Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Experience Corps in US News and World Report
Today, the be
nefits of Experience Corps for both older adults and children are highlighted in US News and World Report’s article, Senior-Student Mentoring Can Be Great Win-Win.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Healthy Aging All Summer Long
Each Wednesday morning this summer, Meg Licht, myself and a group of ten other tireless Experience Corps members gather in Franklin Park to partake in some exercise and easy conversation. Along the two mile trek around the park’s public golf course, Read more…
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Best Part of My Year
I sometimes feel I view the endeavors of Generations Incorporated from a unique perspective. While many of our proven outcomes focus on the benefits students receive through our programs, what strikes me most vividly are the advantages experienced by our older adult volunteers. And while I adore working with children (the group at the Southie Boys and Girls Club can attest to my delighted enthusiasm), something about the dedication and benevolence of our older adults is what touches me most profoundly. I suppose this is to be expected given that I came to this organization to help implement healthy aging programs and considering that I spent much of my time in college with a Hospice program and at various local nursing homes. Nonetheless, in the wake of our being named “2010 Social Innovator in Healthy Aging,” I think it is important that we continue to recognize ourselves as an organization that benefits older adults as well as for the significant gains in literacy skills our students achieve through their tutelage.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Annie E. Casey Foundation’s report: Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters
In this new report, Experience Corps is mentioned in the Resource Guide (click here to view) as a program to invest in because it gets results with children who are at risk for not being able to read by the end of third grade. To learn more about this important new study, click here to visit their website.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Experience Corps highlighted as a high-impact national service program
In Shirley Sagawa’s new book The American Way to Change, she explores how national service volunteers are changing America…read more by clicking here.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Social Innovation Forum Showcase Event
Last week Tuesday, Mary presented Generations Incorporated as Boston’s Healthy Aging Innovator at the Social Innovation Forum’s Showcase Event. You can watch her speech by clicking here. This event was an opportunity for us present how our programs engage older adults, promote healthy aging and at the same time, make an important literacy impact on Greater Boston’s school children. Tara Finnegan (Director of Resource Development), Samantha Levine (Board President), and Carol Kamin (Board Member) accompanied Mary to the N.E.R.D. Center (New England Research & Development) in Cambridge to network with local business leaders who are interested in lending their support and expertise to innovative Boston nonprofits like us!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Reading, Science & Family at Kenny Elementary
Recently, I had the opportunity to host a family event at my elementary school. For me, this was a task that I had been familiar with this year. Family events can be tough to get good attendance at, but when I found out our school was hosting a Science Night, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to have our own family event as well. Hattie West, our Site Team Leader, Reading Coaches, and myself decided to do our own Science Fair with our kids. The past month was dedicated to having the students do research on a topic of their choosing, and to create a diorama with the information they found. Everyone involved with the projects put in 100% effort! The kids really took to doing the projects and were so proud of their work. The projects ranged from butterflies to space. We even had a student do one on Chinese Food! By the time the school Science Night arrived, our students had finished their dioramas with great enthusiasm. My main concern was making sure as many people as possible got to see their finished work.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Knitting Relationships
On Wednesday early-afternoons in the Yawkey Boys and Girls Club’s Generations Incorporated (GI) Room, you will find a group of Reading Coaches and AmeriCorps Members using some of their most creative skills. However, it’s not literacy related. These members (all women, at the moment) are knitting. As part of G.I.’s Healthy Aging Program, Crafternoons give our older adults a chance to show off their skills while forming close-knit relationships.
For Anna Coleman, a Reading Coach at the Yawkey, it’s a time for her to continue her hobby of making blankets for patients at the Boston Children’s Hospital. For others including Esther Williams, a Reading Coach at the Yawkey, and Kim Bohling & Meg Licht, AmeriCorps Members, it’s a chance to make scarves, blankets, cowls and socks for their families and loved ones.
Read more…
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Say It, Use It, Spell It Bee!
On April 14th and 15th the first Say it, Use it, Spell it-Bee occurred at the Yawkey Boys and Girls Club. Twenty students participated in the event, showing off their vocabulary skills. Our amazing Reading Coaches handpicked grade-appropriate words for their students in a competition that placed equal value on spelling and the use of words in sentences. This Bee, inspired by a literacy tool developed by AmeriCorps State Lead, Kim Bohling, and Reading Coach, Esther Williams, proved to be an exciting event for both students and reading coaches. The two days resulted in two winners, LaDawn Spencer and Janae Vellere. Everyone in the Bee went home with an award to show students that win or lose, if you try you can succeed. The Say it, Use it, Spell it-Bee is an event that Site Team Leader Ruth Villard hopes to continue at the Yawkey Boys and Girls Club!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Training for the Ages
For all of us State Members, team meetings come around once a month like clockwork. Things that are discussed during these meetings are upcoming events (school and/or Generations Incorporated (GI) events), ways to improve our reading coach model, ideas for activities, operation changes, and a few funny/good living stories. Usually, these meetings are lead by our various Site Team Leaders and State Members – a recent meeting let one of our Experience Corps Members (ECM) really steal the show (in the best sense of the phrase possible).
At the last John Marshall meeting, a State Member led a training covering how to engage two students simultaneously during a reading coach session. The training itself was necessary and a great success, but the true gem of the afternoon was the sequel to the training led by an ECM entitled: Reading With 3+. The session was led by Betty Reed. She serves in a 2nd grade classroom, a 5th grade classroom, and also serves as a reading coach. Before she started volunteering for GI she was a nurse and a minister in the Salvation Army. A quick side note on Ms. Reed:
Betty Reed took what she had learned while working with the teachers and kids in a classroom setting and brought them to the other ECMs at the John Marshall. She had two coordinators: one training *VISTA, and one Cluster Supervisor pretend to be students and she showcased what she had learned to all eighteen volunteers present at the meeting in such a way where they could participate in the comical yet informative showcase/skit. Read more…
Latest Tweets
@sarahellenmac @idejmcd Thanks for the RTs! - tweeted on 30/07/2010 12:50:08
The great group of riders here at Generations Incorporated are getting geared up for the Rodman Ride for Kids.... http://fb.me/CFuWgYUT - tweeted on 30/07/2010 12:30:23
Team @Generations_Inc has raised close to $3K for the Rodman Ride for Kids. Lets keep things in gear. Donate now! http://bit.ly/bwE2Cv - tweeted on 30/07/2010 12:16:23
Loving your tweets! RT @MassMentoring: What about Lord of the Rings? Oh yeah, Gandalf was totally a mentor to the Fellowship. #mentor - tweeted on 30/07/2010 12:13:23
Follow some great #nonprofits in #Boston: @CityYearBoston @Mass_NonprofitNet @RoomtoGrow_org @everybodywins @socialcap @MassMentoring - tweeted on 30/07/2010 10:41:38
Feeling great. New #AmeriCorps members are here! RT @CityYearBoston: Good morning everyone, happy Friday! How's everyone feeling? @CityYear - tweeted on 30/07/2010 09:31:58
@socialcap and @eric_andersen: Thanks for the kind words. #tedxboston was a great event. - tweeted on 30/07/2010 08:42:13
RT @socialcap: #FF gr8 tweeps & speakers from #tedxboston @eric_andersen @rajmelville @generations_inc @lessig @Joselinmane @connectorsRus - tweeted on 30/07/2010 08:38:39
Photo of the Week: July 29, 2010 Welcome to our 2010-2011 *VISTAs who started their training this week! Our... http://fb.me/DZ9omN84 - tweeted on 29/07/2010 15:07:44
Watching tech entrepreneur @sethpriebatsch speak. - #TEDx live on http://bit.ly/cGLzAI - tweeted on 29/07/2010 10:45:13
