October 2025

Volunteer Services Coordinator

Major Projects:

Worked on accreditation for Maine Audubon through Alive! Service Enterprise. Met with Service Enterprise action team at Maine Audubon to finalize their Service Enterprise Application, which was submitted to AL!VE’s Service Enterprise review team on October 30. Continue to work on Service Enterprise Train the Trainer materials. Began planning the overarching schedule for advertisement, recruitment, and delivery of Service Enterprise Training to a new cohort of organizations in early 2026.

Attended the Maine Development Foundation’s Ingnite SPARK workshop and engaged in activities to support MDF’s 5 year plan development.

Attended the Maine Municipal Association’s 2025 Convention in Bangor as an exhibitor. Shared information about Maine Service Fellows with town managers and community organization leaders from across the state.

Met with workforce and service partners to discuss the development of apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs through the NGA Service to Careers Pathways Policy Academy. Hosted a virtual discussion with service program leaders from across the state where they shared information about their recruitment strategies and highlighted challenges they face in that area. The NGA Policy Academy is focused on supporting recruitment where possible. This meeting also included a presentation by Sean Keegan of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation that outlined all the wraparound supports available to programs and service members through the Maine Department of Labor and their partners. Drafted a short Powerpoint presentation to be delivered at the NGA convening in Utah the first week in November.

Met with Maine Service Fellows and Site hosts for monthly cohort meetings, and one-on-one mentorship meetings with each Service Fellow. Planned a 2-day Fellow retreat in Machias in November. Retreat will include a full day of professional development training and public presentations by the Fellows of their work with communities on critical needs. Wrote and submitted the NOAA CRRC Quarterly Report in an updated format that includes an overview of performance measures achieved by Maine Service Fellows . Met with Site Hosts who wish to continue into a second term of hosting a Maine Service Fellow, updated the application process online and advertised widely regarding the open application period for new host sites. Met with Victoria Tucker of Commonwealth Corps, the Massachusetts state service corps that was part of the inspiration for Maine Service Fellows, began building a collaborative relationship with that corps.

With Lucy Martin, collaboratively managed the social media scheduling and content for Volunteer Maine. Developed, designed, created, scheduled, and deployed social media posts and updated Volunteer Maine website as appropriate. Began work on social media campaigns Meet the Commission, and Crofton the MSF Moose mascot.

With Lucy Martin, began working on updating the Volunteer Management Certificate Course offered through Volunteer Maine. We are currently exploring options to move to a more responsive Learning Management System, the next iteration of the course has been scheduled for February, 2025. Continue development of micro-credentialing courses with Brenda Zollitsch who has been contracted as an instructional designer for this project. The first credentialing course should be completed by early November and the Maine Service Fellows will be asked to beta-test the course before we have Zollitsch prepare the remaining 9 courses.

Attended MCCS and MOCA staff meetings and attended monthly Commission Business meeting.

Issues to be aware of:

Volunteer Services Coordinator will be traveling to the NGA Policy Academy convening in Salt Lake City in November 2025.

Maine Service Fellows will have a retreat in November or December in Van Buren, date is t.b.d.

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. Attend NGA Convening in Utah.

Hosting a 2-Day retreat for Maine Service Fellows. 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. Accept and review applications for Host Sites for the Maine Service Fellows for 2026-2027. Begin coordinated outreach campaign for Fellow recruitment for 2026-2027.

Develop social media materials and schedules for all aspects of Volunteer Maine to increase public awareness of the Commission and what it provides to the public. Continue to update the Volunteer Maine website to reflect current offerings and increase visual impact through updated photos and graphics.

Update the Volunteer Management Course and prepare to deploy it in early 2026 as the course proctor.

Support the roll-out of ServeMaine.Org through planning, social media, and site support