Outreach Research Begins

I wish residents in the counties I am trying to research would write a blog, or a paper, or keep an online journal about “life in Champaiagn county!” or perhaps “The state of non profits and the economy of my county, and ideas I have for outreach!”  I wish it was that easy.  I am left to spend hours looking over government websites interpreting census data and weeding through the “come visit us! We’re so fun!” marketing fronts on the county websites. (Champaign county actually has a pretty impressive site: http://www.champaignohio.com/)  It’s all just a little daunting at this point because it should be obvious that I cannot get a picture of a community, or even an organization, without being a part of it and creating relationships in person.  This holds true with any organization: you never know how it really works until you are a part of it.  So I need to start building relationships in each of the three (very rural) counties I am focusing on, to get a taste of the mindsets and situations of the people.  Then I can begin creating outreach strategies to make the OBB network stronger, with an end goal of having enough organizations as OBB sites to help residents access benefits they need.  How in the world am I supposed to get this all in one year?

I guess this is where the sustainability part of being a VISTA comes in. As I am doing research, making contacts, and developing producers I am documenting what I do. This way the next VISTA can take a couple of weeks to figure everything out and jump right in where I left off.  At least, that is the hope.  

All this will have to wait at least one more day, because in T-minus 45 minutes I am leaving for a meeting (read: party) at the beach with other VISTAs from my area.  As my term just began, some of their terms are ending soon, so we are reviewing experiences and bonding!  Why is it that so many organizations I become involved in are focused on “bonding?”  I’ll call it networking with fantastic peers who I can gain expertise and energy from to last out the rest of my own term.