Step by Step Programs and Projects

Because of Step by Step’s collaborative nature, it is sometimes difficult to discern what is considered Step by Step’s work, and what is primarily the work of one of our partners. The following programs and projects are listed because they are either supervised by a Step by Step staff or VISTA member or because they were supported primarily by Step by Step staff or VISTAs.

Below are descriptions of each of these programs as well as links to related blog posts and websites:

AmeriCorps VISTA
Big Ugly Library
Community Shares of West Virginia
Computer Rebuilding Project
Digital Stories
Energy Express
Front Porch Project
GeriOlympics
Green Team
Lincoln County Youth & Prevention Coalition
Listening Projects
Maternal Infant Health Outreach Workers
Micro Society
Natural Helpers
Operation Read WV
Patchwork Dreams
Project FLOW
R.E.A.L Program
Service Learning Internship Program
Strength Finders
Summer of Service Program
Sustainability Fair
Too Good for Drugs and Violence
WV Dreamers Afterschool Program

AmeriCorps VISTA
AmeriCorps VISTA is the national service program designed specifically to fight poverty. The VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) program was founded in 1965 and incorporated into the AmeriCorps network of programs in 1993. VISTA members commit to serve full-time for a year at a nonprofit organization, fighting poverty through indirect service such as writing grants, recruiting volunteers, fundraising, developing programming, and building capacity in their organizations.

Step by Step employs nearly two dozen VISTAs to work with Step by Step or partner organizations throughout seven counties in Southern West Virginia. For a list of Step by Step employees (which includes Step by Step VISTAs) and their bios and job titles, go here. If you are interested in applying for a Step by Step AmeriCorps VISTA position, contact mtierney@stepbystepwv.org or go here and type “Step by Step” in the “Program Name” box. For all Step by Step blog articles related to VISTA work, go here.

Big Ugly Library
The Big Ugly Library, the only library within 45 miles of the Big Ugly Community Center, offers over 10,000 books for community members, young and old. Topics range from poetry, non-fiction, picture books, books for toddlers, young adult fiction, the classics and more. Books can be checked out on Tuesdays with Library VISTA Nell Fleming, or other days that the center is open by getting in contact with Big Ugly Community Center VISTA Eileen Marin. Library membership is free and available to everyone.

For more on the Big Ugly Community Center library, including what types of books are available, check out their LibraryThing site. For all Step by Step blog posts related to the Big Ugly Library, go here.

Community Shares of WV
Community Shares of WV is a collective group of West Virginia non-profits who have teamed up to increase fundraising efforts and raise awareness about their work. In 2008, Community Shares of WV fundraising efforts and newsletters were coordinated by Step by Step VISTA Marta Pate.

Click on the following link to go to the Community Shares website or click here for all Step by Step blog articles related to Community Shares of WV.

Computer Rebuilding program
The Computer Rebuilding program takes used computer parts and shows seniors and youth how to rebuild them into computers. Each participant is meant to walk away with their own computers, as well as to donate an additional one that they rebuilt to a community member in need.

This program was piloted at the East End Family Resource Center as well as Canaan United Methodist, and integrated into the Summer of Service Program in 2009. For Step by Step blog articles related to the Computer Rebuilding program, go here.

Digital Stories
Digital stories are video or digital photos with audio and/or captions put over them in order to tell a story. Our goal is to teach community members to do digital stories so that they can share their stories and learn cool technological skills in the process.

Participants of the 2009 Summer of Service program at the East End Family Resource Center learned how to do digital stories. Other digital stories are currently in the works on the following topics:
Water/Project FLOW from Earth Day Block Party, Sustainability Fair, and “Hanging in for the Long Haul” interviews of long-term activists taken by Bonner Scholar college students.

For Step by Step blog articles posts related to digital stories, go here.

Energy Express
Energy Express is a six-week summer program promoting the school success of children living in rural and low-income communities across West Virginia by:

• Providing summer learning experiences focused on reading.
• Serving two nutritious family-style meals each day.
• Engaging college students in service through AmeriCorps.
• Developing strong partnerships involving parents, schools, communities, and state agencies and organizations.

Click here to visit the Energy Express website and click here to read articles on this blog related to Energy Express.

Front Porch
The Front Porch project teaches youth how to do basic building repairs like painting, putting in windows, putting in a front porch, landscaping, etc. for community members in need. Not only does this help connect young people to their community members, but it also helps beautify the area and it teaches youth teamwork and life and job skills that they can utilize.

To see Step by Step blog posts related to the Front Porch project, click here.

Geri Olympics
Geri Olympics is a project of Dr. Ted Muilenberg, where nursing home residents compete at sports like wheel chair racing and horse shoe. In 2008, a United States Geri Olympics team of West Virginians competed at the International Geri Olympics in Prague. In the past, Step by Step VISTAs have helped coordinate volunteers, press and a website, for Geri Olympics events.

For Step by Step blog posts related to the Geri Olympics, go here.

Green Team
The “Green Team” is a group of Charleston area youth trained to do energy audits where they go into people’s homes and show them how to weatherize their houses so that they can save money on their energy bill, and help curb global warming in the process.

Step by Step VISTA members have been trained by the DEP on how to do energy audits and this knowledge was passed on to participants of the 2009 Summer of Service program at the East End Family Resource Center.

For Step by Step blog posts related to the Green Team, go here.

Lincoln County Youth & Prevention Coaltion
The Lincoln County Youth & Prevention Coalition (LCYPC) is one of the 17 county-based coalitions operating in West Virginia, chosen to receive funding from the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF SIG), for implantation of prevention strategies. Goals and objectives of the Coalition for 2008-09 include:

• To further the capacity of the Coalition to meet its mission.
• To build community awareness of core substance abuse issues in Lincoln County.
• To focus on the prevention needs of pregnant women in order to address the high rates of smoking during pregnancy and Lincoln County’s having the highest rate of infant mortality in the state.
• To address the continued high rates of youth consumption of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana through prevention programs aimed at school age children.
• To address the special information and support needs of senior citizens.
• To lay the foundation for a county-wide collaboration to address prescription drug abuse.

Step by Step is a member of the Lincoln County Youth & Prevention Coalition and has developed numerous programs with the goals of the LCYPC in mind, including Too Good for Drugs & Violence, Natural Helpers, and MIHOW. In addition, with a grant that Step by Step helped write, $1,197,711 was awarded to help transform Lincoln County school district’s counseling programs. Part of this money has been used to pay for an AmeriCorps VISTA to help strengthen family outreach and youth prevention activities at Lincoln County High School.

For Step by Step blog posts related to the Lincoln County Youth & Prevention Coalition, go here.

Listening Projects
Listening Projects are an unscientific way to assess community needs by simply listening to people answer questions based around a topic. In Winter 2009, Step by Step VISTAs developed a set of questions to find out what mattered to community members in Southern West Virginia. After interviewing several people, multiple themes arose, but the topic of life and job skills stood out the most. To delve deeper into this theme, Step by Step developed a second listening project with this focus, and has been interviewing community members throughout Southern West Virginia since June. If you would like to be interviewed or to help conduct interviews, please contact sbsadmin@stepbystepwv.org.

For Step by Step blog posts related to Listening Projects, go here.

Maternal Infant Health Outreach Workers (MIHOW)
Developed by the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the MIHOW program trains outreach workers to conduct home visits with expectant mothers and parents of children up to age 3. MIHOWs develop mentoring relationships with their mothers, provide information and referral, and organize community support for this population. Our MIHOWs particularly focus on substance abuse and prevention efforts but also address basic needs, childcare and parenting issues, and healthy and effective lifestyles. Going beyond typical MIHOW duties, the Step by Step MIHOW program offers access to a baby pantry made up of donated baby items, located in the Harts Veteran’s Center.

For Step by Step blog posts on MIHOW, go here.

Micro-Society
All parts that make a society operate are mirrored in different modules in this simulation project, where primary school students basically run their own little city. Micro-Society currently takes place as part of Omar Elementary’s WV Dreamers Afterschool program in Logan County.

For Step by Step blog posts related to Micro-Society, go here.

Natural Helpers
A peer counseling program developed by the Comprehensive Health Education Foundation. Presently, we have Natural Helpers student groups located at each of the four middle schools in Lincoln County and at Lincoln High School. School counselors serve as Natural Helpers advisers. Students participate in a two-day training and receive monthly-weekly support from their advisers.

For Step by Step blog posts related to Natural Helpers, go here.

Operation Read WV
In conjunction with the Faces of Leadership Conference, Operation Read WV is a project where we encourage and promote literacy and book drives throughout the state of West Virginia.

For Step by Step blog posts related to Operation Read WV, go here.

Patchwork Dreams
Patchwork Dreams is a compilation of oral histories, songs, recipes and more, from the people of Harts Creek and Big Ugly Creek, West Virginia, put together by Heidi Muller and Step by Step VISTA Dana Khunline. As part of the project, community members created patches of quilts and wrote modern folk songs, with the help of Heidi Muller. Copies of the book , which sells for $30, come with an accompanying CD of these modern and traditional folk songs. Patchwork Dreams curriculum is also available. For more information, go here.

For articles on this blog related to Pathchwork Dreams, go here.

Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning (REAL) program
REAL provides curricula, training, and resources to help rural America grow through hands-on entrepreneurship education that prepares active, self-sufficient and productive citizens to contribute to their communities’ social and economic development. In 2009, Step by Step incorporated REAL activities into the Summer of Service Program and the Big Ugly Community Center Afterschool Program.

For Step by Step blog posts related to REAL, go here.

Service Learning Internship program
The Service Learning Internship Program was launched for the 2008-2009 school year at West Virginia State University, giving students an opportunity to learn outside the class room through service in their communities.

For Step by Step blog posts related to the Service Learning Internship program, go here.

Strength Finders
The Strength Finders program helps participants assess the top five themes of their strengths. The idea is that, rather than trying to fix people’s weaknesses, success can be achieved when people simply understand how to utilize the strengths they already possess. With thirty years of research behind it, the Strength Finders program has been proven to improve graduation and retention rates in high schools and colleges. In 2009 Step by Step ran a pilot Strength Finders program with roughly a dozen youth each from Big Ugly and Charleston, as well around a dozen key Step by Step staff and partners. In Fall 2009, we intend to expand the program by including more participants in the pilot program, as well as opening it up to one of the Natural Helpers groups at a middle school in Lincoln County.

For Step by Step blog posts related to Strength Finders, go here.

Summer of Service
In its first year, the 2009 Summer of Service Program gave youth ages 11-17 the opportunity to explore sustainability and the environment, technology, entrepreneurship, and arts & culture through service, hands on projects and education, throughout a seven week day camp-style program.

The program was divided into two groups that generally rotated daily, Monday through Thursday, between the above mentioned tracks, reserving Friday for field trips.

In the Sustainability and Environment track, participants built a rain barrel, picked up litter along the river, tested streams for water quality, and learned about weatherizing homes. In the Technology track, participants learned how to build computers from used parts and to create digital stories using photos. In the Entrepreneurship track, participants engaged in Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning, met with bankers, and learned how to blog. Finally, in the Arts & Culture track, participants learned about bullying prevention and awareness, how to tell stories, and created short films. Field trips included touring a Toyota plant, the Capitol, a water park and more.

The 2009 Summer of Service program was based out of the East End Family Resource Center and Liberty Baptist. Food was provided by Abundant Life Ministries.

For Step by Step blog posts related to the Summer of Service program, go here.

Sustainability Fair
The Sustainability Fair brought the Kanawha Valley’s social, economic, and environmentally sustainable “dots” (people and organizations) together in one place so that they could share their work with each other and the public. The event featured close to 100 booths as well as workshops, speakers, entertainment and off-site events.

Over a dozen Step by Step VISTAs and staff took part in planning and implementing this project along with other community volunteers. The Sustainability Fair was funded by a grant from the Sustainable Kanawha Valley Initiative.

For Step by Step blog posts related to the Sustainability Fair, go here.

Too Good for Drugs and Violence (TGDV)
The TGDV program provides training for drug refusal, conflict resolution, goal setting and accomplishments, as well as additional educational and life skill information. Consisting of activities created by the Mendez Foundation, the format is interactive and allows the youth peer-to-peer sharing that often provides more positive outcomes than adult influence.

For Step by Step blog posts related to the Too Good for Drugs and Violence program, go here.

WV Dreamers Afterschool Program
In 1995 this program began at the Big Ugly Community Center with students developing portfolios based on their dreams. In 2004, Step by Step received a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant and expanded its afterschool programming to include additional sites, which currently include Omar Elementary and Harts Primary.

Each site has the freedom to adapt its program to meet its needs, but there are some core constants. First and foremost, after being fed, students always focus on their homework. Other components of the WV Dreamers Afterschool program are fitness, life skills, global awareness, computer literacy, substance abuse and violence prevention through the Too Good for Drugs and Violence program and water education through Project FLOW. Select sites also utilize such programs as Micro Society and the Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning (REAL) curriculum.

Primary funding for the WV Dreamers Afterschool program is provided by a grant form the 21st Century Community Learning Center.

For Step by Step blog posts related to the WV Dreamers Afterschool Program, go here.