2009 / 2010 Scholarship Announced

The OMIA Foundation is pleased to provide one deserving student per year with a $1,000 scholarship in memory of Pamela Jo Woll Neuhauser.  This “Down the River Scholarship” is awarded annually.  Please click here to complete the online application.  See our video below to view a brief pictoral history on Pam, our inspiration:

Maintaining a Work Environment that Enhances Productivity

By Jarene Frances Lee with Julia M. Catagnus
From What We Learned (the Hard Way) about Supervising Volunteers: An Action Guide to Making Your Job Easier, p. 65.

You will remember that we defined supervision as a relationship in which you, as the supervisor, take actions that empower those you supervise to be successful in their work. Perhaps the most important action you can take regarding the work environment is to remove obstacles to success.

Do your volunteers have adequate workspace? Is the workspace organized, well-ventilated and well lighted? Do they have the supplies they will need for their work? Is the equipment they use in good working order? If making telephone calls is a major part of their work, do they have regular, uninterrupted access to instruments and outgoing lines? Is there a place they can store their work in between shifts?

What do volunteers see when they look around? Are others — especially paid staff — motivated? …energetic? …productive? …cooperative?

If volunteers must bring personal property to your area, is there an adequate and safe space for coats, purses, and wet umbrellas? If not, you can see that a volunteer may feel like an “extra” rather than like an integral member of your team. They may also have their minds on whether their property is safe rather than on their work.

The safety of the volunteers themselves should be of concern to you. Are volunteers doing activities with a high risk of injury? Are they working in or traveling through an unsafe environment? Might the clients be a source of any danger? Work with your organization’s risk manager to address these situations openly and honestly. You may need to provide special risk-reduction training or institute policies such as having volunteers travel in pairs.

Ask volunteers what they need to do their job well and what environmental factors might prevent them from doing their best. Ask about equipment and supplies, access to information, and the rest of the team. If you can’t immediately address every issue, explain why and keep working on them. Let volunteers know what you are doing so they see that you keep your word. If there are problems that you can’t solve, explain why and then explore with your volunteers methods either to get around the problem or to cope with it.

Permission is granted for organizations to reprint this excerpt. Reprints must provide full acknowledgment of source, as provided:

Excerpted from What We Learned (the Hard Way) about Supervising Volunteers: An Action Guide to Making Your Job Easier, by Jarene Frances Lee with Julia M. Catagnus, Energize, Inc., 1999. Available in the Energize, Inc. Online Bookstore at http://www.energizeinc.com/store/1-175-E-1

OMIA Moves Forward with “Blog for a Cause”

We’ve done it again! The OMIA Foundation is pleased to announce a sea change in how we view scholastic enhancement opportunities. As we strive to expand the scope of education, OMIA has moved forward with “Blog for a Cause.”

What is “Blog for a Cause“?

A consortium of students, educators, and community members who are focused on streamlining the connection to resources.

How does “Blog for a Cause” work?

Active participants, called “OMIA Bloggers,” submit material and ideas directly to the web through a blog-style portal online.

Where can I find “Blog for a Cause”?

On the web. The hub of resources produced by OMIA contributors is located at omiafoundation.org but you can find OMIA Bloggers anywhere. Our web sites include:

OMIA Supports Art Road

• volunteernow.wordpress.com and its sister site govolunteer.wordpress.com
• foodstamps.wordpress.com and its sister site getfood.wordpress.com
• hospicevolunteer.wordpress.com
• communityorganizers.wordpress.com
• studysports.wordpress.com
• omiamusicman.wordpress.com

Or, visit our set of instructional sites including:

Success on a Chalkboard

• diversity101.wordpress.com
• nonprofit101.wordpress.com
• volunteering101.wordpress.com
• howtovolunteer.wordpress.com

And, you have the option of stopping by our main multi-faceted web urls:

• The OMIA Foundation Correct Connect at omiafoundation.wordpress.com
• The OMIA Founder’s Blog at johngirdwood.wordpress.com
  

  John Girdwood

When can you and I start blogging for a cause?

The answer is NOW! The method couldn’t be simpler. Send an email to OMIA Founder John Girdwood [address: info(at)omiafoundation(dot)org] or via our Contact page [here]. We’ll ask you to verify your existence (no spam! give us references!) and after a brief web conversation over email… you are now blogging for a cause!

Who can contribute?

Anybody. We prefer college students, high school kids, k-12 teachers, and university professors but that list isn’t exclusive. If you can type, and you can think, then you can contribute!

OMIA Foundation

Why are you doing this?

The OMIA Foundation has a vision to enhance the lives of students by expanding the scope of education. Do you believe in that mission? Then join us!

Scholarship Winner Announced

The OMIA Foundation, staff, families, students, and benefactors

Pamela Jo

would like to congratulate Megan Root as the recipient of the 2008 Down the River Scholarship in memoriam of “Pamela Jo from O-hio!”

The scholarship committee was thrilled to receive Megan’s application and surprised by how aligned her enthusiasm is with Pam’s. There simply wasn’t a more qualified, accomplished, and promising applicant in the pool.

Hailing from Kenton, Ohio Megan and Pam share the passion to learn through continued education. Megan now attends Ohio Northern University

ONU logo

with plans to study Pharmacology. We thank Megan for her application package and appreciate those who cast recommendations for her.

On behalf of the OMIA Foundation, congratulations Megan and keep on learning!

OMIA Provides Job Seekers a Resume Template

[review, edit, and gain ideas from the sample resume below | email john for more tips]

John Girdwood

E-mail: jgirdwood(at)omiafoundation.org

Educational History

Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI
Master of Public Administration, May 2008
Concentration: Non-Profit Management
Graduated: 3.82 GPA

Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
Bachelor of Arts, April 2002
Major: Philosophy
Concentraion: Professional Ethics
Major: Comparative Religion

Professional Experience

2008 Apr – Present
McLaren Visiting Nurse and Hospice, Davison, MI
Coordinator of Volunteer Services

• Complete initial volunteer assessments through direct patient contact
• Directly involved in fund raising for hospice
• Coordinate yearly “Camp Forget-Me-Not” grief camp for children ages 6 – 14 years
• Plan, develop, and implement every facet of volunteer program
• Recruit, select, train, and assign volunteers
• Participate in interdisciplinary hospice team
• Function as part of community and education activities related to volunteer services
• Maintain records, draft reports, and manage documentation connected to all duties

2006 Jun – Present
Michigan’s Coordinated Access to Food for the Elderly, Lansing, MI
Call Center Operations | Volunteer Application Assistant

• Public speaking: host training; give presentations to community; complete FAP applications for seniors in poverty; manage scheduling and set-up for program events
• Intra-office collaboration: develop web site and maintain technical support for MiCAFE and Elder Law of Michigan, Inc.; work with outside consulting firm to compile data and reports; collaborate with LHMS attorneys to manage and lead a team of student interns
• Clerical: answer phones; draft letters for program director; coordinate volunteer training; mail marketing supplies; place orders; develop outreach material

2005 July – 2008 April
Michigan House of Representatives, Lansing, MI
Part-time Support

• Team environment: assisted scheduler, constituent affairs staff member, legislative liaison, and Representative individually and collaboratively to complete tasks
• Clerical: conducted hard copy and electronic document filing; email and letter responses drafted for Representative to approve and sign; answered phones and greet visitors; undertook many random tasks

2005 Aug – 2006 Jun
Elder Law of Michigan, Inc., Lansing, MI
Legal Intern and Coordinator of Volunteers and Panel Attorneys

2005 Aug – 2005 Nov
State of Michigan Attorney General
Charitable Trust Division, Lansing, MI
Student Assistant specializing in data entry & charitable solicitation licensure

Extracurricular
Participated in Toastmasters International and held position on local Board

More About John
Read John Girdwood‘s Personal Statement to Princeton University

Future
John is currently involved in the application of 501(c)(3) status for the OMIA Foundation.

OMIA Releases Sample Personal Statement

[an excerpt from John Girdwood's application to Princeton University]

ACADEMIC STATEMENT OF PURPOSE:

The main focus of my study at Princeton University will be health, aging, and the life course with an emphasis on cognition.  The Western Michigan University Comparative Religion Program had a department chair enamored with cognition during my undergraduate tenure there.  I was influenced greatly by Dr. E. Thomas Lawson’s worldview and immeasurably impressed that he provided his time to sit with me during my first semester to discuss my academic future.  He personally guided me to a bachelor’s of arts in comparative religion, with a double major in philosophy, including a concentration on professional ethics.

It was a multidimensional tract that possessed the subject of religion, and through critical thinking, I was able to synthesize and apply my learning to courses on subjects like desire and belief.  Social and biomedical ethics were practical courses where I could apply my knowledge to specific situations.  I carried over the theme of applicatory education to my graduate work in public administration.  I will always recall sitting in Dr. Rudolf Siebert’s “Religion In Revolution” class on September 11, 2001.  It was then that I realized I was not simply studying world religions, but also the governments, history, sociology, and social structures that combine to form nations.  This coursework and academic process has prepared me exceptionally well for study at Princeton University.

This department is significant because it offers areas of emphasis including sociology of culture and religion and social inequality.  These include my experience, prior knowledge, and interest areas.  I have a basis on, but not a complete perception of how religious practices influence attitudes and values.  I have a philosophical analysis background of the prior, but no sociological study of those areas.  Princeton will drive my interests to comprehension of these subjects.

This program is a good match with me because I am interested in studying what it is like to be working and yet poor.  I have experienced this situation, but have not yet studied it academically.  I want to examine how culture shapes medical knowledge because I see medical knowledge in the workplace without yet having the background of its foundation.  Within hospice practice, I need a better footing to perceive the American will to live, in other words, the American will not to die.

My non-profit OMIA Foundation will benefit from better knowing where family and child-rearing patterns are headed.  I hold great interest in early childhood development and agree with the Princeton University Sociology Department that these are issues of timely importance.

I will work closely with the faculty and students at Princeton in small seminar settings and through personalized instruction from and collaboration with professors.  I thrive nurturing by means of close student-faculty interaction.  I have undergone lively discussions of research, workshops, and through analytical discourse.

I would like to work with Angel L. Harris because she and I are seeking to determine why academic inequality persists across racial and ethnic groups.  I agree that education is becoming increasingly important for upward social mobility in the U.S. and abroad.  Education has been linked to societal inequalities in health, income, and other life-chance measures, so I intend to study whether or not this link is apparent to women and minority groups.  Then, I will be able to determine if social mobility is desired by these groups, and if so, if those groups utilize education as a tool for upward social mobility and improved health, income, and other measures of social and economic well-being.

Since the minority population within the U.S. is steadily increasing, understanding racial differences in achievement is important for scholars, educators, and policy makers.  At Princeton, I will study how perceptions about the opportunity structure and the system of social mobility influence the extent to which people invest (economically and emotionally) in schooling.

I have researched the social psychological determinants of the racial achievement gap and focused on identifying factors that contribute to African Americans’ lower academic achievement.  This research primarily examined charter schools in Michigan and how they approached reaching benchmarks.  I would like the chance to collaborate with researchers like Scott M. Lynch to examine the health consequences of racial and socioeconomic inequality.  My time spent in the mid-nineties within the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Intervention Services (HAPIS) office in Michigan showed me the dramatic statistical impact of inequality – both by race and socio-economic status – on one health issue.

I saw first hand at HAPIS how the interrelationship between race, socioeconomic status, and health unfolded across age and geographic cohorts.  At Princeton, I want to delve further into the effects of these determinants on the elder population.

Like Marta Tienda, I want to know what factors must be present for opportunity to be equal.  I have previously researched welfare, health, and education.  At Princeton, I want to examine more factors, or more closely at those I have already studied.

I plan to focus on social arrangements and life course trajectories that both perpetuate and reshape socioeconomic inequality.  Charter schools influenced my research on one means of access to education but I want to understand the limits of social policy in equalizing opportunity by examining the changing foundations of merit in college admissions criteria.  An interdisciplinary examination, through the Sociology graduate program at Princeton would increase my knowledge of vital sociological theories exponentially.

I witness conflict in end of life decisions on a daily basis.  I can either continue to do so with my current skill set, or continue to grow at Princeton and better approach situations within my employment at hospice.

My vocational and educational focus has been the life course and I understand the connection between early childhood education and subsequent life results.  I would like to examine aging, the life course, and elder sociology more in depth at Princeton.  I believe it would benefit my performance at hospice, my knowledge of important subject matter, and my peers and instructors in the Department of Sociology at Princeton.

OMIA meshes well with MSU’s Child Development Laboratories

The OMIA Foundation supports and believes in the philosophy of the Child Development Laboratories at Michigan State University.  Similar to the OMIA Foundation, MSU CDL serves as a research and professional development site by  offering an exemplary program for children and their families.  MSU CDL does this by providing a developmentally appropriate curriculum designed to promote development of  the whole child.   They address development in six domains: aesthetic,  affective, cognition, language/communication, physical, and social.  OMIA encourages you to join us in supporting MSU CDL and its philosophy by examining their website [here].

What is the Michigan Children’s Trust Fund?

Michigan Children’s Trust Fund (CTF) is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect. CTF works in partnership with its 72 local councils to serve all of Michigan’s 83 counties. Local councils are independent, community-based organizations that identify needs and facilitate collaborative prevention programs for children and families in their communities. The CTF board is housed within the Department of Human Services. Since 1982, the fund has raised over $60 million and has provided support to over six million children and families.

For more information, please go to www.michigan.gov/ctf

Community Organizers

OMIA releases “Community Organizers” ~ check it out!

Music Resources for Teachers

Did you know that the Federal Department of Education has some excellent FREE music resources geared for educators? http://www.free.ed.gov/subjects.cfm?subject_id=3&toplvl=1

They’ve paired with the Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and other organizations to offer resources to enrich classrooms.

Many of their music resources also help teach students about history, and tie into other subjects. This is also part of The OMIA Foundation’s goal. When the Music Man visits a classroom, connections are made across content areas.

The Department of Education’s resource site also provides many other free resources on subjects including Health, Math, Science and more! Check it out!