WEEKLY STAFF BULLETIN
May 18, 2022
  • Big thanks to Jami and Jena at Travis High School for celebrating their seniors with a CIS photo shoot and interviews!
  • to Christy Mitchell for sharing massive amounts of Lindtz chocolates to gift to my teachers and staff.
  • Thanks to Barbara, Dulce, Felicia, Johanna, Maggie, and Lindsay for collaboration on onboarding VISTAs, AMC, and Fellows to our organization! 
  • Thanks to Jamie, Mariloli, Yasmin, Ellen, and Carolina for letting me sit in on a Pebble Project Presentation! I appreciated seeing the awesome work ya'll do!
  • Shoutout to Jessy at Cedar Creek Intermediate for all of the effort she put into summer planning! 
  • Shout out to Angela Wilborn for her creativity and willingness to provide extra support for my senior celebration items! Also shout out to Crystal for being the backbone of our Southside OG's Team!
  • On April 28, more than 200 children and families gathered for the first-ever Family Literacy Night at Sanchez Elementary School with Communities In Schools! Shout out to CIS Program Manager Marjorie Villafranco for all that she did to make this event a success! Hosting family literacy nights and distributing culturally-relevant books are critical to ensure that all children are reading on grade level by the fourth grade. Click here to read all about it in a blog post from partners United Way.
  • Read additional shout outs from outside the organization for Tara, Whitney, K.C. and Kaylee here
Employee Excellence Recognition
Nominee Spotlight: Windy Dupre

"Despite the immense challenges of the past few years, Windy has consistently kept a positive attitude and worked with flexibility and creativity. Windy is able to very strategically work with a variety of partners, volunteers, and school administrators to serve a large caseload out of a tiny (but welcoming!) office. She gives every task her best effort and asks great questions to ensure she does technical tasks correctly. Windy always prioritizes the needs of her students and families and shows an inspiring commitment to integrity. Windy is not afraid to be a trail blazer when it comes to new initiatives or opportunities. Last summer, Windy facilitated the Small Bites snack program with almost her entire caseload! This year, Windy has jumped into our Check and Connect pilot with intention and consistency, despite many bumps and challenges along the way. Windy also utilizes every bit of her campus funds, incentive funds, and her microgrant to create exciting programming opportunities for her students, families, and Lagos Elementary. Windy's commitment to the mission of CIS is evident in the effort she brings to the job every day. Her resilience and dedication make her an asset to our team and the agency."
At Communities In Schools of Central Texas, we strive to recognize and reward employees for their significant contributions to our mission and values. Do you know a CIS staff member who has gone above and beyond? Someone who "lives" the CIS values? Use the online form to submit a nominee!
The deadline to nominate someone for this school year is June 15, 2022.

Winners will be announced at the Back to School All-Staff event.
  • Program Managers: Please complete the AmeriCorps Feedback Survey 
  • AMC Summer Service Plans were sent out to members this week and are due May 20. Please check in and work alongside your member to get this completed. Members are scheduled to serve on June 20 (staff are off). More guidance on activities for this day will be provided soon. 
Last week at the AmeriCorps Service Recognition Ceremony we announced our annual ABBY Award nominees and winners. ABBY stands for Above and Beyond to Benefit Youth. This award is in memory of Abby Burg, a highly respected AmeriCorps Member from our 2010-2011 cohort who, sadly, passed away just before the end of her term of service. Our ABBY Award nominees this year were: Carlos Bravo, Ella Carr, Bobbie Cortez, David Marchese, Kristin Sambell, and Areli Sarabia. 
Huge congratulations to our two ABBY Award Winners: Ella Carr & David Marchese!

  • "Ella has developed such rich and meaningful relationships with all of the students and families on her caseload. She assisted one of her students through multiple CPS placements, ensuring that he has consistency and stability every step of the way, coordinating with the student's CASA volunteer, SBS teachers, school administrators and family members. Another one of her students is a teen parent and newcomer to the U.S., and Ella is diligent about providing support for this student through basic needs check-ins, attendance monitoring and intervention, family contact, coordinating home visits and donations, and providing emotional and academic support for her student (all in Spanish, student's home language.) Often she knows more about what a student is going through than most of the members of the meetings we attend, and her input has been crucial to students receiving the accommodations they need to be successful at school (something that will impact them far beyond her term of service!!)” *excerpt
  • “David was able to immediately identify a huge need on our campus and he addressed that need through a huge service learning project. By developing a basic needs pantry on our campus, David was able to address the need for food, as we are located in a food desert, as well as the need for basic need supplies. The need for this project is a sensitive issue and David continuously demonstrated empathy and compassion as to how the project was discussed and advertised. David engaged students in every phase of the project from building the shelving units to creating the shopping list. David went beyond expectations in securing a grant to help fund this project so that it could be everything we needed it to be.” 
Click here to register. Registration is on the blue FAMILY FIELD TRIP tab!
Q&A with Kaylee Romero, celebrating 5 years as a Communities In Schools Employee
  • What was your first position at Communities in Schools or what is your current position at Communities In Schools? I started as an AmeriCorps member at Bertha Sadler Means YWLA, I am currently the Senior Director of Impact and Contract Management.
  • What is one thing that has changed in your time at CIS and/or one thing that has remained the same? The biggest thing is I got married to my husband who I met when we were AmeriCorps members together at CIS. 
  • What is your favorite memory from your time at CIS? My favorite memory was the inaugural Girl's Conference at Sadler Means, it was a perfect event that blended student and family interests in a very engaging way. I am so proud of the continued work by the CIS staff at Sadler Means to host the event every year. 
  • When you aren’t working ,what is your favorite way to spend time? One of my favorite things to do is play trivia with my friends. 
  • What is your favorite quote? "We should not be scared of what will happen if we try. We should be scared of what will happen if we don't." - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
It's graduation season and we will be celebrating our seniors here in the Apple, and in our Community Connections newsletter, and on social media! Want to celebrate your CIS senior? Reach out to Debra.
Annual Employee Survey Report

When we decided to partner with McLean & Company to conduct our employee survey this year, we were assured that the responses would be analyzed and reported back to us within a few weeks of the survey closing. We received the engagement report this past Monday. We’ve barely begun analyzing the results, but we wanted to share this with everyone before summer vacations begin.

About the report:
  • Thank you to 72% of employees who responded to the survey. This is an excellent response rate!
  • Questions or prompts that had fewer than 4 responses were redacted or not included in the report to assure employee anonymity.
  • The information included in the Appendix on pgs. 40 & 41 is very helpful in understanding how the employee responses are presented in the report.
  • The Priority Matrix on pg. 13 is a great visualization of areas where employees feel our organization is strong and where there is room for evaluation and improvement.
 
Initial takeaways based on responses:
  • We currently have a high level of employee engagement: 51.1% are engaged and another 24.1% are almost engaged.    
  • We have several areas of organizational strengths including strong relationships with each other and with supervisors, a strong organizational culture and a strong belief in the potential of CIS.
  • We also have several areas requiring evaluation and improvement including compensation and recognition, work-life balance and employee empowerment.
  • We are below benchmark scores in some key areas including Department Leadership and Executive Leadership. We want understand why and how we can improve.

It may not always be obvious, but employee survey data does inform the work of our large, complex organization. During this summer, priority areas for evaluation and improvement will be incorporated into departmental work plans for the upcoming year. We have work to do. I am proud be part of CIS and do this work alongside of each of you. -Dian
LISTENING SESSION FOLLOW-UP & SURVEY LINK

Sharon recently hosted Listening Sessions in-person at the CIS Central Office. For those who prefer to give input via a survey or could not attend one of the sessions, there is a survey link you can use to provide feedback. Survey responses will go to our consultant, Melanie, who will send us back a synopsis of results. Click here to take the survey.
Next Steps in our Input Session Journey

Input received during our “input week” will feed into department planning and the budget process. Sharon recorded a video message about the sessions you can view here. Please also take a moment to review the Input Week PPT and complete the Survey Feedback on Input sessions here.
Summer 2022 Volunteers 
  • If a friend, family member, or other prospective volunteer has expressed interest in supporting your Summer Programming, please direct them to fill out a Summer 2022 Volunteer Application: https://forms.office.com/r/6WfBbaMC5k. After signing up to volunteer, they will be required to submit a criminal background check and review a volunteer agreement via DocuSign. 
  • Program Staff will be notified of volunteer clearances via email. 
  • One-time guest speakers are not required to submit a CBC.
  • If an active CIS volunteer would like to continue into the month of June to support summer programming, the summer volunteer application will be the only requirement, so please forward the link to them.
  • Questions may be sent to volunteer@ciscentraltexas.org.  
Reminder from PMD:
All students with a pre-SHAW need a post-SHAW, including inactive students.
Reminder
Free Virtual Cover Letter & Resume Building Workshop for CIS Alumni &
CIS High School Juniors & Seniors

CIS juniors, seniors, and alumni may register here to join a one hour free session in resume building. This session will be through a virtual platform, not in person, on May 24th from 12-1 pm.
Reminder
PROMISE 54 Staff / AmeriCorps Member Experience Survey

We are excited to announce that we will be participating in Promise54’s Staff/Member
Please set aside ~15 minutes to complete this survey by May 20 using the following links:

Reminder
Summer Supply Checkout Guidelines
Beginning May 16 at 8:00am at the CIS Central Office
Reminder
CIS Workplace Essentials Due by Wednesday, June 22nd
Friendly reminder! Please complete both CIS Workplace Essentials learning paths by Wednesday, June 22nd. Please let Vinnie Casanova know if you have any questions.
Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read the Apple Juice staff bulletin each week! Congrats to last week's drawing winner!

This week's winner of a $15 Panera gift card is Kenia Ocegueda at Lehman HS
Find recent resources and upcoming events on the
Community Resources, News & Events
Free Covid tests through USPS are available again.

Request online to receive 8 tests delivered to your home:
Any Baby Can has extended the registration to Camp Grey Dove until Monday May 23. They still have about 15 spaces available for this free long week camp at Peaceable Kingdom in Killeen, Texas for siblings of children and youth with cancer (in treatment /post-treatment) and the siblings of those who passed away from cancer. They can consider children of parents who passed away because of cancer too. Camp is open to children and youth ages 7 to 14 and for teens between the ages of 15 to 17.

Registration Forms:
 
Camp Grey Dove runs from Monday June 6 to Friday, June 10. Free of Cost: $0 
#TogetherWeWillHeal Forum
Every 3rd Wednesday of the month this informative wellness series talks about mental health, substance use disorder, intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as the general wellbeing of African Americans. CTAAFSC’s vision is to educate the African American community on these topics and to provide resources. Click here to register
2022 Latinx Kidlit Book Festival: A FREE virtual celebration of Latinx authors, illustrators and books on October 13-14.
 
The festival features FREE educator content for Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month including panels, live illustrator-draw-offs, giveaways, music and more!
 
COMADRE TEACHERS: Enter to win a FREE classroom set of books when you submit student questions for participants to answer.

Learn more and join the celebration at LatinxKidLitBookFestival.com.
Mina Elementary Girl Scouts earned enough funds from their cookie sales for an end of the year field trip. They went to Fisherman’s Park to tie-dye canvas backpacks and had lunch at Neighbor’s yard, so the girls had an opportunity to explore their hometown community. 
Widen Elementary 3rd and 4th grade Girl Scouts closed out the year with tie-dye and ice cream. Their backpacks proudly display badges earned this year! 
Sanchez Family Literacy Night!
More fun happening in first grade at Andrews Elementary! CIS Program Manager Marianna Martinez read a book with her students called, I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll and then they all made monster puppets together. 
Rodriguez ES staff received flower seeds, rakes, gardening gloves, yoga instructions and chocolate for teacher appreciation.

Photos from last week's Volunteer Appreciation Happy Hour event!
Communities In Schools Resources & Information
This section is the same each week and has links to agency resources and reference materials.
WELLNESS COMMITTEE

It’s time to participate in the monthly Wellness Tracker challenge! Enter for a chance to win one Wellness Committee Gift Bag with fun self-care items! You have until the end of each month to complete an entry (one per person per month) and drawings will happen on the 5th of the following month. At the end of the school year we will select two “Grand Prize” winners, so make sure you enter every month to increase your chances! Examples of wellness activities you can engage in: walking, yoga, reading, cooking a meal, spending time with a loved one, prayer, meditation or other mindfulness activity.
Submit your wellness activities HERE!
Resources for Anxiety
If you are feeling fear, anxiety, sadness, or uncertainty, assistance is available through the Communities In Schools Employee Assistance Program. Benefits include law access, HelpNet, Safe Ride, Work Life, Well Coach, and 1-6 counseling sessions, and can be accessed by phone: 800-343-3822 or 512-328-1144, TDD 800-448-1823. Click here  to access and select Access Your Benefits. Registration Code: AWP-CISA- 198
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Our Mission: Communities In Schools of Central Texas surrounds students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.