#fema corps

[macgyvermedical]

Interested in applying to NCCC and want a specific program/campus? Here’s a resource to help you know when to apply!

[lovelydevilcunt]

the thing about americorps is that you talk so much about life afterwards and yet no one truly warns you about what it’s like to go back to your real life.

i don’t know what i’m doing out here. i don’t know how to function.

in those 10 months, i have never felt more successful in every area of my life. personally, professionally, mentally, physically, and even financially. i went out there and got shit done. i took broken things and made them better. i taught people twice my age and making six figures how to do their job. i listened to survivors instead of pushing them through like a piece of paperwork and i did everything in my power to get them help. i did amazing things. i met amazing people. i fell in love with my life for ten short months.

and now i’m home.

fuck.

[macgyvermedical]

I officially have a position in FEMA Corps as a Corps Member! Right now I’m still waiting to hear about a Team Leader position I interviewed for, but I know I’m doing something with AmeriCorps come early 2018!

[macgyvermedical]

I Just Need To Hash This Out

Or, maybe just someone to tell me I’m not totally crazy.

I graduated from nursing school 05/2016, and have been working on a specialty surgical floor pretty much ever since. While I’m not a huge fan of the floor I work on, my coworkers are great and I love my hospital system more than I ever thought it was possible to love an employer. I would happily work my entire nursing career at this hospital system, no question.

That being said, there’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and due to the time and energy commitment, I want to do it while I’m single and have few constraints or major possessions (the lease on my apartment is up soon, I could easily find a place for my car, and I can push back grad school plans).

I want to do AmeriCorps NCCC or FEMA Corps.

AmeriCorps NCCC and FEMA Corps are both team-based, residential service programs for 18-24 year olds (or any age, for team leaders, which I do have the experience to do and am also applying for). NCCC focuses on community outreach- literacy, public health, environment, and disaster relief, while FEMA Corps is more explicitly focused on homeland security, disaster preparedness, response, relief, and continuing recovery. Teams train together at one of several campuses, and then are assigned multiple projects throughout their assigned region.

Its a full time, 10-month commitment (11 for team leaders). I know I’d basically be starting my nursing career from scratch when I came back, and I’m more or less at peace with that.

I have all the necessary training, volunteer experience, and skills necessary and I worked really, really hard on my application. It feels like such a done deal, like, if I’m offered a place on a team or as a team leader I will absolutely take it. I’m just worried people at work or other nurblrs will try to talk me out of it- I really don’t want to be talked out of doing this.

[that-fema-corps-blog]

Day 356

July 24, 2023

The final day. We were out of the dorms by 7:30 for room inspections. We turned in our room key cards we got a few days ago and our old key cards from the first day we arrived on campus. We waited in the main building until we had to line up outside by team and last name at 9:30.

Graduation went pretty quickly. A couple corps members sang the national anthem, one gave a speech about serving in AmeriCorps, the corps member and team leader of the class were announced, we watched a recording a congressperson made for us, etc... I'll probably elaborate later, but for now I'm busy and tired. We received our AmeriCorps completion certificates, changed and dropped our boots and uniforms in the back of a couple trucks, and packed the remainder of our stuff into the vans. We said our final goodbyes and departed.

There's one song I first heard back in the Corps Training Institute, and have come to strongly associate with this program after all the road trips, flights, and time away from home. I think it would only be fitting to end the year with it too:

And with that, it's time for me to go home. It's been quite the year.

[that-fema-corps-blog]

Day 355

July 23, 2023

We went to Emerald Pools today.

I'm very tired, so I'm not going to elaborate much. We did see a baby rattlesnake, though.

We had a final team dinner and spent the rest of the day packing, cleaning, and loading our stuff into the vans.

[that-fema-corps-blog]

Day 354

July 22, 2023

We went back to San Francisco again! We stopped by the Palace of Fine Arts, the same place from Day 33:

We walked out to Crissy Field Beach. I heard a pygmy nuthatch on the way over.

Pygmy Nuthatch Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Small even by nuthatch standards, Pygmy Nuthatches are tiny bundles of hyperactive energy that climb up and down ponderosa pines giving rubb

This San Francisco Fire Department vessel came by. We figure they might have been doing a drill for putting out a coastal fire? Each of the three spouts seems to operate independently:

We watched the fire boat and several windersurfers before heading to the south part of the beach. This side had dozens of dogs. We watched them play for close to half an hour. I saw a lone male surf scoter swimming behind them in the bay.

Surf Scoter Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

The black-and-white patches on the heads of male Surf Scoters prompted this sea duck’s nickname “old skunkhead,” although the big, sloping o

We drove a few miles into the city for lunch and departed not long after. Glad we spent the day away, especially considering how miserably hot it is in Sacramento. Today was supposed to have a high of over 110⁰F...

[that-fema-corps-blog]

Day 353

July 21. 2023

We had our tech check-in at 10:00. We removed the cases from the iPhone and iPad and unlocked them so the staff could check that they still worked. We had to return the following (they didn't care about the mouse, car charger, or earphones):

iPad

iPhone

Laptop

PIV card

Tech case

iPad case

iPhone case

iPad charger

iPhone charger

I dropped my red bag off at the van for the supply check-in at 11:00. I had Life After AmeriCorps (LAA) specialty role meeting at the same time in the main room. Each team's LAA representative gathered to provide our feedback on the role and resources Corps members could benefit from, including:

Financial planning and life skills from the start/round 1-2 transition (apartment hunting, saving and 401k, etc.)

More exposure to FEMA and other governmental jobs earlier in the year (takes a while to apply)

Mentorship from AmeriCorps alumni on LAA role and general participation in AmeriCorps

Forum on My AmeriCorps for current members and alumni

I met the rest of the team at the Operations building to help finish cleaning the van and unload kitchen kits and other equipment. Operations inspected the vans and told us to park them in the back. They wanted to throw away a bunch of plates and other things in the kitchen kit, so we took the extras for relocation; a lot of the kitchen supplies would be useful for future teams.

There was a Corps member feedback session at 13:30. Only one or two people from each team were supposed to go, so I wasn't there. Several of us met with the assistant unit leader (UL) afterward to discuss some issues/concerns with part of the program. I won't go into specifics, but it does seem like the assistant UL is going to make the program better going forward. The few changes implemented for the new classes already seem like an improvement.

Our entire class met in the main room immediately afterward at 16:30 to rehearse the graduation ceremony. We practiced the AmeriCorps pledge several times; judging how the pledge went last project transition, this was a very good idea... Then we had the rest of the day off.