I want to target some of the incoming people to the program and let you in on what the Team leaders are doing in the week prior to your arrival and let you in on how things work. as well as update some people back home on my time here in FEMA corps
Ok so I think its important to note there are returning team leaders and returning corp members that are taking on the new role of Team leaders. Then there are a few of us that are new to the program but all incredibly qualified to be here.
It's Sunday now and I haven't had a ton of time to really sit down and get an update on here til now. but a lot has happened. first and for most an understanding of what this position really is. So lets start structure wise. Below ill try and draw out the chain of command minus names as depending on unit and team they might change.
Regional Director
Assistant Regional Director
Unit leader
Team leader / Support Team leader
Corp member
That's the tasking order and I can tell you from the week I have with them so far they are all highly skilled and respectable people. but it is important to note who you need to talk with for what and why the chain of command exists.
In addition its important to note NCCC is a program of Americorps of which is a program of CNCS or the corporation of national and community service. CNCS is a Federal Agency despite the name and it reports directly to Congress and the President. By taking a position in it you effectively are the front line face of federal government.
The biggest thing to expect for the first couple of weeks is a lot of sitting and listening to presentations on different topics and areas of your job. that all boil down to if anything happens call your unit leader, and or B2 if its vehicle related. (B2 is a nickname for the fleet manager here in Denver also a great guy)
The summary of the training so far is TL positions are the front line management of teams. once in the field most decisions are theirs to make and maintaining government standards for what they are allowed to do with who is a huge amount of week one training. In other words we covered policy and the handbook a well as discipline and basic team management.
If you are like me I look for ways to crunch it all down. and figure out what the keys are and summarize things. first and foremost the biggest note is to stay in lane. what this is referring to is basically stick with your level on the list above when considering fraternization and so on but even then be careful as relationships might not go well in the long term and you are on the same team for the whole term. That being said there are a lot of different rules surrounding this topic that are incredibly obscure yet necessary when you look at them. I don't know that I would suggest being more than friends with your fellow team members and for that matter as a TL the option is off the table as per policy to avoid favoritism. So don't expect any post about that down the line.
The next important note is federal law trumps state law, Supremacy clause. Colorado Weed is legal, as per federal law it is not. So don't get any ideas. Yes they drug test it shouldn't be a surprise.
I'm going to drift away from policies because there are a lot of them and talk about who our team leaders are. with respect to them I won't name names but I can say that they are a great group of people with incredibly diverse backgrounds. Most if not all are college graduates with degrees in everything from Political science to archaeology. They originate form Florida to California and a lot of places in between. As I mentioned before some are returning for a second year in the program and some are new to the program. As far as personality types everyone here is a leader by nature and are incredibly supportive.
There are currently 16 of us. 8 in each unit and the Units being Alpine and Mountain of which depending on the corp size (total number of corp members) that show up for duty will determine the number of STL positions. Important to note STL is not a step up but a step to the side they have a significant amount to do with training and coordination of field teams as well as some projects from FEMA. So the jist of this is that we are unsure how many teams we will have until CTI or Corp member Training institute starts.
In a previous post I put down that I plan to loose some weight. 20 pounds. I have set up an agreement with B2 the fleet manager that whoever loses the most weight by the end of round 1 will have to cook for the other. if he looses he cooks my whole team a meal and he even sweeten the deal up by saying if I loose then I don't owe him squat. needless to say this deal has spread around and the other TL's are supporting the effort.
A couple of outings so far to see some of the sights the first was a team building lunch out at the red rocks amphitheater that was built by the original CCC Community Conservation Corps. The second was a semi planned event this Saturday to go out and climb one of the foothills near Boulder, CO. I can say I am out of shape and making it to the top of that mountain was a huge high point for my week. especially with the support of the other TL's of which at this point I think its safe to say we are all getting to be good friends and great coworkers.
So the low for the week. Oddly had nothing to do with the program. On my flight in of which I can't believe was only Monday this last week I flew in from central Wisconsin to Chicago then to Denver on the second flight the 20 something male next to me got incredibly sick. So much so that the flight attendant asked for any medical professionals onboard to hit their call buttons. and then assist them with the man next to me. needless to say sitting for 2 hours next to a guy that is violently vomiting is not my ideal way to spend a flight.... not to mention the seats are build for people about 100 or so pounds lighter and at least a foot shorter...
The food is actually quite good considering we are the ones to cook it after the first couple of days. (first couple days we had food catered in for our meals) We are on a budget so remember that. per day the US government gives us 4 dollars per person. but lets put that in perspective there are 16 team leaders and 7 days a week. so (16x4)x7 = 448 per week for food for the lot of us. now obviously this means we have to cook for the team not just individuals and we don't have the cash to eat out all the time. but with 448 per week we can have some good choices when we are out shopping for food. It is important to note that this is a team thing and program participants range from 18 to 27 being the oldest of the Team leaders. I cant speak for corp members yet but the TL's that have cooked so far have made some rather good tasting meals.
If anyone has any questions I have been trying to help out on the facebook page or comment below here and I'll see what i can do about helping to get answers. Otherwise Contact Staff.
Ok so I think its important to note there are returning team leaders and returning corp members that are taking on the new role of Team leaders. Then there are a few of us that are new to the program but all incredibly qualified to be here.
It's Sunday now and I haven't had a ton of time to really sit down and get an update on here til now. but a lot has happened. first and for most an understanding of what this position really is. So lets start structure wise. Below ill try and draw out the chain of command minus names as depending on unit and team they might change.
Regional Director
Assistant Regional Director
Unit leader
Team leader / Support Team leader
Corp member
That's the tasking order and I can tell you from the week I have with them so far they are all highly skilled and respectable people. but it is important to note who you need to talk with for what and why the chain of command exists.
In addition its important to note NCCC is a program of Americorps of which is a program of CNCS or the corporation of national and community service. CNCS is a Federal Agency despite the name and it reports directly to Congress and the President. By taking a position in it you effectively are the front line face of federal government.
The biggest thing to expect for the first couple of weeks is a lot of sitting and listening to presentations on different topics and areas of your job. that all boil down to if anything happens call your unit leader, and or B2 if its vehicle related. (B2 is a nickname for the fleet manager here in Denver also a great guy)
The summary of the training so far is TL positions are the front line management of teams. once in the field most decisions are theirs to make and maintaining government standards for what they are allowed to do with who is a huge amount of week one training. In other words we covered policy and the handbook a well as discipline and basic team management.
If you are like me I look for ways to crunch it all down. and figure out what the keys are and summarize things. first and foremost the biggest note is to stay in lane. what this is referring to is basically stick with your level on the list above when considering fraternization and so on but even then be careful as relationships might not go well in the long term and you are on the same team for the whole term. That being said there are a lot of different rules surrounding this topic that are incredibly obscure yet necessary when you look at them. I don't know that I would suggest being more than friends with your fellow team members and for that matter as a TL the option is off the table as per policy to avoid favoritism. So don't expect any post about that down the line.
The next important note is federal law trumps state law, Supremacy clause. Colorado Weed is legal, as per federal law it is not. So don't get any ideas. Yes they drug test it shouldn't be a surprise.
I'm going to drift away from policies because there are a lot of them and talk about who our team leaders are. with respect to them I won't name names but I can say that they are a great group of people with incredibly diverse backgrounds. Most if not all are college graduates with degrees in everything from Political science to archaeology. They originate form Florida to California and a lot of places in between. As I mentioned before some are returning for a second year in the program and some are new to the program. As far as personality types everyone here is a leader by nature and are incredibly supportive.
There are currently 16 of us. 8 in each unit and the Units being Alpine and Mountain of which depending on the corp size (total number of corp members) that show up for duty will determine the number of STL positions. Important to note STL is not a step up but a step to the side they have a significant amount to do with training and coordination of field teams as well as some projects from FEMA. So the jist of this is that we are unsure how many teams we will have until CTI or Corp member Training institute starts.
In a previous post I put down that I plan to loose some weight. 20 pounds. I have set up an agreement with B2 the fleet manager that whoever loses the most weight by the end of round 1 will have to cook for the other. if he looses he cooks my whole team a meal and he even sweeten the deal up by saying if I loose then I don't owe him squat. needless to say this deal has spread around and the other TL's are supporting the effort.
A couple of outings so far to see some of the sights the first was a team building lunch out at the red rocks amphitheater that was built by the original CCC Community Conservation Corps. The second was a semi planned event this Saturday to go out and climb one of the foothills near Boulder, CO. I can say I am out of shape and making it to the top of that mountain was a huge high point for my week. especially with the support of the other TL's of which at this point I think its safe to say we are all getting to be good friends and great coworkers.
So the low for the week. Oddly had nothing to do with the program. On my flight in of which I can't believe was only Monday this last week I flew in from central Wisconsin to Chicago then to Denver on the second flight the 20 something male next to me got incredibly sick. So much so that the flight attendant asked for any medical professionals onboard to hit their call buttons. and then assist them with the man next to me. needless to say sitting for 2 hours next to a guy that is violently vomiting is not my ideal way to spend a flight.... not to mention the seats are build for people about 100 or so pounds lighter and at least a foot shorter...
The food is actually quite good considering we are the ones to cook it after the first couple of days. (first couple days we had food catered in for our meals) We are on a budget so remember that. per day the US government gives us 4 dollars per person. but lets put that in perspective there are 16 team leaders and 7 days a week. so (16x4)x7 = 448 per week for food for the lot of us. now obviously this means we have to cook for the team not just individuals and we don't have the cash to eat out all the time. but with 448 per week we can have some good choices when we are out shopping for food. It is important to note that this is a team thing and program participants range from 18 to 27 being the oldest of the Team leaders. I cant speak for corp members yet but the TL's that have cooked so far have made some rather good tasting meals.
If anyone has any questions I have been trying to help out on the facebook page or comment below here and I'll see what i can do about helping to get answers. Otherwise Contact Staff.
