Catalyst Service Abroad: The Babies of Casa Jackson

Contributed by Luke Soto

 I went to Antigua Guatemala for Easter weekend and I ended up visiting the place where one of my friends works called Casa Jackson, a clinic for malnourished babies (and sometimes older children depending on the case). My day started with an hour orientation given by a long term volunteer who then showed me the proper way to feed, burp and change a baby. So here am I, Luke Soto, a man who can hardly remember the last time he held a baby, let alone feed one, and suddenly I am surrounded by kids, one sitting up in my lap, another one drinking her bottle in my arms and another (who can walk and talk) giving me a toy to play with. I found feeding the baby to be pleasantly easy and calming as all I really had to do was wait for her to decide that she wanted to eat. My nerves were starting to calm down when I noticed that her bottle was empty. I knew what this meant and didn’t want to admit it as I had found feeding her to be unexpectedly calming and was nervous for the next baby waiting to be fed. But before I knew it, I had to put the baby back in her crib and I had a new toddler (older than the last) being handed to me with a smile on her face and her bottle.

Catalyst Miami Hosts AmeriCorps Works: Save Service Strategy Session

Contributed by Jaime Botero

        Wednesday March 14^th, Catalyst Miami hosted AmeriCorps Works: Save Service Strategy Session. The program was an evening discussion of current AmeriCorps legislation and advocacy strategies to save national service. AmeriCorps is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service and serves an important role as the Federal sponsored civilian service institution.

Catalyst Miami hosts several AmeriCorps programs employing VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), sponsoring Public Allies and ReServe. Daniella Levine is a firm believer in the power of AmeriCorps and community volunteers in reaching solutions to social ills.

The event was a first of it’s kind meeting to engage various stakeholders including community members, and participants of VISTA, Teach for America, City Year, and Public Allies. Attendants included a team of AmeriCorps NCCC volunteers that managed to secure permission to attend the advocacy event.

Prosperity Turned Upside Down in House Budget Proposals

By Catalyst Miami President/CEO Daniella Levine

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget proposal at the end of March, ironically titled "The Path to Prosperity." Chairman Ryan from Wisconsin, the architect of this wrongheaded proposal, recently spoke of trying to help those living in poverty with this budget. Unfortunately, the budget proposal does the complete opposite. It slashes education, training, nutrition and health care, weakening both protections for people in need and the help that can lead to employment and a more secure future.

Although the economy is starting to recover, people in Florida are still struggling. Unemployment here peaked at 11.4 percent in January 2010 and still remains unacceptably high at 9.6 percent today. If you count the number of people who have given up looking for work or can’t get as many hours as they want, the rate rises to 18.2%. Almost 1 in 7 Florida residents and almost 1 in 5 children are living in poverty.  We need to see budget solutions that respond to our needs. We need to invest in jobs for unemployed workers, protect low-income people in our communities, and raise fair revenues instead of balancing the budget on the backs of our most vulnerable. Our recent report published with the Coalition on Human Needs outlines some of the choices our Members of Congress are facing in Washington.

Catalyst Contributors: Ernie Quincosa

               Hi everyone, I’m Ernie Quincosa. This year, I will be working for the Prosperity Campaign at Catalyst Miami, through the Public Allies program. I was connected to PA through a friend who was an ally last year. I’m pretty glad the application process is done and that I am finally in my placement.

 I am a Miami native. Both of my parents were immigrants (my mother from Honduras and my father from Cuba.) I grew up in the Shenandoah neighborhood just east of Brickell. My motivation for caring about social issues was my childhood. During the 80’s and 90’s, Miami was a much more divided town. Miami has always been a poor city with a large gap in income inequality.  While racism in the city has never been as tangible as it has elsewhere, there is definitely institutional inequality and misrepresentation of people of color, immigrants, and the poor. I became involved with social justice issues as a high school student, much the result of the environment I was in as well as reading lofty political writers and social theorists. I am glad to do work in whatever capacity to help those who are underserved. I hope working for Catalyst Miami helps me figure out where I fit in.

More recently, I am a graduate of the University of Florida. While in school, I studied History and Latin American Studies. I am a big fan of cooking, music, association football, anthropology, and modern literature. I am excited to be documenting my experience through this blog, and hope to learn a lot here!

Join us at Philanthrofest!!!

Catalyst Contributors: Jessica Burden

Greetings!
 My name is Jessica Burden and I am from Sunny Southern California (the best state in the country, of course)!  I graduated from the University of Nevada Las Vegas in 2010 with a BS in Kinesiological Sciences and a minor in African American Studies.  I joined AmeriCorps as a VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) to continue the legacy of service within my family and community.  The idea I’m most passionate about is being a teacher.  I have a strong desire to develop independent, critical thinkers that aren’t afraid to cut against the grain; those who will be our future leaders.  As Community Learning Coordinator at Catalyst, my role involves working to deepen educational relationships between students, community members, local organizations, and educational institutions with a focus on increasing opportunity and decreasing poverty.   I also recruit and retain volunteers, service -learners and interns for Catalyst and our partnering community nonprofits.  After my term of service with Catalyst, I am considering graduate school and Teach for America.

ReServe in Action: 7 Months in!!

Contributed by Luke Soto

             I recently had the pleasure of visiting one of our partner sites, the Alliance for Aging, out in Doral to speak with Islara Souto and their newly hired ReServist, Woodie Pagan.  You wouldn’t be able to meet anybody as kind and sweet as these two people, yet they have two of the most opposite personalities that you could imagine having together in a room. I hadn’t seen Woodie for at least 4 months, however when I walked into the office, the retired Puerto Rican Judge greeted me with a big hug and a jovial “How are you?” which immediately made me feel as though I had been there last week. Islara followed suit more quietly and proceeded to ask me about my day and how my time as a Public Ally has been. While her words were quiet, her presence demanded just as much attention as Woodie’s, as she carefully chose each word she said to make sure she communicated her thought effectively. Already upon entering the office, the synergy between them was palpable. So when it got to the part where I asked them the questions to find out how their experience with ReServe had been so far, I could have sworn I saw fireworks in their eyes. The two of them began chattering enthusiastically about the projects they each were working on and the workshops and trainings they had coordinated all throughout the community, each one praising the other for the successes they were able to achieve in the few months that Woodie had been there.

Litany for Survival

Contributed by Jessica Burden

And when we speak we are afraid

our words will not be heard

nor welcomed

but when we are silent

we are still afraid

So it is better to speak

remembering

we were never meant to survive

Poet Audre Lorde reminds us in “Litany for Survival”, that healing and justice can only have their way when we as citizens speak up for what is right.  By the end of this blog, I hope you decide to use your voice and speak out in the interest of our future.

About three weeks ago, seventeen year old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed while walking back to his dad's home.  Trayvon had just purchased a pack of skittles and an iced tea from a local establishment and was accosted by George Zimmerman, self-appointed neighborhood watch captain.  Just minutes before, Zimmerman phoned the Sanford, Fl police department identifying Trayvon as “suspicious.”  It was raining; Trayvon was wearing a hooded jacket, and was apparently walking too slowly for Zimmerman.  The police informed Zimmerman to stay away from Trayvon, but Zimmerman did not take heed to police order and decided to follow, confront and ultimately shoot Trayvon in the chest, killing him.

New Voter Registration Laws Disenfranchise Youth Voters and People of Color

Contributed by Amber Walker
As the country prepares for the upcoming 2012 Presidential elections, some states are actively working to implement new laws regarding third party voter registration, early voting, and Election Day procedures at the polls. In 2011, fourteen states passed restrictive voting laws that will disproportionately impact young people, people of color, and the elderly in the 2012 elections. Several of the states that passed these restrictive laws saw a substantial increase in the amount of people representing these demographics turn out to vote in the 2008 elections.

Florida has faced a significant amount of criticism regarding the changes to the state’s voting laws. Specifically, voter registration laws enacted in Florida in 2012 have negatively impacted third party organizations. Since the laws passed, third party organizations who seek to register voters in Florida must be approved by the Florida Division of Elections and assigned an identification number before registration efforts can take place. Also, the time frame for submitting completed voter registration forms has significantly decreased from ten days to 48 hours.

Reserve featured in the Miami Herald!

As seen in the Miami Herald  

When older professionals aren’t ready to hang it up

By Ana Veciana-Suarez
aveciana@MiamiHerald.com

C.W. Griffin / Miami Herald Staff

ReServe Miami is a new program that pairs retired executives with non profits that need their skills. John Duey is helping Ana Ros, the college adviser at Jackson High School in Miami.

When Clarita Perez de Alejo retired four years ago from the corporate world, she traveled extensively and spent time with her grandchildren. Then…“I kept thinking, what else can I do?” she says. “I felt I had a lot to contribute. I still wanted to help out.”
Last month Perez de Alejo, 66, found a place where she can use a lifetime’s worth of skills in the beauty industry. Through a new organization, ReServe Miami, which pairs older executives and professionals with non-profits, government agencies and public institutions, she began working at Braddock High School in West Kendall, helping college adviser Maria Mendoza with the task of preparing more than 750 seniors for the college application season.
Her duties are varied — from answering students’ questions to organizing the college fair — and she loves it. “I already feel like I belong here,” she says.