This past Tue/Wed I visited Ames for the Iowa Nonprofit Summit. It was to fulfill some of my AmeriCorps training, but I thought it would be a very informative and valuable event for me. I traveled to Ames the day before the event and met my roommate. (AmeriCorps members could get their hotel paid for if they have a roommate) The event started at 9am on Tuesday with a keynote speaker, Kaira Esgate from Reimagining Service. I came a bit early for registration and breakfast. After collecting a bagel and orange juice I searched a networking area for an empty seat. I found a table and met the other women at the table who were finishing their breakfasts and looking through the packet that we all received upon registration. We introduced ourselves. After explaining my reason for attending, one of my table-mates asked what I was thinking about doing after my AmeriCorps term. I said I was not totally sure, but I am thinking about nonprofit work, or maybe lab/research or maybe going back to school. She said to me, "You know that nonprofits don't pay well." I didn't really know how to react. I kind of imagined everyone at this conference encouraging and supporting all aspects of nonprofit work. I think I said something about that I knew that, but that it is one of my passions and that type of work makes me happy. What an odd way to start the summit!
My Tuesday Sessions:
1. Developing Quality Volunteer Opportunities - was a very interesting session all about recruiting, managing, and appreciating volunteers. I got a few ideas that I can use for the youth that I work with as well as things that I can take with me. (I also met a women at that session that knows some of my relatives! Crazy!)
2. Speaking the Language:Using Social Media for Volunteer Recruitment - session that was all about using social media to help recruit and encourage volunteers. I really enjoyed this session! We would talk about different avenues of social media and then discuss them with the people around us. It was nice to hear how others were using these resources. I also got some more motivation to use social media to help encourage my Red Cross Clubs. I also learned more about Twitter (I'm starting to understand it, PR friends!)
3. Keeping History Alive/AmeriCorps Civic Engagement - A session presented by Patti Miller who was a member of the Freedom Summer of 1964. She was a wealth of knowledge and had a really interesting view of the civil rights movement. She talked about her experiences and a lot about how she didn't know that her work would be such a big part of history while it was happening. I would enjoy hearing more from her - She has a nice webpage so I'm going to start there I guess.
4. AmeriCorps Service Project/Networking - We decorated cards and bags for Blank Children's Hospital while enjoying pizza. We also had some AmeriCorps training and a game where we all one AmeriCorps themed prizes!
On Wednesday, our keynote speaker was Jeannette Peters. She talked all about grants (which I don't know much about so I was a bit confused during it, but she was an enthusiastic speaker). Our Governor also visited to help present the awards.
My Wednesday Sessions:
1. Poverty Simulation - This was not as great as I had expected, but the idea of it was great! I think we could have spent a whole day on this activity and that was the only bad part about it. I hope to do another sometime.
2. Reflecting and Demonstrating Success in your Service-Learning Projects - A session all about reflection activities. I learned some neat reflection 'games' that I could do with my clubs after a service project. Some of these were not new to me because of my time at camp working with team building/ropes activities, but I learned some new ones too!
3. Life after AmeriCorps - Not super exciting. We learned about using our educational awards and about the AmeriCorps alumni groups that are organized.
Overall, I really enjoyed the Summit. It was not totally what I had expected. It was busy and there was a lot going on. The sessions were very informative, but I didn't not make as many connections as I was hoping to. I have a few legal pad pages of notes and ideas that I got while at the conference that I can't wait to go through and plan for! I think it was a very valuable event. It helped to give me a good look at the Iowa nonprofit community. The awards helped me to see some great nonprofits in my state. I also learned that Iowa has a very strong volunteering community (in fact, Iowa is ranked 2nd (to Utah) in volunteer rate). Maybe I'll be able to attend again...
Volunteer Iowa
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