The VISTA Cohort has had a very full first month of service! In addition to getting oriented with their host sites, VISTAs also spent time training intensively with HOME Line and partners. Topics covered include MN Tenant Rights, building resilience and communal care, grassroots organizing principles & history, how to research your landlord and how to use Google Maps to make a community Asset Map, establishing relationships & base-building, tenant organizing strategies, and disruptive dialogue in oppressive systems. In total, our 6 VISTAs spent 138 collective hours learning skills they will use this year and beyond, and 870 collective hours supporting their host sites.
September Highlights
- Austin: My highlight for the month of September was attending the 2023 Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Conference in Duluth. It was a really great opportunity to get acquainted with other organizations and individuals working in the housing field, as well as those with the lived experience of homelessness and housing insecurity. I’m really thankful to have had the chance to connect with others and to be reminded of the importance of working to make housing safe and affordable for everyone.
- Colton: In September as part of one of our trainings we compared beavers to organizers. We learned that beavers work together to build their dams, much like how organizers work together to help build movements. Then beavers became a reoccurring theme the rest of the day. During breaks we would watch parts of a beaver documentary, we received little beavers to go on our desks, and at the very end of the day of training I sang a beaver song that I learned from summer camp as our closing activity.
- Ramia: The VISTA program and the resources it provides to its members are the first things that come to mind when I think of how I may get the practical experience I need to make a positive impact in my local community and beyond. An outstanding attribute of my month-long service experience as a VISTA member is the passionate involvement and commitment demonstrated by the leaders, mentors, and trainers across multiple sessions, meetings, and mentoring activities, which served to be impactful, motivating, and empowering. Through these discussions, I gained a profound understanding of the mentors’ perception of their role and the significant influence it exerted on the community they catered to. I aspire to gain wisdom within my current role, with the goal of not only transforming my professional progress as a leader who is culturally competent, but also enabling me to actively contribute to the growth of the community to which I am affiliated.
- Isa: My highlight for September was attending the Anti-Racism Coalition meeting. The way my body reacted… it gave me a hard yes, letting me know I’m in the right place.
- Lucid: My highlight was everyone getting cupcakes during the training on my birthday
- Hannah: My September highlight was visiting housing court and getting into doorknocking!
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