Hey All,
A few weeks ago Mikel Herrington, Acting Director of AmeriCorps NCCC, came to Sacramento for a visit. While he was here, I learned a few things that I thought I would share, because I thought it was pretty neat.
The full enrollment of NCCC is 1440 members each year! However, right now NCCC is not operating at full capacity due to budgets. Currently there are only 1030 members enrolled for next year. Increasing to capacity would increase the cost of the program, but it would lower the “cost per member.”
One day, the Corporation hopes to serve at full capacity and potentially even double. The way the campuses are currently set up, it would be possible to run 2 classes at one time. Right now, corps members arrive on campus for a month of training and then spend most of their time out on project. They return at the end of the year for a few weeks and graduation. If the training and the graduation are staggered and more staff was hired to manage the teams, it would be possible to run 2 classes per year at each campus. Which I think would be INCREDIBLE! It would definitely lower the cost per member and would increase productivity, and make a more efficient use out of our resources. In order to make this change, NCCC would definitely need an increased budget—although I think its is totally worth the investment!
Currently there are five campuses: Sacramento, CA; Denver, CO; Vinton, IA; Vicksburg, MS; and Perry Point, MD. The start dates all vary. The new Serve America Act will raise the education award to match the Pell Grant amount yearly. The annual increase will take effect for members starting Oct. 1st of each year. For next year, the team leaders are scheduled to start in September and the Corps Members will start in October—therefore only the Corps Members will receive the increased education award. In order to eliminate this from following years, start dates may all be moved to either Aug/Sept. or Jan/Feb.
I understand that maybe this isn’t alllll that interesting to everyone reading this, but these are some MAJOR changes to the program that I have been completely immersed in for the past year and I thought I would share.
It was really great to be able to sit down with the Director of NCCC and have a discussion about upcoming changes, things we would like to see in the future of NCCC and actually feel like we were being heard.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
A June Update
Hello All,
The last month and half has been super BUSY and loaded with service, opportunity and FUN!
Campus itself has been pretty quite, but at the beginning of June I took a little trip off campus and went down to Bakersfield and then onward to Thousand Oaks, CA for the Cal Central HOBY Seminar. I took the Greyhound from Sacramento to Bakersfield and arrived at 4:30 in the morning after a 6 hour bus ride. I spent a little time attempting to sleep at my friend Dee’s house, and then in the morning the busyness that is HOBY began. We made a few errands, watched Jeremy (attempt) to frost cookies, and loaded two trucks and headed down to Thousand Oaks. The drive wasn’t too bad—a couple hours. I had to fight to stay awake—(Its not good to go into HOBY already exhausted). I really don’t like driving down the 5 very much, but I do enjoy driving through the Grapevine… even if you do have to turn off your air conditioner (or the truck will overheat..) I think the area is pretty and there are hills/mountains and some pretty water. I enjoy it.
The seminar was crazy, amazing and wonderful and tiring all at once. The staff all arrived on Thursday night. I was so pumped because a lot of my WLC (World Leadership Congress) friends were there. Cy, Russ, Brock, Jacie, Jeremy, Dee, Sam and even Brad and Ditty showed up for a bit. It was great. Really nice to see everyone and catch up and really great to meet the other Cal Central Staff/ see them again (I volunteered at Cal Central two years ago..)
My group was awesome. And the activities great. I really enjoyed a couple of the speakers. It was a stellar weekend. We were up at 5:30/6 and were up until 2/2:30… It was intense, but worth it and oh so “OUTstanding!”
The weekend following HOBY I laid pretty low- trying to catch up on rest. I did go to Second Saturday. I really enjoy walking the streets of Sacramento and seeing the art. We also checked out a few galleries and held our own STL/TL ‘photo’ shoot at one of the galleries. Maybe a little obnoxious, but fun.
The weekend of the 20th, I flew down to San Diego. I went to visit my aunt and a few HOBY friends who live in the area. It was great. I was able to catch up with Aunt Mary and Aunt Ann stopped in. Dawn and Kasey just so happened to be ‘in town’ from Oregon so I also go to see them. Yay to family! I also was able to have lunch with my friend Sarah whom I haven’t seen in two years. We went to a great bakery. Mmmm. I love fresh baked breads! On Sunday I had breakfast with Jacie and Patrick and then headed to the La Jolla Arts Festival with Aunt Mary. The art festival was amazing. So much talent. Its unbelievable what some people can create. I love art. I had dinner with Patrick and Jacie and then flew back to Sacramento.
I got back to my room at about 12:30 and then had to unpack/ repack. I left for San Francisco at 5:15 in the morning on Monday. The staff and STLs headed to San Fran to participate in the KaBoom build and to help with the National Conference on Volunteering and Service. It was a super opportunity. The KaBoom build was amazing as usual. I once again helped with the mural. We also had some V.I.P. guests. Nicky Goren, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service was there, as was Secretary of Volunteerism in CA, Karen Baker, First Lady of California, Maria Shriver, and First Lady MICHELLE OBAMA! Michelle Obama gave a speech and it was amazing being able to hear her speak and help build the playground with her.
After the KaBoom build we headed over to the hostel we stayed in, cleaned up and walked to the conference center. At the conference center we helped hand out snacks to the conference attendees, as well as snag a picture with Clifford the Big Red Dog and listen to a few songs played by Bon Jovi. It was quite the day.
We attended the conference and helped volunteer at it on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was able to go to a few sessions and learn more about service learning, engaging volunteers, business and corporate volunteering, creative approaches, and environmental friendly civic activity. After the conference we headed back to Sacramento.
This past weekend I went to “Music in the Park” and then out for Pizza with fellow TLs and STLs. The rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful, but relaxing.
Right now I am excited because I am already half way done with my four day week (yay to the 4th of July) and on Friday I am once again heading to Bakersfield. I am going to spend the weekend visiting with my friend Dee and her family.
The last few weeks will likely go by pretty quickly. There is only 23 days of AmeriCorps NCCC left! In the next few weeks, I will celebrate the 4th, my 21st birthday, my team returning from Salt Lake City, and Graduation from AmeriCorps. I think it is going to be a great next couple of weeks!
Until next time,
Love you all!
Xo
The last month and half has been super BUSY and loaded with service, opportunity and FUN!
Campus itself has been pretty quite, but at the beginning of June I took a little trip off campus and went down to Bakersfield and then onward to Thousand Oaks, CA for the Cal Central HOBY Seminar. I took the Greyhound from Sacramento to Bakersfield and arrived at 4:30 in the morning after a 6 hour bus ride. I spent a little time attempting to sleep at my friend Dee’s house, and then in the morning the busyness that is HOBY began. We made a few errands, watched Jeremy (attempt) to frost cookies, and loaded two trucks and headed down to Thousand Oaks. The drive wasn’t too bad—a couple hours. I had to fight to stay awake—(Its not good to go into HOBY already exhausted). I really don’t like driving down the 5 very much, but I do enjoy driving through the Grapevine… even if you do have to turn off your air conditioner (or the truck will overheat..) I think the area is pretty and there are hills/mountains and some pretty water. I enjoy it.
The seminar was crazy, amazing and wonderful and tiring all at once. The staff all arrived on Thursday night. I was so pumped because a lot of my WLC (World Leadership Congress) friends were there. Cy, Russ, Brock, Jacie, Jeremy, Dee, Sam and even Brad and Ditty showed up for a bit. It was great. Really nice to see everyone and catch up and really great to meet the other Cal Central Staff/ see them again (I volunteered at Cal Central two years ago..)
My group was awesome. And the activities great. I really enjoyed a couple of the speakers. It was a stellar weekend. We were up at 5:30/6 and were up until 2/2:30… It was intense, but worth it and oh so “OUTstanding!”
The weekend following HOBY I laid pretty low- trying to catch up on rest. I did go to Second Saturday. I really enjoy walking the streets of Sacramento and seeing the art. We also checked out a few galleries and held our own STL/TL ‘photo’ shoot at one of the galleries. Maybe a little obnoxious, but fun.
The weekend of the 20th, I flew down to San Diego. I went to visit my aunt and a few HOBY friends who live in the area. It was great. I was able to catch up with Aunt Mary and Aunt Ann stopped in. Dawn and Kasey just so happened to be ‘in town’ from Oregon so I also go to see them. Yay to family! I also was able to have lunch with my friend Sarah whom I haven’t seen in two years. We went to a great bakery. Mmmm. I love fresh baked breads! On Sunday I had breakfast with Jacie and Patrick and then headed to the La Jolla Arts Festival with Aunt Mary. The art festival was amazing. So much talent. Its unbelievable what some people can create. I love art. I had dinner with Patrick and Jacie and then flew back to Sacramento.
I got back to my room at about 12:30 and then had to unpack/ repack. I left for San Francisco at 5:15 in the morning on Monday. The staff and STLs headed to San Fran to participate in the KaBoom build and to help with the National Conference on Volunteering and Service. It was a super opportunity. The KaBoom build was amazing as usual. I once again helped with the mural. We also had some V.I.P. guests. Nicky Goren, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service was there, as was Secretary of Volunteerism in CA, Karen Baker, First Lady of California, Maria Shriver, and First Lady MICHELLE OBAMA! Michelle Obama gave a speech and it was amazing being able to hear her speak and help build the playground with her.
After the KaBoom build we headed over to the hostel we stayed in, cleaned up and walked to the conference center. At the conference center we helped hand out snacks to the conference attendees, as well as snag a picture with Clifford the Big Red Dog and listen to a few songs played by Bon Jovi. It was quite the day.
We attended the conference and helped volunteer at it on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was able to go to a few sessions and learn more about service learning, engaging volunteers, business and corporate volunteering, creative approaches, and environmental friendly civic activity. After the conference we headed back to Sacramento.
This past weekend I went to “Music in the Park” and then out for Pizza with fellow TLs and STLs. The rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful, but relaxing.
Right now I am excited because I am already half way done with my four day week (yay to the 4th of July) and on Friday I am once again heading to Bakersfield. I am going to spend the weekend visiting with my friend Dee and her family.
The last few weeks will likely go by pretty quickly. There is only 23 days of AmeriCorps NCCC left! In the next few weeks, I will celebrate the 4th, my 21st birthday, my team returning from Salt Lake City, and Graduation from AmeriCorps. I think it is going to be a great next couple of weeks!
Until next time,
Love you all!
Xo
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