Seattle Program > Service > Local Service

Global Visionaries is committed to serving our local community. GV partners with local organizations in order to do provide outstanding experiences for our participants and so our participants can serve their community very effectively.

Students joining the program choose one local Work Team opportunity. GV participants gain a minimum of 32 community service hours. Between participants local and international Work Teams, participants gain the 60 hours of community service required to graduate from Seattle Public high schools.

Dates for our 2011-12 local work teams will be published shortly. The dates for this year will be very similar.

• EarthCorps
• Internship Work Team
• Local Roots Work Team (you are what you eat)
• Youth Venture Work Team: Dream It. Do it. Challenge!

EarthCorps

GV participants can elect to volunteer with EarthCorps as a Local Work Team. EarthCorps is committed to providing young people with opportunities to restore and protect habitats and natural spaces. Students engage in EarthCorps volunteer projects at different parks and natural sites in Seattle. EarthCorps staff members work with GV participants in restoring our natural areas by freeing trees from ivy, planting native/non-invasive plants and trees and doing general environmental stewardship.

GV Participants who choose the EarthCorps Work Team volunteer for approximately six Saturdays (one Saturday per month over six months), restoring the green space and learning about local and global environmental issues with an emphasis on environmental justice. EarthCorps works with teams that are comprised of diverse global community members. This past year, GV participants had the opportunity to work side by side with European, African, Asian and Latino EarthCorps volunteers.

This Local Work Team is a fun and fantastic way to meet people from all over the country and the world, enjoy the outdoors, develop skills in environmental stewardship, and see progress in the work you do from workday to workday.

About EarthCorps
EarthCorps is a local Seattle-based Non-Profit whose mission is to create a global community through local environmental service.
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Internship Work Team

In the GV Internship, participants develop leadership and social action skills by collaborating with the Global Visionaries organization. Students volunteer directly with GV staff to support the organization and programs and ensure the success of the GV Leadership Program. Students on this Work Team learn about the work options available to them in a general orientation for Internship participants.

• Organizing the GV Supply Drive: Students collect supplies for schools and medical supplies for clinics and hospitals, which they then bring with them to Guatemala. GV Interns coordinate the collection, sorting, boxing and inventorying of the supplies.
• Procuring items for the GV Annual Auction: Interns hit the streets and engage their communities, asking local individuals and businesses to donate products and services to auction off at GV's main annual fundraiser. GV Interns also support staff in the office with all the different aspects of organizing an auction.
• Providing office support: GV Interns learn and develop public relationship skills, organizational skills, interpersonal skills, and written and verbal communication skills while supporting GV staff. They also develop first-hand, professional experience working in a non-profit organization..
• Networking and exchanging service hours with our neighbor nonprofit, El Centro de la Raza.

GV interns select dates and times for their office shifts on a monthly basis. The students must complete 32 hours over the course of the year, though they are welcome to put in as many hours over 32 as they like.

Local Roots Work Team (you are what you eat)

The Local Roots Work Team introduces GV participants to the local food system in the Seattle region and the broader concepts of sustainable agriculture.

Students investigate themes such as food security and access, farm and food heritage, health and nutrition (you are what you eat), and the broader environmental and social impacts of various local and global food systems. This work team actively learns through all of the senses. If you choose this work you will get your hands dirty, your belly full, and your perspective stretched. The activities include: active discussions, a field trip to a local farmer's market, planting, weeding, composting, harvesting and cooking.

The Local Roots Work Team provides a hands-on introduction to a growing grassroots movement towards building a more sustainable, healthy, and just food system. Students begin to connect agricultural practices and food production in the U.S. with that of Guatemala and the rest of the world and develop a greater understanding of the global food system.

The first two meetings occur at the GV office, followed by a series of Saturday activities kicking off with a field trip to the University Farmer's Market, and then four "down and dirty" work days at the Local Roots Farm in Carnation, WA. Parents and guardians volunteer to organize carpooling for the farm visits. Here is the schedule:

Youth Venture Work Team: Dream It. Do it. Challenge!

After completing the first year and returning from Guatemala, students want to continue to learn and develop new leadership skills so that they can contribute to their community.

The Youth Venture Work Team consists of a series of workshops designed to support youth in creating real social change. It brings members of the Youth Board together to collaborate and transform individual ideas into concrete plans and work to implement them.

The workshop series includes several creative facilitation activities to help students develop their own unique ideas: group discussions, team building exercises, concept introduction, and individual support. Youth will learn both the soft skills (leadership, teamwork, empathy) and hard skills (budgeting, goal-setting, delegation) that are crucial to change-making endeavors.

As part of this work team you will:

• Gain skills and tools to initiate change.
• Develop a plan to turn your idea into reality.
• Earn a grant of up to $1000 to get your idea started.
• Add a distinguishing experience to your resume and college application.
• Have fun!

This work team meets the following Saturdays: