Abstract

Each year, several large and small organizations in metropolitan Portland (Oregon) collaborate to present a day-long conference that helps AmeriCorps members who are transitioning from service answer the question, "What next?". This effective practice, shared by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's Recruitment and Development Initiative (EnCorps) in December 2006, offers conference highlights and tips that other programs may replicate to plan a similar event.

Back to top

Issue

How can small programs in isolated rural locations find the resources for offering trainings on transitioning from service?

Back to top

Action

The following information is from the June 2006 Portland conference and can guide programs who are developing their own "Next Steps" conference for members.

Planning

• Start as early in the year as possible.
• Choose people for the committee who can meet at least four or five times a year.
• Decide on the topics for conference sessions - based on pre-surveys of members and evaluations from the previous conference (if applicable).
• Ask members in the pre-planning survey if they're planning to stay in the area or move away after service. This will guide how "local" the sessions are.
• Divide the work of signing up speakers among committee members.

Recruiting Speakers

Speakers can be

• People from the community, with whom planners already have a working relationship
• Former AmeriCorps members
• Current members who present topics in which they have expertise. (This model comes from Community Youth Services, a smaller AmeriCorps program, with fewer outside resources.)

Since speakers volunteer their time and are not paid, make sure to allow them to share their Web sites and contact information as part of the printed program.

Choosing a Venue

Make sure the space is donated (or inexpensive), centrally located, and easily accessible by mass transit.

Developing Sessions

• Remember that not all members are starting from the same place, so be sure to include information that will be helpful to people at different stages in their lives and careers.
• Offer a wide variety of sessions.
• At the June 2006 conference in Portland, there were fifteen different sessions — each lasting about one hour — for members to choose from. Most sessions were comprised of panels of speakers, but there was one presenter who offered hands-on exercises.
• Provide the opportunity for members to have their resumes reviewed by licensed Human Resource professionals.
• Add a "drop" box at the resume sign-up so people who don't get an appointment for a one-to-one review can still leave their resumes and get written feedback after the conference.
• At the June 2006 conference in Portland, the five most popular sessions, in order of attendance, were International Work and Service, Making Plans for Your Ed Award, Networking and Informational Interviewing, Traveling and Living Abroad on a Budget, and Applying to Graduate School.
• Other sessions at the 2006 conference included: Personal Finance, Board Commission Membership, Education Careers panel (included a presenter from Teach for America), Social Work panel (included an art therapist and mental health professional), Careers in the Private Sector, Translating Your AmeriCorps Experience, Visioning Workshop (with a certified life coach), Getting Started on a Job Search, Environmental Careers panel, Pursuing Your Art panel (included a musician and visual and literary artists).
• An additional session, requested by members at the 2006 conference, could be "Becoming an Entrepreneur."

Networking

• Give members the opportunity to network with each other and socialize before the sessions.
• Organize a cookies and coffee reception by AmeriCorps alums at the end of the conference to provide "closure" and allow for networking. The alums could use this as a recruitment opportunity. Also this could double as a fundraiser if alums want to include a job fair and charge employers/organizations for booths.

Back to top

Context

More than 200 people from across Oregon and Washington attended the June 2006 conference in Portland, where they chose from among 15 different presentations. The planning committee consisted of seven people who met about five times throughout the service year.

Back to top

Citation

EnCorps:
Planning a Life After AmeriCorps Training

Back to top

Outcome

Of those participants who turned in evaluations (about half the people attending), 80 percent rated the whole day as very good or excellent. The "most valuable aspect" overwhelmingly was the information on the education award and the résumé reviews.

 

 

Back to top

Evidence

Feedback from the June 2006 Portland conference included the following from members:

"It was great to meet people from the field in person," remarked one member. Another appreciated "the good, concise handouts" and "getting advice from people with a variety of backgrounds." One evaluation applauded the "non-threatening environment to ask questions."

Anne, an older attendee who is a VISTA, was pleasantly surprised by the conference. "I wasn't expecting to get a whole lot out of it because I've already done plenty of resumes and job searches, but I learned some things in the networking session," she admitted. "I also was inspired by the panel on following your passion in the arts."

Back to top

Posted On

December 13, 2007

Back to top

For More Information

Back to top

Resources

Online tutorial:

What's Next: Life After Your Service Year 

Related Practices

• Finding a job after AmeriCorps service
• Maximizing the value of the AmeriCorps education award
• Preparing an education award training

Back to top

Related sites

Topic Areas

• Civic engagement
• Development
• AmeriCorps
• AmeriCorps VISTA
• Member
• Program management
• EnCorps

Back to top