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Winter 2024 Newsletter
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Update from the Strategic Planning Committee Chair
The start of a new year often brings with it the idea of new goals and a fresh approach to achieving them. Here at Serve Illinois, we are beginning 2024 with a new commitment to service. We are full of excitement at the potential to deepen the impact of volunteerism and service across Illinois. Part of how we are articulating these goals is through the development of a new strategic plan. This planning process allows the Commissioners and Staff of Serve Illinois to better understand the full scope and scale of current programs, from the hundreds of Americorps members engaged in years of service to the events and awards that spotlight incredible volunteers in every part of our state. It’s also an opportunity to learn what we could be doing better and find ways we could reach more Illinoisans through service. To that end, we are engaging many stakeholders in the process to listen to the perspectives of the power of community service and volunteerism and how Serve Illinois leads these efforts.
As the Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, I welcome you to share any suggestions or ideas we should be considering in our next strategic plan here. Thank you and we look forward to unveiling the 2024 – 2026 strategic plan soon!
Yours in service,
Allison Angeloni
Strategic Planning Committee Chair
Serve Illinois
Update from the Strategic Planning Committee Chair
The start of a new year often brings with it the idea of new goals and a fresh approach to achieving them. Here at Serve Illinois, we are beginning 2024 with a new commitment to service. We are full of excitement at the potential to deepen the impact of volunteerism and service across Illinois. Part of how we are articulating these goals is through the development of a new strategic plan. This planning process allows the Commissioners and Staff of Serve Illinois to better understand the full scope and scale of current programs, from the 506 Americorps members engaged in years of service to the events and awards that spotlight incredible volunteers in every part of our state. It’s also an opportunity to learn what we could be doing better and find ways we could reach more Illinoisans through service. To that end, we are engaging many stakeholders in the process to listen to the perspectives of the power of community service and volunteerism and how Serve Illinois leads these efforts. As the Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, I welcome you to share any suggestions or ideas we should be considering in our next strategic plan here. Thank you and we look forward to unveiling the 2024 – 2026 strategic plan soon!
Yours in service,
Allison Angeloni
Strategic Planning Committee Chair
Serve Illinois
Data Snapshot
Focus on Service
Volunteer Spotlight
Tom Ryan - Volunteer Spotlight (January 10, 2024)
"A successful project needs many people to make it happen, but to be successful every project needs a leader – the one that will make sure that all of the pieces of the project fit together, funding is secured and people are attracted to the project because of its importance to the community, business or organization.
The Lake Sara Forever Foundation found that one person in Tom Ryan.
After an illustrious career with Ford Motor Company, Tom Ryan and his wife Pat, retired to Lake Sara 20+ years ago and quickly became integrated into the lake community. They not only became active lake residents but engaged in activities that were underway to improve the lake, not just for the enjoyment of residents and visitors, but to ensure that the lake would endure and offer enjoyment for many years to come.
In the early 2000s, Tom answered the call for concerned residents to work on the water quality of the lake caused by erosion from unprotected shorelines and joined the Erosion Control
Committee. The committee worked with the Soil and Water Conservation District and obtained $350,000 in state, federal, and local grant programs to seed a rip rap program to control erosion in public areas of the lake, then worked with local residents to apply the same rip rap program on resident properties. This project alone has resulted in protected shorelines and improved water quality.
Tom was instrumental in creating a dynamic master plan to redevelop the public areas of the lake into a recreational park with amenities to please users of all ages. The first part of the project was to secure ownership of the area. Tom helped raise $150,000 to accomplish this goal in 2017.
He has successfully led the completion of Phase I of the project, an accessible playground for younger children and a disc golf course. The project was funded by a $400,000 Department of Natural Resources grant, matched with $742,000 of local contributions.
Tom has put countless hours into the project and worked with the necessary partners to get the job done. He has met with state and local agencies to keep the project front and center in obtaining needed funding as well as meeting all environmental and quality concerns. He has also led a local committee in working with contractors to successfully complete the first phase of the project and raise local matching funds. And, just as Phase I was completed, work began on the next phase of the project, which was completed in September 2023. Another $400,000 grant was received from the DNR and Tom assisted in obtaining the matching funds to complete the project ahead of schedule. Phase II of the project focuses on teen and adult activities, including pickleball courts, a beach volleyball court, a 1/4 mail walking trail, and two fitness areas.
Tom has not only spent countless hours in the work of the project but also has spent numerous hours on-site, talking to people and obtaining feedback on what people want to see as further development of the beach area continues to be a focal point for the development of the beach park area."
~Nominated by Norma Lansing & members of the Lake Sara Forever Parks & Recreation Committee
Ed Thommes - Volunteer Spotlight (December 6, 2023)
"Ed Thommes is the Volunteer Coordinator and Giving Back Volunteer for Northwest Compass, Inc. Northwest Compass, Inc. is a non-profit organization serving the homeless and housing insecure in the Northwest Suburbs of Cook County. Ed has become an invaluable member of our volunteer team by selecting the right volunteers for the job! We are a service enterprise organization that utilizes volunteers to staff nearly half of our workforce. This is no small task and Ed has been extremely successful in recruiting, training, and overseeing our volunteers. He allocates volunteers to various roles and projects based on their skills and experience. From front desk intake personnel to food pantry help, and even gardening and maintenance projects.
Ed has gone above and beyond reaching outside of his roles and responsibilities. He has been integral in working with vendors to find us a new conveyor belt for our food pantry which needs replacement. The conveyor belt brings heavy boxes of food down a flight of stairs where our food pantry is located. This device is crucial to keeping our food pantry open and it was unfortunately breaking down. Ed stepped in to ensure we found the proper replacement and installation at a reasonable cost. We are nominating Ed because the success of all of our volunteers is in large part due to Ed!"
~Nominated by Alison Pittas
Lew and Sheila Coffin - Volunteer Spotlight (November 6, 2023)
In mid-summer of 2023, Northwest Compass, Inc. received a generous grant from the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors to install a public community garden on site outside of our office. Northwest Compass, Inc. is a non-profit organization serving the Homeless and Housing insecure in the Northwest Suburbs of Cook County. At the time we did not know how we would pull off the installation of the garden project due to the tight deadline requested by the funding organization to have all work
completed and funds expended by September 15th, 2023. As active volunteers for Northwest Compass who were at that time working on maintaining our small vegetable garden, Lew and Sheila took this project under their wings and ran with it. They gathered and managed several groups of volunteers to assist in renovating the area, pulling out old plants, laying mulch, clean-up, installation of water features and bird feeders, installing benches, planting flowers and vegetables, and more. They also spearheaded the hiring of a contractor to put in gravel pathways that are handicapped accessible and a garden demonstration area and selected and managed installation of a large shed to store equipment.
Without their hard work and dedication to the project and to making the garden exceptional, we may not have been able to meet the requirements for funding.
In addition to the garden project, Sheila also works as a volunteer at our front desk assisting clients with intake and food pantry access and Lew is looking to take on another infrastructure project at Northwest Compass involving expenditure of grant funds to re-pave the hard surfaces outside the office including the parking lot and front steps to improve safety and accessibility.
and mentor the youth in the program who are aged 17 and up to a tough championship game win of 70-60 at the Dayton Spring Championship. Daivyon and DeTerrrion understand what it means to mentor through sports.
~Nominated by Alison Pittas
Nominate a Volunteer!
Upcoming Events and Deadlines
AmeriCorps Member Recruitment Corner
Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago
AmeriCorps members will serve as Youth Development Specialist in which they serve as program staff and work directly with club members. They will provide mentorship, and support in all the needed character, leadership and emotional support areas utilizing and applying various Project Learn strategies and through implementation of variety of academic enrichment activities such as Summer Brain Gain, I am a Reader, and STEM. Through implementations in some of the programs just mentioned, the goal is that our club members will improve in key academic areas such as Science, Math, and Reading.
Potential members can contact Juan Roman at jroman@bgcc.org
Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana GCNWI
The Girl Scouts GCNWI is seeking support from 5 AmeriCorps State and National members to provide mental health, physical health, and financial literacy educational support to grossly underserved communities in the city of Chicago. The Girl Scouts Live Well Initiative
(GSLWI) will focus on mental health, financial health, physical health, and self-discovery health (S.T.E.A.M Curriculum) for the girls who need it most. At the end of the first program year, the AmeriCorps members will be responsible for assisting Girl Scouts GCNWI to alleviate poverty by expanding health education while prioritizing investment in the most underserved individuals and communities in Chicago.
Potential members can contact lgardner@girlscoutsgcnwi.org
Herrin House of Hope
The Herrin House of Hope seeks to help the poor and needy in the Herrin area chart a new course for their lives and find hope for the future. It is a cooperative Christian ministry of Herrin's churches, businesses and ordinary people committed to giving hope for those who are struggling in life. We follow the example of Jesus who came with good news for the poor and freedom for the oppressed (Luke 4:1)
Potential members can contact Tracy Lake at Tracy.Lake@cofchurch.org
Special Features
Civics in Illinois Classrooms
Serve Illinois and our National Service Program is working on a partnership to develop a civics curriculum to support IDHS’s goal to create a framework, professional learning curriculum related to the Illinois State Learning Standards for Civics, which include a service-learning requirement for high school graduation.
To meet these goals, Serve Illinois will fund a partnering entity to assemble a design team of
national Civics experts, Illinois K-12 teachers, and civic leaders. This team will develop a conceptual and pedagogical (instructional) framework for Civics and Service Learning in Illinois. The team will also document cases of civic engagement and service learning that exemplify the conceptual and pedagogical framework developed.
They (the National Civic Experts = NCE) will design and develop an a-synchronous professional learning experience and facilitator guidance for teachers and teacher-trainers that meets the outcomes of the Illinois State Learning Standards for Civics.
They (NCE) will also implement a pilot civics professional learning experience for practicing Illinois teachers. During the pilot experience, teachers will visit Illinois sites of social movements (labor, housing, and education) and develop inquiry-based and community responsive curricular units of study related to each of the sites that meets the Illinois State Learning Standards for Civics.
Chicago Children's Advocacy Center (CCAC)
On Saturday, December 16, Upstate Volunteer Programs Coordinator Cecilia Maciel Martinez attended the Chicago Children's Advocacy Center (CCAC) to recognize their volunteers for their work in their yearly toy drive. Families were able to pick out new toys for the holiday season. Congrats CCAC for all the work you do!
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
On October 29, 2023, Serve Illinois Volunteer Program Manager, Jacob Jenkins, and National Service Program Manager David Fanniel attended the Celebrating Survivors, Remembering those that were lost, and Standing with those who fight (CRF) Breast Cancer Awareness Ball in Springfield, Illinois to recognize the founders of CRF. For over 13 years the founders have assisted those who have been affected by breast cancer. Members of Springfields’ African American community
with representatives of the Nine Historically Black Greek Lettered Organizations joined the founders to help bring their dream to life. Founders Sharon Williams and Jaunice Walker were recognized with special pink Governor’s Certificates of Appreciation and received AmeriCorps pins as part of the AmeriCorps 30th Celebration. Please join Serve Illinois in celebrating honor the work of these community champions!
Eastern Illinois University vs Chicago State Pop-Up
Playing for Good 🏀 On November 2, 2023, Serve Illinois Volunteer Programs Manager Jacob Jenkins and Upstate Volunteer Programs Coordinator Cecilia Maciel Martinez attended the Eastern Illinois University vs Chicago State women’s basketball game at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Illinois to recognize both teams with Governor’s Certificates of Appreciation.
The profits of this game will be used for Maui disaster relief.
A total of 39 individuals were recognized for their efforts, including players and coaches.
Congrats to Eastern Illinois University and Chicago State for this amazing effort!
AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC)
On Friday, November 3, 2023, Serve Illinois visited the city of Mattoon, Illinois to recognize AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) participants, who were assisting in the Lake Paradise Pathway Revitalization Project, with Governor’s Certificates of Appreciation. The Mayor of Mattoon, Rick Hall, also joined Serve Illinois in recognizing the participants and assisted in clearing the trails. Serve Illinois also visited local organizations doing outstanding work in the community with the assistance of
Alexander Benishek, Community Development & Planning Director for the City of Mattoon, including Fit-2-Serve, faith-based, grass-roots not-for-profit organization dedicated to equipping people for works of service.
Community Advocacy Awareness Network (CAAN)
On Friday, November 17th, 2023, Serve Illinois Volunteer Program Manager, Jacob Jenkins, and Upstate Volunteer Programs Coordinator, Cecilia Maciel Martinez, attended the Community Advocacy Awareness Network (CAAN) Unity Dinner celebrating Veterans at the Prisco Center in Aurora, Illinois. Volunteers were recognized as part of the Governor’s Hometown Award certificate recognition project. The Community Advocacy Awareness Network and the City of Aurora were the Governor’s Hometown Award Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion category winners for Population Division 2. This organization has been serving those in need for 20 years, including youth, veterans, seniors, and the unhoused, creating community engagement endeavors. Additionally, founder Mary Fultz was recognized as an Honorary AmeriCorps member in celebration of AmeriCorps’ 30th anniversary.
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To be added to our newsblast, please email DHS.ServeIllinois@Illinois.gov with "Newsblast" in the subject line.
Year in Review
Total number of volunteer certificates distributed: 668
Number of Recognition Pop-Ups: 24
