February Newsletter

Posted on February 24, 2020 in Newsletters by ADuvalZinn

Michigan Education Corps Newsletter

February 2020

Letters

“Letters, letters, and more letters are a part of our everyday as a PreK Reading Corps Interventionist. Often times during sign-in children struggle with confidence in themselves. Making curves and lines can be challenging! One day recently a kiddo came to me with a dry erase board in hand. I could sense the excitement on her little face; something BIG had just happened. To my delight, she surprised me with saying ‘I can write my name all by myself!’ After seeing weeks of struggle with this kiddo, it filled my heart with joy to see her beam with pride!” – Wendy Dyer, Cedar Trails PreK Reading Corps Lead Interventionist

We want to read your Great Story!

Members should submit at least 1 Great Story per month through OnCorps. We may feature your story in upcoming newsletters, social media or our blog! You can find prompts in your program manual appendix to help you get started.

Voting in the Michigan Primary

Save the date for Michigan’s primary on March 10th, 2020!

This is a reminder about our voting leave policy which can be found in your member service agreement: “Members are encouraged to register and vote. Members who are unable to vote before or after service hours are allowed to do so during their service time without incurring any penalty. The site supervisor or internal coach my determine the appropriate length of absence. A member is not able to count time spent voting towards their service hours.

Here are some resources to prepare for the election:

Find your polling place

Internal coaches: Please remember that members must be given time during regular service hours in order to vote in local and national elections if they request that time. Members are not able to count voting time for their service hours, so please ensure that no voting hours are recorded on the member’s time sheet before approving. Please contact program staff with any questions.

Census Reminder: A Note from CNCS

This is a friendly reminder that census activites are not allowable for service hours per CNCS. As it did in 2010, CNCS has determined as a matter of policy not to allow members and volunteers to engage in census activities during service hours. Being a census taker during service hours is categorically prohibited. Census-related activities (e.g. promotion of the census, education about the importance of the census) do not align with NCCC, ASN, VISTA and Senior Corps objectives. What members and volunteers do on their own time is up to them, consistent with program policies about outside employment and activities.

Application to Serve 2020-2021

It is of great benefit to our kids, schools and communities to have interventionists serve for additional terms of service. MEC welcomes all currently serving interventionists to apply to return to service in the 2020-2021 school year. The MEC team will review each member’s application and will take into consideration member performance during the 2019-2020 school year. The application will be available in mid-March and we will schedule returning member applications after the service term has ended.

Interventionists who return to serve for additional service terms are considered Lead Interventionists and enjoy an increase in the living stipend offered to first term members. Further, serving an additional term of service would offer an additional opportunity to earn the Eli Segal AmeriCorps Education Award (you may earn up to 2 full-time education awards in your lifetime).

Check out the MEC Blog for an archive of newsletters, member spotlights and interviews.