff already in place at Alternative or Girls. 

​Peace Everyone! My name is Damona Platt and this is my first time serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA. Before AmeriCorps VISTA, I served as a Public Ally in AmeriCorps for two years.  I am currently serving in Southwest Detroit at a beautiful organization entitled Alternatives For Girls. Alternatives For Girls is a non-profit organization that provides critical services for at risk or high risk girls and women in their community.

We have 3 departments that offer a variety of programs and resources to our participants. We have a Shelter department for girls between 14- 21 that provides housing, meals, extensive life skills training that prepares the girls for independent living. Next, we have a Prevention department that focuses on girls in grade school (elementary, middle, high school). The Prevention department has an after school program, a mentoring program, a STEAM program, and other wrap around services for girls in need. Lastly, we have an Outreach, Education, and Support Services (OES) department that service girls and women 16 and up. OES has a Peer Educator program, where our participants obtain leadership and sexual and reproductive health trainings so they can go out into the community and raise awareness to their peers. OES also has a special program that caters to women who are trying to exist in commercial sex work.
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So now you may be wondering where I might fit between these 3 large departments… Well the answer is, all of them! I focus on economic opportunity and education, so my duty is to connect all participants with employment opportunities, post-secondary education options, and other community partners focusing on economic stability. I also coordinate resource fairs at AFG, so the participants can have access to the vocational trainings and employment readiness programs in their community.  Since I started my service term, I have built partnerships with over 20 community organizations, I have coordinated at least 10 different workshops or events focusing on employment readiness or career pathways. The participants are very appreciative and excited about all the resources and opportunities they have encountered since my service began. Although, I have experienced some personal challenges during this service term, but my passion for serving always reignites when I see how much this work positively impacts the lives of our participants.