![]() As I enter my last 5 months of service it seems the countdown to August 15th has begun. In the first half of my VISTA year I quickly realized there is a lot of work to do in Detroit. My goal is to do as much as I can for the organizations in Detroit in the time I have left. Since my last post we have started working with 9 specific organizations helping them increase their capacity. We have focused on workforce development efforts in order to help advance the VISTA mission of eradicating poverty. Each member of the VISTA team has been assigned to different projects within the 9 organizations. Many of my projects focus on advocacy, funding capacity, and community outreach. Since I was not very familiar with grant writing before serving as a VISTA I decided to take the VISTA Blend Resource Development online course. I would definitely recommend that any VISTA take full advantage of this awesome resource. The class is almost over and I have learned so much about fundraising that I have been able to apply to our service plans. As we continue working with the 9 organizations from the first round of Needs Assessments we are also beginning to prepare for the second round. Starting within the next month or so we will seek out new organizations to participate in our program. I’m excited to learn from our first round and make this second group even better. I have also been working on another project throughout my VISTA year. Stephy, Jaylen and I are very involved in researching special populations. We have defined special populations as any group that has specific or unique barriers to employment such as veterans, the homeless, and the group we have been focusing on: returning citizens. Through our research we found that those in prison are two to four times more likely to have instances of mental illness and/or substance abuse disorders and many do not receive treatment while incarcerated. Poor mental health is a major barrier to employment, one that must be addressed before someone can be successful. We have found that in order for a reentry program to be successful it must address mental health first. I have learned so much through this project and I have become an advocate for returning citizens because I have seen how successful individuals can be when they are given the support they need. I’m proud to say we recently finished a review of the current efforts in Detroit regarding returning citizens and MNA is planning on publishing our paper on their website. We have also been invited to attend a roundtable discussion with several key stakeholders regarding how to help returning citizens reenter society successfully. I have learned so much through this project and am so excited to share our research with some really important decision makers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Blog ArchivesJanuary 2020
December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 June 2014 Each blog post was written by one of our VISTAs!
Blog Authors
All
|