Festival Latinoamericano

Currently I am on the planning committee for this year's Festival Latinoamericano. Festival Latinoamericano is held every Labor Day weekend on the Provo Courthouse lawn and draws thousands of people, especially local Hispanic families. This event celebrates the local Hispanic community as families come together to eat good Latin food, watch dance performances, learn more about Hispanic cultures, and so forth. My responsibility in the planning committee is to ensure that community resources are showcased through the event. This year we are planning on having a community tent that will highlight different community resources through informative displays and family-friendly activities. We're also hoping to help community agencies put together short DVD clips with information about their services.

Summer at the Boulders!

Hi everyone! My name is Daniel Jensen and I'm a new VISTA working with Angelica in the Boulders. I just graduated from BYU in International Relations and am excited to get working here at United Way! We're really excited about this summer and anticipate several great activities! We are going to have a BBQ for the residents in June and in July we are going to host a three week long summer camp for the children! Several other activities and programs are on their way!

Summer of Service

School is out and it's time for youth to start serving!

I have been working with United Way to create a program to encourage youth to volunteer in the summer months. Youth will be invited to participate in group service projects and given a list of volunteer opportunity ideas at local agencies. They are also encouraged to find their own projects tutoring a child, organizing a food drive, helping an elderly neighbor, or organizing a project of their own.

Everyone who completes at least 10 hours of service by August 11th and writes a reflection about one of their projects will be invited to a celebration event!

If you know anyone who might be interested in participating, have them call United Way at 374-2588.

Global Youth Service Day

As an AmeriCorps VISTA working at United Way of Utah County, I have been working to encourage service among youth. I worked with youth from 8 Utah County high schools to hold service projects for Global Youth Service Day.

Global Youth Service Day is a global event organized by Youth Service America, Global Youth Action Network, and numerous international organizations and coordinating committees. It is the largest annual celebration of young volunteers with millions of youth in countries everywhere carrying out thousands of community improvement projects.

Starting in November, I met with student leaders to plan service projects for this day. Orem, Mountain View, Timpanogos, Lehi, Pleasant Grove, Lone Peak, Springville and American Fork high schools teamed up to provide service projects. The schools repaired and cleaned parks, wrote letters to soldiers, cleaned the G on the mountain in Pleasant Grove, made toys for children in need, colored alphabet books, helped with maintenance at a city cemetery and more.

The whole purpose of the event was to help youth start a life-long habit of service. I think that if youth start getting involved with service and volunteer work when they’re young, it is more likely to continue with them for the rest of their lives.

To close the festivities, Community Action Services and Food Bank hosted a dance sponsored by United Way of Utah County to recognize the students who organized the projects. The entrance fee to the dance was a donated hygiene item. SubZero Ice Cream of Provo provided entertainment and free ice cream for the event. At the dance youth participated in food-stacking competitions, “Guess the Crate Weight” and a dance off. It was a success.

Just a little about my AmeriCorps position...

My name is Jana and I'm an AmeriCorps VISTA who is working on Community Education Coordination and Outreach in Utah County. It's a bit difficult to explain all that I do in a blog entry, but basically the goal of my project is to help the low-income and Spanish-speaking populations of Utah County find the educational resources available in the community that will help them succeed. One of the great things about my position is that I've had the opportunity to meet amazing people from throughout the community: members of the Festival Latinoamericano Planning Committee such as Joan Dixon and Norma Juarez, members of the Provo City Gang Project Steering Committee such as Noela Karza and Rina Giron, Yvonne Keetch from the Provo City Library, Teresa Tavares from Centro Hispano, outstanding faculty and staff from UVU and BYU, and so on. I love meeting and interacting with so many individuals who are passionate about improving the lives of all members of the local community -- including immigrants, people with disabilities, troubled youth, victims of domestic violence, etc.

Sight Words

Another student passed her sight words test today!!!!

End of service thoughts

My first day on the job I met Mary Ann Cisneros, my future partner for the next three months. She took me to the Boulders and showed me around the place and introduced me to the manager Chris. Then she took me to her friend’s apartment. The next day I wrote this in my project journal-

“Yesterday we stopped by a friend Mary Ann had made in the Boulders. This woman is a fiery 68 year old with trendy clothes. We chatted for about a half an hour when she started talking about how much Mary has helped her. She exclaimed about how Mary’s selfless personality and her commitment to service had inspired her. Because of Mary’s example she had become involved in the recent activities and they had “lit a spark” in her and “changed her life.” I’ve never heard anyone be so sincere in such a casual manner about the effect one person had on them. If anything has ever been a ringing endorsement, this woman’s speech yesterday would be it.”

I thought I was going to roar into this project, turn the community upside down, and everything would gradually turn better from the inside out, neatly in the space of one year.

I was very wrong.

But I keep on returning to the sentiment in this entry. At the end of Mary’s service, the neighborhood still didn’t have a community center, the management still didn’t seem too interested in helping, and police calls hadn’t significantly dropped (things she worked very hard on). However, there was one lady who felt that Mary’s presence had helped her. Mary had passed on love of service and community to this lady who had previously felt empty. She sincerely helped her.

Now that I am at the completion of my service, this is what I hope that I have accomplished as well. I too am facing no community center, no management involvement, and no big tangible signs of change. But maybe I have left a few people better.

However, it’s probably safe to say that however much I may have changed people, surely I have changed the most. I have learned so much in this job about myself and others.

The South Franklin Neighborhood project has had its ups and downs, but fundamentally it is a project I still firmly believe in. I think the people who make up the Boulders and surrounding area can be strong and amazing people, but simply may have more needs. Yet I think that these needs can be supplied within the community. But first, there needs to be some assisted growth and a safe arena. We have long envisioned an arena in the form of a community center. This idea has at times seemed a pipe dream and other times seemed tantalizingly close. As it stands now, I feel somewhat disillusioned by the slow processes of the city and management/owners but still feel confident that in the capable hands of Angelica and my successor this will someday be a reality. I think having a manned community center where residents can come for support and service opportunities will be immeasurably beneficial for this area. It will help promote unity, appropriate utilization of resources, and greater personal development for the residents. This center will also be combined with the present growth opportunities provided by Americorps members. Activities like Wasatch Mental Health group discussions, mentoring Spring Creek kids, and the decluttering project are already in place and really are pretty neat.

I feel grateful to have served as an Americorps member and be a part of a nationwide movement that works to eradicate poverty. I am honored to have served with the amazing people I’ve worked with; brainstorming and laughing together. And I have loved getting to know the people of this neighborhood. I believe that things can get better for them, and that with a little work, someday they will.

Spring Creek Elementary

We are working on a couple of projects in order to help the South Franklin Neighborhood become unified and self-reliant. It is challenging but FUN at the same time.

Our most successful project has been collaborating with Spring Creek Elementary and I have to say since I started working with the kids I learned I love working and helping them excel at an early age.

As part of the curriculum each student needs to read 100 words a minute! At the beginning of this year, they couldn't read all the words, let alone in one minute. Thanks to all the volunteer hours we are making a difference and giving them the practice they need to succeed.

I am happy to say we are passing off 3 students a week. It is a really exciting time for everyone involve. You can make a difference one student at a time.


If you would like to help with this project email ahernandez@unitedwayuc.org.

Introduction to our local project

Hi! I'm Kristen and I've been supervising the AmeriCorps VISTA project with United Way of Utah County for about 3 years. We've had a lot of different projects and had a lot of exciting things happen. We've worked in the South Franklin Neighborhood in Provo to get neighbors to know and trust each other better through community events, a summer day camp, a community garden, "Good Neighbor" award and more. We've increased financial self-sufficiency through Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, Utah Saves events, and mentoring Spanish-speakers to start their own businesses. We've piloted educational programs at UVSC, created curriculum for community volunteers to learn about assistance systems and problem solving techniques. We've collaborated with Mundo Hispano to advertise volunteer opportunities for Spanish-speakers and highlight those within the Hispanic community who have given back. We helped run Festival Latinoamericano, a huge celebration of culture and community in Provo, Utah. We've encouraged volunteerism through events such as National Family Volunteer Day, Global Youth Service Day and Summer of Service.
We've got things done here in Utah County. Check back for reports on our projects weekly!