What's Happening with the Tech Corps? Events, adventures, and new nonprofit tech weekly!
Upcoming Event! HandsOn Tech Team Presents at Google SeattlePosted by Aimy Enriquez at October 15, 2012 3:28 PM
This workshop provides an overview of the Google products available to nonprofits. These free and low cost tools can strengthen the collaboration among colleagues and the efficiency of accessing information to your supporters. The Tech Corps at 501 Commons will present case studies on how these programs have been implemented in the past. This is followed by an overview of the Google suites and the applications available exclusively through the Google for Nonprofits program. All members within the nonprofit sector are encouraged to participate and learn how Google apps can help advance their organization.What: Google Apps for NonprofitsWhen: Wednesday November 7, 2012Time: 10 -11:30amWhere: Google Seattle, 651 North 34th Street, Seattle, WAHost: HandsOn Tech Team from 501 CommonsCost: Free!To attend this event please sign up by following the link below::http://bit.ly/RviWAuThe HandsOn Tech team looks forward to seeing you there!
The Tech Corps Presents at the WA Food Coalition Conference
Posted by Aimy Enriquez at October 14, 2012 12:38 PM
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The HandsOn Tech team attended the Washington Food Coalition Conference in Chelan WA to present on Google Apps for Nonprofits. The attendees consisted of 20-30 nonprofit members who serve to alleviate food and hunger related issues to low income individuals within Washington state.
We began our presentation by providing general information on Google for Nonprofits through case studies that show how these applications have been implemented to advance similar nonprofits. This was followed by an overview of specific Google products that we felt were most helpful for our audience. Among those were:
Google Drive and Apps - Real time editing and collaboration with basic documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.
Google Sites - Creating simple websites or supplemental sites for personal and professional usage.
Google Analytics - View and analyze data about users visiting your website.
Google Adwords - $10,000 a month of free advertising from Google.
Google Forms - Paperless method to gather and organize survey information.
We concluded the presentation with the steps of applying to Google for Nonprofits to those interested in accessing the exclusive tools provided in the program.
As we forward into our service year we will continue hosting workshops relating to technological applications and social media methods. If you were not able to attend this workshop, we will be conducting it again in the Seattle area. The details of this event will be posted soon!
HandsOn Tech Goes to Google
Posted by Alex Green at Oct 2, 2012 02:57 PM
This last month has been one opportunity after another of new experiences, knowledge gained, and people met. Of all the things that I have done so far since moving from midwest, going to Google has so far been the funnest. Apart from learning methods of how to reach out to the community and learning how a great deal of Google’s bread-and-butter apps work, we got to have a ton of fun as a team at the Google campus and off.
Since I don’t want to bore you guys with the logistics of what knowledge we acquired, let the bragging commence!
The main headquarters - the campus was beautiful! Collaboration through Arts and Crafts Our hosts for the Week - Seth and Debbie
An amazing experience with an amazing group of people!
Now lets go fight poverty with technology!
- Alex Green, Aimy Enriquez, Jess Fraser
NONPROFIT SCAVENGER HUNT
As a part of their on-site orientation the new AmeriCorps VISTA team went on an afternoon scavenger hunt to visit the downtown Seattle area. They met with a few local nonprofits and also visited a few key downtown areas. Alex Green wrote up this brief recap of their afternoon and a few things they learned.
It was a beautiful Thursday afternoon when Aimy, Jess, WA Service Corps VISTA members Liz, Rachael, and myself left the office early to embark on a scavenger hunt to familiarize ourselves with the local nonprofits in downtown Seattle. As relatively new VISTAs, some of us were still getting acquainted with the area we will be serving in. The experience proved to be fun and informative on many fronts. One stop had free cookies and milk! Each destination exemplified the variety of organizations within this community's nonprofit sector.
United Way of King County
Our first stop in Seattle brought us to Pioneer Square. We were greeted by Liahann Bannerman, the Volunteer Center Director of the organization. Liahann discussed with us the challenges of being a bigger player in the nonprofit sector. She also shared information on how to get more involved. United Way also hosts an annual event called “Day of Caring”, which is the largest day of volunteering in the state of Washington. This year there was a total of 12,122 volunteers from 138 companies completing 448 projects all over King County. Estimated volunteer labour was $1.3 million!
See the full details here: http://www.uwkc.org/ways-to-volunteer/day-of-caring/
Seattle Central Library
Our second stop was the beautifully designed Seattle Library (very close to United Way). The building was opened to the public in 2004. It is a true marvel of architecture and green energy. Even the escalators were unique! While we didn’t have time to peruse the shelves, we achieved our goal of climbing to the top and taking a picture of the lobby downstairs.
Library view from top floor
Springwire
Our third stop was a bit more difficult to find, as it was tucked away in a corner office in a building on Denny Way. But we were rewarded with its rebranded appearance, their office dog, and a fun set of employees; making this destination one of my favorites. We got to learn more about a nonprofit that focuses on one of the foundations of escaping the poverty cycle: communication.
You can learn more here : http://springwire.us/seattle
Peg (Deputy Director) tweeting about our visit.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
This may be the last stop on our scavenger hunt, but certainly not the least. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is focused locally on Early Learning, Family Homelessness, and Community Grants. The visitor center was a perfect example of how to make volunteering fun. The center was filled with movies, quizzes, and other interactive media that allowed us to learn how the philanthropic foundation supports its community. Definitely an uplifting way to end the work day!
For more information, visit their site: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx
Over 8 billion dollars in grants - yes, billions, with a “B” - in North America since 1999!
- Alex Green
Originally Posted by Abby Nafziger for NPowerNW. at Sep 26, 2012 04:25 PM | Permalink
MoNday, September 24th 2012
Hi everyone! We’re Jess, Alex, and Aimy and we will be taking over where Elissa, Abby and Stephen left off as this year’s AmeriCorps VISTA HandsOn Tech crew! We’re very excited to be a part of this program and continue their great work. Since we will be regularly posting to this blog, we figured we should provide a brief introduction about ourselves and a Q&A for everyone. Enjoy!
Who are you?
My name’s Jess. I graduated from Boston University this past May with a degree in Biomedical Engineering and decided to spend this year volunteering in Seattle.
Hello my name is Alex. I recently graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in psychology. I decided to spend a year in service in the great Northwest state of Washington.
This is Aimy, I am a recent graduate from Western Washington University. I have focused my studies heavily on Creative Writing and Technical Communications. I am excited to learn about nonprofits in the Seattle area and use my skills to further their missions this coming year.
Why did you choose AmeriCorps? What drove you to HandsOn Tech?
Jess - When I picked my major, I knew one thing - I want to help people. I want to help create something that will actually matter and will make a real impact on people. Unfortunately, a lot of people I knew would see “biomedical engineer” and think not about the people and the potential applications, but “money.” By volunteering, I knew I would be surrounding myself with people who had similar ideals and goals to myself: people who wanted to make a difference and were willing to take the initiative to get something done. In terms of HandsOn Tech specifically, well, I did get an engineering degree. I like tech-related things and my background helped to show me all the capabilities of technology. I thought it would be great to be able to work with other nonprofits and help them utilize all of the resources that are available to them.
Alex - I chose AmeriCorps because I wanted to be working in an environment that had the shared goal of social change. I found it necessary to make a switch from something involved in just making money for its own sake. AmeriCorps was also an excellent opportunity to relocate to a whole new city, something which I have hoped to do since I started college. Paired with a degree in psychology and a tech background, I am hoping to make a real impact as a capacity builder that will be able to help improve technology in the non-profit sector of the northwest.
Aimy - I learned about AmeriCorps through an info session at my college. The experience inspired me to think seriously about the program. I knew I wanted to use my degree towards meaningful work but wasn’t sure how I would approach it. AmeriCorps seemed to be the most natural step for me as a college grad to gain experience while serving in my community. I feel HandsOn Tech is the best fit in regards to my interest and professional goals.
What challenges have you faced in transitioning from college to a professional environment?
Jess - I think my biggest challenge was simply moving here to Seattle. I grew up in Massachusetts and deciding to move to a city 3000 miles away - one that I had never been to prior to starting HandsOn Tech, might I add - is quite the risk in itself. College is interesting because you have a bunch of people coming together for the common goal of graduating. I had classes with a lot of different people. We received similar educations and upon graduating, we all separated to go do different things. With the professional world, you have the opposite scenario: people from many different backgrounds and educations come together to work towards a similar goal. It's fascinating to see that change. That mostly answers the question, right?
Alex - Transitioning from college to a professional work environment has been an eye-opening experience thus far. It has been refreshing to move into an office with a group of people that all share the common goal of helping the community. Knowing this has been rewarding in itself, but it has also been great to meet everyone who works here. One thing that I have known about this nonprofit in particular is the great diversity of background and skill that exists here.
Aimy - The greatest challenge has been adjusting to a new workplace culture. When settling into an established organization, you want to learn about that organization and figure how you can fit into that structure.
What do you expect to face that is unique to a nonprofit environment?
Jess - Recognizing the value of resources, definitely. With nonprofits, any money spent on new tools is money not going towards the target audience of the nonprofit. Any time I spend with the nonprofits is time they aren't spending engaging with and helping the community. See a pattern coming up? While being wasteful is never good, being wasteful when it comes to nonprofits is especially damaging.
Alex - Being in a nonprofit that specializes in community capacity building, I expect a lot of our unique challenges to be with managing our client and volunteer relationships. What can we be training them that is relevant and will help them help the community and themselves? What strategies will we need to employ to reach out to nonprofits that don’t know about us? How can we do our best service in order to create the biggest impact on the community? I hope to be a part of some exciting changes that will continue to affect all nonprofits in Washington and more
Aimy - The process of incorporating changes within the dynamics of a nonprofit is unique. The information we will bring to these organizations call for new practices that challenge previous norms. Approaching these situations by highlighting its benefits to our nonprofits is important to ensure sustainability.
What new learning or skills do you hope to gain through your year as a VISTA?
Jess - Networking would be the big one. I'm in a new community and I want to get more involved. Learning how to reach out to people and organizations and to figure out how to keep up communication and stay in touch would be fantastic.
Alex - I am really hoping to learn more about hardware infrastructure in particular. Having had nonprofit experience from college, I have had first hand experience of how a poor technological infrastructure can affect an organization negatively. By the end of my Vista term, I hope to be more experienced in evaluating a company and how they are using technology effectively to store data, organize clients, and communicate with the rest of the community. I am also interested in researching social media as a means of community outreach.
Aimy - I hope this year will teach me about the inner workings of a nonprofit. As a technical writer, I would like to have the opportunity to practice the various promotional and instructional formats within tech writing through the context of a nonprofit environment. I hope HandsOn Tech, will develop my knowledge of technology and my understanding of nonprofit structure.
- Alex Green, Aimy Enriquez, Jess Fraser
Originally Posted by Abby Nafziger for www.NPowerNW.org at Sep 10, 2012 01:00 PM | Permalink
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