Three weeks in

Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of research on capacity building: What is it? How can we evaluate it? Is there a “best practice” approach to capacity building? Is there a common conceptual framework for capacity building? What are the benefits of doing it? Who should do it? How do you promote capacity building in your organization? In what ways can CTC VISTA build its capacity? …read more

Hey everyone, here's a quick update on some things at UMass. With the Digest deadline quickly approaching, Danielle and I are working to get articles, bios, images, and video up in Drupal. If you wrote an article and have a photo that’s relevant, it would be great if you could send it to me or let me know where I can find it. It will be interesting to see how the Journal works as a finished product in the context of our new site. The Digest has been great because it’s allowed me to see a little more of Drupal and also created an appeal for web based documents and spreadsheets, neither of which I’d given any prior thought. I’ve been using Google’s versions and for my purposes they’ve been just as functional and easy to navigate as Excel or Word. …read more

Well, I've finally moved into my own place.  After three weeks of bags and boxes, I was able (with much appreciated help from Danielle and Ben) to move my stuff into this great house in Arlington.  Great except that it was completely unfurnished and entirely empty, so my first night I made a bed of blankets on the hardwood floor; of course, I'd had the foresight to buy an air mattress it was just the batteries I needed to inflate it that I'd forgotten, so hardwood floor it was.  My roommates have since moved in, and I have a bed on the way, so things are now looking up.   …read more

SETTING UP YOUR ACCOUNT Begin at http://www.ctcvista.org (On the right, you should see ‘user login’) Before you can actually login you need to click the link to ‘request new password’ just below the user login. Fill in your name and/or email address, click ‘email new password’, and you will receive an email with your password.  The site will direct you to a login page, but instead check your email and use the second link (the longer one) provided in the email to log in.  The link should take you to a page that says ‘reset password’.  Click the ‘log in’ link and find yourself at the ‘account settings’ page under the ‘edit’ tab of your account (your name should be at the top of the page and let you know that you’ve ‘used your one-time login link’) Set up your account by entering your email address and creating a password for your account.  You may also upload a picture for your account if you’d like and/or create a signature.  When you’re done, hit login at the bottom of the page.   Still under ‘Account Settings’ you will see two other sections ‘Organization’ and ‘Personal’ Under ‘Organization’ fill in as many fields as you can.  When you’re done, press ‘submit’.  ****you must hit ‘submit’ at the bottom of the page before moving to a different tab in order to save your info****** Under ‘Personal’ ********you must fill in your name, address, and a number where you can be reached.  The Project needs this information for their records and payroll.  If you would like to make this information private, you may do so at the bottom of the page.***************  Directly below zip code, and just above submit, you can check a ‘make private’ box so no one else outside of headquarters/administrators can see it.    …read more