and I'm still going strong as a VISTA. A couple days ago the realization hit me in the face like that time I threw a piece of white bread at a friend during a party. I've been collecting a living stipend, paying for food with an EBT card, and limiting fun outings that cost money to no more than 2 a month for over half a year. To me, this means that I'm almost done - which is fantastic until I realized that it means I'm almost done.
It was about this time last year when, as a graduating senior at UNH, my friends and I all freaked out about our future. Letters from grad schools were opened with cautious care like that of a bomb squad and internet job searching took the place of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Well, it may be time for me to do that again. My few applications to rejoin academia resulted in denials so becoming a full time student clearly isn't an option once I get to late August. My living arrangements have changed and I have been living with a friend of mine in Concord since late January. I have a small commute to work, but I also have a more fuel efficient car and I pay Grant less than my dad so it is working out well. However, our agreement is only until August, at which point I need to make more money than I am currently. Of course, this isn't hard since any job you take after being in AmeriCorps translates into an automatic raise in your eyes. So now I am attempting to plant the seeds of a paying position in one of the organizations for which I work or with which I work. The good thing about being a VISTA is that over the course of a year I have engaged many businesses and non-profit organizations. Sure, I can't apply for a position with them all but I can probably get some key references depending on what I do apply for.
On Friday I will be attending a training day held at UNH-Manchester by VolunteerNH.org entitled "Life After AmeriCorps Day". I'm not really sure what I will get out of it but I signed up for job searching, grant writing, and the resume workshop creatively titled "how to capture your year of service on paper".
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Meetings, meetings, all the time and not a... drop to drink?
Meetings, meetings, all the time and not enough time to think. Right now I'm on several committees. In fact, a good number of committees - some on which I just sit and give my input on occasion and some on which I must have a much more active role. Today at 3:30 the Advisory Committee for the program is scheduled to meet. I have serious doubts about the number of members who will be attending since the committee has utterly no power, means very little, and, it seems to me, was more useless in its current instantiation at the inception of the program. Basically, the only people on it are the principals of the schools in which the program resides. The meeting is at 3:30 in the afternoon so they seldom come. Sometimes a school board member would show up (I've been told), and a couple parents are in attendance per their availability, but I'm not really a big fan of this committee.
Generally, a nonprofit has a board of directors who either work directly in the program or have other jobs and bring their expertise to the table, from various fields, in order to better serve the program given that it is, believed to be, benefiting the community in some way. Such a board has powers over certain things, defined in some charter or something, and they meet regularly to vote on things and make sure the program is running as it should. In the case of the Manchester School District's 21st CCLC... there's basically none of that. The group only meets 4 times a year and I have to make name tags for some reason that people don't want to wear (that's my perception) and that you can't even see anyways once people sit down at the board room table. However, I do think there is some hope for this group if it can be revitalized and new members are taken on and the group actually has some sort of tangible purpose.
The other 21st CCLC committees that I'm on are basically ones for which I recruited all the members. There's the Results committee (which has met 3 times I believe now), the Finance committee (which has met once), the Community Engagement committee (first meeting on Valentine's Day), and the Operations and Management Committee (first meeting scheduled for early March). Generally, the "hey, let's create a legitimate sustainability plan for this program that reflects the conditions and causes inherent in the community that we are looking to address in thoughtful and intentional ways" process would happen with the nonprofit's board. But, since Manchester is out of control crazy and nobody really has time to do much, it was decided, by the Advisory Committee I believe, that there would be separate committees to tackle the varied parts of the path to a plan.
Aside from these I enter into the community and sit on the Weed&Seed Steering Committee, weed and seed is a department of justice, block grant that allows for the increased availability of resources for residents in low-income, high-crime areas (service providers and police). There's also the Violence Prevention Committee which, I believe, has just turned its focus over to bullying as a specific issue to approach. The Makin' It Happen Coalition runs the Dropout Prevention Workgroup that attempts to address issues related to the high dropout rate in Manchester. Apparently the most telling factor of whether or not a student will dropout of high school is whether or not the student passes freshman year. Any student forced to repeat 9th grade has a significantly higher chance of not achieving a high school diploma. I've been to the school district's Multicultural/Diversity Committee once, but I don't think the assistant principal who runs it really liked me being there seeing how he never responded to any of my emails, seemed to fear, with a possibility for a good reason, that I would be reporting confidential information to the greater community, and I've never been placed on the email list for the group.
As a VISTA, I feel, there are some battles you just can't win and it might not serve your greater purpose to really stir the pot as much as would be needed. However, credibility has come at a price for me and there are still several people with whom I interact that I feel do not respect me and perhaps, most humiliatingly, attempt to appease me out of pity or something.
Generally, a nonprofit has a board of directors who either work directly in the program or have other jobs and bring their expertise to the table, from various fields, in order to better serve the program given that it is, believed to be, benefiting the community in some way. Such a board has powers over certain things, defined in some charter or something, and they meet regularly to vote on things and make sure the program is running as it should. In the case of the Manchester School District's 21st CCLC... there's basically none of that. The group only meets 4 times a year and I have to make name tags for some reason that people don't want to wear (that's my perception) and that you can't even see anyways once people sit down at the board room table. However, I do think there is some hope for this group if it can be revitalized and new members are taken on and the group actually has some sort of tangible purpose.
The other 21st CCLC committees that I'm on are basically ones for which I recruited all the members. There's the Results committee (which has met 3 times I believe now), the Finance committee (which has met once), the Community Engagement committee (first meeting on Valentine's Day), and the Operations and Management Committee (first meeting scheduled for early March). Generally, the "hey, let's create a legitimate sustainability plan for this program that reflects the conditions and causes inherent in the community that we are looking to address in thoughtful and intentional ways" process would happen with the nonprofit's board. But, since Manchester is out of control crazy and nobody really has time to do much, it was decided, by the Advisory Committee I believe, that there would be separate committees to tackle the varied parts of the path to a plan.
Aside from these I enter into the community and sit on the Weed&Seed Steering Committee, weed and seed is a department of justice, block grant that allows for the increased availability of resources for residents in low-income, high-crime areas (service providers and police). There's also the Violence Prevention Committee which, I believe, has just turned its focus over to bullying as a specific issue to approach. The Makin' It Happen Coalition runs the Dropout Prevention Workgroup that attempts to address issues related to the high dropout rate in Manchester. Apparently the most telling factor of whether or not a student will dropout of high school is whether or not the student passes freshman year. Any student forced to repeat 9th grade has a significantly higher chance of not achieving a high school diploma. I've been to the school district's Multicultural/Diversity Committee once, but I don't think the assistant principal who runs it really liked me being there seeing how he never responded to any of my emails, seemed to fear, with a possibility for a good reason, that I would be reporting confidential information to the greater community, and I've never been placed on the email list for the group.
As a VISTA, I feel, there are some battles you just can't win and it might not serve your greater purpose to really stir the pot as much as would be needed. However, credibility has come at a price for me and there are still several people with whom I interact that I feel do not respect me and perhaps, most humiliatingly, attempt to appease me out of pity or something.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Personal obstacles...
I've only had to deal with two personal problems during my stint as a VISTA so far. These two issues were quite large, however, and make me realize how quickly being a VISTA can be entirely unsustainable (hmmm... that strikes me as funny) once certain events take place. Also, they occurred within very close proximity to one another and happened in the 2 weeks prior to Christmas.
The first event to transpire was a death in the family. My grandfather died. I was very close to my grandfather when he was alive so this was a pretty traumatic event. I had never really even had a family member die that I knew. He lived in North Carolina and since I live in New Hampshire travel plans that needed to be made were a bit costly. He died on a Friday so I was unable to contact my site director or the VISTA director at PlusTime, the sponsoring organization, directly. I managed to email them that I would be flying out on Sunday and returning the following Friday. Luckily, I knew that in the event of a death in the family, AmeriCorps allows VISTA members (and possibly volunteers and others) up to one week of Bereavement. Now, I don't know if "one week" is 7 work days or merely a 5 day work week, so I assumed the smaller of the two and kept my plans appropriate to that.
That whole situation affected me, as a VISTA, in much more than an emotional capacity. I now had much less money because of the plane tickets, with which my dad helped, I was, in all likelihood, way behind with respect to the tasks I was completing and who knows what could have happened just in the program itself in the time I was gone. As it turned out, I was lucky and the world hadn't fallen apart in my absence - though nothing I was doing was moved forward at all. No biggie, sometimes a VISTA doesn't always have a ton of busy time so getting behind a little can, when appropriate, help keep you busy.
The second thing that happened to me was that I was in a car accident. My poor 98 Dodge Neon crumpled all to hell and I was viciously assaulted by the driver side air bag - which then made me think my car was on fire because of all the particles it released in the air that I took to be smoke. Basically, when I left my home in the morning there were 4 stop signs at an intersection and when I came home in the evening there were only 2. There were also no signs to state anything had changed and motorists were still acting as if all 4 signs existed. Of course, lucky me, I still had a stop sign and when it was my turn to go, assuming it was still a 4-way stop, I went and was hit by a driver, my age, from out of town. Legally, I was at fault though the city, as I was told by the police officer, had no record of the intersection being changed. I have yet to hear anything from my insurance company.
Regardless... I was left without a vehicle in a town with less than stellar public transportation (and only in the form of buses). Luckily (or perhaps more unluckily), the collision happened the Wednesday before Christmas Break - a week that I didn't have to work. Of course, nobody else really works either so it wasn't really a blessing. I was unharmed in the accident though my travel plans all had to be scrapped. I was in no shape, financially, to purchase a car and really wasn't sure how I was going to deal with the whole situation. I did, however, have a week to think about it and I even had my laptop so I could work from home as well. Furthermore, since it was the holiday break, my friends who were still in college, either undergrad or grad, were all home so I could get around with the help of my friends. One of my friends could even bring me to work each morning since he lived about a mile away from me and works in the building next to me. In the afternoon I got my ex-girlfriend to pick me up and my friends all knew that they'd have to pick me up if we wanted to do anything at night.
Of course, I needed to get a car before some of these friends returned to school so I turned to my dad. I really could have dealt with the latter half of December, 2007, had I not been living with him. I think that I have been fortunate to be a VISTA in an understanding site and have family and friends that also support me - though sometimes I do get the "well... you should probably stop this whole VISTA thing and get a real job" at which point I kind of get upset due to all the good work I am doing. Just because I don't get paid or have a "career" doesn't mean that what I do doesn't have more worth than another person. Plus, I'm a firm believer that the word "career" was created by business majors, investment bankers, finance people, and doctors - since you are pretty limited, though not always, in what you can do with those and you've already used up a lot of your life just to get there.
In the end, I managed to get a 2000 Saturn SL2 with a mileage under 90k that runs well and gets higher gas mileage than my Neon for $3,000. Of course, I didn't have 3 grand, to be eligible for foodstamps you need to have less than $2,000 combined (checking/savings), so I gave what I could and my family scrapped together the rest for me. I suppose I need to make it clear that I am not in a position where my family can merely buy me out of jams, though I will admit that were they not there and willing to help me, I may not have been able to continue my year of service. Many AmeriCorps members drop out and after going through the month of December, 2007, I think I came face to face with the final set of issues that can cause that.
The first event to transpire was a death in the family. My grandfather died. I was very close to my grandfather when he was alive so this was a pretty traumatic event. I had never really even had a family member die that I knew. He lived in North Carolina and since I live in New Hampshire travel plans that needed to be made were a bit costly. He died on a Friday so I was unable to contact my site director or the VISTA director at PlusTime, the sponsoring organization, directly. I managed to email them that I would be flying out on Sunday and returning the following Friday. Luckily, I knew that in the event of a death in the family, AmeriCorps allows VISTA members (and possibly volunteers and others) up to one week of Bereavement. Now, I don't know if "one week" is 7 work days or merely a 5 day work week, so I assumed the smaller of the two and kept my plans appropriate to that.
That whole situation affected me, as a VISTA, in much more than an emotional capacity. I now had much less money because of the plane tickets, with which my dad helped, I was, in all likelihood, way behind with respect to the tasks I was completing and who knows what could have happened just in the program itself in the time I was gone. As it turned out, I was lucky and the world hadn't fallen apart in my absence - though nothing I was doing was moved forward at all. No biggie, sometimes a VISTA doesn't always have a ton of busy time so getting behind a little can, when appropriate, help keep you busy.
The second thing that happened to me was that I was in a car accident. My poor 98 Dodge Neon crumpled all to hell and I was viciously assaulted by the driver side air bag - which then made me think my car was on fire because of all the particles it released in the air that I took to be smoke. Basically, when I left my home in the morning there were 4 stop signs at an intersection and when I came home in the evening there were only 2. There were also no signs to state anything had changed and motorists were still acting as if all 4 signs existed. Of course, lucky me, I still had a stop sign and when it was my turn to go, assuming it was still a 4-way stop, I went and was hit by a driver, my age, from out of town. Legally, I was at fault though the city, as I was told by the police officer, had no record of the intersection being changed. I have yet to hear anything from my insurance company.
Regardless... I was left without a vehicle in a town with less than stellar public transportation (and only in the form of buses). Luckily (or perhaps more unluckily), the collision happened the Wednesday before Christmas Break - a week that I didn't have to work. Of course, nobody else really works either so it wasn't really a blessing. I was unharmed in the accident though my travel plans all had to be scrapped. I was in no shape, financially, to purchase a car and really wasn't sure how I was going to deal with the whole situation. I did, however, have a week to think about it and I even had my laptop so I could work from home as well. Furthermore, since it was the holiday break, my friends who were still in college, either undergrad or grad, were all home so I could get around with the help of my friends. One of my friends could even bring me to work each morning since he lived about a mile away from me and works in the building next to me. In the afternoon I got my ex-girlfriend to pick me up and my friends all knew that they'd have to pick me up if we wanted to do anything at night.
Of course, I needed to get a car before some of these friends returned to school so I turned to my dad. I really could have dealt with the latter half of December, 2007, had I not been living with him. I think that I have been fortunate to be a VISTA in an understanding site and have family and friends that also support me - though sometimes I do get the "well... you should probably stop this whole VISTA thing and get a real job" at which point I kind of get upset due to all the good work I am doing. Just because I don't get paid or have a "career" doesn't mean that what I do doesn't have more worth than another person. Plus, I'm a firm believer that the word "career" was created by business majors, investment bankers, finance people, and doctors - since you are pretty limited, though not always, in what you can do with those and you've already used up a lot of your life just to get there.
In the end, I managed to get a 2000 Saturn SL2 with a mileage under 90k that runs well and gets higher gas mileage than my Neon for $3,000. Of course, I didn't have 3 grand, to be eligible for foodstamps you need to have less than $2,000 combined (checking/savings), so I gave what I could and my family scrapped together the rest for me. I suppose I need to make it clear that I am not in a position where my family can merely buy me out of jams, though I will admit that were they not there and willing to help me, I may not have been able to continue my year of service. Many AmeriCorps members drop out and after going through the month of December, 2007, I think I came face to face with the final set of issues that can cause that.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Events...
What's a program without cool events? Well, not a very cool program - at least to the outside community. The Manchester 21st CCLC is quite aware of this fact and has created some cool events to highlight itself and its students in the community.
The first event of the school year (that I can remember) was Lights On! Afterschool Programs, which is a nationwide celebration of afterschool programs in the United States. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the national chair and the Afterschool Alliance is the biggest proponent of it, being the nation's largest afterschool advocate. The idea is to have afterschool programs across the country hold special events/fundraisers/something related to their program on or around a specific day. Even the Empire State Building was lit up in observance of it this year. The Manchester 21st CCLC worked together with PlusTime NH, some outside providers, the Boys and Girls Club, Nellie Mae, and the NH Department of Education (I believe). PlusTime and the program orchestrated a really cool sampling of arts and crafts events with demonstrations, karaoke, LEGO sets, and Dance Dance Revolution stations as well as some nutritious food for the kids. Since the afterschool program is in 11 schools in Manchester, we actually had to hold this event twice. So for two consecutive Mondays I moved cafeteria tables, set up banners, set up an 8 foot inflatable light bulb, watched kids, handled some logistical situations, coordinated demonstration times, and then helped break everything down. There were members of the PlusTime board of directors, the Mayor (and the proclamation he brought), the Governor's proclamation was also on hand, DoE people were there, and of course hundreds of kids and some of their parents. It was quite good.
The second event I had to deal with was the Harlem Rockets. They are basically a comedy basketball team that shows up, wheels and deals and all around pwns the team you assemble to face them while delivering positive messages to kids infused with humor. It's fantastic for kids, middle school down to elementary, and can potentially be a great fundraiser if you can get a lot of people to show up and buy tickets. There's a 7 foot tall guy, some acrobatic dunks, and kids get to take home tons of autographed stuff while watching, in my case, their teachers and principles get trounced in a game of b-ball. The Harlem Rockets event happened on October 30th. The following night I went down to Boston to see a show at downstairs at the middle east. it was a fantastic time but then Boston closed all of the routes to 93 north for some reason so I had to drive around into Cambridge until I found the way out so I didn't get home until 3 am. but man was that fun.
When the holiday season was approaching I took the initiative and got the program involved with the Manchester Christmas Parade... err, now called the Christmas on Elm St. Parade - because the city no longer runs it, rather Intown Manchester, a nonprofit charged with keeping the central downtown area of Manchester vibrant, runs it. I filled out some forms, had some meetings with the site coordinators and BAM! we were in a parade. Of course, it wasn't exactly that easy. You have to be all decorated and we didn't have the time (read: desire/want) to do a float so we told kids to make themselves look like presents. Kids showed up all bundled up with their parents and we shoved some wrapped boxes around them and walked along the road giving out candy canes and waving to people beside my site director's car - a mini cooper, for which she made a gigantic bow and attached it to the top. Kids loved it, so did parents, and it was a real good way to reinvigorate some of the people that don't often get to see the children they serve. The only bad thing about the parade was that it was originally postponed. This meant that my site director and I had to show up to the school district and call every person who had expressed interest and get a general idea if people wanted to go through with it. Turns out they did - so we made it happen. I mean, I had just purchased burton mittens and a winter hat for cheap at snowboard jones and I had organized the whole event so there was no way I was not walking in that parade.
The showcase even is coming up soon...
The first event of the school year (that I can remember) was Lights On! Afterschool Programs, which is a nationwide celebration of afterschool programs in the United States. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the national chair and the Afterschool Alliance is the biggest proponent of it, being the nation's largest afterschool advocate. The idea is to have afterschool programs across the country hold special events/fundraisers/something related to their program on or around a specific day. Even the Empire State Building was lit up in observance of it this year. The Manchester 21st CCLC worked together with PlusTime NH, some outside providers, the Boys and Girls Club, Nellie Mae, and the NH Department of Education (I believe). PlusTime and the program orchestrated a really cool sampling of arts and crafts events with demonstrations, karaoke, LEGO sets, and Dance Dance Revolution stations as well as some nutritious food for the kids. Since the afterschool program is in 11 schools in Manchester, we actually had to hold this event twice. So for two consecutive Mondays I moved cafeteria tables, set up banners, set up an 8 foot inflatable light bulb, watched kids, handled some logistical situations, coordinated demonstration times, and then helped break everything down. There were members of the PlusTime board of directors, the Mayor (and the proclamation he brought), the Governor's proclamation was also on hand, DoE people were there, and of course hundreds of kids and some of their parents. It was quite good.
The second event I had to deal with was the Harlem Rockets. They are basically a comedy basketball team that shows up, wheels and deals and all around pwns the team you assemble to face them while delivering positive messages to kids infused with humor. It's fantastic for kids, middle school down to elementary, and can potentially be a great fundraiser if you can get a lot of people to show up and buy tickets. There's a 7 foot tall guy, some acrobatic dunks, and kids get to take home tons of autographed stuff while watching, in my case, their teachers and principles get trounced in a game of b-ball. The Harlem Rockets event happened on October 30th. The following night I went down to Boston to see a show at downstairs at the middle east. it was a fantastic time but then Boston closed all of the routes to 93 north for some reason so I had to drive around into Cambridge until I found the way out so I didn't get home until 3 am. but man was that fun.
When the holiday season was approaching I took the initiative and got the program involved with the Manchester Christmas Parade... err, now called the Christmas on Elm St. Parade - because the city no longer runs it, rather Intown Manchester, a nonprofit charged with keeping the central downtown area of Manchester vibrant, runs it. I filled out some forms, had some meetings with the site coordinators and BAM! we were in a parade. Of course, it wasn't exactly that easy. You have to be all decorated and we didn't have the time (read: desire/want) to do a float so we told kids to make themselves look like presents. Kids showed up all bundled up with their parents and we shoved some wrapped boxes around them and walked along the road giving out candy canes and waving to people beside my site director's car - a mini cooper, for which she made a gigantic bow and attached it to the top. Kids loved it, so did parents, and it was a real good way to reinvigorate some of the people that don't often get to see the children they serve. The only bad thing about the parade was that it was originally postponed. This meant that my site director and I had to show up to the school district and call every person who had expressed interest and get a general idea if people wanted to go through with it. Turns out they did - so we made it happen. I mean, I had just purchased burton mittens and a winter hat for cheap at snowboard jones and I had organized the whole event so there was no way I was not walking in that parade.
The showcase even is coming up soon...
Monday, January 7, 2008
Living on the living stipend...
Everything I do is classified as volunteering. Because of this I do not receive a working wage. However, the CNCS, and the US government, realizes that they can't expect a person to volunteer for a year while being unable to hold any other position without garnering some sort of income. Enter the living stipend.
The VISTA handbook states that CNCS determines the living allowance rate, which varies according to the local cost of living. Furthermore, it says that the rate is based on the poverty level for a single individual in the area. Originally, I always thought that I was to receive 105-110% of the poverty line for my area. That seems to be in accordance with the latter statement, though not so clearly with the former. The cost of living is related to the poverty line but, recently, after doing some reading at the US Health and Human Services site, it doesn't make total sense to me. HHS says that CNCS only uses the poverty line for "foster grandparent" and "senior companion" programs. What? Where the hell is the rest of VISTA? Furthermore, America uses an absolute measure of poverty for the whole nation and not just sections of the country (it's because of this that the average person under the poverty line can own his/her home which has 3 bedrooms and 1 and a half bath). So even if CNCS uses it, a number, which is updated each year, based on a study in the 60s that states households spend 1/3 of the household income on food, it wouldn't appear to be relative to my local cost of living.
However, maybe that is just the case and I am hoping ever so much that is, otherwise it doesn't really make any sense. If CNCS doesn't use the national poverty line for VISTA, only for what I assume is SeniorCorps, but does use the local number derived utilizing the local cost of living then this situation disappears. So I'm hoping for that.
Anyways, I receive $412.83 biweekly deposited directly into my checking account. Direct deposit is apparently an absolute must in AmeriCorps, which I actually love since direct deposit keeps that loose cash out of my pocket and I don't have to do anything for it to end up in my account. Since there are generally 4 weeks in each month that means I make $825.66 a month. Oof! Time to start rattling off those expenses. I pay $400 a month for my rent and $100 for utilities. I rent the upstairs of the house in which my dad lives. Technically, I am living at home. But I pay my way. Now I've only got 325.66 left. Doesn't seem like a lot given how I have to pay my car insurance which was $72, but I was recently in an accident and that's for another post, and now may be around $108 since I will have more than just liability on it. $217.66 is all I'm making a month now but there are still more expenses. My cell phone bill, which is actually quite recent since I had been on my family's plan for the past two years, will be a little under $50 (because I get a discount with Verizon for working at a school district). So now what am I left with, just over $167.66 and I can still think of some other expenses. Gas is a pretty big deal these days and could easily sink my ship if PlusTime NH didn't kick so much ass and give me $75 in gas cards each month - which is clearly awesome. So I don't have to spend any money there.
What about food? Food must totally be kicking me into the red zone, monetarily speaking. Nope. As a VISTA with less than 2,000 in the bank (combined checking and savings) I am more than eligible for government foodstamps. And to apply for them, in NH, at least, is incredibly easy. step 1 - find your local Department of Health and Human Services
step 2 - go there and fill out the generic form to apply for benefits and give it to a DHHS worker
step 3 - go to your interview with bank statements, a couple paycheck stubs/VISTA letter/Sponsor letter detailing pay rate, forms stating residency and how much you pay for rent, and a form of identification
step 4 - get foodstamps - which now come in the form of a debit card (EBT).
alternately, I think some states allow you to apply online.
So now I'm left with just over $167.66 for the month. I can pay a little bit on my non-deferred student loans, since not all loans are able to be deferred, to keep those down and I can still go the movies or go have a couple drinks with my friends. However, I clearly don't have the cash for spontaneous trips or ritzy indulgences though I am still capable of having a good time. I just have to weigh what I want to do with how much I have to pay for it and how many other things I won't be able to do because of it. Prime example - yesterday I went snowboarding. Lift ticket cost me like $40 and I had to get a wax/grind for my board since I hadn't used it in at least a year. Bam! There goes $70. But, I hadn't really been outside in the snow and the mountains in a while and the exercise and fresh air was fantastic for me - even though all my muscle groups are oh so sore right now. It's all about budgeting.
The VISTA handbook states that CNCS determines the living allowance rate, which varies according to the local cost of living. Furthermore, it says that the rate is based on the poverty level for a single individual in the area. Originally, I always thought that I was to receive 105-110% of the poverty line for my area. That seems to be in accordance with the latter statement, though not so clearly with the former. The cost of living is related to the poverty line but, recently, after doing some reading at the US Health and Human Services site, it doesn't make total sense to me. HHS says that CNCS only uses the poverty line for "foster grandparent" and "senior companion" programs. What? Where the hell is the rest of VISTA? Furthermore, America uses an absolute measure of poverty for the whole nation and not just sections of the country (it's because of this that the average person under the poverty line can own his/her home which has 3 bedrooms and 1 and a half bath). So even if CNCS uses it, a number, which is updated each year, based on a study in the 60s that states households spend 1/3 of the household income on food, it wouldn't appear to be relative to my local cost of living.
However, maybe that is just the case and I am hoping ever so much that is, otherwise it doesn't really make any sense. If CNCS doesn't use the national poverty line for VISTA, only for what I assume is SeniorCorps, but does use the local number derived utilizing the local cost of living then this situation disappears. So I'm hoping for that.
Anyways, I receive $412.83 biweekly deposited directly into my checking account. Direct deposit is apparently an absolute must in AmeriCorps, which I actually love since direct deposit keeps that loose cash out of my pocket and I don't have to do anything for it to end up in my account. Since there are generally 4 weeks in each month that means I make $825.66 a month. Oof! Time to start rattling off those expenses. I pay $400 a month for my rent and $100 for utilities. I rent the upstairs of the house in which my dad lives. Technically, I am living at home. But I pay my way. Now I've only got 325.66 left. Doesn't seem like a lot given how I have to pay my car insurance which was $72, but I was recently in an accident and that's for another post, and now may be around $108 since I will have more than just liability on it. $217.66 is all I'm making a month now but there are still more expenses. My cell phone bill, which is actually quite recent since I had been on my family's plan for the past two years, will be a little under $50 (because I get a discount with Verizon for working at a school district). So now what am I left with, just over $167.66 and I can still think of some other expenses. Gas is a pretty big deal these days and could easily sink my ship if PlusTime NH didn't kick so much ass and give me $75 in gas cards each month - which is clearly awesome. So I don't have to spend any money there.
What about food? Food must totally be kicking me into the red zone, monetarily speaking. Nope. As a VISTA with less than 2,000 in the bank (combined checking and savings) I am more than eligible for government foodstamps. And to apply for them, in NH, at least, is incredibly easy. step 1 - find your local Department of Health and Human Services
step 2 - go there and fill out the generic form to apply for benefits and give it to a DHHS worker
step 3 - go to your interview with bank statements, a couple paycheck stubs/VISTA letter/Sponsor letter detailing pay rate, forms stating residency and how much you pay for rent, and a form of identification
step 4 - get foodstamps - which now come in the form of a debit card (EBT).
alternately, I think some states allow you to apply online.
So now I'm left with just over $167.66 for the month. I can pay a little bit on my non-deferred student loans, since not all loans are able to be deferred, to keep those down and I can still go the movies or go have a couple drinks with my friends. However, I clearly don't have the cash for spontaneous trips or ritzy indulgences though I am still capable of having a good time. I just have to weigh what I want to do with how much I have to pay for it and how many other things I won't be able to do because of it. Prime example - yesterday I went snowboarding. Lift ticket cost me like $40 and I had to get a wax/grind for my board since I hadn't used it in at least a year. Bam! There goes $70. But, I hadn't really been outside in the snow and the mountains in a while and the exercise and fresh air was fantastic for me - even though all my muscle groups are oh so sore right now. It's all about budgeting.
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