Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Contents
Building the Learning Environment / the Mission of VISTA — Outcomes . . . . . . . 4
Capacity Building Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
VISTA Members’ Role as Capacity Builders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Personal Perspectives of Poverty — Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Poverty Concepts, Insights, and Strategies — Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Points to Remember about Living in Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Poverty: A Lack of Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Some Areas of Financial Asset Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Models of Poverty: Absolute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Thoughts on Relative Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Types of Poverty: Situational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Types of Poverty: Generational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Measuring Poverty—Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Time Line of US Poverty Measures: The Poverty Threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Orshansky’s Poverty Threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Poverty Thresholds for 2008 (By Size of Family and Number of
Related Children Under 18 Years) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
How the Government Uses the Poverty Threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2009 Poverty Guidelines (Dept. of Health and Human Services) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Problems With Official Measure of Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
US Population Density (2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Percentage of Total Population in Poverty (2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Poverty Statistics Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Thoughts on Poverty in the US . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Questions that Consider Context of Those Living in Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Understanding the Member Assignment — Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
VISTA Application Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
VISTA Project Plan – Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
VISTA Assignment Description (VAD) SAMPLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Glossary of Terms for the New Project Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
The Fieldstone Alliance Framework (graphic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Capacity Building Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Reflection Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Attributes of Successful VISTAs, According to Supervisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Organizational Culture and Community Entry — Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Definition of Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Contents
Understanding Culture — Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Organizational Entry — Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Definition of Organizational Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Styles of Communication: Degree of Directness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Styles of Communication: Role of Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Styles of Communication: Importance of Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Styles of Communication: The Task or the Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
A Diagram of Cultural Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Civil Rights and Responsibilities — Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
What Is Discrimination? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Illegal Discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
What is Harassment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Illegal harassment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Where Can I go for more Information? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Volunteer Generation and Development — Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Volunteer Mingle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
“Warm Body” Recruitment vs Targeted Recruitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Retaining Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Overview of the Sustainable Volunteerism Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Resource Mobilization — Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Resource Development — Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Resource Mobilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Fundraising vs. Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Giving Pie: Sources of Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Giving Pie: Recipient Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Criteria for Confident and Clear Introductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
A Conversation About Your Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Questions About Your Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
How to Develop an Effective Resource Mobilization Plan: Stages . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Resource Mobilization Activity Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
The Stages of an ASK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
The Smart ASK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
What Is a Smart ASK? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
“The ASK” Scenario Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
“The ASK” Scenario Debrief Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Partnerships — Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Instructions for Partnership Learning Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Partnership Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Contents
Partnership Debrief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Landscape Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Membership Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Resource Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Factors that Make or Break a Partnership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Capacity Building and Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Points to Remember
about Living in Poverty
n Financial
n Emotional
n Mental
n Social Capital
n Role Models
n Microenterprise
n Financial Literacy
1960 1970
Poverty Thresholds for 2008 (By Size of Family and Number of Related
Children Under 18 Years)
Size of family unit Related children under 18 years
None One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight or more
One person (unrelated individual)
Under 65 years.................................. $11,201
65 years and over.............................. 10,326
Two people
Householder under 65 years........... 14,417 $14,840
Householder 65 years and over...... 13,014 14,784
Three people................................... 16,841 17,330 $17,346
Four people..................................... 22,207 22,570 21,834 $21,910
Five people...................................... 26,781 27,170 26,338 25,694 $25,301
Six people........................................ 30,803 30,925 30,288 29,677 28,769 $28,230
Seven people................................... 35,442 35,664 34,901 34,369 33,379 32,223 $20,955
Eight people..................................... 39,640 39,990 39,270 38,639 37,744 36,608 35,426 $35,125
Nine people or more........................ 47,684 47,915 47,278 46,743 45,864 44,656 43,563 43,292 $41,624
Statistics Eligibility
Gov’t agency: Gov’t agency:
US Census Bureau Dept. of Health and
Human Services (HHS)
• Tells the government • Tells the government who
how many people are in is eligible for state and
poverty. federal services.
• The data informs • States can increase
policymakers and the allowed income amounts
public. by anywhere from 105 –
400% of HHS’ maximum
to allow more people to
be eligible for services.
Age
Children comprise the greatest numbers
and percentages of people in poverty.
Household type
Out of the large number of married
households, a small percentage of them
live in poverty. Out of the small number
of female-headed households, a large
percentage of them live in poverty.
Employment status
The total number of people in pover-
ty who worked full time or part time is
higher than those who did not work at
all.
Educational attainment
The more advanced one’s education is,
the less likely it is that he/she will expe-
rience high rates of poverty.
Maslow’s Hierarchy
of Needs
—Paulo Freire
Noted educator and theorist
(Dr. Donna Beegle, See Poverty…Be the Difference! Discovering the Missing Pieces
for Working with People in Poverty, 2005)
n Executive Summary
n Strengthening Communities
n Project Management
n Organizational Capacity
• Studies have found that more than 500 children and youth in Waketa County have at least one
incarcerated parent.
• About two-thirds of these children and youth (61%) live in households with incomes below the
Federal poverty line and are more inclined to suffer drug use, diminished high school graduation
rates and unemployment.
• Waketa Community Services (WCS) currently provides mentoring services to children and youth
of incarcerated parents; however, WCS has had difficulty finding enough volunteers to meet the
demand for mentors.
Goal Statement: Describe the impact your project will have in addressing the community need identified
above. This goal statement should cover the three-year project period.
To help ensure that children and youth of incarcerated parents receive the educational, social and emotion-
al support they need to help them escape the cycle of poverty, the WCS VISTA project will build the capac-
ity of the organization by developing a sustainable Volunteer Recruitment and Management system for the
mentoring program.
Performance Milestone
At least three Volunteer Recruitment and Management system components will be created and/or revised.
Indicator: System components created and/or revised. These may include but are not limited to: vol-
June 2009
unteer recruitment database, screening procedures, mentor training curricula, and volunteer sup-
port resources.
Target: Three system components will be created and/or revised.
Performance Milestone
New/revised recruitment systems are operational: 45 Volunteers are recruited.
Indicator: Volunteers recruited using new volunteer recruitment systems.
Target: 45 volunteers will be recruited. Sept 2009
How Measured: Volunteer Recruitment Log
Description of Data Collection: Volunteer Recruitment Log, completed after each recruitment event
by VISTA member.
Performance Milestone
New/revised Volunteer Recruitment and Management systems are effective: 75% (30 of 40) volunteers
recruited, trained and managed using the new/revised Volunteer Recruitment and Management system will
serve as mentors for at least 9 months.
Indicator: Volunteers recruited and managed using the new/revised Volunteer Recruitment and Sept 2010
Management system serve as mentors for at least 9 months.
Target: 75% of volunteers will serve as mentors for at least 9 months.
How Measured: Mentoring Logs.
Description of Data Collection: Mentoring Logs, completed weekly by mentors.
Planned Period
VISTA Member Activities and Steps Checklist
of Work
The Community Need is the problem or issue in the community that your project will
address.
The Goal Statement describes the impact that the AmeriCorps*VISTA project will have on
the community need during the term of the project, which is typically three years
A Performance milestone is an anticipated result that the agency hopes the VISTA will
achieve over the course of one year. Each performance milestone is followed by:
• Indicator/Evidence of progress
The information that will be collected to determine if performance milestones have
been achieved.
• Target
The level or amount of change expected to achieve as measured by the indicator.
• How measured
The method that will be used to collect data.
Reflection Questions
n Flexible
n Enthusiastic
n Motivated
n Self-confident
n Good communicators
Definition of Culture
Styles of Communication:
Degree of Directness
Direct Indirect
Styles of Communication:
Role of Context
Styles of Communication:
Importance of Face
Styles of Communication:
The Task or the Person
n The task is separated from the n The task and the person can’t
person. be separated.
n Do business first and then have n Begin with small talk and then
small talk. move to business.
A Diagram of
Cultural Adjustment
Acceptance,
Adaptation, Integration
Acceptance,
Some Adaptation Further
Adjustment
Excitement, Initial
Enthusiasm
Adjustment
Initial
Enthusiasm
Further
Shock
Initial
Shock
Frustration,
Vulnerability
What Is Discrimination?
Discrimination is treating people differ-
ently because of who they are, where they
come from, or the groups they belong to.
Discrimination in a VISTA service setting is
illegal when it targets a person or group
based on non-merit factors which the
Corporation for National and Community
Service defines as the following:
Illegal Discrimination
What is Harassment
Illegal harassment
Volunteer Mingle
vs.
TARGETED RECRUITMENT
A source of more
foolproof volunteers
Retaining Volunteers
Outreach
This group’s assignment was to create a targeted marketing flyer either for a non-
profit of their choice or for a mentoring program.
Recruit
This group’s assignment was to develop volunteer task descriptions for volunteers
at a community center that is developing a health care program for the home-
less. They could choose to draft descriptions for one of three different positions: 1)
Conduct the street outreach using techniques that effectively communicate avail-
able services to potential beneficiaries; 2) Conduct fundraising activities for the
health care program; 3) Secure expert trainers to provide training to volunteers on
effective ways to interact with homeless populations. For the assignment descrip-
tions they had to spell out: qualifications, activities, benefits, time commitments,
and other experiences.
Sustain
This group had three choices: 1) They could create a symbol or picture of the com-
ponents of capacity building in a volunteer program 2) Create a 3-D structure of
what capacity building looks like in a sustainable volunteer program 3) Create a
table of contents of the artifacts that would be included in a sustainability binder
created by a third year VISTA. They could choose to do one activity together or
split into more than one group.
From Strengthening Nonprofit Performance: A Funder’s Guide to Capacity Building by Paul Connolly
and Carol Lukes. Copyright 2002 Fieldstone Alliance, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher. For
more information about this and other Fieldstone Alliance nonprofit and community resources, visit
www.fieldstonealliance.org or call 1-800-274-6024
Resource Mobilization
Fundraising Development
Giving Pie:
Sources of Contributions
2008 contributions: $307.65 billion
By Source of Contributions
(Dollar amounts are in billions)
Corporations
$14.50
5%
Foundations
$41.20
13%
Bequests
$22.66
7%
Individuals
$229.28
75%
Giving Pie:
Recipient Organizations
2008 contributions: $306.39 billion
Public-society benefit
$23.88
8%
Human
services
$25.88
9%
Health
$21.64 Education
7% $40.94
13%
n Clarity
n Brevity
n Body language
n Eye contact
n Voice
n Physical presentation
n Listening ability
A Conversation About
Your Project
One example could include the following components
of a conversation on the go:
Research Plan
Conduct Evaluate
Discover
n Their motivations
n Their frame of reference/point of view
Listen
n Focus
n Don’t interrupt
Respond
n Draw out more information
n Attempt to overcome objections
Closure
n Check for understanding
n Do-follow up immediately
n Leave the door open
n Responds respectfully.
n Who asks
Partnerships — Outcomes
Instructions for
Partnership Learning Experience
Partnership Selection
Partnership Debrief
Landscape Changes
Membership Changes
A High School Student moves to the YMCA group after being
asked to be the “Youth Representative” on the YMCA’s board.
S/He has been participating in YMCA programs for many years.
Resource Opportunity