Section 1: Strategic Initiatives

Below are the Corporation for National and Community Service’s  Strategic Initiatives.  Please give at least one example of activity that addresses at least one strategic initiative that your program has addressed.  Describe the activity, including the need that was addressed; local collaborations or partners; service activity; and results.

Ensuring a Brighter Future for America’s Youth

•   Misti's work as AmeriCorps' Artist-in-Residence allowed Get SET to address the elimination of virtually all the arts curriculum of our local schools due to dramatic budget cuts.
• This quarter, the Get SET Academic Year after school arts program has been focused on personal expression. We addressed the need that urban children have to raise their sense of self-esteem. 
•  We also continued to address the need for youth from local high schools have to focus their energies on positive things instead of being seduced by drugs, alcohol, and gangs.

• Misti helps ensure the need that our Get SET Spanish speaking parents have to totally focus on learning English in order for them to more effectively assist their children academically,

       by engaging their children in another room 

Engaging Students in Communities

Mobilizing More Volunteers

To date we have expanded our pool of youth volunteers to a total of 19. This is an increase of six new volunteers during the 3rd quarter. 

This increase in volunteers positively impacts our Get SET children by reducing the volunteer to children ratio.

The more youth and adult volunteers we have the more personalized service and attention our Get SET children receive.

Misti Asberry, AmeriCorps Artist-in-Residence working with Get SET Children

& Coordinating Youth & Adult Volunteers

Harnessing Baby Boomers’ Experience

The Baby Boomers involved in our program increased Get SET’s effectiveness by helping us keep our volunteer to children ratio low and by expanding our services while at the same keeping our costs down.

Given the fact that Get SET’s After School Program is free, experienced adult volunteers are indispensable.

Our Baby Boomers remain faithful because they appreciate the fact that Get SET is a structured program with very well disciplined children,

and because they continue to see the positive impact that they are having in the lives of the children and youth.

Section 2: Great Stories

Highlight member activities which are especially reflective of the impact the program has in the community, or which illustrate an innovative or highly successful aspect of program operation.  Please provide at least one story.

Misti, AmeriCorps’ Artist-in-Residence led the Get SET Children in Creating

A 2010 Wishing Tree, Self-Portraits, Portraits of Friends

            We also explored creative expression by looking at the artist, Wassily Kandinsky, and his practice of interpreting music visually. 

Misti played various music for the children and asked them to identify an emotion that the music evoked. 

Then, she asked them to associate a color with the emotion.  Using oil pastels, the children created vibrant individual compositions that the older children combined into a larger cohesive piece. 

            Following in this vein, Misti brought in two of her own self portraits and had the children identify differences in line, shading, and emotive quality. 

As a class, we looked at how other artists, such as Chaim Soutine and Henri Matisse, have used line and color to express emotion in portraiture. 

Then, the children created portraits of each other, focusing on the expressive capacity of color.   

The following week, the children created self portraits, using mirrors and charcoal. 

Through this exercise, Misti had the children focus on line, contrast, and pressure.  These portraits will be displayed in the hallway as part of

Get SET’s Gallery that Misti is in the process of creating.

            In addition to the Get SET after school arts program, Misti has been engaging the Get SET children, while their parents attend on

Thursday evenings English Language Learning class at Westminster.  This time usually includes games, craft projects, and mentoring.