Closing service and opening new doors
Abstract
Help members transition to life after AmeriCorps service. Mosaica's newsletter, Training Briefs, presents suggestions that program staff can use to develop reflection sessions and prepare members for future jobs, education, training, and service.Issue
Moving from a service term to a life outside of service can be daunting without some preparation and planning.Action
Preparing AmeriCorps members for life after service should be included as part of service training. Effective practices include:- Use Next Steps: Life After AmeriCorps to design training sessions for close of service. Next Steps: Life After AmeriCorps, is a workbook designed to help members assess their skills and accomplishments, consider their "next steps," and reflect on and make important decisions about future employment, training, education, and service. The workbook's seven sections contain user-friendly, guided reflection activities focusing on managing the transition, continuing to serve, and pursuing options like finding a job or furthering their education.
- Survey members to find out what topics they would like to have covered, and plan a session if members have similar needs.
- If members have diverse needs, choose a general training session that allows flexibility through individual reflection.
- If most members will be entering the work force, plan job fairs and/or identify avenues for volunteering while pursuing employment, education, or other options.
Context
Next Steps: Life After AmeriCorps will be useful for program staff in planning and designing training sessions for close of service. Simply looking through the workbook will provide many ideas for session topics to offer during and at the end of the program year. The worksheets and other information can be used for exercises and handouts at training sessions. The lists of resources suggested to members in Appendix C will also provide ideas of possible trainers to call on or books that can be used as reference materials.
Mosaica: The Center for Nonprofit Development and Pluralism, provides organizational assessments, strategic and resource development planning, fundraising capacity building, restructuring support, and assistance in financial management and oversight. Other services include board development, program design and delivery, personnel and systems management, volunteer activities, community involvement and community building, community organizing and advocacy, program evaluation, and coalition building.
The goal of Mosaica is to bring together individuals with diverse voices and experience to create an organization with a set of common values. Mosaica was established out of a commitment to social justice and a belief that within the United States and throughout the world, societies that strive for democracy, human rights, peace, individual opportunity, and pluralism must be built and maintained from the bottom up—community by community, group by group—with the active involvement of nonprofit organizations and a strong independent sector. Mosaica helps strengthen nonprofits so they can provide high quality services and advocacy in a sustainable, well-run fashion that supports communities.
Citation
Mosaica's Training Briefs. Washington, D.C.: Corporation for National and Community Service, no. 1, (July 1997).
*Training Briefs were produced by Mosaica under Cooperative Agreement #98CADC009 with the Corporation for National and Community Service during July of 1997 through October of 1999.
Posted On
August 27, 2001For More Information
Resources
See the following:
1. Closing Service and Opening New Doors for more information as well as an icebreaker for end-of-year service training.
2. EnCorps resource, "What's Next" at http://encorps.nationalserviceresources.org/whatsnext/index.shtml.