Welcome Your INCOMING Full-Year VISTAs!

Daniela, Julia, Julia (!), and Nathanael will serve Fairbanks from August 16, 2021 - August 15, 2022. As full year VISTAs, they will  build the capacity of their individual organizations through indirect service, and in Daniela's case, for the very first time at her site (trailblazer, she). We're excited to welcome them to the team and see the impact they have in the coming year! 

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Dani Ramos 
​Fairbanks Senior Center

Daniela is a recent high-school graduate from TERRA Environmental Research Institute and a passionate learner. Her curiosity led her to take multiple advanced humanities courses which fueled her current dedication to serving communities. In her hometown of Miami, Florida, she worked with multiple non-profits, most notably Vote to Push Play, an initiative to engage artists in local politics and community leadership. Daniela will be serving as a Community Outreach Steward at the Fairbanks Senior Center and hopes to expand the organization’s reach as well as her knowledge and skills. She enjoys exercising, reading classical literature, and playing chess. 

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Julia Rutherford 
​FNSB Noel Wien Library 

Julia is a southern Mainer who just graduated from St. Lawrence University in New York where she studied creative writing and film studies. During her 2021-2022 term she’ll be working with the Noel Wien Library to expand their resources. She hopes to incorporate her prior experience with children, incarcerated students, and other vulnerable communities to expand the library’s reach and make books and literacy more accessible for the masses. Julia is the biggest dog lover you’ll ever meet (so if you ever need a dogsitter…) and also likes to check out the craft brewery scene and hibernate under her weighted blanket with some short story collections.

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Julia Salt
​Fairbanks Soil & Water Conservation District  

Hi Y’all, I'm Julia!

I am just finishing up my master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Florida. During my time in undergrad and grad school I brought the lens of food systems and equity into my work. I have worked on an experimental farm and studied community gardens in Gainesville, Florida. When I saw a position at the Soil and Water Conservation District as a food systems developer, it sounded like a perfect job doing what I have already done but with the additional challenge of a harsh winter, a lens of indigenous practices and a component of health equity. So excited for the next year and for the opportunity to live in Alaska.

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Nathanael Harshman
​Fairbanks Reentry Coalition 

I’m Nathanael (he/him/guy/person/man/
creature/thing/human). I was born and raised in Anchorage/Fairbanks for most of my life. Between living rustically in the woods of Alaska at an early age with no running water or electricity, or living in the cozy (cough) confinements of the Federal Bureau of Prisons for growing marijuana, I have lived and had quite the colorful upbringing which has helped shape me into who I am today. While incarcerated, I absorbed any and all information that would help me once I was released. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy classes for an inside look at my own mind, College Courses centered around Business Ownership, Architecture and Computer Applications, I hosted poetry groups with my peers, taught GED-geared math to other inmates, and I counted the days just like so many of us Americans have to do today. Since release, I floated through many jobs, even participated with Dave’s Killer Bread for their Second Chance Act up in Seattle. Ultimately, I found that becoming a business owner furthered my family and my own dreams and also allowed me more time to start helping teach my friends and family that there are better ways to get by in this life. Whether you’re coming out of prison, you’re a single parent, or an addict of some kind, all of us face poverty or the potential of poverty on a daily basis. For all of this and so much more, I am excited to participate with the Fairbanks Reentry Coalition VISTA program, and to become a part of the change. Some interests and hobbies of mine include being a dad, reading, listening, swimming, traveling, technology, electronics, computers, gaming systems, drums, airplanes, poker, asset generation, crypto currencies, business ownership and being the change you wish to see in the world. One of my goals is to help those who are willing to help themselves. Let’s build a life that you don’t need a vacation from!