Author: CAC AmeriCorps Knoxville

What is IST?

In-Service Training (IST) is more than just an AmeriCorps VISTA professional development opportunity – it’s a transformative experience that recharges a passion for service and equips service members with practical tools to make a meaningful impact. While IST is geared toward first year VISTA members, it is open to all VISTAs pending site supervisor approval.

The goal of IST is simple, yet profound: to empower VISTA members to thrive during their service terms through workshops, networking, and hands-on activities. Over three days, participants engage in a variety of personal and professional development seminars designed to enhance their effectiveness and resilience.

The most recent IST took place in Oak Brook, Illinois, just 30 minutes from downtown Chicago. Among the attendees were CAC AmeriCorps members Fatima Bryant, Christina Slabinski, and Monica Yost, who participated in workshops designed to amplify the skills and resources they bring to their service projects.

Choosing AmeriCorps is a deeply personal decision for each service member. For Morgan Furman, a recent graduate of The University of Tennessee (UT) with a BA in Business Analytics and International Business, serving at UT Sustainability as their Outreach and Engagement Coordinator is an opportunity to combine her passion for data ethics, public policy, and meaningful community engagement. Morgan’s story is one of intentionality, curiosity, and a desire to make a lasting impact.

When I sat down with her to talk about her AmeriCorps “why,” it became clear that her path was guided by a commitment to service and a willingness to tackle challenging issues head-on.

In the heart of the Western Heights neighborhood located in Northwest Knoxville, and part of the Transforming Western initiative by Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation (KCDC), CAC AmeriCorps member, Caroline Platt, began her term of service excited to get to know this community, not knowing then just how important the genuine connections she would form would be in her service.

Caroline committed herself to developing an understanding of Western Heights and the people that live there, while examining the strengths and weaknesses of current community programming. Caroline explains that,

“In meeting the residents, I have engaged in meaningful conversations about the discrepancies between the resources they have and those they need. In terms of community engagement, this means more classes that will give them life skills such as classes in Financial Literacy or healthy eating. In addition, there have been desires expressed for more casual community engagement such as family enrichment nights and daily social groups such as a couponing club or book club.”

Author: Michelle De Franco, CAC AmeriCorps Member at Keep Blount Beautiful (2020-22)

Hello there, I’m Michelle De Franco, and I want to explain why I joined Americorps. 

When I first joined, it was September 2020. Looking back now, that feels forever ago when I joined it was at the peak of COVID-19, I didn’t think it would affect my service term, but it did drastically. During the pandemic, my experience was changed due to covid regulations but that didn’t stop the work that needed to get done! After I graduated with my bachelor’s, I wanted to further my community experience outside volunteering for my local ambulance corps and do more out in Tennessee; that’s why I applied to Keep Blount Beautiful. I remember during the interview process talking with Lauren Bird and feeling absolute nervousness because I wanted this position more than anything. I knew I had what it took to get this position. Once I had my interview with Brittney, I had thought, what could I say that would make me more compelling for this position? Thankfully I have many years of experience with childcare; the position I was interested in had to educate students about the environment. I just knew that’s what I wanted how we can improve it. However, my position was more than just that I wanted to widen my horizon, now with this experience, I have developed new qualifications, like litter prevention, social media outreach, education, and so much more. 

Whether it’s to gain professional experience in a career field, to spend a year gaining “Real World” experience before going back to school, or simply to take time to serve a community, everyone has their own motivations for embarking on an AmeriCorps journey. Often, members find that throughout their year of service their motivations change, or that they gain something from their year of service that they were not anticipating.

CAC AmeriCorps’ first-ever Service Symposium, June 3rd 2021, celebrates the continued resilience and perseverance that members have shown and continue to show as they navigate their year of service. Resilience and perseverance have always played key roles in the AmeriCorps experience, but this year, they were essential to the success of our members. Many met challenges that they never imagined, but they pushed through and accomplished much despite this. Below we have highlighted some of the accomplishments of our members during their term. We want to thank each and every one of them for the big and small ways they have impacted this community for the better. We are overjoyed to continue supporting those we will see again this fall, but for those leaving our corps this summer, we hope they have gained a valuable experience and perspective that they hold for the rest of their life. Thank you all for your service.

It takes a village, they say, and just one example of this put into practice is the garden at Pond Gap Elementary School where the quantity of hands, heart, and thought directed toward converting an unlikely hillside into an edible classroom and community space is impressive. The origins of this can be traced back to the localized food movement, the recognition of and vow to eliminate food deserts and to increase food security, and the importance of nutrition education, but the manifestation of these movements into the space of this Knoxville neighborhood school are credited to community service.

First-year member Madi Nelski Interviewed fellow member Rachel Incorvati about her life during service with AmeriCorps. This blog is a reflection of that interview and an insight into the life of an AmeriCorps VISTA serving in East Tennessee.

The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience. – Emily Dickinson

August 3rd, CAC AmeriCorps staff welcomed over 60 new and returning members to the beginning of their service year with a week-long, mostly virtual Orientation process. While this may have not been the typical orientation the corps is used to, the staff stepped up to the plate to make the onboarding process as smooth as possible for everyone viewing from home.

During this unprecedented summer, four amazing women stepped up to the plate and spent their time as Summer Associates serving in several local nonprofits. Their combined efforts helped to serve hundreds of people in the Knoxville community during their two months of service. Though today is their last day, their accomplishments will continue to impact their sites and the community they served long into the future.

By CAC AmeriCorps Staff

As the world contracts, keeps its distance, and holds – or at least masks – its breath, there is much that’s still in need of tending. The motto of AmeriCorps is, “Getting things done”, and CAC AmeriCorps, its partner organizations, and its members have creatively adapted, improvised, and remained resolute in providing service to the community. 

Continue reading “Essential Service”

I love AmeriCorps. I love the people in it, the people it serves, the people leading it, the people doing it, the AmeriPets, the AmeriGear, the AmeriSpirit, I love the whole darn thing. Specifically, I love CAC AmeriCorps. I love it because my experience serving here has fundamentally redefined the trajectory of my life, even at a point where I had previously thought I was doomed to mediocrity. 

Continue reading “Service at any Stage or: How I learned to stop worrying and love AmeriCorps.”

Article Author: Gordon Harless, 2019-2020 CAC AmeriCorps VISTA Leader
Ashley Gustafson, CAC AmeriCorps 2019-2020 VISTA Member
Cameron Henshaw, 2019-2020 CAC AmeriCorps VISTA Member

All across the country, communities are suffering from the effects of the opioid and substance abuse epidemic. Over 72,000 people died from drug overdose in 2017 alone, and even now in 2020, 130 people die every day from drug overdose. Locally, Tennessee alone had 1,818 overdose deaths in 2018. Tennessee has a high number of non-fatal overdoses as well, and access to powerful drugs is not slowing. There were over 6 million prescriptions for painkillers filled in Tennessee in 2018. That means for every 1000 Tennesseans, 901 of them would have been able to have access to painkillers.

Continue reading “AmeriCorps responds to Opioid Crisis, Nationally and Locally”