Caitlin served as a community outreach volunteer at the Fairbanks Children's Museum from February 2021 to December 2021. Throughout her time there, Caitlin was able to work alongside museum staff to continue providing quality educational & outreach opportunities to Fairbanks families, even in the middle of a global pandemic which presented many challenges. She ended her service time at the museum inspired by the unique and resilient Fairbanks community, as well as with a feeling of gratitude for her time spent at the Fairbanks Children's Museum with the amazing team of people there who are always dreaming up big dreams for the families of Fairbanks. Caitlin has relocated to Denver, CO where she has started a new position at the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development. 

Last Monday seems like a lifetime ago; nevertheless, our City of Fairbanks VISTA cohort spent a productive day helping to get Restore Inc.'s new stabilization space ready for its soft opening last Friday. Not only was the day's service satisfying, but seeing the direct fruits of our labor in such a short amount of time was a bonus reward! The final four photos were taken at last Friday's big reveal, and although I could not be in attendance, I heard it was a complete success; the photographic evidence underscores the dedicated human vision behind the space. The cohort was truly thrilled to help Restore Inc. get this important community resource ready for use. Thanks so much for the opportunity to serve, Shelissa!
                                                                                                                                                                Denise

Please welcome our two most recent VISTA cohort members. They may have only just arrived, but each of them is already getting things done and starting to make their respective presence felt at their sites. Please join me in welcoming Abby and Artëm!
                                                                                                                                                                Denise

Our speakers' series picks up again in 2022 with a wonderful State Department presentation! This time around, the technological glitches have been worked out (!), and we will be hosting this in the VISTA office at Fairbanks City Hall next Tuesday. If you'd like to join us live or via Zoom, do please drop us an email and we will provide you with further information.
                                                                                                                                                                Denise

Happy New Year everyone! Our VISTA Speakers' Series is part of an overarching professional development benefit we provide to our VISTA cohort, based in part on topics they identified as having an interest in learning more about. As the program will be saying good-bye to a portion of our current cohort as their service year comes to an end in February, a focus on employment after service is key. I was so pleased to get such talented community professionals together in Fairbank's City Hall Council Chambers for an afternoon with the majority of the cohort (and one participated via Zoom) to go over resume tips and tricks, the ins and outs of federal job applications, and then a productive round of speed interviewing. These photos do not do the interviewing speed rounds justice - I quite literally had to get interviewers up from their chairs to move at the allotted time because conversations were too engrossing to cut short! I want to thank everyone involved in Tuesday afternoon's session - and a special shout-out to Mike Sander's quick use of his cell phone to allow our Zoom participant to also speed interview via telephone. The afternoon's agenda is part of the below slide show, and if anyone would like information on how to contact any of the speakers, do feel free to reach out to us here at the Fairbank's VISTA office. Each speaker comes highly recommended; I also could not be more proud of this VISTA cohort.  They are getting amazing stuff done now in this community, and they undoubtedly can and should look forward to bright and meaning-filled futures. 
                                                                                                                                                               Denise