Training and Projects
Professional Development
“Team Friday”
WRC’s Member Development Program
We try and help members achieve this through what we call “Team Friday”. Team Fridays are a mix of Professional Development, Service Projects and Teambuilding activities. Typically, our team gathers once a week in Vancouver for Team Friday. Team Friday is a mandatory component of the program – members are expected to attend all Team Fridays. But why wouldn’t you come? The atmosphere is fun, and full of learning!
Our program offers multiple training sessions to its members throughout their year of service. We even allow members to teach their fellow members what they know by stepping forward with their skills, talents and passions. We work with our members to try and make sure their year is successful by providing training geared to their service year and to their futures.
Some training we typically offer our members include:
- AmeriCorps Affiliation & Program Orientation
- Civic Engagement
- Teambuilding
- Diversity (Cultural Competency, Diversity in the Classroom)
- Effective Communication
- Conflict Resolution
- Resume and Interview Techniques
- Professionalism
- Facilitation Skills
- School Culture
- Working with Underserved Youth
- Poverty
- ParaReading
- Learning Styles
- Communication Styles
- Reporting
- Volunteer Recruitment –General (orientation, training, and management)
- Introduction to the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL)
- Family Involvement Strategies & Planning
- Life After AmeriCorps
More information: Team Friday
Washington Service Corps SERVES Institute
Our umbrella agency, the WA Service Corps, sponsors every WRC AmeriCorps and VISTA member statewide, to attend two overnight trainings throughout the year called SERVES. Not only is this an amazing chance to learn, grow and develop yourself personally and professionally, but you’ll also get to meet over 750 other AmeriCorps and VISTA members serving in Washington! In networking you’re able to learn about other programs, volunteer opportunities and share challenges and successes with other WRC teams.
The WA Service Corps offers SERVES training in the fall and spring. WRC members are required to attend both sessions. In the past they have been in Yakima, Ocean Shores and Wenatchee, WA. WRC provides all travel, hotel and food during the trainings. The format of SERVES is conference style with about ten different sessions offered four times a day over three days. You’ll have the choice of what workshop or session you want to attend.
In the fall they offer a lot of workshops that help you plan and set goals for your year of service. They also offer sessions that will help you be a great reading tutor and acclimate you to the new school culture that you’ll be a part of. Some of the work shops that were offered last fall were:
- Goal Setting for your Year of Service
- Meeting the Challenge of Recruiting Volunteers
- Civic Engagement Facilitation & working with Youth
- English Language Learners- Support Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Learners
- Free Stuff- Recruiting Local Business Partners
- How to turn your grant proposal into a Success Every time
The spring SERVES is geared more toward professional development and different options that you’ll have career and education wise, after you finish your service. You will have the opportunity to learn how to maximize your education award and the Service Corps also coordinates a very informational college fair with top universities and schools that offer incentives for AmeriCorps and VISTA members. Some of the spring SERVES trainings that were offered the last service year were:
- Winding Down in a Good Way & Gearing Up Successfully for Life After AmeriCorps
- Home-run Job Interviews
- Grant Writing Building Blocks
- Using Your Emotional Intelligence
- Living Life in Balance: Avoiding Burnout and Nourishing the soul in Service
- Developing a personal mission statement as the first step in living your passion
With the WA Service Corps paying for over 750 AmeriCorps and VISTA members to stay three nights in a hotel and cover all of the food expenses, you might think that they wouldn’t be able to afford quality trainers, but nothing could be farther from the truth. They bring in amazing people with a variety of backgrounds and professional and service experiences.
Because WRC members are incredible individuals who truly care about their communities and schools, we try to give them as much support as possible. SERVES is an amazing opportunity that you will not get with any other employer or national service program outside of the WA Service Corps. Not only will you enhance your skills and develop professionally and personally, you will also meet lifelong friends.
Contributed by Brittany Morgan.
Civic Engagement
A Roadmap to Civic Engagement
What is Civic Engagement?
Civic Engagement is a required project that WRC members do with adolescents. Following Roadmap to Civic Engagement, WRC members and students work their way through seven 1.5 hour units. Students learn about the structure of the democracy in the United States, map local assets and finally plan and execute their own service project to meet the community needs they have identified. To complete the CE requirement, WRC members will:
- Find a group of young adults to work with. In the past, WRC members have done CE with the boys and girls club, the Middle School Alternative program at ESD 112, Restorative Justice Program, and 5th graders from WRC schools.
- Get donations for food, notebooks, and other supplies for CE and find people to speak with the group
- Create agendas and schedules
- Facilitate Roadmap units and activities
- Work individually and in small groups with kids
Why are we involved with CE?
CE is a time to get together with your WRC team members to learn about the community, design a meaningful project and empower a group of young people. It is a great chance to bond as a team, and a fun way to do service!
It is also important to engage youth in the democratic process. This program helps build the following skills in middle school students: citizen development, engagement in the community, identification of a problem, problem solving, community service, experiential education, and service learning.
Members are trained for this program through Washington Service Corps trainings and through our project trainings. Our members have found enormous success with this program and have had an enjoyable time delivering it to youth in their communities and sites.
Civic Engagement Outcomes
The middle school children who participate in this innovative program not only learn a little about social studies and the democratic process, but they also develop service learning projects that benefit their communities. In the past projects included: car washes, food drives and clothing drives. These projects have benefited everything from an area skate park to a fellow student who was diagnosed with cancer. The most important outcome, however, is the smile this program brings to students and WRC members.
Service Projects
Days of Service
Make a Difference Day and Martin Luther King Day are required days of service. As a team, we will determine an appropriate project to participate in.
We are very active in our community! We’ve done everything from a trail clean-up, assisted with school projects (as a team of 30!), partnered with an area adult literacy program, and donated our time to the Oregon Food Bank. We look forward to continuing our partnerships with organizations that operate and/or serve SW Washington. Our members are busy, but committed to service!
Family Literacy Events
Depending on the school site, WRC members might plan one literacy event a year or up to one each month. These events are in the evening or during the day. Family Literacy Events are an important component to the WRC program.
What are Family Literacy Events?
Family literacy events are scheduled days when parents and caregivers visit their child's school to participate in a variety of activities surrounding literacy. Events can include literacy games surrounding a particular theme, a presentation or play, or exhibits of student work. Since nearly everything involves reading, the topics are endless! Generally, these events meet the school site’s needs while also addressing the needs of parents, students and community members.
What is the goal of a Family Literacy Event?
The goals of family literacy events are to draw parents and caregivers to school, encourage their involvement, highlight student work, and provide helpful tools and tips for families based on students' reading and writing needs. WRC members meet with their project supervisor and site supervisor to put together a sustainable projects plan which outlines what will and will not work at the school. This will give you an idea of the types of literacy event(s) your school site is looking for.
Why does WRC require Family Literacy Events?
Learning doesn’t stop when the school day ends. The best way to reinforce the knowledge gained at school is to help families come together around learning and reading. Fun, interactive literacy events can help families feel more comfortable engaging their children in literacy activities at home. It also helps parents to see how their child is progressing and makes the learning environment more fun for all. Most importantly, as a mentor to the students, many students want to introduce “their” WRC member to their families and loved ones.