This is our December edition of the VISTA VISION, a monthly newsletter chronicling ILCC VISTA activity in the Illinois area.

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Illinois Campus Compact 2011-2012 Issue #3, December 2011
Issue #3, December 2011
Contents:
NLU DAY OF SERVICE
Main
NLU SERVICE GIVES ADLER VISTA GIVES GREAT
ADVICE
HOPE FOR THE 2
HOLIDAYS ILCC 2011 PHOTO REVIEW!
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National Louis University’s This successful service project
Center for Civic came about through the
Engagement kicked off the smooth partnership between
MEETING OF THE MINDS
holiday season by holding the NLU Civic Engagement
AT ROOSEVELT
the school’s 1st Annual Fall Center staff and Volunteer UNIVERSITY 4
Quarter Day of Service at coordinator for Cornerstone
the Cornerstone Community Center, Lyda
Community Outreach Jackson. DECEMBER VISTA SPOTLIGHT
Center on Saturday “Todays service was actually 5
December 3, 2011. just a really pivotal event for
us,” said Jackson.
Over 50 volunteers showed
to help out in various areas The Cornerstone Community
of the CCO, from preparing Outreach Center was founded
meals in the dining hall to in 1989 to raise the quality of
organizing donations in the life for low-income residents
warehouse. in the Uptown community
and continues to support
nearly 500 men and women

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Illinois Campus Compact 2011-2012 Issue#3, December 2011
NLU SERVICE DAY
and continues to support nearly And more they did. When
500 men and women daily. asked about the volunteer
Ongoing programs at the center performance for the day,
include its clothing pantry, also Jackson commented, “By far
known as the free store, a food the most monumental project
bag program and a weekly was the transportation of the
dinner function providing donations to the clothing
meals for 150-200 low income pantry on the fifth floor of NLU volunteers dutifully shuttling
families every Saturday. our warehouse with no donations up to the fifth floor
elevator, it was excellent!”
ILCC VISTA Emma Adebayo
along with NLU’s Center for With their 1st Annual Fall
Civic Engagement staff, wanted Quarter Day of Service a
to act on the mission set forth success, NLU definitely
by NLU’s tenets for its Civic proves that a small service
Engagement Center and the can yield huge results.
AmeriCorps VISTA mission of
combating poverty. For more information on the
Cornerstone Community Volunteers hauling more donations
“It started as a toiletries drive, Outreach Center, feel free to into the fifth-floor warehouse
but we felt we could do more,”
said Adebayo. Continued on page 4
ADLER VISTA HOLDS FREE PROFESSIONAL FORUM
On Wednesday December 7th, 2011 Ashley Brazil,
ILCC VISTA at Adler Professional School of
Psychology, warmly welcomed both college
students and graduates to attend a free professional
development seminar with the hopes of helping
them finding gainful opportunities within the field
of psychology.
Brazil said she felt it necessary to hold the event due
to there being “no clear-cut career services
program,” available to the students there. The
nearly 2 hour workshop provided an in-depth
analysis of the practices and procedures crucial to
gaining positions within the psychological
ILCC Vista Ashley Brazil addresses the audience profession, particularly with an emphasis on
community service practicums and externships.
Continued on page 5
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3. Illinois Campus Compact 2011-2012 Issue #3, December 2011
ILCC EVENTS IN 2011
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4. Illinois Campus Compact 2011-2012 Issue#3, December 2011
NLU Service Day Resource Links for
(Continued)
December
visit their newly 1) AmeriCorps Week is an
renovated website at opportunity for AmeriCorps
ccolife.org or email CCO members, alums, grantees,
Volunteer Coordinator program partners and friends to
Lyda Jackson at demonstrate AmeriCorps' impact
lyda@ccolife.org to get on critical issues, bring more
involved. Part of the clothing store cleaned and Americans into service, and
organized by NLU volunteers thank the community partners
You can also find more who make AmeriCorps possible.
opportunities like the Fall AmeriCorps week is set for
Quarter Day of Service March 10-18, 2012.
http://www.americorps.gov/ab
directly from NLU’s
out/americorpsweek/index.asp
Center for Civic
Engagement website at 2) Illinois College’s Sonya Project
http://nlu.nl.edu/cec/ or is an after-school program that
find them on twitter, with provides support for elementary
school students who need help
the tag @NLUcec.
with reading. Congratulations to
our fellow ILCC VISTA Ruthi
Brooks for getting some ink!
http://www.myjournalcourier.com
/news/project-36964-reading-
aims.html
3) As all of you know, Congress
has been discussing legislation
NLU Civic Engagement Center logo that includes spending cuts to the
Corporation for National
Community Service and the
AmeriCorps program.
Fortunately, the original bill that
sought to reduce the majority of
our funding did not pass, but
service will continue to need
support in the future. Please send
an electronic letter asking your
legislators to fund the National
Corporation for Community
Service.
http://www.saveservice.org/
Have an interesting or insightful link to
share? Send it to jhurley6@depaul.edu or
camwoods007@gmail.com
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5. Illinois Campus Compact 2011-2012 Issue #3, December 2011
VISTA HOSTS MEETING OF THE
MINDS FOR SOCIAL JUSTTICE
On Tuesday, December 13th, ILCC VISTA Attendees had a chance to learn from groups of
Nikita Stange with the Mansfield Institute academics and community leaders who are
for Social Justice and Transformation working to identify alternatives to detention for
(MISJT) hosted the third part of their series youth. One panel member was Pamela Rodriguez,
on Youth, the Criminal Justice System and president of TASC, Inc. of Illinois, a nonprofit case
Disproportionality at Roosevelt University. management agency that identifies youth and
adults in the justice system who would be better
The series included several panel served in community based treatment rather than
discussions to offer perspectives from prison.
youth, law enforcement, and legal
representatives to help raise consciousness The panel also included Judge Colleen Sheehan,
on how racial inequalities in our justice who co-founded the Chicago Healing Circle
system funnel poor minority children into Project in an effort to decrease tension between
prison instead of productive adulthood. youth and law-enforcement through opening
conversation.
According to MISJT, one of the major
obstacles that youth face when dealing For the final piece in the series, MISJT will host an
with the juvenile justice system is that they expungement workshop in the spring to help
are not treated as juveniles. “The brain understand the lifelong impact of a criminal
continues to develop until more people are record on employment and house and other
25- therefore the decisions that young obstacles. According to Stange, it will focus on
people make are not those of adults. There information about policy and current efforts in
is a growing understanding that children Illinois to seal and expunge criminal records. If
need to be dealt with as children, however you would like more information about the
there is still much work to be done in this workshop or MISJT, feel free to contact Nikita
area.” Stange at nstange@roosevelt.edu.
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6. Illinois Campus Compact 2011-2012 Issue#3, December 2011
ADLER PROFESSIONAL FORUM CONT…
Brazil relied on both physical examples of
fictional resumes while integrating
multimedia as well to engage the students
in attendance.
“It’s always best to see how it’s done,” said
Brazil concerning her presentation
methods. She believes that “just telling”
how to do something is not sufficient, a
sentiment that was surely appreciated by
students in attendance.
Brazil plans to continue offering her
expertise for as long she can. “The first
clinical practicum is a rigorous experience, Several students taking notes during the talk
so I help them [students] do what they
must to recruit and retain these sites.”
With her sense of commitment and continued
application of her skills in the area of
professional development in her field, there is
no doubt that Brazil will help many more
students find and keep clinical and
community practicum opportunities within
the field of psychology, a field that millions of
Americans depend on every day for serious
help.
Looking for help obtaining a psychology
related position or have questions concerning
the practice in general or the Adler school?
Feel free to contact Ashley via her email:
abrazil07@gmail.com. One of many creatively designed spaces located
within the Adler school
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7. Illinois Campus Compact 2011-2012 Issue #3, December 2011
DECEMBER VISTA SPOTLIGHT
This edition’s VISTA Spotlight shines
brightly on ILCC VISTA Nikita Stange!
Hats off to Nikita on not only holding
a great event in December by
partnering with Roosevelt University’s
Mansfield Institute for Social Justice
and Transformation, but also
continuing to document her journey as
an AmeriCorps VISTA online. If you
haven’t seen her blog yet, check it out
now at http://ru-vista.blogspot.com/
Keep up the great work Nikita!
Nikita Stange, 2011-2012 ILCC
VISTA at Roosevelt University
55 E. Jackson Blvd
8th Floor Suite 800
Chicago, IL 60604