Shaping Rural Communities Through Innovative Partnerships

by Jenna Fehr, Office of Surface Mining/AmeriCorps VISTA, OSM/VISTA Teams

Due to a legacy of isolation, economic decline and policy neglect, pollution runs rampant in many parts of the Appalachian coal and Western hardrock mining regions.

In Appalachian coalfields, acidic, metals-laden water coats streambeds with orange sediment, destroys aquatic habitat and renders waterways useless as economic and community resources.

Hastily built sewage infrastructure sends sewage directly into creeks, contaminating water supplies and posing a significant threat to human health.

In the hardrock mining West, toxic chemicals such as arsenic, mercury, and cyanide contaminate local streams.

The three million citizens that live within a mile of an abandoned mine site are not only facing these environmental threats, but also overwhelming economic challenges.

The average median household income is around $29,660, compared with a $52,029 national average, with 30% living below the poverty line.

In these regions devastated by the environmental legacy of pre-regulatory coal mining and suffering from economic decline, the OSM/VISTA Teams, under the leadership of Dr. T Allan Comp, help to bring hope to rural communities by building local organizational capacity and partnerships from the ground up.

The OSM/VISTA Teams, comprised of the Appalachian Coal Country Team (ACCT) and Western Hardrock Watershed Team (WHWT), are supported by an innovative partnership among the Office of Surface Mining, concerned with environmental reclamation and safety; AmeriCorps VISTA; and local community groups.

The ACCT and WHWT place determined college-trained OSM/VISTAs with community/ watershed improvement groups in rural mining communities for a year of service.

Patrick Corvington, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, said of the OSM/VISTA Teams,

The notion that we would take a program at Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining, and connect that to VISTA and have VISTA Volunteers on the ground doing what they do best…this is, I think, an extraordinary demonstration of how service can be a solution. That service can play a critical role in being the lever, the button that we can push to make a difference, is extraordinary.

For the thousands of miles of contaminated streams and the millions of Americans living near those waters, the OSM/VISTA Teams are inspiring regions to rise above poverty and environmental degradation and build new partnerships in community revitalization.

The work of Dr. Comp and the OSM/VISTA Teams is arming citizen groups with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to make them effective environmental stewards, community leaders, and accelerators of change – propelling a new initiative based on reclaimed mine-scarred lands and streams, a new conservation and development-based economy of hope.

Join Dr. T Allan Comp, Adrian Uzunian (VISTA Leader for WHWT), and Jenna Fehr (OSM/VISTA Volunteerism Coordinator) for

This session will explore issues such as developing partnerships, drawing people and investment into rural areas, and fostering community involvement to help residents take ownership of projects. Hear case studies from the field and join in a discussion about developing the partnerships and resources needed to achieve goals.

Jenna Fehr is currently serving as an Office of Surface Mining/AmeriCorps*VISTA (OSM/VISTA) with the Appalachian Coal Country Team in Beckley, WV. In this capacity, she serves as project researcher for the “Volunteers for Rural Watersheds” project led by Dr. T Allan Comp across seven Appalachian and two Rocky Mountain states. The goal of this research is to learn about rural volunteers and existing volunteer management practices to develop resources and a toolkit of best practices for rural watershed groups. Jenna is a native of the anthracite coalfields of Schuylkill County, PA, and holds a B.S. degree in Environmental Resource Management from Pennsylvania State University.

For more information, check out

www.coalcountryteam.org

and

www.hardrockteam.org

.

Belief, Energy and Time…. a Powerful Combination for Change

by Shawn Anderson, NCVS Speaker

As I travel the U.S. speaking…and then meeting and listening to people afterwards…one message is clear:

Life is not easy!

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, a woman who had just been diagnosed with cancer told me: “

I feel I don’t have long to live and just want to give up. Now I am mad at all the things I didn’t do when I had a chance

.”

In Fresno, California, a high school student who came up to me before I left the school grounds because he had been afraid to address me in class: “

I’m in a gang, and I don’t know how to get out

.”

In Los Angeles, a woman in her 30’s said: “

It’s hard to be positive when my husband puts me down all the time. I wish I could leave, but I am afraid and don’t think I can make it on my own. He’s stolen my confidence

.”

In Amarillo, a 40-year-old homeless man: “

I’ve been down so long, I am afraid to get up. I don’t want to let myself down again

.”

In Philadelphia, a high school student: “

I want to be a speaker like you, but my mom doesn’t think I can

.”

In St. Louis, a woman who wants something more from herself: “

I want to start a business helping moms be better moms. But it’s just a dream…because I need to make money

.”

In Las Vegas, a man around 60 obviously disappointed by the path he took: “

I’ve worked over 30 years in a job I haven’t liked. I needed to support my family…but I wish I had gone the extra mile because now it’s too late

.”

In Wichita, a woman in her 20’s attending college who is losing momentum: “

I am raising two kids by myself and am trying to go to school, too. Some days, I don’t think I can do it anymore

.”

In Pittsburgh, a distraught woman in her 40’s: “

What do you do when you keep failing over and over and want to quit trying? How do I keep going

?”

Life can be tough, can’t it? As the late, great actress Katherine Hepburn once said, “

Life is hard. After all, it kills you

.”

I am certain in saying each one of us has lived through…or is living through…our own challenging life moment. But I am just as confident in knowing that with BELIEF, ENERGY and TIME…things get better.

So how do you create change? How do you improve a crummy situation?

Three things:

1. Carry the BELIEF that you direct what you think, feel and do…not the environment around you.
2. Put extra-mile ENERGY into changing your situation.
3. Let TIME work its magic.

These three together…confident Belief, extra-mile Energy and the passing of Time…will lead to different results. And change. It’s what is called B.E.T.ting on yourself and your organization.

If you do B.E.T. on yourself, the defeat, the failure, the divorce, the bankruptcy, the whatever…will all eventually fade. And when you do make your comeback, the difficult times will undoubtedly have made you stronger…wiser…and more ready and able to soak in all the future great things that WILL happen.

This post comes from Shawn Anderson,

ShawnAnderson.com

, five-time author, corporate trainer and national speaker on the topics of “possibility thinking and creating opportunity.”

He is also the Founder of the

Extra Mile America Foundation

,

a non-profit organization empowering people to “go the extra mile” in life. In 2010, the Foundation led the charge in motivating 116 mayors in 45 different states to declare November 1, 2010, as “Extra Mile Day”…a day to recognize those in the local community going the extra mile. In 2011, over 200 city mayors in all 50 states are expected to do the same.

Join Shawn on Wednesday, June 8th, from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM, for his session titled The Power of “What if…?” Extra Mile America: Stories of Inspiration, Possibility and Purpose.

4 Reasons I’m Attending the National Conference on Volunteering and Service

This post

originally appeared on the VolunteerMatch blog

and we liked it so much we wanted to share it here too! With

conference season upon us, it’s decision time for nonprofit staff – which conferences do we attend, and which do we just file away under “Nice to go?” Like any nonprofit, at VolunteerMatch we’re limited by budget, time and resources, and yet each year the

National Conference on Volunteering and Service (NCVS)

makes the cut. Why is this conference, occurring this year

June 6-8 in New Orleans

, so important? I figured I’d share with you why I chose to go, because chances are, these reasons are relevant for you as well:

1. To Share Ideas and Best Practices

   NCVS is a place to learn and be inspired, and with close to 4,000 attendees already registered and more than two hundred sessions and workshops to choose from, the ambiance will be stimulating, to say the least. We’ll hear from leaders including Ruby Bridges, Civil Rights Activist, Wendy Kopp, CEO and Founder, Teach For America, Political Consultants Mary Matalin and James Carville, and more. Whether you’re looking to build a social media strategy, engage your Boomer population more deeply, or make the most of volunteers who spring up following disasters, there’s a session and there’s an expert at the conference that can help you.

2. To Meet Others Like – and Unlike – Us

   How often do you get to dish with fellow volunteer managers about your work? Each year NCVS is the largest gathering of volunteer and service leaders from the nonprofit, corporate and government sectors. So not only will you meet other nonprofit volunteer managers like you, you’ll meet others in the volunteering sector that are NOT like you, such as nonprofit capacity builders like VolunteerMatch, and volunteer program funders from the corporate and government realms. Oh yes, and there will be a heck of a lot of volunteers there to remind you why what you do is so important.

3. It’s More Affordable Than Ever

   To thank you for your work for the community, Points of Light Institute is inviting you to join us all at the conference using a special discount code. Register using the Friends and Family discount before Friday, May 20 with the code DISC22011 for $200 off your registration costs.

4. It’s in New Orleans

   Destination conferences are always fun, but this year’s location has extra significance for the volunteering world. We’re excited to go to New Orleans to explore, and we’re excited to support their economy as the region struggles to recover from yet another disaster. We’re excited to go to New Orleans to see first-hand the power of volunteers to help those in need and rebuild communities, and to learn from their ongoing community organizing and development efforts. Many of this year’s featured speakers, who are leaders in volunteering and service, hail from the New Orleans region.

We hope we’ll see you June 6-8 in New Orleans! Let us know if you’ll be at the conference. Here are some step-by-step instructions to make it easier to register:

• Go to www.volunteeringandservice.org.
• Click “Register Now.”
• Select one of the following categories that applies to you: -”I am a HandsOn Network Member” -”I am a grantee, subgrantee, participant, program sponsor, or employee of the Corporation for National and Community Service” -”I am not in either the HandsOn Network or the National and Community Service Program”
• When asked for a promo code please enter: DISC22011.
• Continue to register as normal.
• When you reach the payment page you still need to click the box that says “I agree to pay the $XXX fee.”
• The $200 discount will come off at the end.

What factors influence your decision to attend conferences like NCVS?

Registration Notes

Have you registered for the sessions you want to attend at NCVS?

Sessions are filling up quickly so review the directions below to learn how to reserve your seat.

You can review the full list of session types and descriptions by

clicking this link

.

While we’re on the subject, did you know that

spaces have been added to “

Social Media for Social Good Bootcamp: How to Mobilize Your Supporters to Take Action (5638)

”

?

It was sold out, but we found a bigger room since so many people wanted to attend.

There is a $99 fee for this pre-conference session. If you’d like to attend, please call (877) 855-NCVS and press #1 to speak to one of our attendants to add this session, or any other session with a fee, to your agenda.

We also want to draw your attention to some of our business track workshops.

Our business workshops include topics such as pro bono programs, employee volunteer program management, measuring return on investment and more. Additionally, you’ll have the opportunity to speak to CEOs about how they are making a difference.

Here’s a small sampling of the NCVS business track workshops:

CEO Roundtable

: The Business Champions Playbook How Executives are Leveraging their Company’s Unique Assets for Greater Impact (5552)

Harness your Company’s Expertise

. Using the unique skills of a corporation for the greater good (5294)

Strategies and Inspiring Practices in Global Corporate Volunteer Engagement

(5079)

Finding a pro bono program model right for you

. Exploring models of pro bono service delivery (5530)

To build your agenda follow these steps:

1. Go to:

https://secure.lenos.com/lenos/handsonnetwork/NCVS2011/home.htm

2. Click “Already Registered?”

3. Enter in your confirmation code:(072B6AE8)

4. On the right side of the screen select the green button that says “Build My Agenda”

5. Search and browse all of our sessions. The Agenda Builder allows you to search by day, focus area, session type, speaker, keyword and session ID number

6. Click the box on the left side of the session you would like to attend

7. Scroll to the top of the page and click “Add to My Schedule”

8. Once you have selected all of the sessions you would like to attend, click on the gray tab that says “My Schedule” to view and print your personal agenda

Before you create or add sessions to your existing conference agenda download the list of all conference workshops by clicking the “Master Schedule” tab:

https://secure.lenos.com/lenos/handsonnetwork/NCVS2011/publicsessions.aspx

Please contact [email protected] if you have any additional questions.

As a reminder, you may change your conference agenda until May 25, 2011.

We look forward to seeing you in New Orleans and don’t miss out on reserving your seats now!

NCVS Gives Back in New Orleans

Get Ready to Volunteer in the Big Easy!

At the 2011 National Conference on Volunteering and Service, we are committed to supporting the restoration of public spaces that are so much a part of the identity of the city and are a central convening place for community residents.

With

the time, talent and resources of up to 700 NCVS participants, local volunteers, and with the support of University of Phoenix, we will revitalize 25 parks and recreation centers across the city of New Orleans signifying the conclusion of the

Road to the Gulf

program announced at the conclusion of the 2010 conference.

After a tour that included stops in Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, Phoenix, Kansas City and Washington, DC, the Road to the Gulf program was designed to mobilize volunteers to make a difference in local communities while contributing to gulf region recovery.

The program was generously supported by University of Phoenix and has mobilized 10,000 volunteers and trained thousands of volunteer leaders.

Before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005, the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD) managed more than 130 parks across the city.

Today, only 24 of those parks are equipped for community enjoyment.

Included in the NCVS service activities are five complete park rehabilitation projects, five park clean ups, and 15 additional park enhancement and equipment projects:

Park Rehabilitation Projects

: Monday, June 6, 8 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

The National Conference on Volunteering and Service, will serve as the final stop on the six-month Road to the Gulf program that has been sponsored by University of Phoenix.

We will complete four complete park restoration projects in New Orleans neighborhoods.

Click here

to learn more about the special communities surrounding each park.

• Sam Bonart Park (5737)

• Bunny Friend Park (5736)

• Village de l’est Park (5738)

• Evans Park (5735)

Recreational Equipment Drive

We also ask that conference volunteers help complete our mission by participating in a recreational equipment drive by bringing the following items to donate to children in the communities where the parks will be refurbished:

• Basketballs

• Soccer balls

• Footballs, baseballs

• Jump ropes

• Any other sports and athletic gear for children

• New or partially used gift cards to sporting goods establishments

Donations will be accepted in Hall B2 of the New Orleans Morial Convention Center.

Additional Service Activities

City of New Orleans Fight the Blight and local conference kick off

Friday – Saturday, June 4 – 5

The city of New Orleans will conduct clean-up activities in five of New Orleans public parks.

KaBOOM! Playground Build sponsored by Disney

Sunday, June 5 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Palmer Park

The revitalization of parks as well as the recreation and equipment drive aligns with the two nationally known “Let’s Move” and “Play 60” campaigns.

The “Let’s Move” campaign, outlined by First Lady Michelle Obama, is dedicated to solving the problem of childhood obesity by helping children be more physically active.

The NFL “Play 60” campaign promotes youth health and fitness by encouraging them to be active for at least 60 minutes a day.

Registration for the 2011 National Conference on Volunteering and Service is still open and sessions are filling up fast.

Attendees will have opportunities to hear from renowned presenters during six session blocks and choose from more than 150 workshops, 11 immersion learning sessions and seven forums in focus areas ranging from disaster to youth leadership.