LVC Interview Preparation Guide 2016

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "LVC Interview Preparation Guide 2016"

Jocelin Edwards
5 years ago
Views:

1 We want to thank you again for putting for the time and energy into our application. We believe you are a likely candidate for our program and we hope to learn more about you and your intentions during a phone interview. This document is for you to prepare for that phone interview (you will be interviewed by LVC staff or Alumni, and the call should be about one hour long). This document will provide information relevant to the LVC program. The information provided answers many important questions about what it means to be a Lutheran Volunteer (LVCer). The interviewer will also ask you questions based on the information below, so we ask that you please read this document carefully. The topics covered in this document are: Lutheran Volunteer Corps Three Core Practices: What are they and what do they mean? o INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY o SOCIAL JUSTICE o SUSTAINABILITY & SIMPLICITY What should I expect from my year with LVC? o WHAT SUPPORT WILL I RECEIVE IN LVC? o HOW ARE SPIRITUALITY AND FAITH A PART OF LVC AND COMMUNITY LIVING? o WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT FROM LVC AS AN ORGANIZATION IN THE MOVEMENT AGAINST INJUSTICE? What expectations does LVC have of me? o WHAT ARE LVC S COMMUNITY EXPECTATIONS? o WHAT WILL AN LVC HOUSE AND NEIGHBORHOOD BE LIKE? o HOW DOES THE LVC STIPEND WORK? o WHAT IS MY COMMITMENT TO THE LVC PROGRAM? LVC & The 3 Core Practices INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY SOCIAL JUSTICE SUSTAINABILITY & SIMPLICITY INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY Core Practice: Intentional community means to live in a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than roommates, dormmates, family housing, or other ways of dwelling in community. The members of an intentional community typically share responsibilities and resources. In LVC, Volunteers live in intentional communities of four to seven people. The goal of intentional community in LVC is find ways to support one another across differences rather than similarities, whether these differences are based on culture, language, geographic background, spirituality, or life experiences. Planned community nights are one of the ways you can work towards intentional community with your housemates. Communities are expected to have at least one regularly scheduled night each week that is designated as community night. Of the four or five community nights that happen each month, one should be focused on faith and spirituality, one will be for Snack and Yak (described Your Expectations section), and the other two or three will be for activities of your choice.

2 SOCIAL JUSTICE Core Practice: LVC Interview Preparation Guide 2016 LVC understands social justice to be not just working directly with people to meet their immediate needs of food and shelter but combined with also working on the root causes of poverty, homelessness, and other oppressions. Part of this work is external what people do in their daily jobs-- and part of it is internal -- being aware of our own privileges, experiences with oppression, level of openness to discussions about racism, sexism, heterosexism, economic injustices, and other forms of oppression. Whether you are doing behind-the-scenes tasks or working with a person who is homeless, all LVC volunteers are at placements which are working to end hunger, homelessness, environmental destruction, racism and/or other injustices in our world. Hopefully, you and your housemates will share what you are learning at your placements, exploring your relationships to privilege, oppression, and institutional injustice. Social justice and how your actions are affecting others is something to keep in mind as you make decisions related to both intentional community and simple/sustainable living. Houses may use community time to learn about social justice. Perhaps as a community you will decide to volunteer at a local organization, attend a conference together about racism or heterosexism, or spend a spirituality night dialoging with each other about how injustice affects spirituality. Many LVC houses are located in communities with active neighborhood organizations working for justice locally. You are encouraged to find your own ways to become involved! SUSTAINABILITY/SIMPLICITY Core Practice: Living simply is more than not spending much money. In LVC, we relate simple, sustainable living to social justice: For its size, the United States uses a vastly disproportionate part of the world's resources. Living more sustainably is a way to refuse to participate in the injustice inherent in the US dominant lifestyle. Simplicity also relates to community and spirituality: living simply is a process of re-examining what we really value and trying to live that out. In more practical terms, this means a commitment to: Become more aware of the materialism of our society and ourselves. Be conscious of our use of natural resources: water, energy, recycling, fuel, composting Make food choices that are healthier and more creative: e.g. cooking from scratch rather than using processed foods and eating out; eating lower on the food chain, such as eating less meat. Live less hectically, avoiding extra time commitments in order to focus on community relationships and spiritual life. Creative entertainment choices. Explore how spirituality affects our understanding simplicity and sustainability: e.g. our creation stories, our understanding of time and land, our relationship with humans and other aspects of nature.

3 Your Expectations of LVC LVC Interview Preparation Guide 2016 WHAT SUPPORT WILL I RECEIVE IN LVC? HOW ARE SPIRITUALITY AND FAITH A PART OF LVC AND COMMUNITY LIVING? WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT FROM LVC AS AN ORGANIZATION IN THE MOVEMENT AGAINST INJUSTICE? What support will I receive in LVC? National Orientation is one week in early-august every year. We have a full slate of activities, workshops, panel discussions, and speakers lined up to give you a comprehensive introduction to LVC. National Orientation is the one occasion all year when the entire LVC community of staff and volunteers come together. Local and regional retreats are intended to give you a chance to foster further dialogue around a variety of issues, have fun, and spend time with other people in your house/city/region. You are required to attend and participate in all LVC retreats/program days. Your placement is required by the LVC contract to give you this time off and not count it against vacation or comp time. Each LVC region or city has a staff person designated to work specifically with Volunteers in that area. Responsibilities of the Program Managers include providing general program support, coordinating retreats/program days and conducting regular reviews with each Volunteer during the year, and recruiting placements. Program Managers provide behind-the-scenes support to Local Support Teams in planning fundraisers, church visits and meetings. Program Managers are available for mediation and conflict resolution for community and placement difficulties. You will definitely see your Program Manager during retreats/program days, during your one-on-one reviews and informally when they meets with your house. Although Program Managers work individually in each city, they meet via phone conference call with the Program Director twice a month to support each other in their work. Support Congregations are one or more local churches that have agreed to be in touch with the LVC house community throughout the year. Contact with support congregations is unique for each community. Some support congregations have local commissioning services for the Volunteers in their city. In the past, support congregations have provided food to a house at the beginning of the year, invited Volunteers to worship services, asked Volunteers to speak with members of the congregation, and assisted Volunteers with pastoral support in times of crisis. Some congregations have also provided host families for Volunteers. It is not expected that you attend worship at your community s support congregation. Because living in intentional community is a relatively new experience for most people in LVC, local supporters will help Volunteers get acquainted with their city, sponsors occasional social events and helps locate household furnishings. The local supporters are composed of alumni and friends of LVC. They also serve the overall LVC program by assisting in the areas of recruiting (placements and Volunteers), locating housing, publicity and fund development, and can facilitate sessions with your community about goals & expectations, self-care, conflict resolution, and other helpful community topics. Each local support team is unique and your experience in relation to your local support will be different from the experience of Volunteers in another city. In some cities, Volunteers are welcomed and encouraged to attend monthly meetings. o Each community will have a two-person Support Team associated with the house. Support Teams, called Community Mentors, generally visit the community throughout the LVC year and generally keep in touch with Volunteers. The role of a Community Mentor is to facilitate monthly conversations in your community. The mentors will act as a resource for the community, help you with initial questions about the city, work through issues that arise, or simply be available when you need a listening ear. Community Mentors can also serve as a link between the volunteers and the other local supporters.

4 How are Spirituality and Faith a part of LVC and community living? LVC commits to supporting LVC Volunteers as they consider and explore the spiritual aspects of justice, community and sustainability. Staff, local supporters, and LVC Volunteers commit to talking with one another about our religion, faith, and spirituality in ways that respect, honor and support the journey of each person. LVC Volunteers in each household commit to a monthly dialogue about religion, faith and spirituality. Usually these are referred to as Spirituality Nights. LVC provides suggestions and examples of how to structure spirituality and faith nights, but your community must take the initiative and leadership in this area. Finally, LVC will provide resources to individual Volunteers to build relationships with individuals and religious communities that can support your personal spiritual practices (like attending worship, prayer, and the common study of sacred texts). In many cases, your house community will not meet all your spiritual needs; we encourage you to take initiative to meet our additional needs in this area (such as joining a local faith community, finding or creating a Bible Study, exploring other faith communities, meditating, etc.). Each community will also be assigned a Spirituality Mentor (sometimes an LVC alum, but not always). The Spirituality Mentor help facilitate monthly conversations about spirituality using a tool called journey conversations. What should you expect from LVC as an organization in the movement against injustice? Lutheran Volunteer Corps is committed to fighting oppression in all its forms, and we have a particular focus on racism and white privilege through, what we call, a Journey to an Inclusive Community (JIC). This Journey to an Inclusive Community forms and strengthens alliances among people of many cultures and communities, and intentionally dismantles racism within LVC, the church, and society. LVC realizes that institutional racism profoundly impacts the social landscapes in which we live and work. You should EXPECT LVC to promote diversity and community within its board of directors, committees and staff, and LVC will EXPECT similar behavior among donors, placements, Volunteers and the larger community. While LVC is on a Journey to Inclusive Community, a lot of the people coming into LVC are female, white, from middle-class backgrounds, from the Midwest and right out of college. The majority of LVC participants are women. For the past several years approximately 1in 4 or 5 are male. In the past few years we had roughly 18% volunteers of color. In earlier years, about 5% of our volunteers were persons of color. That has meant some volunteers have been the only volunteer of color in their city or even in the entire region (East, Midwest, West). While the majority of volunteers are single and in their 20s, you may be living with a married or partnered couple or with people in their 50 s or 60 s in the program. You will likely live with people from different spiritual perspectives, sexual orientations, and/or gender identities. Since 1999, Reconciling Works has recognized LVC as a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) program because LVC is committed to welcoming people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender. We EXPECT our Volunteers and Placement Supervisors to join LVC staff, board, and committees in our effort to make LVC a place that is open, affirming, and safe for persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities. We as staff, local supporters, and Support Congregations cannot make your experience for you. LVC Volunteers have to become aware and challenge your own self by thinking critically about your perceptions, attitudes, actions, and comments. We are all bound by the struggle of injustice.

5 LVC s Expectations of You WHAT ARE LVC S COMMUNITY EXPECTATIONS? WHAT WILL AN LVC HOUSE AND NEIGHBORHOOD BE LIKE? HOW DOES THE LVC STIPEND WORK? WHAT IS MY COMMITMENT TO THE LVC PROGRAM? What are LVC s Community Expectations? Some of LVC's expectations of community life include... Spirituality Night at least once a month Community night with your housemates once a week Sharing food/meals/chores/budget/(possibly) a bedroom/talents/gifts/other resources Keeping your service hours to 40/week Building community takes time and energy; it doesn t just come naturally from having a shared space. You need to be conscious of balancing relationships and activities that are outside of LVC so that you can be present for the planned and spontaneous moments that are a part of building community. What will an LVC house and neighborhood be like? You will likely be in the house closest to your placement, but not necessarily. We also consider things like gender, number of positions at one placement, how many people from one college live together, car required for placement, etc. Living in the city has its unique joys and challenges. One of the challenges is a need to be aware of your safety and the safety of your belongings. Much of this is about communication and the development of good habits. For example, it is a good idea to discuss how closely you will inform each other of your schedules. Other challenges you may face living in an LVC city: Women have reported men harassing them as they walk down the street. It is common for Volunteers to be asked for money. Also, at many points in our history, LVC Volunteers have experienced muggings, robberies, and physical assaults. Just because you are in LVC doesn t mean that you are exempt from the reality of the city or society. Sometimes the core practices and your values can seem in conflict with each other. If one is attempting to live simply, is it wrong to leave lights and/or music on when the house is empty? If you decide to stay out late with a friend, will your community members be upset that you didn't call to let them know? Will you meet each other at the bus if someone has a late meeting? There are not always easy answers to questions like these. You are encouraged to discuss these dilemmas about safety and other aspects of community living early on with your community. LVC does not provide renter s insurance, so it is a cost that housemates would have to share if you so choose to buy insurance. Or consider the option of not bringing expensive items!

6 How does the LVC stipend work? Placements pay Volunteers a lump sum at the beginning of each month, which covers the following things: - House rent and utilities, which the Volunteers pay the LVC office no later than the 10 th of each month - Food stipend, which is pooled with housemates for the cost of groceries ($105 per person per month) - $105 personal stipend (spending money) - Local transportation stipend (enough for a monthly transit pass) LVC will EXPECT volunteers to stay within the allotted stipend amount each month throughout their LVC year. It is doable with some intentional, conscious choices. Other benefits include: - health insurance (from your placement or by staying on a guardian s insurance policy) - two weeks vacation - Reimbursement for travel at the start of the year (to orientation and on to your LVC city) and at the end of the year (for whatever comes next for each LVCer) - Reimbursement of internet in your house (reimbursed by LVC, based on actual cost) What is my commitment to the LVC Program? Your commitment to the year begins when the placement match is made (after your placement interviews in March or May) until the end of July the next year. That means as an applicant, once you accept a match with LVC, you will immediately withdraw all of your other applications to other programs, employment, school, etc. Your participation in LVC revolves around all aspects of the program serving at your placement, being an active part of your community, making a sincere effort to live simply, being aware of your personal and spiritual needs, joining the larger LVC community at retreats/program days, participating in LVC fundraising events during the year, etc. Volunteers are also expected to engage the core practice of financial sustainability by participating in LVC fundraising activities through peer-to-peer fundraising and community-building events during their LVC year. The current Volunteer fundraising goal is $500 per Volunteer. Please note, this is fundraising DURING your year of service, not as a prerequisite to participating in LVC. LVC staff will provide guidance and support in these Volunteer fundraising efforts. The year will be a challenging one. Realizing this, LVC will EXPECT you to stay committed to the program even when things may feel overwhelming and difficult. Time after time, volunteers who have struggled at different points in the year have expressed their appreciation for completing the full year. Leaving LVC early carries some consequences: * You will be asked to continue to pay rent to LVC * You will forfeit your travel reimbursement * More importantly, leaving LVC early adds stress and logistical hardships for the organization which ultimately affects the marginalized population the organization is serving. After your placement match, you will receive a 3-Way Contract to review and sign. That contract outlines in detail the expectations between LVC, you and your placement for the year (hence 3-Way ). That contract will also contain the specific amounts for your rent and monthly transportation amounts. You need to be aware of the serious level of commitment we expect from our Volunteers. If anytime between now and Matching Day you can foresee the possibility of not finishing out the year of service, we EXPECT you to decline your spot in LVC. Again, the full year is one of growth and challenge, some of which can only be appreciated after completing the entire year!

LVC Interview Preparation Guide 2018

LVC Interview Preparation Guide 2018 Thank you for putting time and energy into your Lutheran Volunteer Corps application. We believe you are a likely candidate for LVC and we hope to learn more about you and your desires to volunteer for