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AmeriCorps Montgomery

"locals serving locals for 20 years."

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Getting Ready for the New Team of Project Change

August 6, 2015 admin Uncategorized
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Its been a great summer to help the amazing 2015 2015 team finish their year of service and for Project Change to recruit a whole new team. There are no shortage of applicants and people young and old attracted to the prospect of giving a year of service to their community. The founder of Project Change, Judy Lapping, has been helping us meet and inform those interested and be the match maker. So far, we have two third of our slots filled and just waiting to find that ideal person to fill the remaining vacancies. If you know of any friends who are looking for a challenging year, let them know that Project Change is actively recruiting.

Greg Silber in the News

April 9, 2015 admin Uncategorized
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Silver Spring school aids budding comic creators

Fourth-grader Diana Franco makes a comic at JoAnn Leleck Elementary School at Broad Acres in Silver Spring during an after-school comics club on Monday. Ivan Mendez has been reading comic books since at least first grade. Through an AmeriCorps program, the fourth-grader at JoAnn Leleck Elementary School at Broad Acres in Silver Spring now is learning to make his own comics. “I like Marvel comics like ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Star Wars,’” Ivan said. “I get to learn how those are made and work on my own comics.” Gregory Silber formed the after-school comics club late last year at the school as a writing enrichment instructor in the AmeriCorps program Project Change. He works with students during school hours on regular writing.

AmeriCorps Project Change inspire Peace Makers in Jerusalem

April 9, 2015 admin Uncategorized
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20150321_100658Over the weekend of March 19-21 2015, Jermarkus Booker, Caprecia Camper and Ben Eichberg traveled to Jerusalem to present a snapshot of their work as young leaders fighting the urgent issues of structural racism in American education. Invited by the  New Story Leadership, an innovative narrative based conflict transformation program, the three AmeriCorps members were part of the #Encourage Conference, where alums of NSL joined other peace activists to share stories of courage that would send a message of encouragement to a world hungry for hope.  Despite the last Gaza war and despite the results of the elections earlier that week,  young people from Israel and Palestine and the USA and Ireland  were coming together over this special weekend  to encourage each other in their struggle for change, and their quest for peace.

The message coming to them from guest speakers such as Ambassador Saeb Erakat and Knesset Member Hillek Barr and various members of the USA delegation to the region was- “Don’t give up now. We need you more than ever.” And the AmeriCorps members shared their own struggles with racism and shared their work of fighting discrimination that creates a yawning gap in school achievement between minority and majority students.

 

This is a first for Project Change and probably a first for AmeriCorps for members to be invited to share their story and their volunteer experience on an international stage.

 

 

Learning how to Save a Life

November 20, 2014 admin Uncategorized
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This Friday, the Project Change AmeriCorps team are having a full day of training on the latest methods of First Aid and CPR. The trainer is Richelle Barber from the YMCA. It is something you hope you never have to use but at the same time, a valuable set of skills that translates anywhere to an emergency when you have to take the lead or someone’s life is at risk. It fits with the AmeriCorps motto of getting things done, and learning practical skills for life.  We will let you know how many lives we saved on Friday and how many dummies we lost.

Writing up your Journals- Some Prompts for next meeting

November 5, 2014 admin Uncategorized
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The Project Change team have now completed three specialist workshops- that are core to our introductory curriculum.

–Social Styles which calls itself  the world’s most effective interpersonal skills training program on the market today.

–Finding and Crafting a Story– A master class with well known Story Teller Noa Baum, teaching us how to work on a story so that it sings and how to listen with delight.

–Mindfulness and Personal Journaling with Coach and  Director of the John Main Meditation Center. who also introduced us to the Jim Dine Names painting, inviting us to write the names of all the people who are or have been important in our lives.

For our next meeting, we will be putting these new skills together by coming together to

-review our first two months of service ( using our journals  )
-select a fresh memory from our early experiences
-work that into a story to share with the team ( using the skills that Noa taught us )
-coming up with a title for our  story so we have a sense of the shared story we are creating

As we use our journals for personal and daily reflection, we  might find some of the following stems and prompts to get the creative juices going and inspire the pen on the page.

Explore which ones might serve as end of week check-ins.
NOTE- You are not meant to answer them all, just see if any of them jog a response, and help you come up with your own prompts.
All this is to encourage you to get you in the habit….and give you lots to bring to our next set of meetings.

THE POWER OF STEMS

The best thing on offer for me here right now is………………………………

The thing I hate right now or is driving me crazy is…………………………

The surprise in all of this for me right now is……………………………………

The nagging concern I’ve yet to share with anybody is………………And I am not sharing it because………………………………….

If my work was a song right now, it would have to be…………………………….Because

If my work was a movie right now, it would have to be…………………………..Because

………………………..And I would get to play the part of…………………….

The person in my work so far who is teaching me the most is……………..by………..

What I am learning about myself this week is………………………………… Because……………

Questions for Weekly Review

The people who would be most proud of me this week would be ………Because…..

The quote of the week for me has to be “…………………………………….” Because…………

The person of the week for me is………………………………………………Because…………………..

The story of the week for me is (Share it) …………………………………….Because……………………..

The takeaway of the week is…………………………………………………… Because………………………….

****If I applied what I learned this week to how I do things next week, I would do/ not do………………………………………………Because……… (Worth doing each week)

If this week had a title in the chapter of my  book subtitled My Time in Project Change AmeriCorps, it might be called………………………………..Because……………

I am most looking forward to……………..

I am dreading………………….

The message I would put in the bottle this week, that may end up one day floating back on to the shores of my life is…………………..Because………………………………..

The person I want to thank this week is…………………………Because……………………………

The person I want to support this week is……………………..Because…………………………..

The person who touched me the most this week was………..Because………………………….

If all of this had to end suddenly this week, what would I realize I have yet to complete or even start?…………………………………………………………………………….

If the universe is trying to send me a message this week, it would be…………………

The message I think I am trying to send the universe this week is…………………

The one Gift that I have and I think I am trying to bring more of into my world of work is ……………Because………………………………………………………….

If I believed in Angels, my angel this week would be…………………………………………………………..Because………………

If I believed in miracles, the miracle for me right now I have seen or really need is………………………..Because………………………………………….

The question I don’t want to ask myself right now but one day will have to face is………………………….Because………….

I am sure your own inspirations will flow into your journal writing. So these are offered to be starters or to give you some ideas. There are some great web sites that can offer other ideas too-

http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-a-Journal

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peggy-nolan/why-i-keep-a-journal_b_3594722.html

http://www.writesite.org/html/journal.html

Project Change learn about Mindfulness and Personal Journaling

October 30, 2014 admin Uncategorized
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The next training session for Project Change is with Businessman,  Teacher and Mediation Coach, Gregory Robison. Greg was formerly the Director of The Writers Center in Bethesda where he taught specialist courses in the art of Personal Journaling. He is  currently the director of the John Main Meditation Center at Georgetown University where he runs programs for both faculty and students on

-the art of being present to your momentary experience

-how not to get too tangled up in the dramas of the past or the future.

-how to cultivate a greater awareness of your own feelings as they arise.

Greg is also an accomplished craft printer,  writer and sketch artist. He will share his particular skills of Journaling and Life Drawing as a reflective practice.

Members of Project Change face many challenges in their work, and one of their developing skills is the art of self-care. Mindfulness has become a very popular tool for executives and leaders to stop, take a deep breath and not get caught up in the frantic urgencies of the moment. This is what Greg will be imparting to the team this week, as we celebrate Halloween.

J0hn Main Center

Noa Baum works her Story magic for Project Change

October 30, 2014 admin Uncategorized
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At our last training, Project Change members were treated to a special workshop on storytelling from one of the area’s Master Tellers, Noa Baum. Noa is an internationally known performer with her solo production of “A Land Twice Promised” that relates the stories of Palestinian and Israeli women, from three generations. Noa is originally from Israel and trained to be an actress. As she revealed in the story she shared with the team, she didn’t get a part in a play that she had her heart set on and that was a blow to the career ambitions of her as a 23 year old. The crisis diverted her to being a storyteller for an after school program for special needs kids. It was there that she discovered that this was her true calling.

The team worked in four different sets of pairs to find a story that they wanted to work on, and through the process of telling and retelling, they got a sense of how to craft a story. Thank you Noa Baum for an exceptional workshop.

http://www.noabaum.com/

Social Styles Training- October 10th 2014

October 9, 2014 admin Uncategorized
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Picture

This Friday, October 10th, Project Change will enjoy the skills and experience of expert trainor and former Executive Manager of Lickheed Martin, John Dold.

John Dold has practiced organization development consulting for more than twenty years. Most recently, John worked as an internal consultant for Lockheed Martin from 2000-2013. During this time, he led and participated in numerous large scale change initiatives. His work focused on organizational design and restructuring, strategic change, performance management systems, high performance team development and leadership development.

Before working at Lockheed Martin, John was senior consultant at VIMA International. While at VIMA, John focused on senior executive leadership and team development working with clients that included Freddie Mac, MITRE, International Monetary Fund, National Public Radio and Life Technologies. He also facilitated numerous Looking Glass leadership development institutes for a variety of clients as a certified facilitator and adjunct faculty for the Center for Creative Leadership, headquartered in Greensboro, NC.

Prior to working in the corporate world, John worked in ministry. His efforts in ministry focused on enabling effective parish ministry organizations. This included community organizing initiatives to empower neighborhoods and families. Beginning in the fall of 2014, John will be adjunct faculty at Touro College, New York City, teaching a graduate course on organization design in the industrial organization psychology department.

Americorps 2014-Time for a new Look

October 8, 2014 admin Uncategorized
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Project Change is 13 years young in a year that celebrates AmeriCorps 20th birthday. While the organizations have been around a while, the power of service and its capacity to inspire is forever fresh. As we initiate a new class of AmeriCorps volunteers, we are excited to involve them in reshaping our story and the look of our web site so that it shows the true face of their inspiring work. Stay Tuned.

Donate a Dress to “Once Upon a Prom”

March 31, 2011 admin Uncategorized
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On April 1st, the Women’s Studies, Girl Effect, International, and Student Service clubs will be collaborating in holding an event called “Once Upon a Prom” for some of the county’s most deserving, yet underprivileged, high school girls. Each invited girl will have the opportunity to choose a Prom dress, receive swag bags of makeup and accessories (sponsored by Nordstrom of Montgomery Mall), and win prizes such as Prom day photography, an appointment with a make up artist, and restaurant gift cards to make their Prom nights even more special!

Dresses of all colors and sizes are currently the most needed donation, however, if you have shoes, accessories, restaurant gift cards, cosmetic gift sets, or services (photography, hair, make up, etc.) to donate they will be greatly appreciated.

Please bring your donations to our meeting on Friday March 4th. You will receive 1 hour of service.

For questions or more info please contact Jemi at (301) 518-7219 or mcrookes@gmail.com.
Thanks!!!