A question I got a lot when I told people I was moving to Denver to be in FEMA Corps is "What exactly will you be doing?"
The truth is, it's still kind of vague. This is only the second round of FEMA Corps, and the first time they've had it at the Denver campus, so in a way, we're the guinea pigs. But since that's not a great answer, the program has provided us with a concise explanation for anyone who asks us that question.
"I'm a member of FEMA Corps, a partnership between FEMA and AmeriCorps NCCC. FEMA Corps members are 18-24 years old and spend 10 months serving throughout the country while developing their own leadership skills. We serve on teams and are deployed exclusively to support disaster response and recovery projects through FEMA. To learn more or apply, go to www.americorps.gov"
So what is AmeriCorps NCCC you ask? The non-FEMA corps members spend their 10 months working on various types of projects, whether it be disaster relief, urban and rural development, environmental conservation or others, with various sponsors like Habitat for Humanity, national parks, FEMA and so on. FEMA liked having AmeriCorps members around to help out, so they decided to make a separate program where corps members would work exclusively with them. We'll get more in-depth training in specific jobs and then could be sent to disaster areas across the country, unlike traditional corps members, who only go to places in their region of the U.S.
Basically, it's brand new in Denver, and we're the ones paving the way! Exciting!
Right now I'm in training at the Colorado Heights University campus in Denver, along with about 150 other corps members (herein referred to as CM's - it's all about the acronyms here).
As many of you probably know I spent August through December teaching English in Georgia (country not state) and flew to Georgia (state not country) in January, where I embarked on a month long journey up to South Dakota, and then Drove down to Denver on February 11th.
So what have I been doing since then? CTI - Corps Training Institute. This is the 4 week long training program we go through before we're inducted (on March 8th). Here are some examples of the sessions we've been attending: Introduction to Staff Members, Residence Life, Campus Standards, Culture of Disaster, Discrimination and Sexual Harrassment, Quality of Life, Diversity, Service Learning, Life After AmeriCorps, Health and Safety, Tool Safety, Driver Safety, CPR and First Aid, and some out of classroom activities like learning to drive a 15-passenger van, team time, taking a tour of Denver, physical training, and getting tested for TB and drugs.
We're usually in training from 8-5 and have evenings and weekends off, but the schedule has been a bit messed up lately because of the snow.
Today we had our driving test. Our team only had 4 people testing, so we got done pretty quick. I was the first to drive, and I think I got off easy. I drove us from campus to Red Rocks. I was a little nervous, but really all I had to do was enter the freeway, drive a few miles, exit, and drive up to the parking lot. And I managed to do it without crashing! Yay me! I'm now certified! The next person drove us to Lookout Mountain, where Buffalo Bill's grave and museum is. We didn't have time to go in, but it's not far, so maybe I can head back on a weekend. Then it was down the mountain and through Golden, then on to Boulder, where we got some delicious calzones for lunch. Back to Denver, and we were done by 1:00, hence me having time to go to the library and start my blog!
In an hour we have our Baseline Test, which is to test our physical ability. They see how many sit ups and push ups we can do in a minute, and then time us on a mile and a half run. They won't send anyone home if they don't run fast enough or anything, it's basically so we can set goals for ourselves throughout the year, and then see if we've improved next time we do it.
That's one of the things I love about this program. They're not only concerned with what we can do for them. They also try to help us work on our own self-improvement. We do physical training 3 times a week, even though we'll be working primarily in an office setting. We are given plenty of resources to help us adjust to life in the corps, and there's even a staff member there to help us figure out what we want to do with ourselves after AmeriCorps. They go so far as to give us a few paid days off during our term called "Life After AmeriCorps" days so that we can go to job fairs, work on sending out resumes, apply to college or grad school, etc.
The other thing I like about this program, is that they have high expectations for us. Teaching in Georgia was a great experience and I learned a lot, but it was also frustrating (if you read my blog "Jamie in Georgia" you may have picked up on that). One of the reasons it was so frustrating was because there was very little expected out of me. One way I usually describe it is that I was seen as a cute little puppy. The teachers would giggle at me and pat me on the head, but they didn't expect me to actually do anything. That can knock out your motivation real fast.
This experience has been much different. They expect nothing less than our best from us, and it's exciting.
But I still haven't told you what I'm going to do yet, have I? That's because I won't know for another 18 hours.
Here's how the training is set up. The entire Class is separated into 3 units - Alpine, Glacier, and Tundra. I'm in Alpine. Within Alpine we have 7 teams. Each has a team leader and about 8 or 9 corps members. Throughout training, we've been switching up teams at various intervals so that we can get to know all the team leaders (TLs) and other CMs. There are 5 different FEMA positions available for Alpines. The TLs already know their positions, and their CMs will have the same job. Tomorrow we find out our job and who our TL and teammates will be. We've been waiting a long time to know, and we're all really nervous and excited.
There are a lot of factors that go into how they form the team. We all wrote a little essay about our preferred job and ranked them in order of what we most want to what we least want. However, that's just part of it. They also have to form teams so that they're diverse. For example, they want people of various ages and various educational backgrounds. They also need to make sure there's close to an even number of certified drivers on every team so that we can get places in our vans.
I chose Individual Applicant Services as my first preference. That means I would be working at a disaster recovery center assisting individuals who have applied or are trying to apply for FEMA assistance. I know it's going to mean getting yelled at a lot by angry people, since most people I encounter will probably be wanting to know why they haven't received assistance yet, but I think it would be a really interesting job and I think I'd be good at it.
My second choice was Community Relations, which would mostly entail going door to door and telling people to register with FEMA. My third choice was Public Assistance, which would be mostly working with local governments, fourth was Logistics, and fifth was Systems Logistics. I'll keep you updated on what I actually get. I'm just excited to find out which 9 or so people I will be spending the rest of my 9 months with!
Where do we go from here?
On March 14th we will drive our vans down to New Mexico to attend a 2 week training specific to our FEMA positions, and sometime during those 2 weeks we will find out where we'll be going on our first spike. (Spike is the term they use for a deployment to a project somewhere outside of Denver.)
So now that I've filled you in on all the details, I'm going to go get ready for my run. I'll be back sometime in the next few days with details about my new job and team, and to tell you a little more about what it's been like to be living in Denver!
Also: Hopefully soon I'll have pictures. I realized that, because I'm such a genius, I bought an XD card reader to put in the computer instead of an SD card reader, and I also lost the USB cable for my camera. I hope to remedy this situation soon, because I have so many beautiful pictures of the mountains that I can't wait to share!
