CAP Center AmeriCorps 2021-2022 Members of the Month
Members of the Month May 2022 :Veronica Barde
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Member Name: Veronica Barde
Nominator(s): Robin Smith Program: FYI Site: Glenn County Office of Education Veronica has been a valuable member of the Glenn County Office of Education’s Foster Youth Services team, and our new youth resource center called the STAR CENTER. Veronica started equine therapy for our foster youth in Glenn County, and she is a facilitator for our Healthy Relationships course for transition aged foster youth. Veronica also successfully implemented a Youth Recovery Program for young adults who want to develop personally, grow in self-awareness, learn new skills, and be mindful about substance use. It is also an opportunity for our foster youth who wish to grow professionally and to be better prepared for life. Veronica always comes to work with a smile on her face, and is willing to do whatever it takes to support our team. Veronica started an appreciation jar, where you can leave positive notes to fellow workers, and she reads them at our monthly team meetings; this has improved the team camaraderie and has created a positive work environment. Through the AmeriCorps CA-FYI program, Veronica has been able to provide mentoring to our Transition Aged Foster Youth to help them to grow, socially, and emotionally, so they have better outcomes. |
Members of the Month April 2022 : Amal Elmansoumi & Sean Estelle
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Member Name: AMAL ELMANSOUMI
Nominator(s): Cherie Schroeder Site: Woodland Community College Program: FYI AmeriCorps Amal has been working with foster youth in Yolo County for over a year and during this time she has demonstrated the ability to build positive relationships with foster and probation youth. Amal has gained the youth’s trust in such that they have allowed her to assist with their academics, financial questions regarding credit scores/cards, and housing options when they turn 18 years old. Amal has gone above and beyond in assisting Yolo County youth in providing one-on-one mentoring services as well as providing resources that include assisting youth in opening a first bank account, helping provide personal lap-tops when needed, and meeting youth for shopping sprees to promote placement stability. Amal has assisted the leadership team by providing timely ILP sign-in sheets for the youth that attend ILP workshops twice per week. Ramiz shares, “Amal always answering my telephone calls and emails and providing me with the youth’s information in regard to paying the youth their monthly ILP stipends, so I can meet the month-end deadline. Amal is a dedicated and a responsible individual that cares about others and knows first-hand the importance of advocating for our foster and probation youth in Yolo County.” During the past year, Amal continues to achieve her own goals, by attending American River Community College and completing her AS degree. Amal has many accomplishments, and we are incredible lucky to have her on the WCC Yolo County ILP team! |
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Member Name: Sean Estelle
Nominator(s): Thomarri Jordan Program: B&B For the Member of the Month, We have selected Sean. Sean is one of our newest Home Visitor/AmeriCorps members. Since Sean has completed his training, he has learned and implemented the correct protocol in terms of completing documentation and case management. Sean pays close attention to detail when it comes to the families case files. Sean is eager to help his co-workers and other departments outside of his own voluntarily, such as the African American Fathers Group. Sean always participates in our family events, and voices great ideas in areas that he feels are needed. Sean is very humble, compassionate about meeting the needs of his families, a great communicator, public speaker, and goes above and beyond to ensure that all required documents are submitted. For example, when our department transitioned all of our families to the PAT curriculum, Sean strategized to ensure that all of his families were enrolled. Sean is deserving of this nomination because he is definitely an asset to the Meadowview Family Resource Center and a example of the mission of AmeriCorps! |
Members of the Month March 2022 : Elias Tafolla & Luz Gonzalez
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Member Name: Elias Tafolla
Nominator(s): Misael Molina Site: Youth2Leaders Program: FYI AmeriCorps Elias has shown great passion in his work and shows dedication to give back to his community. He has given back to his youth by giving informative presentations on higher education and the steps to overcome barriers. He is always finding new ways to volunteer within the Bakersfield area and has shown great promise in promoting the organization he works with. By ensuring student success, Elias has created activities and presentations that promote student leadership and understanding racial/ethnic differences. As a second-term member Elias continues to show skill in his craft and has shown what it means to be a true AmeriCorps member. Always seeking out new ways to help his fellow peers and being able to adapt to different challenges faced in his way. Elias is a true trooper. |
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Member Name: Maria de la Luz Gonzalez
Nominator(s): Katherine Landeros Site: Program: B&B My member Maria de la Luz Gonzalez, who prefers to go by Luz, is deserving of member of the month as she has become a great advocate for the families of the community. She is motivated, and ambitious to serve. Luz has supported many families with getting them connected to resources and enrolling them into services. She is always ready with ideas to increase family engagement and has provided support to the engagement and outreach specialist to outreach for the Valley Hi Family Resource Center. Luz is always ready with ideas in her Supervisions and effectively demonstrates her determination in learning to succeed in her role, as well as the determination to support families navigate the resources that are needed. She has also demonstrated her willingness to be a team player through supporting with outreach, supporting the intervention specialist in connecting families to resources, in the coordination of events, and facilitating workshops. She began as a Parent Leader facilitating the women’s Spanish support group and took the initiative into taking an AmeriCorps position so that she can learn new skills to strengthen the community. Her service has displayed her passion to help families. |
Members of the Month February 2022 : Arryn Baker & Sadhbh Flynn
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Member Name: Sadhbh Flynn
Nominator(s): Xanity Georgia Site: Program: PATH Sadhbh is the hardest worker I know! She is so great with the clients and never hesitates to jump all in and help anyone. Sadhbh has helped many clients but one success story I can think of is when she helped a young couple. The couple had been down on their luck and were homeless and unemployed. Sadhbh had continuously worked with them to get them all the documents they needed to start applying for jobs and housing. Sadhbh encouraged them to keep going even when they were losing hope, and now this couple has found jobs and just got their own apartment! This couple came in with the biggest smiles on their face to let Sadhbh know of the news they got and couldn’t stop thanking her! This is why she would deserve this award! Member Name: Arryn Baker
Nominator(s): Dayna Freier Site: Fostering Unity Program: FYI AmeriCorps Arryn Baker is an incredible second year AmeriCorps member with Fostering UNITY. Arryn is a dynamic, creative, and inspiring person who has led the development and expansion of our Tomorrow’s About You, Youth Mentoring Program. Arryn has been a C.A.R.E Service Specialist with Fostering UNITY since 2020. On top of being a part of our team, she is also a caregiver to 4 wonderful children! Arryn is the heart behind our Tomorrow's About You Program, she never stops creating new opportunities for the youth we mentor. One of her incredible achievements in 2021 was creating and organizing the Bonfire on the Beach event for our TAY mentees. This event included laughter, love, music, s'mores, safety lessons, and Covid cautious treats and games. Arryn goes above and beyond to organize and lead the timely data collection for all Fostering UNITY’s AmeriCorps members. She offers technical assistance and support to ensure each member’s data is accurate and that our agency data is submitted in a collective, streamlined manner. We wouldn't be where we are today without you, Arryn! Thank you for your heartfelt service as an AmeriCorps member and for joining the Fostering UNITY team. |
January 2022 Members of the Month: Paola Caballero
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Member Name: Paola Caballero
Nominator(s): Misael Molina Site: Youth2Leaders Program: FYI AmeriCorps 
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December 2021 Members of the Month: Bri Hernandez, Sydney Dozier, & Jessica Medina
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Member Name: Bridaymy "Bri" Hernandez
Nominator(s): Samantha Smith Site: Yolo CASA Program: FYI AmeriCorps I would like to nominate Bri Hernandez for the Member of the Month Award. Bri is a dedicated third-term AmeriCorps service member who has gone above and beyond the role she filled. Bri has served as a liaison to the court, as a matchmaker of volunteers with dependent youth, as phenomenal judge of character, and as an organizational wizard. Some of the most important work in dependency is the behind-the-scenes work that allows the organization to run smoothly and without incident; this is the work that Bri does and Yolo CASA is incredibly grateful to have someone so independent and dependable doing this work. In the time she has been with Yolo CASA through AmeriCorps, Bri has brought her phenomenal attitude and work ethic to help us serve nearly 200 youth during the most isolating parts of the COVID-19 pandemic. She learned the complex dependency system and was able to interact with this complex system effectively and, now, efficiently. Member Name: Sydney Dozier
Nominator(s): Thomarri Jordan Site: Program: B&B AmeriCorps For the Member of the Month, We have selected Sydney. Sydney is one of our newest Home Visitor/AmeriCorps members. Since Sydney has completed her training, she has learn and implemented the correct protocol in terms of completing documentation and case management. Sydney pays close attention to detail when it comes to the parent files. She is a fast learner and egger to help her co-workers when asked. Sydney always participates in our family events, and voices great ideas in areas that she feels are needed. Sydney is very humble, always has a smile on her face, and goes above and beyond to support her families. For example, Sydney comes into the office on the days that she is not required to give her families items along with going shopping for them at the Baby Boutique followed by dropping off the items to their homes. Sydney is deserving of this nomination because she is definitely an asset to the Meadowview Family Resource Center and a example of the mission of AmeriCorps! |
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Member Name: Jessica Medina
Nominator(s): Yosimi Santoyo Site: Program: First 5 AmeriCorps Jessica is a third term AmeriCorps member at First 5 Madera Family Resource Center. Not only has she has been a great asset in mentoring and supporting new AmeriCorps members, but she is an exceptional member, always goes above and beyond for clients, colleagues, and the FRC. She is always willing to help anyone who asks and always with a smile. She is passionate about early learning and teaching, and the children love her and are excited of learning with Jessica. Recently, Jessica has been splitting her time between all 3 FRCs, facilitating playgroups. This is no easy task as there’s a lot of planning and driving between sites. We count ourselves lucky for the time she has dedicated here! |
November 2021 Members of the Month: Joyce Ma & Cassidy Paige
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Member Name: Joyce Ma
Nominator(s): Dayna Freier Site: Fostering UNITY Program: CA Foster Youth Initiative There are no words that give enough acknowledgement or gratitude for the exceptional work done by Joyce Ma as an AmeriCorps Member working with Fostering UNITY. Joyce has been instrumental in delivering real-time support through our youth and caregiver programs. She makes herself available to assist new AmeriCorps members with learning the ins and outs of data collection and time sheet submittals. Joyce intentionally makes a daily effort to encourage and acknowledge the work of her teammates and has truly been a vital component during the growth and development of Fostering UNITY programs. Joyce exemplifies what it means to be an AmeriCorps Member and to “be the better good”. Joyce leads our Purposeful Placement program and is a crucial member of our social media team, she brings new and valuable concepts that improve the way we deliver services. I honestly can say that Joyce is a true asset to Fostering UNITY and exemplifies what it means to be an AmeriCorps Member. |
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Member Name: Cassidy Paige
Nominator(s): Katherine Landeros Site: Program: B&B AmeriCorps Cassidy has grown tremendously within her transition from AmeriCorps Home Visitor to AmeriCorps Family Resource Aide. She has demonstrated her leadership skills through her class facilitations (EPI, Car Seat, Safe Sleep) and communication with other staff. We lost a member and Cassidy has been able to complete her tasks as well as taking on additional tasks even with the decrease in staff. She began a solo EPI class this month in November, earlier than expected. She has received praise from our Parent Leader, in which Cassidy provided support in the EPI class that the Parent Leader facilitated in October. She has connected families to multiple services that we provide as well as advocated for the families in most need. She has done a great job at deescalating participants and making them feel supported without supervisor interference. Cassidy has completed all of her tasks on time, submits consents, rosters and assessment scores on time. As well as takes the initiative to contact referrals before being assigned to do so. She communicates with her supervisor any concerns and offers ideas in supervision. I am proud to have Cassidy on my team and know she is deserving of being the member of the month. |
October 2021 Members of the Month: David Benitez & Guadalupe Alvarez
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Member Name: David Benitez
Nominator(s): Cherie S Site: Woodland Community College Program: CA Foster Youth Initiative Please accept my nomination of David Benitez, a second year CA Foster Youth Initiative AmeriCorps member serving within the partnership of Woodland Community College’s Youth Engagement Strategies for Success Independent Living Program (YESS ILP) and Yolo County Office of Education Foster & Homeless sites.
As a returning service member, David immediately stepped into the lead position to help train our new recruits to the team. He has exceeded all expectations, including providing acclimation to the College Campus and Office of Education, tips for engagement and outreach with youth, fully participating and helping to lead and host our twice weekly Independent Living Program classes. Importantly, David also has mentored new AmeriCorps on data collection, how to fully use the available support websites and assessments, plus completing essential reporting documentation. Taking this one step beyond, David volunteered to teach and lead two of the most important CA Foster Youth Initiative Statewide Basics trainings. He with the support of our AmeriCorps team developed curriculum, a powerpoint, handouts and Kahoot.it games for both the EverFi Financial Literacy and the Ansell Casey Life Skills Assessment (survey) workshops. He is stepping forward to be an amazing teacher, and I am certain this AmeriCorps experience will benefit his future personal goal to be a classroom teacher. We are incredibly proud of David and his CA Foster Youth Initiative service efforts. Member Name: Guadalupe Alvarez
Nominator(s): Elizabeth Hernandez NHI FRCC Site: Program: Birth & Beyond Guadalupe Alvarez currently has completed one full term of service and now returns for a second term ready to use all the knowledge and skill she has accumulated. Right from the beginning Guadalupe stood out as a potential candidate for AC FRC Aide during her first interview showing a true passion for service to the community.
Guadalupe has lived up to that exceptional first impression. Guadalupe immediately embraced all her training needed while shadowing staff to get a clear understanding of our role to the community. Guadalupe has proven to be a quick learner going from shadowing to facilitating multiple classes while willingly responding to the daily immediate needs of the community. In one year’s time Guadalupe has facilitated multiple NPP-SA parenting classes. Guadalupe has taken on our stress reducing groups for our community we call Kraft Konnections and little listeners’. Guadalupe’s empathy, love of service and gift of artistry are seen in all that she has done and continues to do. Guadalupe has positively impacted the multiple families she has served. Guadalupe truly is self-motivated to serve our community volunteering multiple times to participate in community outreach. On site when a Client walks through the doors requesting immediate need Guadalupe is quick to respond and thorough in engagement providing a warm, natural, professional welcoming approach as she kindly addresses immediate needs she is skilled in letting everyone know the door remains open should they desire any additional service. Many times, the response is a returning client desiring those further services as is the case with the attendance growth in both Our Kraft Konnections and Little Listeners. We are forever grateful for Guadalupe’s artistry and commitment to providing the community with periodic baby showers. We truly are blessed to have Guadalupe on our team. We are so excited as Guadalupe steps into her second year from Student to that exceptional facilitator and leader that she has become. Without reservation it truly is an honor and with great respect to submit Guadalupe Alvarez as this Months Nominee. |
