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Save AmeriCorps!

flickeringfish — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 05:36:24 +0000

From “Voices for National Service”-

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives will begin consideration of H.R. 1, a Continuing Resolution that will fund the last 7 months of Fiscal Year 2011. The bill will immediately cut $100 billion from the federal budget, shut down CNCS, and eliminate AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Learn & Serve America and the Volunteer Generation Fund.

The CR will decimate vital services in our communities when millions of Americans need food, shelter, healthcare, job training and educational support.

Communities are counting on national service participants and community volunteers to meet the increased demand for services.

The CR will only push unemployment rates up. Unemployment numbers — particularly for young people, veterans and military spouses, older Americans and people of color-remain alarmingly high.

For Americans who are struggling to find work, national service programs offer participants the opportunity to earn a subsistence-level stipend, develop skills, and create pathways to future employment. Eliminating programs like AmeriCorps will result in jobs lost for the corps members and the staff who supervise them.

The federal investment made in faith based and community organizations through the Corporation for National and Community Service leverages $799 million in matching funds from companies, foundations and other sources.

If the House defunds the national service programs, whole organizations will shut down and most will not be able to reopen again even if funding is restored.

This past year, my team of 11 AmeriCorps members at Habitat engaged thousands of volunteers to serve their community. Now, think about the impact of the nearly 600 AmeriCorps members working with Habitat for Humanity throughout the country. And then 85,000 AmeriCorps members with more than 3,000 non-profits throughout the country.

It’ll only take a few minutes of your time, check out these articles here and here. Sign the online petition and call or email your local representative!

a final summary of photos

flickeringfish — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 03:32:17 +0000

a completed Bails

a completed Hillside duplex!

the 2nd duplex!

dining area

kitchen!

the awesome partner family!

Goodbye, Denver.

waiting for snow…

flickeringfish — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 03:24:07 +0000

It’s October! Last year, we had our first big snow in October…

Things are going swimmingly; painted the interior, hung doors, cut baseboard and casing, other volunteers and a Habitat homeowner are finishing up tiling, started hanging cabinet today, sheds are going up and we’re just about prepped for landscaping! The dedication’s scheduled for the 28th and things have come full circle- my first build’s dedication was October 31st last year. There was even a volunteer group out this week that happened to have worked with me on that first build. I should take some pictures…

On another note, heading back home for a job interview!

the aspens are changing color

flickeringfish — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 04:38:20 +0000

Had a skype interview on Monday, it was interesting. My housemate was painting and blasting music, so I took the laptop outside and had the interview while I was sitting on a hammock in my backyard, surrounded by aspen trees and blue sky. My interviewers loved it.

And now I need to decide about another year of AmeriCorps, with a different non-profit and in a new city…

Anyways, here’s Hillside!

The trim (already finished on the lower windows) is a "sweet creme" yellow... which we learned does not go so well with that particular dark grey...

vs. the other duplex, which is indeed painted. It's kind of hard to tell, right?

We were hanging drywall all last week, so the mud and tape subs were able to come in during the weekend. Almost didn't pass our drywall inspection on Friday, we certainly weren't ready, but thank goodness for sweet talk, dimples and a case of mistaken identity.

ah ha! an update!

flickeringfish — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:18:16 +0000

the house! passed rough electrical and plumbing inspections today and hopefully rough framing tomorrow. we'll be done insulating by the end of the week, just in time for labor day weekend!

the future homeowners chose a grey for the lower body color, a light grey for the upper body color and a "sweet creme" yellow for the trim (the trim's not painted yet).

so the other duplex has shakes (vs. board and batten) and with the volunteer electrical crew's schedule, this duplex is a few days ahead- they're already drywalling!

nearly September already??

flickeringfish — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:14:18 +0000

So, I have been terrible at taking pictures to update this blog… Maybe I’ll remember tomorrow! We should be starting insulation and drywall this week. And then I’ll be dogsitting for the next two weekends- one weekend will be for a 12-year old fluffy German Shepherd and the next for a 10+ year old American Bulldog and a 10+ year old St. Bernard. It’ll be awesome- older dogs are so mellow.

In other news, I had another interview- this time with a non-profit here in Denver. It seems like a great organization and a good position that I can grow into. We’ll see what happens. :)

end of week 6

flickeringfish — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 00:52:29 +0000

So we should be at our halfway point, but we’re slightly behind schedule…

so we got these porch trusses up and it seems like we may have to take them down as they weren't engineered correctly...

dedication!

flickeringfish — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:31:27 +0000

Forgot to mention the Bails dedication, which took place the day after our last AmeriCorps day. Celebrated 15 families, 15 new houses, 1 new community- it was awesome. We had volunteers there, sponsors were out, and most importantly, families were out. These are families that I’ve worked with on site, most I’ve seen since the beginning of the project in January and about once a week since then.

*note: grabbed these photos from another AmeriCorps, although I did photo-edit them.

the ED, sponsors and partner families

the construction staff and americorps

one townhouse unit

the back of bldgs 1 and 2, facing the garages, landscaping's not quite done

living and dining area, families choose if they want carpet or vinyl in the dining area

kitchen! families choose if they want a gas or electric stove, as well as space for a dishwasher. cabinets are built through a partnership with the prison and whirlpool donates the stove and fridge.

laundry room- highly efficient washer and dryer!

up the stairs...

full bath upstairs- these townhouses are mostly 3 BR, 1.5 Bath, a few have a full bath downstairs for accessibility and a few have 4 bedrooms

master bedroom with double windows and a walk-in closet

beginning of the second paid week!

flickeringfish — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:45:39 +0000

So staying on for a bit as a temporary supervisor, still chugging away at Hillside. Last week, I flew out to LA for a job interview, so things are looking up!

had a crane lift up the trusses

all the trusses are stood and we're partially decked

the hip roof

peeking over to the other house

framing galore!

what a day!

flickeringfish — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:32:33 +0000

It was crazy today! Got the front and back walls stood, the parti wall framed and stood, and then my awesome volunteers went on to build all the interior walls, as well as stand and cap plate most of them. Crazy…. and then that will put my unit back on schedule for the crane tomorrow, which will lift the trusses up to the second floor.

this morning, only one wall stood. I'll have to take an "after" picture tomorrow morning.