COMMUNITY BUILDING INSTITUTE TRAINING

The Community Building Institute (CBI) is offered twice a year and hosted by the Montana Campus Compact.  The CBI provides the foundation for service projects to transition into sustained, community-supported programs. This training includes six (6) web-based sessions facilitated by experts in community organizing. The sessions are designed for projects in different stages of development: from the beginning assessment stages to the long-standing project seeking to evaluate its impact.  The CBI Training Series is a crucial resource for the sustainable development of community-based initiatives.
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Our sessions and presenters are:

Community Assessment  Colleen Kane, University of Montana Associate Director of Community Engagement and Student Programs

Creating Community Awareness and Stakeholder Involvement-  Andrea Vernon, Montana Campus Compact and UM Office for Civic Engagement Executive Director

Building Community Advisory Groups-  Shannon Stober, Owner Verve Exchange

Strategic Planning-  Roch Turner, Bitterroot College Director of Workforce Development and Programs

Strategic Planning Implementation- Roch Turner, Bitterroot College UM Director of Workforce Development and Programs 

Evaluation for Everyday Use-  Kate Chapin, UM Director of Field Education 

This Spring, CBI will begin on February 23rd and end on March 29th.  It will be every Tuesday from 10AM-11AM.  Below is the community building life cycle. 

For more information and how to register please contact Program Specialist Lacy Fiore at 406-243-5671 or fiore@mtcompact.org.  

MTCC SUMMER PROGRAMMING

MTCC VISTA Summer Associates in June, 2015.

Across Montana college students offer communities a myriad of talents. From working and volunteering in schools, with nonprofits and with cities and towns, you can count on a college student to bring fresh perspectives, ideas and energy, whether they're nineteen or forty seven. To support the great needs communities experience over the summer and the great wells of energy, skill and enthusiasm that college students bring, MTCC is continuing and adding resources to our summer AmeriCorps and VISTA programming.

In past years, we've placed as many as thirty VISTA Summer Associates with youth-serving nonprofits, city parks departments and other programs. This year, we will add the new MTCC AmeriCorps program to the equation, bringing additional resources, and a focus on postsecondary readiness, and near-peer college coaching to the work.

MTCC affiliate campuses and their partners are invited to apply to host MTCC Summer AmeriCorps and VISTA members, to add value and impact to their summer programming. Additionally, the MTCC network office is seeking existing partnerships where summer work study awards are utilized to link college students with important community work. These positions may be eligible to link with Education Award vouchers and national service training and affiliation to students. Please reach out and let us know if you need more information, or a phone call!

This page on our website has more information.

MTCC AMERICORPS AND VISTA MEMBERS SERVE ON MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

Between Friday, January 15 and Monday, January 18 (and beyond) all across Montana MTCC VISTAs and AmeriCorps Members coordinated or took part in projects that honored the memory of one of our nation's greatest leaders, Martin Luther King Jr . MTCC's national service members conducted MLK Read for Peace events, toiletry drives, art projects and volunteered with local events from Glendive in the east to Hamilton and Kalispell in the west. Here are some of their stories:

Bozeman:

VISTA Jill McIntyre reads to students at Irving Elementary

Our VISTA members in Bozeman (Alex Opie, Lauren Hall, Dalya Kefi, and Jill McIntyre) coordinated and executed an amazing MLK Read for Peace event. They decided to have their program take place during after school programs in Bozeman at the following schools: Morningstar Elementary, Irving Elementary, Whittier Elementary. After reading to each group of children the volunteers discussed the importance of MLK's message and then helped students create drawings of their "dream for the world." This MLK Read for Peace Event was able to engage 12 volunteers (including 3 RSVP members) who contributed 12 hours of their time. They were able to read to 90 students and had their drawings hung up at the Bozeman Public Library.

Butte:

MTCC AmeriCorps Member Noah Davis Pictured top left

MTCCAmeriCorps Member serving with Montana Tech, Noah Davis, working with his team of college student AmeriCorps members led another exceedingly rewarding MLK Read for Peace Event in Butte, Montana. Noah recruited and placed a total of 31 volunteers, who contributed 61 hours over the span of two separate days of reading. A total of 422 students were read to and participated in an art project depicting their interpretation of MLK's famous "dream" from the I Have a Dream speech.

Missoula:

MTCC AmeriCorps VISTA Olivia Carney reads to students and Hellgate Elementary

MTCC AmeriCorps VISTAs (Alanna Reid, Michele Schahczenski, Olivia Carney, Erik Swanson and Jon Van Dyke), and VISTA Leaders (Austin Terreri and Lacy Fiore) organized Missoula's largest MLK Day Read For Peace Event to date. VISTA Leader Lacy Fiore raised a total of $866 from the Missoula Barnes & Noble, which provided MLK books to libraries, schools and communities across Montana. In the Missoula area 8 elementary schools participated, including; Paxson, Hellgate, Rattlesnake, Lowell, Lewis & Clark, DeSmet, Russell and Bonner. A whopping 901 students were read to by 24 volunteers who contributed 38 hours. The volunteers who participated included: MTCC AmeriCorps VISTAs, MTCC Staff, community volunteers and two Missoula City Council members -Gwen Jones & Michelle Cares. After the reading, students participated in art projects that included drawing pictures to writing poems, all centered around the idea of peace and understanding the message of Dr. King. These wonderful pieces of art are currently displayed at the Missoula Barnes & Noble and Missoula Public Library. 

National service members serving with the Montana Campus Compact made an impact in many communities throughout Montana this past Martin Luther King Jr. Day. These volunteers are passionate about sharing the important messages of peace, understanding and nonviolence  and helping to make our world a better place. Congratulations to all of our MTCC AmeriCorps and VISTA members, and for our partners in the National Service, nonprofit and education sectors for contributing to our democracy and for striving to complete MLK's dream in your own way. Thank you for your service.