AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps

Morning peeps! Things are going well here-we only have about 40 days left until we graduate! so excited!
Well, here is my take on FEMA Corps, the program:

FEMA Corps. The national service program.
I am pretty far into this program so I thought this would be a good time to talk about the FEMA Corps program to those of you who are interested in joining or who just want to know more.  I have never been a part of the traditional AmeriCorps NCCC, though from what I have heard from fellow Corps Members, I am fairly confident in comparing the two.

What is the same between traditional AmeriCorps NCCC and FEMA Corps?
The Basics: 18-24 year olds, 10 months, based out of the five campuses, team-based, resedential, education award, bi-weekly stipend, all that good stuff.
Learning Experience: It's impossible not to learn anything in this type of setting!
Resume Builder: Add your experience and what you have learned to your resume.
Networking: You will have the opportunity to network in both NCCC and FEMA Corps, however FEMA Corps will be networking with mainly Emergency Management professionals whereas traditional will be networking with
Travel Experience! and all the skills that go with that (packing, budgeting, etc)
Specialty Roles-Each team member will be assigned a specialty role on their team- Corps Ambassador, Service Learning Initiator, Project Outreach Liason, Health and Wellness POC, Vehicle and Safety POC, etc. These roles vary from campus to campus.

What is different?
Your service year will look somewhat different than AmeriCorps NCCC in terms of the work you will be doing
Uniform. We be reppin the A in blue!
Service- As of now, corps members are only given direct service hours for work that they do with FEMA. Your sole sponsor in this program will be FEMA, unlike traditional NCCC where various non-profits can be a sponsor.
Specialist Roles-Teams are determined and assigned during CTI based on the Corps Members' interest and experience of the different Specialist Roles.  These are Individual Assistance, Community Relations, Logistics, Voluntary Agency Liason, Public Assistance, and Mass Care. (I explain these roles in depth in a previous blog post if you want to read up about em). 
New program, so naturally there are kinks and there will be  A LOT of changes in the years to come.
Social Media presence is more strict than that of traditional NCCC. Rumors are that they are now fining people that are overly negative on social media sites about FEMA or the FEMA Corps program.
Notions-Most people have false notions about who you are, what you do, and what you are capable of.  This might go with traditional as well, but it is a major trend in FEMA Corps. Because we are working solely with FEMA and we are a new program, citizens and FEMA employees will think you are actually working with FEMA and not serving.  Many have made quick judgements. Every person in FEMA Corps has been called a kid or child. It's something we have encountered since we left Vicksburg/CTI.
ISP hours- We do not need to complete as many ISP hours as of now. This will likely change if and when the FEMA Corps program gets more flexible with what type of work the Corps Members will be doing or the schedule.
Is FEMA Corps right for me?
If you are interested in Emergency Management and related fields and want to get your foot in the door to a career in Emergency Management, I highly recommend FEMA Corps. However, FEMA Corps is not just for those who are interested in Emergency Management! It's for people who want to serve, to strengthen communities, give back, and to learn a lot! 

Disclaimer: This program was designed to challenge you! THAT'S A GOOD THING!  Throughout this program, corps members are faced with many challenges.  Some of the challenges might include: Being away from home and homesickness, long-term relationships, living and working with a group of diverse people, lonliness and isolation, traveling and living on a stipend, change in diet and food, physical training,

Personal Challenges: Well, I've finally realized that although this program may seem like it's only here to help the communities it serves, it goes above and beyond that behind the scenes. This program challenges each corps member every day-it's designed to do this.  Each Corps Member faces different challenges- but I can't speak for anyone but myself.  I have faced many struggles this year, and I'd like to share a few with you all.  Some minor challenges of mine have been missing home, getting over my need for attention, active listening, spiritual trials, choir and singing withdrawal,  being able to love myself even though I'm nowhere near perfect, getting over my laziness, being without my cat and pets, living out of a suitcase, and living and working with people I would not normally have spent time with. 

My biggest challenge: Honestly, going into this program, I thought it was going to be somehwat easy to get through this.  However, I did not realize how difficult it is to spend an entire year with people that are so different and that think and work differently than yourself. Going into this program I thought a lot of people would be similar to me- and some of them are somewhat. Most of us are here to serve! But my BIGGEST challenge this year is struggling with how to deal with those that put me down for either believing what I believe or for doing what I do.  Although this program teaches it's Corps Members to accept other people's beliefs, obviously, just like in the "real" world things don't always play out that way.  Disclaimer: I am NOT complaining- I see these challanges as ways to strengthen my character--- I am just telling you the facts!

Challenges: I have encountered many challenging situations this year: My personal beliefs have been ridiculed in front of me, I have been laughed at for caring about the environment, I have been asked why I am "bothering" to help animals if their suffering is not bothering anyone, and I've been told time and time again that my actions that I consider helping are NOT helpful at all.  As you can see, some of these situations are not OK with me. And these have all happened within AmeriCorps- either members or staff.

And you may be thinking, why is this your problem? Well, because if all of this is happening in a program where they teach acceptance and appreciation for diverse beliefs, then I am going to run into it time and time again in the "real world" aka outside of AmeriCorps.  I need to learn how to deal with these situations, because frankly I am the one that is hurting from these situations. I have lost a lot of respect for some people in this program and the program itself. (Don't get me wrong- I LOVE this program for all that it has done for me and for the opportunities it has given me. However, some of it's policies/activities do offend me and they have not changed them even though I let them know about my position and the reasoning behind it.)  And when I lose that respect for them, I am the one that is isolated.  It also creates an environment where I am afraid to voice my opinions or be who I naturally am (and the way that God created me!) in fear of being judged, or worse: laughed at. By doing the right things and following what I believe, I am separated from the whole- both because I am different and partly because I don't want to identify myself as part of that way of living. And I've got to be honest with you all- this trend is still a struggle. I have not overcome this yet- but I know there is a huge lesson here.  All I can do for right now is keep doing what I'm doing and try my best to set an example for others.
Personal Accomplishments:
During my year of service I have taken it into my hands to learn new things when I have free time or the work gets tedious.  Here is a list of what I have studied and practiced individually, and yes they are quite random!
1. Typing skills
2. American Sign Language-Basics
3. German Practice
4. Practiced using my right hand and became ambidextrious!
5.  Learned how to be an assistant driver
6. Public speaking and experience with media exposure
7. Learned IPA- the International Phonetic Alphabet
8. Read a bunch of books! (I highly recommend "Not For Sale")
9. Learned a lot of trivia with a trivia game I bought at a yard sale.
10.  Became more confident in my singing and directing
11.  Learned active listening
12. Spiritual growth and understanding
13. Learned about other programs that I want to look into for the future!
14. Professionalism
15. Stopped drinking soda
16. Physical Training accomplishments
17. Street Smarts
18. Cooking!!!
19.  Map Navigating

Seriously, I've learned so much more than this list. I am proud of myself for overcoming many personal challenges!

I hope this post gives you some insight on AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps!

April Fooled.

 

Fooled. Well, it looks like we have been fooled! No worries, here in FEMA Corps we are SUPER flexible and adaptable. We are here in Maryland, however we are not staying on the Emmitsburg campus because there was not enough room for us to stay there. We are staying about 40 minutes outside of Emmitsburg in Frederick.  It's a great place with A LOT of stuff to do!  Although we are not staying on campus, we are permitted to use their Gym facilities, which means after work today there is an indoor heated pool waiting for me!  Another change to this SPIKE is that we will no longer be going to Boston for the later portion of the SPIKE, but rather staying the entire time in Emmitsburg at the Emergency Management Institute.  However, knowing this program, that could change at any moment.  Another thing that we were fooled on was the date we would be leaving for Maryland.  We ended up staying on campus an extra day to give staff time to sort out our housing and food situation.  We ended up using that extra day to do an Individual Service program at the local cemetary, which brings me to my next segment....

 

POISON. I have been suffering from Poison Ivy for the last two weeks. I acquired poison ivy at the cemetary while doing an ISP with my team.  It was our job to de-weed the trees of the invasive plant species.  Let me point out that I am the only person on my team that lives on the west coast, and therefore, even though I was a Girl Scout for 14 years, I failed to identify the poison ivy vines.  I still have no idea what they look like...I guess I should look that up. Anyway, I was the only one with poison ivy and it got so bad that I did not go to work and instead took a trip to the ER and got myself some steroids.  I am really hoping this works because I have never experienced this much itching in all my life! I have it predominantly on my arms, and also have it on my stomach and legs. 

 

Work. Well service I suppose.  I am working at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg Maryland.  We are mostly split up and working in different sections.  I am working with my teammates Tyler and Zack in the Distance Learning Section. We are working as administrators for the FEMA Employee Knowledge Center, which is where FEMA Employees take trainings and classes.  We are basically doing data entry, so I am really getting better at typing!

 

 

Statue at our work site

 

A moment. You may have seen a news story in the new recently about an AmeriCorps NCCC member who was shot and killed outside of his SPIKE housing in New Orleans.  His name was Joseph, and he was a member of the Southern Region's traditional NCCC Class 19B.  Although Ocean 7 did not personally know Joseph, we were saddened to hear that such a tragic thing could happen to one of us.  We wish his team, family, and friends the best as they try to sort out their thoughts and feelings during this confusing time. Ocean 7 participated in honoring Josephs life and service by wearing our gray uniform instead of our blue uniform, and we will continue to keep those who knew him in our thoughts and prayers. 

 

Community This is my teams LAST deployment, and we are finally beginning to do stuff together as a team and getting involved in the community which is great and a lot easier to do now that we no longer live in New York City.  We have reduced our work days to 4 in order to have the option of  serving more in our community.  During our first week here we volunteered at the "Walk for MS" in downtown Frederick.  It was tons of fun! We also scored free minor league baseball tickets for a game that day.  Their team is called the Frederick Keys, and we won!

This past weekend a few in my team went to DC Central Kitchen and helped prepare 5,000 meals! (I peeled a TON of carrots!) It was a lot of fun and we are planning to go back next week.

 

 

 

 

As well as serving at DC Central Kitchen, my team also headed to DC and was part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade! I got to steer and push "Buddy", a character on the show "Dinosaur Train" on PBS Kids! It was super fun to be a part of the parade, and we even got to be on TV and see some cool people, like Miss America and whatnot. Afterward, we headed to the to Tidal Basin and picked up trash and recycled for a hew hours with the National Parks Service!

 

 

We have a lot more lined up to do in the community for the next two months!