Whoosh

It has been a whirlwind of activity at my desk lately....which justifies how it looks (I seriously need to acquire some 3-ring binders...).  I've been crunching numbers on data, bothering people for data, and compulsively checking my Google surveys to see how many people have replied.  The exciting news is I have a hunch all my data collection is paying off (stay tuned for more news), and the less exciting news is now I have to compile all the data reports.   Spreadsheets, pie charts, and numerals are the life of the Data Collection Coordinator.

In non-data news, Oberlin Community Services was awarded a grant from OBB for tax season.  Hooray for money for sturdy new tables!  I was down at the OCS food distribution this Saturday publicizing my tax clinics and I can confirm that some of the tables are in pretty bad shape.

To do:
1.  Clean desk and compile better to-do list
2.  Make OBB certifiates for private reading students
3.  Update email lists on who has responded to my surveys
4.  Complete follow-up paperwork for OCS grant
5.  Scan in books for WT readings.

Also, here is a neat quiz on poverty stats.  Fill it out--maybe you'll learn something!

Crunch crunch crunch

With lots of snow on the ground and lots of cold in the air, it is the perfect time to stay inside and crunch all the numbers from various surveys I am sending out.  Be sure and fill out the fall, campus-wide community engagement survey if you haven't already!

Hertz Connect

When I got to Oberlin as a freshman, I was thrilled I could walk everywhere in town.  Downtown Oberlin is packed full of useful and interesting shops that supply a lot of the basic goods I needed.  The only thing Oberlin does not have a good supply of is clothes; one time I took the Lorain County Transit down to the mall for pants and it was an all-day affair because the LCT, which has since been eliminated by budget cuts, was not a super fast public-transit service.  I was also lucky enough to have a roommate with a car who pitched in on during the bad times, like when I dropped a heavy computer speaker on my foot and couldn't shuffle to the hospital for proper care (or at least couldn't do it within a reasonable time frame).  By relying on my feet, my friends, and the LCT, I was able to get by without a car during my time as a student.  

Since graduating, I have acquired a car; her name is Flapper Fay.  She is dear to me because she is freedom-- I can go clothes shopping or to a Benefit Bank outreach event or to the Cleveland Reptile Show whenever I want.....but despite her excellent gas mileage she is also expensive, especially when a belt breaks, she starts smoking and I have to get her towed to the dealership.   Fay is freedom of transportation, but not owning her was freedom of my checking account.  There are pros and cons to each situation.

Upkeep costs of the car (car maintenance, Oberlin parking pass fees, insurance) can be prohibitively expensive for those students on a tight budget, especially when the car is not used frequently.  That's why I think it's cool Oberlin College participates in a car-sharing program where students can rent-a-car by the hour or by the day for all those errands outside the Oberlin Bubble.  It's the best of both worlds---you get transportation when you need it*, but don't have the high costs of car maintenance to bog down your budget.  Here is an article in The Source detailing what the car-sharing program is and how Oberlin College students can sign up for it.  

*The BCSL can provide transportation and car rentals for students doing community service!  Find out more about it on our website.

Wrap up

Hello from the Mansfield mall!  I am down here today with my fellow VISTAs Allison and Jessie wrapping gifts as a fundraiser for Jessie's tax clinic.  We're only a few hours into the shift and we've already wrapped over $20 gifts and earned over $30.

In other news, here is a cool article on the Apollo Outreach Initiative:

http://www.theoberlinnewstribune.com/obe/eastwood-video

Education Discussion Lunch

Today, Monday, 12:00-1:15
* Wilder Hall, room 112
* Education Discussion Lunch for college students, faculty, staff, and community members interested in K-12 education in Oberlin
* Guest speaker:  Angela Wu, talking about the Oberlin Street Law project and their focus issue this year, local foods in Oberlin schools
* Free pizza and salad lunch

Tweet, tweedle-lee-dee

Hello from the Sacred Heart Chapel in Lorain where I am doing Ohio Benefit Bank and Second Harvest Foodbank outreach.  It is a wide-open, well-lit room with a stage, a concession stand, and basketball hoops. There are lots of young children running around and playing with the games and crafts set out.  There is also someone dressed up in a Red Robin mascot costume; the kids are fascinated/terrified.

I appreciate when communities pull together to offer a resource fair.  It gathers multiple resources in one place (which makes outreach easier for the resources) and it gathers people together in a space they feel comfortable.  It is hard to ask for help or know where to go.  I am having much more success handing out the Santa Land flyers advertising Santa's visit to Lorain County Community College than I am passing out food assistance literature.
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Don't forget to drop by the BCSL if you still need a WT project or you want to find one involving community service!

Still looking for a Winter Term project?

The BCSL still has WT opportunities open!

Site: Bonner Center for Service & Learning

Website: www.oberlin.edu/bcsl

Position title on ObieOpps: Winter Term Web Media Service Intern

Job Description: The Web Media Intern will help the BCSL improve its online presence on common social networking sites.  Projects include making videos for the BCSL YouTube channel, editing the BCSL wiki, editing the BCSL website (content management system) and cross-linking the current BCSL social network sites.  The practical experience will be complemented by readings and investigations of groups and individuals who have successfully marketed themselves online.

Credit: Half or Full

# positions available: 3

Site: Bonner Center for Service & Learning

Website: www.oberlin.edu/bcsl

Position title on ObieOpps: Winter Term Public Relations Service Intern

Job Description: The PR Intern will help with updating the literature of the BCSL current to Communications Office standards.  Projects include making brochures for BCSL programs, composing a fall newsletter, designing and decorating a Day of Service Bulletin Board, and writing articles for the BCSL blog. The practical experience will be complemented by readings and investigations of what contributes to a successful public relations campaign.

Credit: Half or Full

# positions available: 1

Site: Bonner Center for Service & Learning

Website: www.oberlin.edu/bcsl

Position title on ObieOpps: Winter Term Dr. Seuss Day Service Intern

Job Description: Dr. Seuss Day is an annual family literacy celebration organized by the America Reads tutoring program and hosted by the Oberlin Public Library.  It has been held the first weekend of March for the past 10 years, and has become an anticipated event for local children and families.  More than two hundred people typically attend.  The task of the Dr. Seuss Day Planner is to build upon the past success of the event, while giving it a unique theme and flavor. The Planner will decide the title and theme for the day, design activities for children, and recruit special guest readers as well as other performers.  The Planner will also purchase children's books and other materials, and execute a publicity campaign for the event.  The work will be carried out in partnership with Andy Frantz, Program Director for America Reads, in the America Reads office in the Bonner Center for Service and Learning.  While most of the work is done during Winter Term, the Planner must be available for the event itself, the first weekend of March.

Credit: Half or Full

# positions available: 1-2

Site: Oberlin Early Childhood Center

Website: www.oberlinearlychildhood.org

Position Title on ObieOpps: Winter Term Self-Assessment Service Intern

Job Description: OECC has been accredited through the National Association of Early Childhood Programs since 1995.  Since then the accreditation standards and process has been revised.  There are three main components of this position:

1. Prior to applying for re-accreditation a self-assessment must be completed and results compiled.  The self-assessment includes surveying families and teaching staff on services provided by the center.

2. After survey results have been compiled a performance improvement plan will be written.

3. A system for providing evidence that the center and classrooms are meeting performance standards need developed. The students hired will work with the Executive Director and Director of Education to complete a self-assessment to complete the survey, compile the results, write a performance improvement plan, and to set up a system to document evidence.

Students who wish to pursue a career in the field of education would benefit from understanding how to provide support and evidence that performance standards are being implemented.  A student interested in evaluation and assessment may also benefit from this position through the process of obtaining and compiling survey results and creating an improvement plan based upon these results.

Credit: Half or Full

# of position available: 2

Site: Community Peace Builders
Position Title on Obie Opps: Winter Term National Deficit Research Service Intern

Job Description: The interns in this position will work to compile a report to present to US senators, and possibly to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, an initiative of President Obama, led by Senators Republican Alan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles.  Research would include an investigation of numbers for the value of properties in the US to decide the taxes that support the department of defense, the value of properties owned abroad by US citizens, and other information to fill in the background of the nation's deficit.  The primary thesis of this report is that the National Defense should be funded in the same manner as insurance -a fee proportional to the value of that protected.  The interns chosen can work from their own living space, or can choose to work at the home of the project supervisor.  Weekly meetings would be required to update work progress.

Credit: Half or full

# positions available: 2 

Site: Lorain County Food Policy Coalition
Position Title on Obie Opps: Winter Term Food Systems Mapping Service Intern

Job Description: Connect the many consumers and producers of local food in Lorain County by mapping components of the local food system, including farmers' markets, community gardens, community-supported agriculture programs, City Fresh stops, farm stands / farm producing locally sold food, grocery stores, restaurants with a commitment to serving local food, and organizations working on Lorain County's food system.

Credit: Half or Full

# positions available: 2

Site: Lorain County Food Policy Coalition
Position Title on Obie Opps: Winter Term Food Policy Project Service Intern

Job Description: Research food policy in Lorain County.  For each town, investigate laws on the books that affect food production issues such as the legality of various kinds of livestock, front yard gardens, bees, chickens, etc.  The end product will be used to help the Food Policy Coalition draw a county-wide picture of how policy encourages or prevents personal food production.

Credit: Half or full

# positions available: 2

Site: Lorain County Food Policy Coalition
Position Title on Obie Opps: Winter Term Food Policy Coalition Website Design Service Intern

Job Description: Create a website for the Lorain County Food Policy Coalition using the open source Drupal Content Management System.  Previous knowledge of Drupal is not necessary, and you will end the project familiar with some of the food system work being done in Lorain County as well as the process of building a website with Drupal.

Credit: Half or Full

# positions available: 2

Site: Lorain County Community College

Website: www.lorainccc.edu/servicelearning

Position Title on ObieOpps: Winter Term MLK Day of Service Event Service Intern

Job Description: The MLK Event Planning Intern will work on the preparation, implementation, and reflection of Lorain County Community College’s MLK Day of Service, which will be held on January 14^th. The Intern will participate in communications with media outlets and local nonprofit organizations, coordination of site leader volunteers, volunteer recruitment, Service Celebration planning and preparations, and other duties as assigned. The Intern will have the assistance of the full-time Americorps VISTA and part-time Americorps volunteers who are, along with the Intern, part of the team coordinating the MLK event. Our community partner service sites include the Lorain County Urban League, Harrison Cultural Community Center, Second Harvest Food Bank, Save Our Children, and the Early College High School. This is a great educational experience for anyone who is interested in civic engagement, marketing/event planning, leadership, project/program development and assessment and more!

Credit: Half or full

# positions available: 1

New BCSL website!

We've gone live with the new BCSL website! Same url (www.oberlin.edu/bcsl), updated graphics and info.

Happy Thanksgiving

The BCSL is quiet today---the majority of the staff are off enjoying the holiday, traveling, and prepping the kitchen. I hope to get some emails, reports, and a grant taken care of before I head home to curl up with my blankets, knitting, laptop, comics, and to-do list (I know, I know...but it's stuff I've wanted to get done for a while). It is a good day for posting a list, because they are quick, easy, and delightfully to-the-point.

Things I am Thankful For
1. I work in a job I love.
2. The job I love makes a positive difference in the world.
3. The job I love lets me live in a town I love.
4. The town I love contains people that I love.
5. Today, all my basic needs are met.
6. I will be sharing a hearty Thanksgiving meal with good company.
7. The air coming out of the BCSL vent is warm and not cold. (or at least it is room temperature)
8. I get to make lists like these as part of my job.
9. I have hot tea.
10. The chair I am going to be sitting in all day is comfortable and has back support.

Take the Campus Wide Community Engagement Survey!

This might be your Winter Term project

Project title:

Dr. Seuss Day Coordinator 

                       

Number of Students: 

1-2 students, half or full credit

           

Location: 

Bonner Center for Service and Learning

Supervisor: 

Andy Frantz, Education Outreach Programs Director

andy.frantz @ oberlin.edu / 440-775-5386

Description:

If you take on this project, you will plan the Dr. Seuss Day family literacy celebration.  This is an annual event held at the Oberlin Public Library in early March and draws about 200 youngsters and their families.  Planning the project involves lining up special guests to read books aloud, other guests such as musicians, clowns, sports figures, etc.  It also involves planning the specific literacy-based activities for the youngsters, and organizing publicity for the event.  Someone who is organized and outgoing is ideal for this position.  Although this has been an annual event for several years and therefore has certain elements that are pretty much fixed, there is room for plenty of creativity in shaping this year’s celebration to be whatever you envision it to be.

Special note: 

Hours during Winter Term are flexible.  While this is a January project, the Coordinator must be available during the weekend of March 5-6 when the event actually takes place.

Calling all you angels

Yesterday I drove up to Cleveland's Channel 3 to man a phone a an Ohio Benefit Bank phone bank. It looked a lot like this picture from Wikimedia Commons, only we had two rows of tables (sorry, forgot to grab my own picture):

"Ohio Benefit Bank, this is Ondrea speaking. How can I help you today?"

Starting at 10 a.m., the phone bank number was scrolled across the bottom of the screen to encourage people who were watching tv at home to call in and check their eligibility. The calls went to one of 14 phones manned by volunteers, and they were ringing off the hook. Any calls we didn't get to before 8 p.m. were told to leave messages that the awesome Benefit Bank Mobile Express team will return today.


I talked to about 20 people over the course of three hours. Some were well connected to the public benefits system, and some were delighted to learn they qualified for several hundred a month in extra benefits (most common: food assistance). It is always sad to realize how many people out there need help, and many stories were heartbreaking. Yet at events like these it's gratifying to power through call after call and hand out phone numbers and resources of people who can help put things right.

In Other News:

Leadership in an Interfaith World: A Workshop with Interfaith Youth Core
Wednesday, November 17, 4:30-6 pm
Wilder 211

The ability to understand, communicate with, and mobilize diverse groups--including religiously and philosophically diverse groups--is a critical leadership skill in the 21st century. In this workshop, a trainer from Interfaith Youth Core will help participants sharpen their skills in telling their stories, engaging diverse others, and building sustainable interfaith movements. Primarily for students but open to all. Sponsored by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.

Good Things To Read

Part of my OBB initiative here at Oberlin College is to get OBB incorporated into the College curriculum so students can do OBB work and get academic credit for it.  As a recent grad, I understand that when you can get academic credit for something, it's a lot easier to fit it into your schedule.  To this end, I plan on leading a private reading (2nd class meets tonight!), a WT project (2 students confirmed!), and an ExCo next semester (interview with the ExCo office today!).  For all these academic initiatives, I've had to try my hand at writing syllabi chock-full of informative readings.  

Here are some of the good books/articles I have come across or had recommended to me exploring the issue of poverty (and I have OhioLinked to read in the next few weeks).  Some are more academic than others, but if read with a critical eye all should give you something to think about:

• The Working Poor by David Shipler
• Broke, USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc. How the Working Poor Became Big Business by Gary Rivlin
• The State of Poverty in OH 2010
• All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America? by Joel Berg
• Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
• Bridges Out of Poverty by Ruby Payne  (to be read in conjunction with Paul Gorski)
• Articles by Paul Gorski critiquing Payne's work (to be read in conjunction with Ruby Payne)

Winter Term

If you are in the market for a Winter Term project, there are still community service ones available!  I've still got slots open for people to work with the Benefit Bank fighting poverty, Avi is looking for local foods people (description of the project on his blog) and Andy would like a Dr. Suess Day Coordinator.  Look us up on Obie Opps or drop by the BCSL if you are interested!

Have I told you lately I love where I work?

Slow week

Programs the BCSL has:

Community Service Work-Study Program

America Reads

Community-Based Learning

Bonner Scholars Program

Bonner Leaders Program

Leadership for Engagement, Activism and Direct Service

Community Service Resource Center

Day of Service

Training Support for the Ohio Benefit Bank

Policy Options Project

Ninde Scholars Program 

5th / 6th grade Mentoring Program

Winter Term community-service opportunities

Things I am working on:

• The fall semester campus-wide survey on student community service
• Working with Sam on a logo and blogspot for the Lorain County EITC Coalition:  http://loraincountyeitc.blogspot.com
• Fun fact: the EITC Coalition is a group of non-profit agencies working together to help people fill out their taxes to get the refunds they are eligible for but might not be aware of or know how to access.  The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a credit that may low-wage working people are eligible for, and it can result in a tax refund of several thousand dollars
• A 1-module, 1-credit private reading on poverty--the first class was Monday and I think it went well.  Good people, good discussion!
• Winter Term (come by the BCSL to find a community service WT project!)
• Attending webinars on taxes, Honor Roll applications, and more taxes

Policy

Cool Courses:

Want your research to be used by someone? Want to help choose the recipient of a $3000 cash award for most innovative techniques in non profit management? Interested in taking an Oberlin College Spring Semester class that (since 1999) is a consulting group doing work for city, state, and federal officials, as well as for non-profits and for-profits? Want training in how to be a project manager? Want to learn the difference between start-ups that incorporate as non-profits as opposed to for-profits?

POLT 411 is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors of all majors. In POLT 411 Oberlin Students conduct research and produce consultancy reports under the name of the Oberlin Research Group and under the supervision of Dr. Eve Sandberg in the Politics Department of Oberlin College.

Course by consent of the instructor: You can find an application in the Politics Dept (Rice 216), outside Rice 207, or email Prof Sandberg at Eve.Sandberg@Oberlin.edu

Cool Podcast:
http://ofbf.org/media-and-publications/listen/4/542/

Events!

For the first 3 months of my job, I was often out of the office traveling.  Now that I have traveled enough to be sufficiently trained in all my tasks.....I'm in the office all the time.  It takes some re-adjusting.  I used to be thrilled at the chance to stay in the office and get work done.  Now I'm experiencing a bit of cabin fever, so I'm starting to look around for things to do on campus.  Here are some events to get out and say hello to people!


Education Discussion Lunch:  Apollo Outreach Initiative
Monday, Nov. 8th at noon in Wilder 112
Lunch provided!  Email Andy.Frantz @ oberlin.edu to RSVP


Community Forces, Social Capital, and Educational Achievement: The Case of Suppleentary Education in the Chinese and Korean Immigrant Communities in the US
Presented by D. Min Zhou, Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies at University of California, Los Angelos
Monday, Nov. 8th at noon in King 306


Brown Bag Lunch with Sam Weller, writer and biographer of Ray Bradbury
Wed, November 10 at noon in Wilder 101
Cookies and Cider provided as part of the community-wide BIG READ.  Bring your copy of Fahrenheit 451 with you for a fun door prize. 


It Gets Better:  A discussion of problems and possibilities for LGBTQ youth
Thursday, November 11th, at 4:30 p.m. in Wilder 101
MRC sponsored event for My Name is My Own 2010

Hallowed Rutabaga for Thought

Here is an online Food Quiz by Kraft Foods.  Every correct question donates $1 to the fight against hunger.  My favorite question is the one about the Hallowed Rutabaga.

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There is a volunteer opportunity with the Oberlin Schools Farm Cooperative behind the Pleasant Road School (Boys and Girls Club).  This Saturday from 8:00AM to Noon is a work day in the newly plowed garden.  If you have anyone that is interested in locally grown foods, or is just looking for some volunteer hours, everyone is welcome.  You can read the press release HERE.
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I've been doing a lot of reading about poverty for the syllabi I am writing.  The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler.  Bridges Out of Poverty by Ruby Payne.  Savage Unrealities:Uncovering Classism in Ruby Payne's Framework by Paul Gorski.  Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream by Barbara Ehrenreich.  Underlying all of it seems to be the question "How can poverty exist when the American Dream dictates that hard work should pull people up through the economic ladder?"  There is no simple answer.  Some of the stories had hardworking people that just didn't make enough money per hour to cover all their costs.  Some people just had bad luck.  Some people got caught in the system.  Some people made controversial lifestyle choices. 

The more I read, the more I realize I'm looking at life through a Southern, middle-class, moderate 20th C. Christian, academic lens.  On some level, people are universal and seek out the same things; physical needs and belonging somewhere might be a good place to start.  Yet the outlooks they have on life are not universal; it's that random human element that guarantees there is someone with a different way of looking at things out there no matter what I think.  When I was little, I was convinced there had been so many humans who had come before me that surely every single experience had been experienced, every emotion felt, and every human problem confronted.  If only, I thought, we could see what they did and learn from their experience and not repeat their mistakes.  Looking back was where the answer was.  World peace would come from learning from others who have come before, not necessarily from any new idea.  It fell into line with that snazzy quote: "Those who don't read history are doomed to repeat it."

Now that I've gotten older and lived life a bit more, I see holes in my hypothesis.  One major oversight I made is forgetting that everybody has to grow up and live; everybody takes their own path.  Another major hole is that I assumed everybody thought like me.  I assumed everyone would come out at the same mental place after growing up--my world peace depended on everyone looking back on humanity's collective experience together.  I assumed everyone wanted world peace and that they would be willing to learn and be introspective.  Once you start getting down to it, to truly walk in another person's shoes takes significantly more dismantling of my own assumptions, morals, and beliefs that I had previously thought.  It's one thing to try and look at somebody's perspective through your lens, and a completely other one to drop your lens and see what they see.

The other day someone suggested to me the golden rule of Treat others as you want to be treated isn't all it's cracked up to be, and that I should try Treat others as they wish to be treated.

It's an exercise not only in walking in somebody else's shoes, which is based on the assumption we all have similar experiences put in the same place, but also recognizing the difference between what you want, what they want, and what you think they want.

Tricky stuff.

Winter Term and candy

Welcome back from fall break!  Today is November 1st, which boggles my mind.  So much to do, so little time; it is time to break out the post-its, to-do lists, timelines, and tea.  Can't forget the tea that warms me up enough to type, especially when I forgot my blanket at home today.  My office at the BCSL holds heat about as well as you can nail jello to the wall.....which is to say, not at all.

Important Things of Note:

The Bonner Center sponsors Winter Term projects!  Several staff will be at the Winter Term Fair tonight 7:15 p.m. until 9 p.m. in Philips gym.  I'm sponsoring a Benefit Bank themed project, Sarah is sponsoring public relations and media projects, Andy is looking for a Dr. Suess Day Coordinator, and there are many other projects waiting to be claimed.

I'm still accepting students for a Benefit Bank themed 1-module, 1-credit private reading. And I just added more readings to the syllabus, which I'm very excited about.

There is Halloween candy at the BCSL.  Chocolate, Starbursts, Skittles, and gummy bears!  Look for it in the awesome leopard skinned basket on loan to the BCSL.

Food for Thought

Today Beth, Tabassum, and I went out to Lorain County Community College for a Service Learning/Community-Based Learning workshop.  Quotes were sprinkled throughout, and here are some of my favorites:

"Service is the rent we pay for living.  It is the very purpose of life and not something to do in your spare time."
--Martin Luther King Jr.

"A different world cannot be built by indifferent people."
--Horace Mann

"We challenege you to assure that the next year's entering students will graduate as individuals of character more sensitive to the needs of the community, more competant to contribute to society, and more civil in habits of thought, speech, and action."
--Wingspread Group Report on Higher Education (1993)

"I was born a citizen of  a free state...however slight my voice may affect public affairs, my right to vote on them is enough to impose upon me the duty of learning about them."
--Jean Jacques Rousseau
"We [higher education] educate a larger proportion of the citizens who bother to vote, not to mention most of the politicians, journalists, and news commentators. We also educate all the school administrators and teachers, who in turn educate everyone at the pre-college level.  And we do much to shape the pre-college curriculum through what we require of our college applicants.  In short, not only have we helped create the problems that plague American democracy, but we are also in a position to begin doing something about them.  If higher education doesn't start giving citizenship and democracy much greater priority, who will?"
--(Astin 1995)

Happy Fall Break

Happy Fall Break, everyone!  Bite-sized food for thought while you unwind from the semester:

• I have found a nifty interactive, nation-wide map showing the rates of poverty in America: Map Link!
• The BCSL Annual Report for the 2009/2010 school year (And once you're done, let us know of additional civic engagement going on!):

OberlinServesVol1FINAL

Who can use a food pantry?

On my trawling of teh internets for news articles about poverty further my education, I came across this New York Times article with alliteration: Proving Poverty Could be Problematic at Area Food Pantries
Some background:  Some pantries will give food to anyone who asks; at most you have to give a name and maybe some contact information so the pantry can keep track clients helped for reporting purposes  Kathy down at Oberlin Community Services was distraught that during the LEADS poverty simulation the fake Oberlin Community Services was only giving food to people from certain zip-codes.  She wanted to make it clear the real Oberlin Community Services gives food to anyone who asks, regardless of zip code and regardless of whether or not the food is perceived as being needed (though there are pantries with limited resources that do restrict who gets food based on zip code).  The thinking is based on the assumption of common human decency: only people who really need food will ask for it.  Plus, it's humbling and can be hard for many people to ask for free food.  Those who overcome those emotional barriers must be in need.

The gist of the article: Some local United Way leaders in San Francisco are concerned about fraud at the food pantries; they are worried people (mostly commercial grocers) who do not need food are coming by, getting food from the pantry for free, and then re-selling it at their stores.  These leaders want to institute a change to make people who come to the pantry prove they have low income to stop people with higher incomes (who theoretically would not need food because they can get their own) from getting food. 

Hot button issue, anyone?

My Opinion: Though I understand the concern of food pantry fraud, I have several issues with the proposed change.  For one, it is hard to tell based on income level who needs food and who doesn't.  Just because someone is above the federal poverty line does not mean they are easily meeting all of their bill payments.  For two, being in poverty and enrolled in the Federal bureaucratic benefits programs is hard enough; there shouldn't be more hoops to jump through.  It's hard to keep track of all the paperwork to "prove" poverty, and any illegal immigrants would have an especially hard time.  

Plus, there's just this idea floating around in my head that we have enough money and food that we should have enough to provide for everyone....but we're not.  The federal budget for food stamps--which feeds a lot of people as it stands now--- is minuscule compared to the budget for national defense.  Not only that, but America has a lot of food that is not used.  Part of what Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio stocks their food pantries with is edible food bought from farmers that can't be sold at market for whatever reason and would get plowed back into the ground if Second Harvest hadn't come along.  The Second Harvest tagline is MORE FOOD; LESS HUNGER.  The more I meditate on that line, the more I like it.

MORE FOOD; LESS HUNGER

Nifty Blogs and WT opportunities: Local Food in Lorain County

At the BCSL I share an office with Food Policy Options Intern Avi Miner, a 2009 OC grad who does lots of awesome things with local foods.  Cool things that Avi does:

• He manages the Oberlin City Fresh stop, the local farm share program where you can sign up for a weekly bag of whatever fresh has come off the local farms
• He oversees private readings and Winter Term students who work on local foods issues
• He maps out where the food at local restaurants and the College cafeterias come from
• He researches important policy questions like:
• Can you have chickens/bees/other small livestock in your house in Oberlin?
• Can you have a vegetable garden in your front yard and not have the city mow it down for being over the limit for lawful lawn height? (this actually happened in Elyria)
• Then he takes these questions and finds out how we can change policy to allow these things so that people can grow more of their own food legally--because nothing is more local than your front yard.
• He bowls. Talk to him about bowling!

If you are interested in getting involved with Avi's work, come by the BCSL Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday to talk to him.  Remember: he can do private readings and winter term projects! You can also follow what he does and learn more about the local food movement at The Oberlin Food Blog:  http://oberlinfood.wordpress.com/

Gleaning

To glean: (definition from Merriam-Webster)

1: to gather grain or other produce left by reapers

2: to gather information or material bit by bit

This weekend I attended the first George Jones Farm documentary viewing of The Gleaners and I, a French film investigating many aspects of gleaning.

• gleaning after the harvest to get all the tasty foods the mechanical equipment missed
• gleaning the edible food dumped by factories because it somehow doesn't meet size or visual standards
• gleaning free furnature and objects people leave on the side of the road
• gleaning from dumpsters (dumpster diving)
• gleaning in paintings
• gleaning for produce so you know where it comes from
• gleaning for food because you don't have enough money to buy it
• gleaning scraps for art projects

After watching the film, the 16 of us plus Marco Wilkinson, head farmer at George Jones, we went out to the bean and lettuce fields and gleaned what was ripe before the plants were lost to frost. The produce we collected amounted to:

7 pounds of beans (purple, green, and yellow)

7 pounds of butternut squash

15 pounds of lettuce

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$100 of food !

All of the food was donated to Oberlin's food pantry, Oberlin Community Services. It is towards the end of the month when money for food becomes tight for those on limited budgets, so I know it will be appreciated.

Other News:

Interested in learning about poverty and the Benefit Bank and making a difference in people's lives? Talk to me about a 1-credit private reading for the second module of the semester that starts after fall break.

Interested in doing community service for Winter Term? I have a Benefit Bank project you can jump into, and Sarah Ho and the CSRC are compiling other service WT opportunities. Stop by and see us!

Echoing Green to Award $1 Million to Emerging Social Entrepreneurs
Echoing Green is looking for our newest class of fellows! For nearly 25 years, Echoing Green has focused its efforts on identifying and funding promising social entrepreneurs to help them launch innovative social change organizations worldwide. We’ve invested close to $30 million in seed funding to nearly 500 social entrepreneurs who work to solve deep-rooted problems in the world through their innovative ideas. Echoing Green has helped launch Teach For America, City Year, Genocide Intervention Network, The SEED School, Global Fund for Children and hundreds of others. Now we’re looking for the next generation talent to deliver bold solutions and social change. Fellows can receive up to $90,000 over a two-year fellowship. Interested? Apply by November 12, 2010: www.echoinggreen.org/fellowship

Find Your Federal Student Loans

Part of being a VISTA is that I'm no longer in school.....which means my student loans are due.  Dun dun dunnnnn!  Unfortunately, the Financial Aid office did not hand me a paper with loan amounts and where I send the money, so I spent yesterday educating myself on where the loans are and who to pay.  I figure there are some more students out there in a similar situation like me, so I have made a handy reference page of what I learned and tacked it permanently to the top of the blog:

Happy Friday!

Hooray!Booooo

If you haven't heard already, today is the last day in the BCSL for Donna Russell, Director of the Bonner Scholars Program.  Starting tomorrow Donna will be working in Career Services on Winter Term. 

When Donna announced her decision to move to Career Services at staff meeting, there was a brief silence, and then Andy went "Hooray!Booooo."  It's a very concise summary; we are thrilled Donna will still be around campus and that she has found something she likes which will give her more time for family, but we will sorely miss her at the BCSL.  The Oberlin Bonner Scholars program would not be as amazing or coherent as it is without the Bonner love of Mama Donna.  In celebration of Donna and all that she has done (and all that she will do), the BCSL is hosting a reception.

COME TELL DONNA YOU LOVE HER
Bonner Center for Service and Learning (145 W. Lorain St.)
3:30 p.m. until 5 p.m.

Monday Round-up

VISTA news: Taxes
I spent the end of last week in Columbus with all my fellow Ohio Benefit Bank VISTAs learning the ins and outs of federal taxes and how using the Benefit Bank software is so much easier than doing taxes by hand.   I have now incorporated acronyms like AGI and ETIC into my daily vocabulary.  My current VISTA goals include getting ready for tax season, which involves writing module, winter term, and ExCo syllabi and trying to recruit people for all three. Interested in getting involved with one/two/all of them?  Email me at okeith @ oberlin.edu

BCSL news: Education Discussion Lunch
Today, Monday, October 11, is an education discussion lunch!
Wilder Hall, room 112, 12:00-1:15
Free pizza and salad lunch provided
Networking and announcements followed by guest speaker and discussion
All are welcome.  Please RSVP to Andy Frantz at andy.frantz @ oberlin.edu if possible to ensure enough food is ordered.


FYI news:
Here is an article about West Virginia University's food pantry in the student union for hungry students.

Hooray news:
Hooray for all the students who came to the 10/10/10 Clean It Up Oberlin service event!  Here is the website with stats and photos

Reflection: A Complete Education

For my 4 years of undergraduate education in Oberlin, I did my Bonner service work at

• Oberlin Heritage Center doing public relations tasks and leading tours of the grounds
• Firelands Association for the Visual Arts watching the gallery and store on weekends
• My senior year I did a stint in the Creative Arts Therapy center at Kendal at Oberlin helping the elderly residents entertain themselves through art and other creative tasks

For my academic time at Oberlin College, I studied

• Biology, because it was a practical science with many applications and job opportunities
• Studio Art, because if I don't create things my brain overheats and explodes (yes, it's messy)
• Religion (mostly the text and afterlife of stories in the Hebrew Bible) to understand what I saw around me and because I like stories

I'm a fan of Oberlin College and the liberal arts education.  I am a life-long learner at heart, and it is useless for me to pretend otherwise.  There's a certain thrill to camping in the library with a pile of books on one side, a stack of notes and highlighters on the other, and a blank screen in front of me waiting for me to detail how the character of Leah, Jacob's wife, transformed through the ages.  There's a satisfaction from having 10 sketch books full of charcoal drawings that no-one but me will ever see.  I enjoy reading the scientific papers debating what, precisely, killed the dinosaurs.

When I started my service freshman year, it was honestly something to bring in money for tuition, fulfill Bonner requirements, and occupy me in my spare time.   I had benefited socially from service work back home and sought the same benefits in Oberlin, so I came with the mindset I wanted to get involved in the community.  So I did---I started at the Oberlin Heritage Center within the first month of school.  I expected it to take a sort of back-seat to my classroom education.   I was here to get some smarts and change the world, darn it, and the books and professors were going to show me how.

The longer I was in school, the more I grew frustrated with....school.  Academics.  Taking tests.  Arguing about topics only PhDs cared about.  Quibbling over the details that didn't and don't really matter in my day to day life.  Will knowing how the dinosaurs died pay my cell phone bill?  Does writing about Leah give meaning to my life?  Will figuring out how to draw foreshortened limbs solve world hunger?  I enjoyed my work in the classroom, but did it make a difference?  On some level it did, but it was hard for me to see it.

But at my service sites, under my supervisors....I worked to compile, stuff, and stamp bulk mailings asking for donations for my non-profit, and saw the results when I opened the mail and a check fell out on to my desk.  I made posters, and they were used to advertise events that people came to.  I learned how to calculate sales tax using 3 different methods.  I had people thank me for opening the gallery because they'd traveled a ways to come see the show.  I helped cater gallery openings.  I manned the phones.  Almost as a by-product I picked up the practical skills that did not come from book learning or lectures halls---of how to be professional, socialize at fundraisers, and set out a spread for a large gathering.  The more educated I became in the liberal arts, the more grateful I was to have Bonner to support me in my pursuit of practical skills I could bring to the workplace.  I am a life-long learner, but I relish the practical.

Practical (www.thefreedictionary.com)
Of, relating to, governed by, or acquired through practice or action, rather than theory, speculation, or ideals

It is wonderful to make a practical difference in the Oberlin community in a way that papers and tests don't.

I am sad to see the passing of the concept of apprenticeship.  There is a balance to book learning and real-life experience, and sometimes I feel our current culture puts too much emphasis on the book part.  There seems to be a growing movement in college admissions to require internships and volunteer work, but I suspect it's still heavily weighted in favor of test scores.   Bonner Scholars, Community-Based Learning, and Community Service Work-Study all work to integrate service work and associated skills into regular academic life.  In my head, they fill the need that regular academics don't meet.  Community service completed my education.

Article Round-Up

Last night I had the pleasure of attending Generous Helpings, the big fundraiser event for Second Harvest Foodbank of North Central Ohio. On a cold and windy night (tent for the event...not so much), chefs from the area gathered in the North Central Foodbank food warehouse to show off their skills, and supporters of the foodbank gathered to eat the chef's tasty things, bid in a silent auction, and say hello to each other.  I had a lot of fun eating incredibly tasty and unusual food like chocolate turtles, bacon toffee chocolate, homemade tortilla chips, and radish leaf salad with the lovely people of OBB, VISTA, and Second Harvest.  There is nothing like good company and good food gathered in one place for a good cause!  Here is an article with pictures.

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For your education, I would also like to direct your attention to these articles on poverty in our area:

Cleveland.com article on Cleveland

Mansfield News Journal on Ohio's recession
 

Logo above property of NBC.  Learning things is good!

Winter Term: Ohio Benefit Bank

Interested in working with the Ohio Benefit Bank to eliminate poverty? I've got a Winter Term position for you!


Community Outreach Intern/Ohio Benefit Bank Counselor

The Community outreach intern/s will assist in the effort to stimulate the economy and fight poverty in Lorain County by helping residents access available tax credits and other resources. You will collaborate with two AmeriCorps* VISTA volunteers to coordinate free tax clinics and to devise and implement strategies for encouraging residents to use the free Ohio Benefit Bank tax service. You will learn about the programs run by OASHF and the basics about taxes, available tax credits, and other public benefit programs. The position will be based in Oberlin, but will regularly involve travel around Lorain County, including direct service opportunities at the Second Harvest Foodbank in Lorain, OH. Full and Half Credit options available.

For more information on the Ohio Benefit Bank Counselor, click here.

Simulating poverty

Yesterday VISTA called me down to Columbus to re-connect with VISTAs around the state and the mission of VISTA: to eliminate poverty.  Half of the day was spent in a Bridges Out of Poverty session and half the day was spent in a poverty simulation.

I was particularly interested in the poverty simulation because I run on myself--I re-wrote half the rules and debuted it at LEADS, and tomorrow night I am running the updated version for Bonner Life 101.  For those that don't know, a poverty simulation runs like this:  Participants are given a family profile that includes, incomes, bills owed, and family relationships.  The participants take this profile and then complete some objective by going to different stations, set up as stores or government agencies or busineses, staffed by volunteers who have done the simulation before.  Usually there is a time limit.

At the VISTA simulation, we had to keep the family running and pay all the bills (utilities, food, mortgage, car, misc., school fees) within a set time period while going to school or work.  I was a 21 year old community college student with a recently incarcerated father, twin 13 year-old sisters, and a 3 year-old sister.  I didn't do too hot--I was suspended from school for leaving early so I could go check on my sister, who was taken to jail for bringing a gun to school.  While I was out paying (most of) the bills, my neglected twins sisters started dealing drugs and the baby didn't get picked up from daycare.  For my simulation, the focus is on food---the objective is to take the family profile, calculate how much money is left for food once the bills are paid, and navigate the transportation and social services system to obtain 2,000 nutritious calories for each family member.

Though the simulations take a lot of work to put together because you have to create identities for participants, create and sort materials before/after the simulations, and gather volunteers for the stations, they are an incredibly powerful and valuable learning tool.  It's one thing to look at the statistics of people in poverty, but it's another to experience some of the stress and anxiety people in poverty feel.  The simulations help participants understand the barriers people in poverty face, dissect the stereotype of poverty, and simply become more aware of the impoverished lifestyle than they would normally.

I have found the more I have been to climb into other people's shoes to temporarily adopt their outlook on life, the kinder, less judgmental, and more compassionate I am.  I fully support poverty simulations, and it would be awesome if they were more widespread in programming than they are, even in less involved formats.

So if you know of anyone looking for a poverty simulation, email me! okeith @ oberlin.edu

Rainy Days and Mondays

As the cold and wet rolls in, don't forget to start planning for Winter Term!  The BCSL is co-offering two workshops with Career Services to help you find what you need:

Winter Term Workshops
Tuesday, Sept. 28 at 4:30pm: Science Center Room A154
Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 7:30pm: Science Center Room A154
One of the most valuable tools in college career development is the experiences you have in your field of interest. In this workshop, learn what resources are available to you in finding a winter term internship, what you need to prepare, and how to use networking techniques to find your ideal experience. Co-hosted by the Bonner Center for Service & Learning and the Office of Career Services.

Friday Hoorays

I don't know about you, but I am having an excellent day. I thought it best to do another round of Friday Hoorays.

1. I work with awesome people. Hooray!
2. In our work, we do awesome things. Hooray!
3. I finished the final edits on the annual report. Hooray!
4. I finished the BCSL display in the Science Center. Hooray!
5. I am going to:

The 2nd Annual Jones Farm Harvest Festival Fundraiser

Wednesday, October 13th

6:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m.

Vermilion Valley Vineyard

Email okeith @ oberlin.edu for info about tickets.

Hooray!

6. I've started planning for an OBB private reading, ExCo, and WT. Hooray!
7. I got to stay in the office and get things done this week. Hooray!
8. The BCSL Advisory Committee met this morning, and it was a lovely meeting full of visions, brainstorming, and networking. Hooray!
9. I am done with a lot of the grunt work on the Day of Service data. Hooray!
10. It is a beautiful day and I had lunch outside. Hooray!

Opportunities!

In yet another blog post that is a list, there are a lot of

Opportunities At The BCSL:

1. BCSL student staff opportunities that are Federal Work-Study positions (listed below).  If interested, contact Vicki at vyacoboz @ oberlin.edu 

• Student Assistant for Vicki, the BCSL Administrative Assistant
• Archives Student Assistant to document the history of the BCSL

2.  The Fifth and Sixth Grade Mentoring Program (FAST) is looking for 2nd and 3rd year male students.  If interested, contact Andy.Frantz @ oberlin.edu

3.  I'm looking for students interested in pioneering a private reading involving the Benefit Bank second module!  If interested, email okeith @ oberlin.edu

4.  Winter Term Workshops

Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 7:30pm: Science Center Room A154
One of the most valuable tools in college career development is the experiences you have in your field of interest. In this workshop, learn what resources are available to you in finding a winter term internship, what you need to prepare, and how to use networking techniques to find your ideal experience. Co-hosted by the Bonner Center for Service & Learning and the office of Career Services.

 

Other Things Happening:

 

1.  Happy Birthday, Donna!  (Incidentally, the BCSL now has lots of cake so stop by and eat some so I don't eat it all.)

2. The campus-wide picture is taking place this Friday, in Wilder Bowl at 4:45 p.m.