Our Campaign

Hello everyone! My name is Corey Saylor. I am a second year AmeriCorps member serving with the Michigan Campaign to End Homelessness. I am currently serving my year at the South Oakland Shelter in Lathrup Village. My host agency has proven to be an AmeriCorps powerhouse. I am currently serving among two other individuals from the Michigan Campaign to End Homelessness as well as three VISTA members. I feel very fortunate to be surrounded by such great people all working towards the goal of ending homelessness.

It is the Campaign’s goal to make stable and affordable housing available to every person living in Michigan. We have a long way to go before that goal can be reached. Over the last decade, we have seen the stereotypical face of the homeless morph into the face of an eight year old child, almost half the homeless population in Michigan consists of families with children. These families have on average a total monthly income of $730.00. That dollar amount does not stretch very far for a family who has to cover the cost of rent, utility bills and groceries.

Serving at the South Oakland Shelter I encounter a wide array of individuals, all with their own stories and all facing homelessness. Each story has its own persona but some stories are too alike. One particular example is the story in which an individual is underemployed or has just been laid off from a company where they have worked for a decade or more. Another story that many parallel is one in which the individual or family had been making their rent payments to a landlord who did not own the home. Those tenants got evicted, lost their homes and ended up in the shelter.

When individuals and families come to the shelter, many for the first time, they are in a state of disbelief and are unsure what to do next. South Oakland Shelter staff and AmeriCorps members work with each individual to find them safe and affordable housing for a long duration. With the client, staff and AmeriCorps members identify needs of the client, client’s goals and the client’s potential. This sounds much simpler than it really is. Each client has their own background, needs, income and housing desires. Ultimately is the client’s decision as to what to do to obtain and retain housing. However, it is also our duty to identify resources and programs the client may qualify for to assist them in reaching their own housing goals.

There is a disconnect somewhere, whether that is underemployment, unclear tenant rights or high housing costs, that is causing individuals and families to be at an ever increasing risk of homelessness. I do not have the solution to this disconnect, however, it is my hope that my service and the service of my fellow AmeriCorps members is leading us to that answer as we strive to end homelessness in Michigan.

"Dreams of Clean"

My name is Jennifer Kern and I am a full time AmeriCorps member serving at City Year Detroit. City Year is an AmeriCorps program that focuses on education. The main goal is to decrease the high school drop-out rate through targeted interventions in course work, attendance, and behavior. Corps members are divided into teams, and each team is placed in a school where we work in the same classroom every day, tutoring and mentoring kids to help give them the tools they need to succeed.

Martin Luther King Day is always a huge day for City Year Corps members and the communities they serve. Instead of a day off, Martin Luther King Day is a DAY ON for all City Year sites across the country, as hundreds of Corps members lead volunteers in a day of service. City Year Detroit, the site where I serve, had a couple of different service sites on Martin Luther King Day, some of them being the schools in which we serve at every day. I was lucky enough to have my school, Phoenix Academy, be one of the sites.

The main project at Phoenix Academy was to clean out the boys and girls locker rooms, a task that may seem simple, but was actually rather complex. The locker rooms, which the other Corps members serving at Phoenix and I had no idea even existed, had been abandoned for about ten years. They had become a place for storage and trash, and had not been touched or cleaned since the abandonment. You can only imagine our faces when we saw the locker rooms for the first time. We could hardly move through them because they were filled with so much stuff. The task seemed so daunting, and almost impossible to complete in only one day. However, we were determined to get the project done.

Preparation before the big day was crucial. It consisted of many walk-throughs with various staff members, including the principal and the school engineer, who told us what they would like thrown away and what they wanted us to keep. We then had to go through and tag all the items we were told to keep with post it notes, so the volunteers knew exactly what needed to be kept. We also needed to come up with a detailed process for how we would get stuff out of the locker rooms and cleaned, all in the same day. The preparation was extensive, however, we were fully prepared to lead the volunteers when the day finally arrived.

In the morning, we had a total of 30 volunteers, 12 in each locker room. The remaining six wrote letters to the troops, and painted murals we had previously sketched on canvas. The main goal for the morning shift of locker room volunteers was to move everything out of the locker rooms and into the cafeteria, where it would then be sorted. Our morning shift exceeded all of our expectations, and they were extremely hard working. Although each locker room had only 12 people, they were able to clear out both locker rooms with time left to spare. I was shocked! By the time the afternoon volunteers arrived, the locker rooms were totally cleared out, and more than half the stuff that was cluttering them was in the trash!

Despite the great morning success, our afternoon shift still had their work cut out for them. We had a total of 106 volunteers in the afternoon, 30 of which were in each locker room cleaning. Cleaning these locker rooms was a huge undertaking, and a responsibility that they accomplished without a single complaint. We had volunteers on their hands and knees scrubbing the floors, opening all the lockers and cleaning inside each one, as well as cleaning showers, toilets, and sinks. It was a huge job that, again, our volunteers completed with time to spare! The rest of our volunteers were stationed in the cafeteria, as well as in the gym, finishing the murals the morning volunteers started.

The people in the cafeteria also had their work cut out for them. They were in charge of sorting the piles of trash: going through and double checking to make sure that nothing in the trash pile should be moved over to the keep pile, as well as making numerous runs to the dumpster. They also were in charge of cleaning everything in the keep pile. Since all these items had been in a locker room for ten or more years, almost every item we kept needed a deep clean before it was usable. Once everything was cleaned, the volunteers were responsible for moving the items to different areas around the school.

The last job in the cafeteria was to go through the countless number of books that had been stored in the locker rooms and forgotten about. Anything that was old, ripped, or destroyed in any way was thrown out. Any usable books were moved to a classroom where staff will be able to go through them and decide what books to keep, and what books to donate. The cafeteria volunteers did a phenomenal job organizing everything, and then disposing everything to its proper place.

It was amazing to actually be able to walk through both the boys and girls locker rooms without bumping into something, and to feel like they were actually clean enough to use again. This project was very important to the Phoenix Corps members, the Phoenix staff, and me. Phoenix Academy is located in a very poor area in Detroit, where many families do not have running water. The plan for the newly cleaned and usable locker rooms is to allow students and their families who do not have running water to come into the school early, and use the showers in the locker rooms. The locker rooms are also equipped with working washers and dryers, where students will also be able to wash their clothes.

No student should have to come to school everyday without a warm shower and clean clothes, and hopefully these locker rooms will prevent that from happening. Therefore, it was a very special moment for the Phoenix principal and City Year Corps members to walk through the finished locker rooms, knowing what they will soon be used for.

MLK Day Service in Many Colors

By Michael Matthis
Second Year Mentor Michigan College Coaching Corps AmeriCorps Member Serving at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Detroit

This past Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. How did you spend it? Well, this guy along with many other volunteers around the Detroit area, spent his time giving back! In collaboration with such organizations as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Detroit, the United Way of Southeast Michigan, and City Year Detroit, a service project was convened.

The project took place at Harper Woods High School moments away from Detroit proper. Volunteers painted over 20 murals for the school. They coordinated a huge overhaul of the school library which included taking inventory of more than 3,000 books. I myself got the chance to help sort over 750 hygiene kits to be distributed later to the homeless. To top it all off, we spent time writing letters and creating Valentine’s Day cards for our troops and veterans in the Armed Forces.

The most eye opening observation for me was the colors of the volunteers. This was not a service project where people got lost in a sea of red and black City Year jackets. Nor was it a project where volunteers were swallowed by AmeriCorps greys and A’s. I noticed a more comprehensive collage that included the green shirts of Starbucks employees, the black and white of Big Brother Big Sister volunteers, and rainbows of everyday people with only the tie of living in the community. Yes, I watched as massive amounts of volunteers poured into the school site’s doors.

When I asked volunteers how they came to know about the project, the message was always the same: “I heard from a friend of a friend to go register online.” Well folks, this should serve well to remind us that there are few things in life stronger than the heart of a volunteer. It tells us there are many out there still willing to seek out and give their time to make their communities a better place.

I couldn’t help but be inspired by it. I couldn’t help but be encouraged by the notion that people who aren’t already connected to service, still desire to serve! I could not help but reflect on the words of Dr. King…

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

Community service was such a perfect way to honor his legacy. I do it not only because am I am AmeriCorps member, but because I’m also addicted to it. Now what’s your excuse? Why do you serve?

Continuing My Education

If I were to choose one word to describe the past few months of my life, I would pick, “NEW!” My name is Liz Hand and I have recently had the pleasure of encountering many new experiences. I was born and raised in Vermont, went to college in Vermont, and taught in high schools in Vermont since graduating in January of 2010. Needless to say, it was time for a change, and time to challenge myself to move – figuratively and literally – outside of my comfort zone.

In August of 2011, I packed all my belongings into my car and drove across the country to the shores of Lake Superior in Marquette, Michigan. I applied for an AmeriCorps position before leaving Vermont, and while en route – somewhere near Buffalo, N.Y. – I got a call from my future site supervisors, interviewing me for a Marquette-based AmeriCorps position. Luckily, I was offered a position at the Marquette-Alger Regional Education Service Agency (MARESA), and it has been a whirlwind ever since.

I serve in an education program, but I can honestly say that I am learning as much, if not more, than the students I work with. My days are filled with novel experiences and variety. I have a Vermont teaching license in middle and secondary social studies, but at MARESA I am learning about the ways that structured education occurs outside of the traditional classroom. Growing up I was considered a “traditional” student, and was an outsider to vocational and special education programs. My understanding and appreciation of the benefits and difficulties of non-traditional programs was lacking, to say the least.

Through my service at MARESA, I directly serve these non-traditional students. I am strengthening my grasp on what these programs mean to individuals and communities. I continually see the benefits to individuals in these programs and am learning about the advantages that special education and career and technical education (CTE) programs provide to businesses and the community as a whole. And, as is the case with many great programs these days, I am learning about the difficulty of maintaining funding and support for non-traditional education programs.

I am able to broaden my understanding of non-traditional education through my wide array of daily and weekly activities. To give you a snapshot of just how diverse the tasks I perform are… last week I tutored a high school student in a college-level culinary class, updated the MARESA CTE program website, volunteered with transition students to provide food to the needy at the Salvation Army, mock interviewed high school students for career preparation, secured speakers to educate CTE students on MLK Day, created a brochure for one of our drafting programs, and took part in a cookie-making fundraiser for the culinary program. Pretty expansive, huh?

Not only do I participate in education at the micro level, but recently I was chosen to take part in Michigan’s LeaderCorps, in which we think and talk about education and service from a micro- and macro-level. As part of LeaderCorps I joined the ranks of Kathleen Egan and others on the Diversity and Inclusion Team. I’m excited to work with the LeaderCorps members because of the range of perspectives and experience these people have to offer. Many LeaderCorps members are in their second year of service, and their knowledge and expertise will be invaluable to me as I try to make the most out of my year of service in the education field. I hope to use their ideas and inspiration to do great things for the students and community members in the Marquette area!