relevant and interesting NPR story

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/17/140539204/do-new-voting-laws-suppress-fraud-or-democrats

Heard this the other day and it reminded me of our class discussion last Wednesday. These new voting laws seem to be conscious institutional discrimination, in my opinion. Check it out!

J.C. Romero - Week of 9/12/11-9/16/11

Hey everyone!

I hope that all of ya'll have had some great experiences at your learning site! Yesterday was my first day working with the Computer Literacy and GED Program over at Incarnate Word Community Center. Again, this is a program that is run by Catholic Charities of New Orleans. It was a great first day, since I will be kind of serving in the capacity of Coordinator of the Computer Literacy Program, which hasn't started yet. I started helping create a computer program curriculum and actually am still in the process of doing that. That's what I will be doing the remainder of this week, as well as next. I met some of the GED students yesterday and they are a great group of individuals! 100% of them are African American and come from all over the New Orleans area. I am a bit overwhelmed with all of the duties, but am really excited to be such an essential part in getting this program up and running. I'm certain that it'll be great and I am positive that the 70 required hours are going to fly by working with this organization.

See ya in a bit!
-J.C.

Hope Lodge

Hello!

Yesterday was my first day volunteering at the Hope Lodge (or American Cancer Society's Patrick F. Taylor Hope Lodge, if you prefer the longer name). It's a housing facility for cancer patients who are receiving treatment or surgery in New Orleans. Instead of commuting back and forth everyday or renting hotel rooms, as many are from all around the country, the Hope Lodge provides free housing, food, and transportation for as long as the patient needs (there is one patient who has been there for over two and a half years). Everyone that runs the Lodge is extremely welcoming, and truly passionate about their jobs. They reminded me many times that the most important aspect of their job and mine is to make the patients feel at home-which means stopping whatever I may be doing in order to talk to them, ask them how they are, or if they need anything. I'll also be helping with Bingo nights on some evenings, which is one of the efforts the Lodge makes to take the patients' minds of their situation. I'm really excited to be there, and to observe how a facility like this works. I hope everyone else is enjoying their new service jobs!
See you in class!

Boys Hope Girls Hope of Greater New Orleans

Hey everyone!

I've confirmed with Boys Hope Girls Hope of Greater New Orleans and am very exciting to start working with them. The organization started in St. Louis and is now in various cities across the country. They take in displaced children up to the age of 18 whose lives are distressed for a handful of reasons and do not have a family to take care of them and give them the guidance and resources needed to become educated adults. Boys Hope Girls Hope houses children and send them to respectable school across the city while tutoring and mentoring them. I will be working at the Girls Hope home in Mid-City acting as both tutor and mentor for the girls. On week days I will be going with some of the girls from Holy Name of Jesus school to help tutor them and on weekends I plan on staying all day to spend time with them and offer assistance with more than just school work.

Hello NOLA GreenRoots !

I had an interview today with Nola Green Roots and will be starting there next Thursday. This organization was started by two Loyola New Orleans graduates! They run a network of community gardens and a compost program with restaurants around the city. They are concerned with food justice, health and education. New Orleans has areas of food deserts- areas where fresh or healthy food (or food at all) are not easily available/close. The Bywater/9th ward area is a food desert- that is why the New Orleans Food Coop is opening a grocery store there, and Nola Green Roots has a community garden there. They also have gardens in the mid-city area. For $45 a month you can be a stakeholder- you don't have do anything and you get two huge baskets of food a month, as much herbs as you want, and access to free workshops about cool things like canning and stuff! For $35 a month you can have your own piece of the garden to work. It is pretty enticing, I encourage everyone to look into it.

I will be helping out on the Development side- grant writing, donors relations etc. Excited to get more experience in that kind of work. During my interview they asked me a question about what kind of issues that we talk about it class do I think I will encounter at the job. Very interesting indeed. I am excited to see just what issues I do see. I'm sure I will be surprised; both in a positive and negative way I imagine.

Claire Lavergne- Service Learning Decision

Hi everyone! After the serve fair I finalized my service learning and will be working with Anna’s Arts for Kids. It is a great organization, and I am really excited to begin work! Anna’s Arts is an after school program at St. Anna’s Episcopal Church in the Treme area. The Treme area is well known as a rough neighborhood, and St. Anna’s church serves as an escape from it all. Unlike any church I have ever been to, posted along the wrought iron fences are numerous “murder boards” which show every murder committed in the New Orleans area since Hurricane Katrina. The boards exhibit thousands and thousands of names and ages of victims, and the date they were killed. In an effort to change the status quo of the neighborhood and decrease the amount of names on his list, Director Darryl Durham created Anna’s Arts for Kids. The program focuses on tutoring, etiquette, sports, music, and art. Their goal is to help the children of the Treme area grow into successful and well rounded adults.

I cannot wait to start my service learning because I feel like the people behind this program are 100% committed to making a difference, and they love what they do. They are able to teach young children, the majority of them underprivileged, things that they otherwise would never learn simply because of circumstance. I have to attend two sessions, one Friday and the other Saturday, before starting next week.

Good luck to everyone, I’m excited to hear about the sites y’all picked!

J.C. Romero - Week of 9/5/2011-9/9/2011

Hey guys! So, this Tuesday will be my first day participating at my service learning site. I will be working with Catholic Charities' Adult Education Program, but focusing on computer literacy and GED students. I'm kind of nervous, but excited at the same time. I have served as a volunteer ESL instructor before and have done so for many years, but this will be quite different because I won't necessarily be working with foreign students, but with adults from our own community. I'm most excited to hear personal stories from these people and I hope to serve as a role model/mentor to those who really want to succeed in life. Something that I often don't tell people is that I, myself, am a GED graduate. At first, it wasn't something that I was proud of. However, I had to overcome many obstacles and struggles and thankfully through all of my hardships, I have been able to become a strong individual with so many goals-- and I hope to promote that and use that to help "guide" these people.

Apparently from what I discussed with the Adult Education Coordinator, the computer literacy program is brand new program and I will be the first instructor. I will also help in developing a new curriculum for the program and I am REALLY excited to be doing that since education is one of my main areas of academic interest! I think that this semester will be a great one considering that I am working in a field that I am very passionate about.

I hope that everyone has a rad first day of working at your sites! I'm sure y'all will do an awesome job! See you on Wednesday.

Peace,
J.C.