Free Write- MMMF

This weekend, I took a nice (and much needed) break from school and went to the three day festival in Down Town Phoenix called McDowell Mountain Music Festival. 

My work usually helps donate towards the charity event of the festival, because one of the main sponsors is a construction company we do interior work for. I actually just learned that this weekend, and I thought it was really awesome that my work donated to the cause, and also that they gave out VIP tickets to the employees who were interested in going.

I really enjoyed all the different bands that were put together in one concert setting. I love the opportunity to check out new music, or appreciate a band even more by hearing them live. One bad I really appreciated more than I thought was Portugal the Man. They had such a great stage presence, and kept everyone dancing. Also, I got to see my favorite band, Widespread Panic, which always brings a fun crowd and a great show!

Another thing I really enjoyed was the setting in Down Town Phoenix. I was able to check out a couple places down town before the festival, so I felt like it connected me a little bit more with the community.

I am a bit exhausted today after the whole weekend. I won't lie, I struggled a little bit through work and class today (haha). However, I am feeling good and more motivated to finish up the rest of the semester!

Public Service & Urban Governance

Why do I believe Local First Arizona demonstrates Public Service and Urban Governance? 

Well, there are several reasons why.

Local First Arizona's sole purpose is to service the local communities, by building local economy, vibrant communities, and ultimately supporting the community.

The are active in many mixers, events, and speeches each month to connect people in the community. Those connections are networking amongst local businesses, connection of local producer and local consumer, and connecting consumers to their community. 

If it wasn't already obvious, Local First Arizona is all about their community, and anything that will benefit it.

Local First Arizona, not only makes connections within the community, but they fight to influence policy to ensure their vision for their community. 

Local First Arizona is compiled of people who are inspired by the community, want to provide services for their community, and who are leaders of the community. 

Local First Arizona inspires others to be dedicated to their community, and be a part of the public service initiatives. 

Supervisor Interview

For my Leadership and Change class last semester, we had to interview someone who we believed was a leader and making change happen. It immediately struck me to interview my supervisor, and mentor, Steve. He is absolutely a leader in a change effort. He works tireless to communicate local and healthy food to a community, and motivate a change within our community. He is very precise about the work his team does, and sets high standards. At the same time, he is always willing to do any task that he may ask his constituents, and always makes the environment fun. 

I would like to share this interview about leadership that I had with Steve. This interview gives a more personal, and inside view point on Local First Arizona. It really shows how innovative, dedicated, and passionate a non-profit organization can be!

·       Within the organization, do you observe more energy and effort being directed toward meeting the objective of the change effort? Do you see individuals challenging questions and validating for themselves the need to change? – How you view other in the organization wanting to participate in the change; are they part of the change, do they make effort with personal lifestyle, etc..

We are all completely bought in to the work that we do. Our organization’s goal is to build consumer participation in the local economy, and I’d say that we are all very dedicated to making those individual consumer choices that we encourage others to make as well. For instance, we all visit the farmers’ market for much of our produce, we all participate in buy local month in December, and there is often at least one of us present at many of our events, enjoying the experiences for ourselves. We hold ourselves and one another accountable on this, so yes, I would say that we are very dedicated to being a part of the change.

·       Within the organization, does your group that is guiding change motivate and inspire others to participate in the change?

Yes, I think so. Our organization understands that we will not successfully change Arizona’s economy without the participation of other members of that economy. A large portion of the work that we do is inspiring others to make changes for themselves, by reminding them of the big picture. We walk the walk when it comes to building the local economy; we inspire other businesses via practices such as ensuring that almost all of our b2b transactions are done with local companies. Often we find that businesses are hesitant to do this due to the perception of the expense with working with locals, so by doing this, we help to lead the way for other entities to follow.

·       Within the organization, does your group that is guiding change consistently get the resources, information, and support it needs to progress rapidly?

Not always. Sometimes we need to work with limited resources to get the job done. It can be a challenge, but we work hard to bring together resources that already exist in the community. For example, for our Fall Festival, we borrow picnic tables from the Roosevelt Row CDC in stead of renting costly table/chair combos for seating.

·       Regarding the change effort, what is your vision? How do you make your vision compelling and desirable for your constituents/other individuals?

Local First Arizona´s goal is simple: Make Arizona a better place by supporting locally owned businesses and building vibrant communities that residents are proud to call home.

·       Do you and your constituents/ other individuals in the organization  discuss the vision, goals, and strategies in routine management meetings as well as formal and informal gatherings?

We do regularly discuss how our initiatives fit in with the vision/mission/goals of the organization, however, there is minimal discussion on developing our mission/vision/goals further, except on a case-by-case basis, as it pertains to the evolution of our initiatives. For example, when we adopted a new initiative that promotes “good food” we had a process of defining exactly what “good food” looks like, and had to decide whether or not advocating for (for example) GMO-free food was within the scope of our mission/vision/goals.

·       Within the organization, do you use recognition and reward systems that inspire, promote optimism, and build self-confidence? Do you observe new ideas being proposed and tested by your constituents/other individuals in the organization?

Yes; LFA is all about recognition and empowerment. Our organizational belief is that people perform their best when they enjoy what they are doing, and feel a genuine passion for that work. To that end, all members of staff and the head leadership at LFA regularly recognize the various volunteers, staff etc. in the form of appreciation, encouragement and recognition.

·       Regarding the change effort, are there quick results that are made visible to all? Do your constituents/other individuals regularly recognize and celebrate even the small important achievements?

Yes, we have very active social media streams, and utilize our live twitter feed to highlight all things small and large, then facebook to highlight the big stuff. This platform also allows our members to retweet and share the message, further amplifying our voice and reach!

·       Within the organization, are new projects and initiatives being launched to make more significant changes to the organization’s processes, technology, and systems?

Yes, for example, we are currently in the process of a major website overhaul, addressing many issues with website functionality, as well as integrating a new web platform

·       Within the organization are people seeking to understand what they need to do and what is expected of them to be successful in the change effort? Do they use old habits, values, and traditions to describe how things have changed?

Our team is very good at seeking consensus and collaborating to meet goals. Our office setup, we have one giant table that everyone sits at, so we often work together to develop our own capacity through internal mentoring and advising. We are very much a team, and we are always working on building new strategies and habits that will make us a more productive workplace.  

Leadership

Leadership definitely plays a role in my internship environment. Local First Arizona is a leader for its cause, and Arizona's communities. Each member of Local First Arizona has to be a leader for the cause of the organization as well. Each employee does their best to represent what local means. They shop local, eat local, and promote local to the best of their ability. 

When I was interning for LFA last semester, I immediately felt engaged to be as consumed in local as possible. I began shopping more frequently at Farmer's Markets, finding the local food producers at stores, and eating at local restaurants. I wanted to represent that I was being a leader of local within my community, just as my co-workers were doing. 

After my internship, into this semesters, I have kept my loyalty to my affiliation with Local First Arizona. I still want to represent the local community, and be a leader for LFA. This internship has changed my habits, and I want to continuously improve. 

I would definitely say it is imperative for everyone affiliated with Local First Arizona, from employees to volunteers, to display leadership. Local First Arizona is motivating a social movement, and everyone affiliated has to be completely passionate for its cause. They have to live the life they are pushing others to change to. They have to be as local consuming as possible, to show others that it is possible. They are constantly involved in the community, working with the community, and shopping within the community. 

Free Write-

Well, I thought I would write about my life in the last two semesters, as this is the busiest I believe I have ever been in my life. 

I am 25 years old, and I have been working full time since I started college when I was 20. When I started college I was bar tending full time. In fall of 2013, I decided I needed to get out of the night life, and into a day job, so I used my associates degree to get a job at an interior construction firm. So, since the fall of 2013, I have been working full time during the day, and going to school full time at night and online. 

In the fall of 2014, I added my internship hours into my hectic schedule. I would work my internship in the middle of the day, and work at my job before and after. I ended up working nearly 60 hours, plus my 15 credit hours of school. 

This semester I was promoted at my job to a salary position as an account manager. I am now juggling my 40+ hours full time job, 15 school credits, and wedding planning. My work has been very flexible towards school, and has allowed me to work some of my hours around fitting in my internship, and classes. In fact, they were pleased with my ability to manage full time work and full time school, and thought that was a great skill to my new position as an account manager. 

I feel very thankful to  have landed a full time job that has promoted me to a career position. I know it is a lot of work, and time put into working full time, and going to school full time, but I am already seeing the hard work pay off. 

To look back on these last two semesters, I feel crazy for taking on so much, but at the same time I am very pleased with myself, and excited for how I have set things up. Also, I have really learned to manage my time very efficiently, and feel silly to have thought before these last two semesters I was "too busy" to fit something in. After learning to manage work, school, wedding planning, family, and friends, I know now that I should never feel "too busy" to make a phone call or meet up with someone or fit something else in.

Here's to eight more weeks of chaos!  

Career Service Number One

Today I went to the PeaceCorp information career service at the downtown Phoenix campus inside the A.E England Building.

I thought this was a great location due to the cultural nature of the downtown area, and the cultural learning of the PeaceCorp information session. 

I decided to do this event, because I was really interested in the PeaceCorps when I was younger, so I thought I would give myself a chance to see what it was all about. Plus, I had never had a chance before to learn more about PeaceCorps, or knew how to move forward with it. 

When I first walked in into the historic building, past PeaceCorp volunteers were speaking in front of the room, and tables with information surrounded the perimeter of the building. 

I started off by grabbing a seat, and listening to the speakers.

Each speaker experienced their volunteering in a different region- Mongolia, Philippines, Samoa, Central America. They shared stories about their experiences, and how it helped change them and build character. It was funny hearing their stories about cultural learning experiences, each one unique to the region. Everyone that spoke seemed very excited about what they had to share, and were very thankful for the experience. 

After the speeches, I walked around the room and browsed the informational tables. I realized there were many educational opportunities in addition to the traditional PeaceCorps. To be a PeaceCorps volunteer you are placed in a foreign country for 27 months. Each volunteer has the opportunity to learn another culture, exchange knowledge and cultural experiences. However, if you weren't quite up to committing for 27 months,  there are opportunities to study abroad for a semester, which most people are aware of. There were also programs such as collaborative solutions through the school of engineering to bridge the gap between cultures. It was nice to see how many ways there were to reach out and learn another culture, while creating a memorable experience for all parties involved. 

Although I think I missed my time to explore the PeaceCorps, I am glad to know there are other ways to have a cultural, and educational experience. I definitely encourage anyone who isn't quite ready to go into the workforce after college, to explore the PeaceCorps! It looks like an amazing experience for so many reasons, and there are so many benefits for a volunteer when they come back, including scholarships for a Master's Degree. 

I am glad I took the opportunity to learn about the PeaceCorps, because it was something out of the norm for me, and I at least got to explore a childhood dream.