Maureen Kendzierski, Volunteer Services Coordinator
Major Projects:
Maine Service Fellows site visits continued in August, with visits to Cherryfield and Deer Isle/Stonington early in the month and a visit to Machias later in the month where Brittany Gleixner-Hayat was able to join the visit. We met with the Maine Service Fellow and site supervisors. Completed monthly mentorship meetings with all MSFs.
Attended the NOAA CRRC Resilient Maine 3rd Quarter meeting, a site visit at Popham Beach where several programs made presentations about the work they are doing through the NOAA CRRC Resilient Maine grant.
Supported the preparation and execution of the Maine Volunteer Leadership Conference, providing hands-on support for set-up, registration, information services, and break-down.
Continued program development conversations with Kim Lengert of Ending Hunger Corps, including AmeriCorps program expertise through Michael Ashmore. EHC is planning to apply for an AmeriCorps Rural grant to run this integrated apprenticeship program. Moved forward conversations between Maine Conservation Corps leadership and Maine Rural Water Association, outcome is a planned pre-apprenticeship partnership between the two organizations leading to an interview for a registered apprenticeship slot at MWRA.
With Lucy Martin, collaboratively managed the social media scheduling and content for Volunteer Maine. Created a scheduling process and common understanding of what types of posts are appropriate for each format, how to plan content, and how to market VM’s programming and skills through this format.
Began Service Enterprise Train-the-Trainer, began reviewing Service Enterprise submission with Michael Ashmore.
Issues to be aware of:
Volunteer Services Coordinator will be traveling to the NGA Policy Academy convening in Salt Lake City in November 2025.
Major focus of effort in new month/Ongoing:
Collaborating with National Governor’s Association, MDOL, and other partners to identify schedules of work and pre-apprenticeship documentation for stacked and integrated apprenticeships.
Identify training opportunities for Maine Service Fellows and Site Supervisors.
Continue holding virtual meetings and collaboration between Maine Service Fellows and Maine Service Fellows Site Supervisors 2025-2026 cohort.
Continue to collaborate with Resilient Maine
Begin developing recruitment materials for the Maine Municipal Association Convention in October; this will be a major recruitment venue for Maine Service Fellows sites.
Prepping for Volunteer Maine’s move to a new department and building.