MLK DAY AT THE ROXY!

Blogging about one’s own event can be difficult in my eyes. This is when I’m conscious of coming across as stuck up, fake, or WORSE to hype up an event that really wasn’t that eventful. So I’ll tell you a bit about the event and hopefully the video links below from NBC Montana and KPAX T.V. below will reflect that as well.

 KPAX T.V. MLK at the ROXy
NBC Montana MLK Day at the ROXY

Across the state Montana Campus Compact and AmeriCorps members helped continued the MLK Read for Peace mission with a few creative add-ons within the community. In Missoula I (Jason Forges, AmeriCorps Senior Leader) was part of the MLK committee and implemented the screening of “Selma” at the Roxy theater here in Missoula. Selma is a story of Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama where racism was strong and openly expressed in 1965. This story not only shows the great work of Dr. King and others, but also shows how Martin Luther King Jr. was human too.

What I’ve learned from that experience is that it’s the importance appreciate people that helped behind the scenes. With that I would like to thank Carly Hosford-Israel (AmeriCorps VISTA Leader) for brain storming the idea with me and Ja’ton Simpson for facilitating the community discussion. Selma at the Roxy Theater was a packed event! So much that we had to open up a second theater so people wouldn’t have to stand in the back or sit on the floor. I think that shows something. The things that come to mind are curiosity, awareness, or both.

In the middle of the screening Selma was paused where Dr. King talks about the unlawful death of Jimmy Lee Jackson by the police officers in Selma. We then had a facilitated discussion with the audience from both rooms that was led by Ja’ton Simpson.

Creating an event like this you’ll never know what you’ll get from those discussions and what we got was GOLD! Community members young and old talked about their perspective on race in America now and back in the 60s. A couple community members even talked about their experience in going to Selma, Alabama in 1965 and joining the march. Overall this event started a conversation on how to move forward as we deal with current issues and not to only just talk about issues but to have ACTION, look for action or create an action plan with you and others. Hope you enjoy the videos.

FALL GAME JAM AT SKC!

On November 3rd through 5th AmeriCorps Leader Dayton Smith helped put on the Fall Game Jam at Salish Kootenai College, hosted by Flathead Tech4Good.

 “Water is Life” is this year’s theme at SKC. With that focus the purpose of the fall Game Jam was to bring local high-schoolers, SKC students and community volunteers together to tackle related issues with-in the community. With the"Water is Life" theme in mind, Tech4Good Game Jam focused on the unique challenges that Flathead Watershed faces.

Now what is a watershed? The first thing that comes to my mind is a “shed that holds water”, but that’s not the case.  Now if you know exactly what a watershed does congrats, but if you’re like me then welcome to the soon to be woke club. Overall we all live on a watershed. A watershed is like a funnel that drains from the land to the same location or body of water. And how our communities treat the land plays a big role on the water we have. Not woke? Watch a  short video on "What's a Watershed"( Soon to be Woke Club: What is a Watershed)

Now learning about watersheds can be useful, but making it useful and relatable can have a deeper connection with the students and community members. With that there’s the Flathead Watershed. That Friday students learned about the challenges that Flathead Watershed faces such as Invasive species, oil train derailments, pollution due to agriculture development and more.
Although there was not a big turnout for this year’s fall Game Jam the effort continues to bring students and communities member together to work towards a common goal.

For more information on the SKC's Fall Game Jam visit Tech4good.

SPARROWS NEST'S FIRST RESIDENT STARTS COLLEGE!

Estevon Torres is a CAT!

For the past four years an emerging nonprofit called Sparrows Nest of Northwest Montana has been making headway on addressing teen homelessness in the Flathead. Sparrows Nest does some incredibly necessary work there helping homeless teens with safe housing so they can continue and complete their studies, work, and live. We've helped provide four AmeriCorps VISTAs over the past four years, and they are on the home stretch with the support we can provide. Over the years, we've seen them go from a good idea hatched by caring community members to an organization with a board, staff and volunteer pool. I remember the first call I got from Marcie Bumke, who was a volunteer and board member for Sparrows Nest. She'd been in touch with Wendy Jeschke from Flathead Valley Community College, and Wendy had told her what they were doing was well-suited for a VISTA.

Marcie was so excited to get things going, and had missed our deadline for project submissions. I knew that they had immediate needs, a work station in a partner church's rectory, and they were ready to go. So we bent the rules a bit, and got to work setting them up, got the project approved, got a work plan set up and the next thing I knew Cat, Sparrows Nest first VISTA, was in Montana, rolling up her sleeves and getting things done. It seemed to happen in just a couple of weeks.

MTCC VISTAs Cat Lehnis, Claire Anderson, Molly Neu and now, Jamie Pollard have served with Sparrows Nest, and have helped build new capacity and deeper partnerships in the Flathead, so homeless teens have better access to services, and support.

We just read this great article in Kalispell's Daily Interlake about Estevon Torres. Estevon recently started college at Montana State University this fall. Estevon was the first resident of Sparrows Nest Whitefish shelter! Great work Estevon. Keep it up.

10 OUT OF 10

Two weeks ago we posted about the American Indian College Fund (AICF) Bridge Grant ($100,000 distributed over two years) that VISTA Members Kaitlyn McCoy and Carly Hosford-Israel applied for and recently received during their terms of service with Fort Peck Community College (FPCC). The grant aims to increase American Indian and Alaska Native high school students' college readiness. FPCC delivers the AICF Bridge Curriculum Guide throughout the year in: academic classes during a summer academy, culturally focused camping trips, college admissions knowledge, first-year experience classes, a book club, and college campus visits.  

This week we got a little more personal and asked a Bridge Participant about her experience with the program so far – Meet MaJe Follet:
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I signed up for the Fort Peck Community College Bridge Academy to meet others. The towns on Fort Peck are pretty spread out over the two million plus acres of Reservation land so it is difficult to meet peers outside of each individual community. By joining Bridge I have the opportunity to: meet other students outside of Frazer, earn early college credit, and tour college campuses in Minnesota and possibly New York.

The Bridge Program is encouraging me to start getting serious about college. I have taken the initiative to start looking into academic programs that interest me as well as work study options that will make it financially feasible to see myself through senior year.

Life on Fort Peck can be a bit unpredictable. People in our communities face a number of hardships that make flexibility a challenging life skill to build. Before going off to college I hope to practice working more calmly through the unknown and unpredictable elements in life. I know there will be plenty of continued practice with that in college and I want to be prepared.

It is difficult to narrow in on my favorite part of Bridge so far. I really enjoyed our summer academy (even though the teachers might have given us more work than we received in the academic year). Also, I have already had the opportunity to make some solid new friends. We finished off the summer with a historic and culturally focused camping trip on Fort Peck Dam, with swimming, lectures on Pan-Indianism, and wahampi (soup in Dakota).

Everything with FPCC Bridge is fun, which is surprising because I never thought I would say that about an academic program. I’d 10 out of 10 recommend! 

MLK JR. DAY IN MONTANA

You probably know that Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service is coming and while many schools, campuses and businesses are closed, we treat it as a day of service. Here in Montana, MTCC sponsors an event called Read for Peace that was started by an MTCC VISTA named Bess Pallares several years back. Across the state, our campuses and their national service members, students, staff, faculty and volunteers work with nearby elementary schools to read about Dr. Kings, his words, ideas and legacy. After the reading, these volunteers work with kids to do either an art project or poem about Dr. King. It's really a lot of fun, and the volunteers and kids have a great time getting to know each other a little.

That brings us around to this great piece of news! Our current MTCC VISTA Leader, Sam Garetson's been on fire lately. He's organizing the read for Peace events in Missoula, and supporting our VISTAs and AmeriCorps members around Montana as they plan events. Sam recently recruited the University of Montana Men's Basketball Team to be readers for Missoula's MLK Read for Peace event. These student athletes will be reading to fifteen, third and fourth grade classrooms at Hellgate Elementary Intermediate on Monday, January 16th. We applaud them for taking time out of their days to bring the words and ideas of Dr. King to young people in Missoula.