In our VISTA Spotlight, our OneStar AmeriCorps VISTA members share in their own words about the transformative experience of serving with nonprofits and agencies in Texas working to eliminate poverty.
My name is Aubrey Blake, I am the School and Community Partnership VISTA at Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation. I am a Dallas native, though I have made Houston my second home for the last eight years through undergrad and grad school. I will be graduating Summer 2021 with Master’s in Non-Profit Management with a focus on Resource Development.
My goals before I started my VISTA position at Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation was to be a change agent and “Do Good Better.” As I enter the last half of my service, I reflect on all the great strides we made to ensure a little happiness in the young learners of the Houston Community while building literacy. A large part of my first half was learning the ropes and quickly analyzing how we as an organization and investors into our communities can truly “Do Good Better.” It is growing the capacity and sustainability of the amazing programs that we offer to reach as many kids as possible while being credible, efficient, and responsible. I am lucky that I get to build on a solid foundation and am happy to report the project that I am working on will integrate our data management system to a fully functional CRM and Project Management database. This will increase productivity, sustain fast growth, and ease access of real-time data. As a result, programs such as My Home Library can safely expand without negatively affecting human resources and program quality. I will end my service as a Master’s Graduate, fully skilled, and a change agent that can successfully say I implemented a system that helped my organization “Do Good Better.”