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The AmeriCorps Connections Podcast is a space where alumni, members, and partners share how national service shapes careers, communities, and lives. Hosted by AmeriCorps alum Nicki Fiocco, each episode highlights stories of resilience, leadership, and purposeβshowing that while service terms may end, the impact and connections continue.
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Tavon Johnson 2026_July VISTA S&N
Nicki Fiocco: [00:00:00] Welcome to the AmeriCorps Connections podcast, where we lift up the stories of alumni who were moved by a service year and are still getting things done for their communities today. So thank you so much for tuning in. And today, I'm here with Tavon Johnson, who's a career counselor with Milwaukee Jobs Corps.
Uh, shout out to Addy Lipton out there in Milwaukee. We'll have to make the actual 3D connection between the two of you. Uh, so Tavon's AmeriCorps story actually spans several terms. , Correct me if I'm wrong, but, um, I believe your term started with Great Oaks Charter, School, tutoring students and coaching basketball, then you served at the Choice program at UMBC in Baltimore County, Maryland, where you, , were doing job coaching and workforce development for youth, supervising young employees and supporting them through interview prep and resume writing. From there, became a VISTA leader with Campus Compact [00:01:00] Mid-Atlantic, which is now Transform Mid-Atlantic, , taking on more of a larger program management at a bigger scale, hitting the region.
, So by the time you landed with Milwaukee Jobs Corps as a career counselor, it seems like you were... You'd already spent years figuring out how to help young people find their footing in the workforce, and it's really kind of not a stretch to say that AmeriCorps may have built the exact skills that you needed every day, for what you're doing.
So I would just say, Tavon, take us through... First of all, thanks for being here, and I want to start with that stretch of your service year. What kept pulling you back into service, , term after term after term? And correct me if I got any of those, service terms incorrect, so welcome.
Tavon Johnson: Oh, thanks for having me, Nicki.
I appreciate it. I am, um, yeah, apparently I love to get things done, right? So- ... that, that is a lot of the rationale for why I decided to come back so many times. But I think initially with the, with the Great Oak Ch- uh, Great Oaks [00:02:00] Charter School in particular, I, I just have a passion for young people. Always have.
I'm, I'm a, I'm the oldest of, of eight, ? So I, I think I've kind of been someone who just had a passion for young people my whole life, and I just wanted to be someone who I feel like I needed, , at that, at that particular time. And that middle school, that, , early high school, the Great Oaks Charter School is a charter school network.
And I want to say, if I remember correctly, they go from s- grade sixth all the way through grade 12th, so that kind of transition period into youth, , young adulthood. Um, I'm a big basketball fan. I've, I've played basketball, rec basketball, and, and still watch a lot of basketball and sports in general, but connecting with youth and young adults and especially in the school setting, um, , helping them with their emotional regulation, that they're, , that, that tutoring, that mentoring, that guidance that on a sports, uh, on a sports level, but also- In the classroom has been super important for me.
Um, and then beyond, , beyond, uh, grade or charter school, definitely wanted to reach out and support my own hometown, , in Baltimore. Um, that, that, you know, where I [00:03:00] was born and where I was raised, and definitely have a lot of passion, a lot of love for the, in my hometown and my home city.
So could not have done AmeriCorps, not in Baltimore. Um, just wouldn't be able to live with myself, um, had I decided not to go back and, and go back home in that way. And, and again, now, , doing a little more program management and some other grant management sort of things from a career standpoint, I would definitely agree.
I think, I think those, those AmeriCorps service terms have definitely built the foundation for me to be able to be more confident in my own professional capabilities and, and do the grant management and, and look at, um, all the different skills that I've learned, keeping a cool head with a lot of things going on.
Um, also just looking at, uh, working with different people, different backgrounds, different, , mindsets, different, , language barriers, those cultural barriers. So a lot of great benefit to, to AmeriCorps for sure.
Nicki Fiocco: I wanna circle back to what you had said about, number one, being the oldest of eight.
Uh, that's, that's [00:04:00] something. , And also that you really appreciated coaching. And, and, , it's interesting 'cause I did a lot of coaching when, , my kids were younger, and then their skills out-skilled me, and so I had to move them along to o- other more skilled coaches. But number one with that, , I didn't realize that coaching was actually volunteering until I did my AmeriCorps service year, and I was able to put that on my time sheet.
I always joke and say, , I just thought it was good parenting. I had to show up to practice. I knew a little bit something about soccer, so I'm like, "You know, I'll lead the kids around." But I honestly was doing th- that role of mentoring, that role of coaching, , on the field, but then also just in personality and, and different sorts of areas with the young, with youth.
And I always reflect to, back to, , a coach that I had in middle school and high school who coached me in volleyball, and she was really the first person that really tapped [00:05:00] me into... Number one, she introduced us to meditation and visualization in sports. And at the time, I didn't appreciate what she was doing until s- decades later, when I was like, oh, she was having us manifest the game so that when we got onto the court it was just muscle memory in our brain.
And number two, she also, she had us volunteer. We had, , special needs programs, and we brought them into some of our practices, and we played volleyball with them. So I think sometimes when we do what we might consider mundane volunteering of just not... I shouldn't just say just coaching, but coaching and those types of things, we've really as an opportunity for us to share values of service and community engagement and values of humanity on, on a, like a, a level playing field, to, to bring it back to coaching.
So I don't know if you wanna just touch on that real quick, , just your , your thoughts around coaching and [00:06:00] influencing youth.
Tavon Johnson: Yeah, no, for sure. That, that's a, that's a great point. I think coaching is super important just in terms of just being a role model, just being, being the proverbial adult in the room, ?
Um, a funny, really quick story. So I, I wanna say I started around 2017, uh, with the coaching at, at Great Oaks Charter School. And as you mentioned, strictly volunteer, right? I was able to get my service hours, , in that way. But it's funny, that was around the time Steph Curry, , Stephen Curry was a really big deal in the NBA.
And- That's fine ... everyone wanted to be like Stephen Curry, including people who were the biggest kids on the team, who should've been a little bit more like Shaq and a little bit less like Steph Curry, but they wanted to be like Steph Curry. So I remember very vividly having to teach and redirect and continue to communicate to them about needing to be in the paint, closer to the rim, taking easier shots, and not half-court heaves like Steph Curry.
But, um, everyone wanted to be like Steph Curry at the time, and, and he's still kinda,, rolling as we speak, so very kind of interesting,, tidbit about [00:07:00] coaching. And sometimes that means giving people, like, the, , the encouragement to seek what it is and, and, and pursue what it is that they're really good at, but also not so much that we're being negative about the thing they, they're not as good at.
All right? That kind of, that, that push/pull of encouragement/slash kind of redirection, if you will.
Nicki Fiocco: Yeah. No, I, I 100% agree with that. Like, yes, and sort of thing, right? Let's take that passion and then let's, , let's give you a little bit of, um, fluidity with that. Yeah. Let's, like, get a little closer to the basket.
Um, so as we're thinking about getting closer to the basket and getting in the ba- paint a little bit, tell us a little bit about what you did, at the Choice program, which was at UMBC. And so folks that don't know what UMBC is, University of Maryland Baltimore Community- college. I should know because-
that bottom black frame is a degree from UMBC. So what did you do at the Choice Program?
Tavon Johnson: Yeah, man, the Choice Program is really solid. I, I, I had not known about it honestly, um, initially when I first got, , be- [00:08:00] came close to being, uh, able to apply and interview and, and ultimately be selected for the program.
But what they do is unique. What they do is, um, a myriad of things around the workforce, youth workforce development s- sphere, if you will, and that includes job coaching, that includes, uh, mentoring, that includes case management, that includes, teaching job skills, those sort of things.
And what I did specifically, I was one of maybe four or five AmeriCorps members there, and I worked with that program, , under the leadership of Eric Ford and some other folks over there at, , at Choice a- and at UMBC. And what we tried to do is make sure we connected with youth and young adults throughout the Baltimore region and be able to put them in positions of being successful.
And so that included, , recreation therapy, that included, again, case management, that included, , partnership with U- University of Baltimore, the cafe there at the law school. That included partnerships with the Oriole, uh, Orioles in Camden Yards and working the smoothie stand downtown in the Inner Harbor.
So, [00:09:00] um, as I'm, as I'm talking about it I'm currently in Milwaukee , and definitely miss home a little bit. So , I'm reminded of how good the smoothies were and how much stronger I had- We're, we're only nine mon- ... felt
Nicki Fiocco: over there ... nine hours away. Come on down.
Tavon Johnson: I know, right? I know. And I've, I've driven before and it takes a little bit long.
I, I, we'll see. I might, I might come in town very soon. Um, it's been too long. But yeah, I love the Choice Program. It was really solid for me. I, I, I got a lot of skills there as well, just in terms of connecting with youth and young adults in a different, uh, more authoritative space, but also not so authoritative that I wasn't able to kinda connect with them.
Being from Baltimore, being a Baltimore native, growing up in communities that look exactly like where they're coming from, whether it be East Baltimore- Mm-hmm ... West Baltimore. Um, we also know very much, how much of a negative connotation the city still has around the wire, , some drug, , some drug stuff and some, some crime stuff.
But man, there's a lot of good people doing a lot of great work in and around Baltimore, and it seems like, um, the Choice Program is one of those, one of the leaders in that, in that space.
Nicki Fiocco: Yeah. What, what was something... A- and I agree, I [00:10:00] think, , when you pan out and, and when you see what the Ravens are doing too in the community and giving back, 'cause I know that there's, there, I think there's- Yeah
a little bit of a partnership there. , And w- and, and I kinda had prepped you for this question, , when we spoke last week. What was something during the Choice program when you were working with these young adults that you, you couldn't unsee, and you just s- , you y- y- you just, you saw, , the systemic issues that just made it more difficult for folks to take advantage of opportunities or put themselves in a space to be able to take advantage?
Could you share with us something during your service year that made you go, "Oh, damn," like, "We need to take care of this"?
Tavon Johnson: No, absolutely. I think, like, two things really stick out. , And I, I say two, right? Like, like a Baltimore native says, two. Um, So two things stick out, um, one of which was I, we were in the, the trailer in Cherry Hill, um, doing, like, a case management kinda, plan the care sorta meeting if I, if I remember the t- the, the correct, like, nomenclature.
But we're having that meeting, [00:11:00] and we all of a sudden hear, , a really loud boom, , from the outside. And apparently it is, what it was was a person, I presume, from the neighborhood having very clearly a mental, um, you know, not, not that I don't play one on TV, but very clearly having a mental, , uh, episode of, of being distraught and kinda just not in their right head, right head space.
And they were banging out every single car windshield- Oh, my ... parked in the parking lot where the trailer park where, uh, where we were. We were having a meeting. And I think they got maybe to, like, three or four cars in, um- I think my car might have been like the fifth car in the line, and we had just accosted him verbally, and he kind of like ran off.
And very much looked like a young person, could maybe, maybe 21, 22. I, I wanna say I know we kind of service up to 24, if I remember correctly, at the Choice program. But should have been in the program, should have been having- Hmm ... the [00:12:00] ability, getting some services and, and having some kind of support.
And for whatever reason,, structural, systemic, whatever it might have been, personal, familiar, whatever it was, was not connected with anyone very clearly and did not have that support and very much, um, yeah, , like the African proverb says, right? The one who's shunned, , from the community, from the, you know, from the neighborhood will, oftentimes lash out in the neighborhood, and have that sort of like, you know, response.
So that's one thing that really stuck out to me and just reconfirm my need or my thought that, that program was very much of a need in the pro- in the, in the city and, and really should have been kind of like mirrored throughout the other c- you know, similar communities throughout, the whole s- the whole nation, right?
You know, LA, Oakland, Milwaukee, Chicago, et cetera, et cetera. Um, and then the other lo- the other pro- the other I say situation probably was, um, I wanna say A day we were in Camden Yards and we were working a school and stay inside Camden Yards, and we, we were discussing about, um, work and, and, and I was talking [00:13:00] with a young person, I forget the young person name now, but they were one of the leads on, on, on shift, and they were talking about like how difficult it was for them to find unsubsidized employment,
choice program had the subsidized employment for the youth, young adults in, in the program, and they were really struggling trying to figure out how to get an interview, how to kinda like move on, move up in, in the world. And I remember when I was his age, it simply was not that difficult. Um- Mm-hmm
I've been working since I was 14, 15 years old, and obviously if I'm a job owner, right? If I'm a, if I have a, this program or that program or this, this store, that store, I'm probably gonna hire the 35-year-old who need to have, the lights turned on every month, who need to put food on the table for his family.
It just becomes, it seems to me very difficult and as, as years weighing on for youth and young adults and teenagers in particular to find gainful employment and be able to give, be given those sort of early formative experiences within the workforce, um, that they need in order to be successful, you know, for later [00:14:00] on.
And it seem, it seems to me that, the Choice program is one of those programs that was able to do so- those sort of things for those young, young people. But we definitely need more of those for sure, and I think the more we have, the more better off our youth, young adults will be.
Nicki Fiocco: There's th- those are such strong examples, and thank you so much for, for sharing those.
And I, I think about your first example. When I was director of Volunteer Maryland, we had programs, we had at least, 28 programs throughout the state of Maryland, and that we were doing things from, food insecurities, food security, I don't ... Food- Yeah. Yeah ... supporting people with food, with lack of food, to environmental projects, to, coaching and mentoring and stuff.
And the impact that our members would make year after year after year was, was staggering. But the customer base was always there, yeah. It was al- they were always there. And y- I think on s- on that human needs work that we do can be so challenging because we do see those folks that [00:15:00] don't have access to the program, and all we wanna do is bring them in, and we
I feel like sometimes we just can't get all the people, all the time, all at once, all the needs that they need. But we have to keep trying, and we have to keep bringing people closer in and expanding our, expanding our in groups to include some folks that might feel like they're on the out groups.
Tavon Johnson: Sure.
Nicki Fiocco: Yeah. And then I would say also, to your, to your second example, as far as, just the wraparound services. And with AI disrupting, jobs that are f- people coming right out of college or youth, like you said, going 13, 14.
I remember walking into, like, my local Blockbuster and applying the application when I was 17 years old. Yeah.
Tavon Johnson: Yeah.
Nicki Fiocco: And then just, you know, gi- giving it to them and being like, "I can interview right now," and that is just not- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm ... how things happen anymore. Yeah. But I do think that folks like you and I that are, are in a different era of our career, and I would also challenge anybody who's listening to this podcast, or anybody that's been [00:16:00] on a guest of the podcast, 'cause you have a sphere of influence, how can we open some doors for people?
How can we provide support and mentorism, men- mentoring as folks kinda get their foot in the door? So I don't know if you wanna reflect to any of that, but I think that those examples are things that you really see when you're in these human services programs.
Tavon Johnson: Yeah, no, absolutely. And, and, and, and currently in Milwaukee, at Job Corps and some other things that I've done, um, in addition to that, I, I, I definitely see very similarly in, in other locales like Milwaukee, where I am now, where that human services is definitely something that needs a lot more money, a lot more funding, a lot more expertise,
it's not... I mean, passion is one thing, but I think, being tr- you know, trauma informed , and data informed and making s- good sound decisions and putting people in positions that can connect with other great people who know, have the know-how, have the connection to the community to make those improvements, I think that is super important.
Nicki Fiocco: Yeah., Is there anything else you wanna reflect on, , UMBC, or do you [00:17:00] wanna move on to your yet next- ... term of service?
Tavon Johnson: No, I feel, let's go to the next one. I, I have a lot of good things to say about, about my next opportunity- Yeah ... at AmeriCorps as well. Go for it. Yeah, so again, that was something, if we remember, that was, the right at the onset of COVID.
So a lot of what I remember,, over there, I know it's not called Mid-Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic anymore, but, uh, Transform was just how, like wonky that service term actually ended up being just in terms of being, everything being remote. And a- again, I'm super, super, like grateful for the, op- opportunity to connect with them.
I did a lot of great grant work, a lot of the, a lot of the program management, a lot of, building out systems , and helping out with the resource development, those sort of s- kind of areas of, with my VISTA leader term, and connecting with other VISTAs and, and developing my, further developing,, my coaching skills and my, mentoring and like guidance and those sort of things.
And I still use those things today, for sure, but I just remember specifically [00:18:00] like how wonky it ended up being. Even toward the end of Choice as, as well, now that I think about it, uh, where it's, the world shut down and we still were kind of like randomly, uh, doing, you know, still getting things done, uh, be it, you know, virtually, um, and just wondering if anything would,, become normal ever again.
Nicki Fiocco: Yeah, and that transition, uh, interesting enough, I was in the governor's office during that transition, and Choice was underneath our portfolio. Mm-hmm. So, you know, uh, for folks that are new to this whole AmeriCorps world, there's 52 commissions across the state. 52, 54? I forget now. Holy smokes. But Puerto Rico and Guam have, and, and Washington, DC have,, commissions, and commissions get n- about 80 to 90% of AmeriCorps funding from the Corporation for National Community Service, which is the government agency that, , is under Health and Human Services and that sends the money out., And then the commissions send those mon- that money into programs within their communities and their states because they have a better idea [00:19:00] of where that money needs to go, as, as, uh, uh, instead of the federal government. But Choice was one of those programs, and inside the commission we were trying to figure out, like how do we help our programs make this transition in COVID?, But it was, uh, what was so cool is that our programs- had their shit together. Like, they were like, "Eh, we're just gonna go virtual," and y'all were trained, and, and the programs were figuring it out, and then we were just figuring out the dollars and cents of everything. So I feel you on, little did we know that our paths were going to cross, and I was in the governor's office and you were, you were in M&T Bank serving smoothies.
Which, uh, which I probably would've rather been there, to be honest with you. But-
Tavon Johnson: Fun times ...
Nicki Fiocco: yeah, I say all that to say, too, so when you moved from Choice, which was more of a, , direct service where you were working with the, the young adults- Yeah , your VISTA leadership, which is Volunteers in Service to America, that program, you were actually working with other VISTA members who were [00:20:00] doing the work at their site.
So you were kind of, like, y- y- we can't use the term supervisor, but you were, like, a peer mentor support for folks that were also going through a wonky year. So talk to us a little bit how, you were going through your own experience, and then those VISTA members who were out in the field were going through their experience and trying to deal with, the pandemic, and also trying to still, squeeze some juice out of the service year.
So give us some reflections on, on good, the good, bad and ugly of that service year.
Tavon Johnson: Yeah, for sure. That's a great, really great point, Nicki. I th- I think for me with that, with that time period working with the other members, the VISTA members in that way, a lot of it just boiled down to, l- reviewing progress reports and, like, compliance stuff and time sheets, kind of looking at those sort of things.
But really it's the human element, like, how are, how are you doing, are you checking in? Are you getting... Are you taking time off? Are you, are you getting the supervision that you need? Are you getting the mentoring are you, that you need? I know you're at this college or that college or that site or that site, and I know s- everyone is [00:21:00] super busy, but, I'm reaching out to see how you're doing, if there's anything I can do, if there's anything, Mid-Atlantic can do, or Transform as, as it's known now.
And I think that was well received at that. It usually, and in a lot of ways, that became my way to develop further brotherly relationships later on in my career because- I was able to connect with people, um, through this tri- like, kinda like share, like trauma response and trauma bond in terms of- Mm-hmm
we're all going through the same thing at the same time, and while we're doing different things in, in different places, we're definitely wanting to connect and wanted to kind of re-engage. And we did weekly, Zoom calls, and we kinda did, um, some cool stuff like book clubs and those sort of things.
And it just became really, a really cool, like, environment with a cool, like, culture, a really cool, like, like, network of, of connection in that way. And I think I'm actually still connected with a few people, a few of those people I s- I connected with back then, um, to this day. And I think just seeing their growth and seeing, like, some of the things that they've been able to do more recently, I can definitely draw a through [00:22:00] line, right, between what they were doing then and what they're doing now in the same way I can for myself, so that- that's really cool to see
Nicki Fiocco: I feel like that experience may have just been the direct line into what you're doing now, because you support members, but you also have to have a relationship with their service site, so y- it's almost like you're doing, you're doing similar work, but you're not a member anymore. You're, a staff person, and- Yeah
we don't use the S word when we refer to refer to AmeriCorps members or VISTA, VISTA volunteers. So, tell us about that connection, and, uh, d- did you leap from, uh, Trans- to Transform Mid-Atlantic to Milwaukee? Was that your big jump?
Tavon Johnson: Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, so what, what had happened was,, post-COVID, uh, well, was it post-COVID?
I don't know. Maybe. COVID was weird again, so-
Nicki Fiocco: Yeah ...
Tavon Johnson: um, at some point soon, I was able to garner a free ride to Marquette after my two education awards, were matched. So I was super excited about that. And, and admittedly, that's a lot of my, [00:23:00] a lot of my motivation for deciding to do AmeriCorps outside of wanting to be connected to community and do some good work, had been wanting to figure out a way to finance and pay for my, furthering my education.
So I took a bit of a 10-ish year gap, uh, between undergrad and grad school, and w- ended up in Wisconsin with the AmeriCorps. Yeah, I don't think we can ever
Nicki Fiocco: say AmeriCorps is like a gap year. No. That is not. No. That is a growth year.
Tavon Johnson: It's, it's a growth year.
Nicki Fiocco: We're just gonna have to reframe it.
Absolutely. It's not a gap year.
Tavon Johnson: No, no. It's a growth year. Absolutely. That's a good point. That's... Yeah, I might, I might use that, actually. That's a really good point.
Nicki Fiocco: Please
Tavon Johnson: do. Yeah, after my, after my f- the growth years with AmeriCorps, I was able to use that and leverage it as, as a, as a way to get into Marquette University.
So that's why I ended up in Milwaukee. Um, again, initially it was virtual, but obviously everything became in person. And it was, again, right after Transform, right after, uh, the Mid-Atlantic, , that, that service term as a VISTA leader. And, it was a world of difference just being in a new community.
Um, you know, s- new city, new, new sounds, new smell, new smells, new environment.
Nicki Fiocco: Yeah.
Tavon Johnson: Um, had to get aca- [00:24:00] acclimated to being in Milwaukee. You know, Central Time Zone. Like, everything was just totally different. Um, I've been outside of Baltimore before, but never been as far as, um, Milwaukee until, until I decided to move here four, four years ago now.
And I ended up wanting to still be connected to the AmeriCorps world in some way somehow, and was able to do some networking, do some digging, and figured out a way to get reconnected, um, this way as a sub-grantee staff person or st- uh, staff member. And what I'm doing currently now is connecting with members and connecting with different host sites and, and we're supporting members via recruitment and onboarding and member management, through a sub-grantee in Wisconsin that supports, the AmeriCorps grant and funding, um, with the free and charitable clinics throughout the state of Wisconsin
Nicki Fiocco: That's a mouthful, huh?
Isn't it funny when people are like, "So what do you do?" And you're like, "Um, hold onto your seats." Because there's just such a big, , pendulum swing, right? Yeah. There is the compliance and grant [00:25:00] management, but then there's the people aspect of it-
Tavon Johnson: Exactly.
Nicki Fiocco: Yeah ... uh, which actually coordinates with the compliance, yeah. Um, so- Precisely. Yeah, exactly. So tell, can you tell the viewers and listeners a little bit about, , again, where you see, now in Milwaukee, a new setting, , where you see these members making an impact and making a difference, and maybe tackling some of these systems that really can keep people from taking on the best opportunities that , are out there?
Tavon Johnson: Sure. Absolutely. I th- I think a lot of the big impact that I've seen, and that I continue to see,, is members getting connected to my program, and, and other ones throughout the state of Wisconsin, but especially with my program, in the health equity space, the social determinants of health, , mitigating those health inequities related to being underinsur- folks being underinsured or un- uninsured in totality, and working or serving, I should say, um, in spaces where they're either at a free and charitable health clinic or they're maybe in a health department or maybe in a social service agency.[00:26:00]
And seeing the connectivity, between,, that's what the, the policy says and what the law says about, you know, you have to go to this place or this hospital for care and this, that, and, and that's fine, but again, there's a lot of folks that fall through the cracks, and that program, my program where I, that I run now, it services a lot of people throughout the state of Wisconsin that might have fall- fallen through the cracks or might be susceptible to falling through the cracks.
So that's where I see a lot of the big benefit and a lot of that big impact. And then on a personal note for all my members, um, again, they're able to put some identity capital on their resume that says-
Nicki Fiocco: Mm ...
Tavon Johnson: they work with a health coordinator, right? They, they've gotten the community health worker, um, training.
They have done, um, you know, CDC training, they're, they're working in tandem with a, the executive director, and they're learning the business of healthcare, the grants, the, the grant management, the finances, the budgeting, those sort of things. And eventually a lot of them end up going to, um, back to school, whether it be for MPH or, uh, med school or PA school, those, those sort of things.
So I see a lot of [00:27:00] big benefit, um, to members themselves, but also obviously to the larger community.
Nicki Fiocco: Wow. That's super powerful. There, I wanted to ask you when you were talking about some of the things that the members were doing, would you say that, they're kind of like advocates for the community who are trying to work through the healthcare system?
Tavon Johnson: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. A, a lot of them do tabling events. A lot of them kind of connect directly with the community. We have VISTAs and state and national members, our VISTAs obviously aren't doing any direct services, but a lot of my state and national members are doing a lot of direct services.
That would include, healthcare advocacy. That might include tabling events. That might include a whole, a whole host of different things to connect with the c- the public directly. So yeah, I would definitely , use the terminology as, uh, advocates for sure. I think that's very, very apropos.
Nicki Fiocco: Yeah. I mean, it's kind of one of those things where you don't know what you don't know until you don't know what you don't know. Yeah. And, the members- Yeah ... are there to help folks say, "I don't think you know this." Yeah. Yeah ... "And this is how we can get you through the system and get you into, the [00:28:00] healthcare system."
And the other thing if you wanted to expand, 'cause this is something that- I d- um, it actually came out of my service year, and you used the term, um, identity capital, capital. I say, I use social capital, people- Yeah ... your people power. It's the Rolodex that you have in your head. It's the value that you bring to people that you will carry with you from job to job to job, job to job, and nobody can take it away from you.
Okay. And it is also, the biggest return on investment, as long as you keep investing in it and nurturing those relationships. And again, I think that was one of the biggest things that I took away from my service year. Number one, that I could figure out how to have a program go from, , ideation into that thinking sort of idea into how are we gonna do this, into implementation, and then, uh, reflection.
I didn't know that was a skill set that I had, and I didn't have the vocabulary for that either.
But then the second thing that I think I really got from my s- my, my service year and beyond [00:29:00] is that identity capital. So you've mentioned that some of these members go, they, they work side by side with the executive directors. They have ... And, and to me, that's accessibility, it is. And that's where that distance is, and I think that's where a service year can help folks because it does give them accessibility, where you might not get that if you go in as,, just a beginning employee.
Mm. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. 'Cause it's like, no, you're just doing the filing. But during a service year, it's like, we have this person for one year, let's get the most out of them. So speak a little bit to, h- maybe how you prepare your sites to give that AmeriCorps member access to, um, you know, basically, like, decision makers.
Tavon Johnson: Absolutely. That's a great point. Yeah, we, we certainly coach the sites. Uh, I, I do specifically related to a few different, areas. So we, we ask them, uh, "What problems do you have that you may not have the n- the time or the-"
Nicki Fiocco: Mm ...
Tavon Johnson: you know, the, the, the, the mental [00:30:00] bandwidth," "to solve? Um, what are some areas that you feel like are gaps in, , service delivery," right?
Or, grant compliance, those sort of areas. And we ask them to utilize the AmeriCorps members in such a way, obviously, build it out from a project description or, or VAD, um, but utilize those members in such a way that they can get that acce- access, right? Get that accessibility, get those connections being done.
And you can utilize their skill set, utilize their, their youth, their passion, their, their drive, their energy. To mitigate those issues, right? Solve those problems or develop systems that would solve those problems for later on. That's sustainability, so we definitely coach those site supervisors and the whole sites on doing those sort of things.
, We also tell them up front, up front and say, "Hey, they're looking for a mentor," they want to get- Yeah ... to point A, B, C within the next four, three to four or five years, what is it they can learn from you, um, we're, we're, we're adamant about the necessity for, you know, it's not just compliance [00:31:00] and, approving time sheets,
it's, it's supposed to be a relational driving benefit of a relationship such that the members is getting some kind of benefit in terms of what they're learning and that identity capital or social capital, as you might call it. But also the site and the community, the larger community can benefit from, um, having a, a model of, of the, that connection, right?
With, with AmeriCorps. So I think in a lot of ways there's a lot of cross-pollination, a lot of like benefit, uh, mutual benefit on both sides of the coin. But I think most of our site supervisors in particular have been, in the healthcare space for quite some time. They're very knowledgeable and they're very willing and open and, and, and really excited honestly, to connect with our members and, and coach and mentor and guide and write recommendation letters for, for med school and grad school and those sort of things.
So there's also that, that's, that's what I love to actually see. I, I love to see my members, post, first year, second year, whatever they decide to do. Sometimes they come back for two and three years. But, um, I love to see them get to [00:32:00] that, get to that professional space of being able to kind of say, "Looking back, I learned so much and this has really helped me get to where I am now."
Whether it be in med school or NPH or grad school or some other things. Law school, we've had people go to law school after our- Wow ... after our program as well. So yeah, just a lot of benefit in that way. And then obviously I'm an advocate for AmeriCorps, just personally. But I think just where I'm doing that, I think I definitely see the con- you know, , the connection between, um, the, the support that AmeriCorps,, does, but also the support that I think members give to their community and their host sites in particular.
Nicki Fiocco: That was such a great example. I, I don't think I could have summed up that as well as you did. That, I do like how you asked the question to the supervisors, where's the gap in service delivery, and where do you not have the bandwidth to,, focus your attention? 'Cause those, thinking through those things takes time.
It's not just,, a two-hour, oh, let's, we can fix it this way. It's, I think we can fix it this way. Do we have the systems, resources? What kind of tools do we need? And, uh, for, for a [00:33:00] service member to be able to spend time on that is so valuable for sites. Wanted to ask, since you were in this groove of everything that the members that you're working with get out of their service year or you want them to get out of your service year, and you did point out that, we want to make sure we're supporting the programs, but we also want the people that are AmeriCorps members to get something as well.
When you think about your three terms of service, um, and where you are now, and you kind of zoom out, because I feel like your journey is similar to mine in a way of,, you were in the trees fighting the twigs, during your service year, and then you got up above the g- above the canopy, and you can kind of see the impact of the, of the whole ecosystem and, of national service.
Yeah. So when you think about, , your service year, what's something that you, that surprised you, that you took away with, either both personally, professionally? Just something that you didn't think that you were gonna go into these three terms of service with this different [00:34:00] perspective. If you can pull that out of thin air.
I don't know if I gave you that question in advance.
Tavon Johnson: No, that's o- that's quite all right. I, I think one thing that did surprise me, it really still surprises me now, honestly, is- Like just how much the landscape is different now. Mm. Um, I remember historically, like there used to be a lot of political will across the aisle.
I know we're not a political podcast, but there used to be a, a lot of political will across the, the proverbial political aisle that says, "This is a benefit and we should be doing this, and really we should be pouring more money into it." Um, I also distinctly remember in my master's thesis and doing some research around,, some notion that national service should be, in some version or two, mandatory,
for high school graduation even, so I think there seems to be s- a lot of things that changed between now and then. Um, and I, I just don't exactly know, like why that was the case outside of [00:35:00] just, particularly, a bad case here, a bad case there. But it seems to me that's something that, that was super surprising that, that I had not known about, the program before I got into it.
Yes. And I only got into it really because I wanted to get away from home for a second. I didn't go to, I didn't go to school, , undergrad outside, outside of Baltimore, but wanted to go, get away from Baltimore for a second, and that, that was my opportunity to get away from Baltimore. So I went to school, quote-unquote, away from home through AmeriCorps and came back.
Um, but yeah, I, I just did not know a- as the years waned on, um, or did not anticipate, there being so much, dearth now of, of, I anticipate, right, political will to keep the program moving and, and keep the c- program in, in, in, you know, in good standing.
Nicki Fiocco: That's, um, I think that is the, I think I told you to give me the good, the bad, and the ugly, and that is, that is the ugly that we, we find when we are in the ca- above the canopy or in the canopy, is that, , this program could be lost to future people who could take advantage of it.
And I know we've been talking about young [00:36:00] people, but this program spans all the way up to retirees who are in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, and 100s, ameriCorps Seniors provides an opportunity for our seniors who are 55 and older, uh, or 60 and older, , to continue to, , participate in their community and just get, uh...
in an organized way, which we don't have to- Sure. Sure ... always do it in an organized way. But that's such a great point, and I know you said this wasn't a political podcast, but surprisingly, I, , recently had a candidate who was running for, uh, Congress in East Tennessee. Which is that? , Michaela Bennett.
And, Yeah ... that's one of the reasons why,, this is an independent podcast. I want to be able to say, "Hey, there's 1.3 million of us. What if half of us found a day to go down?" Half of us, I mean, what is that? 200,000, 200- Yeah ... 550,000 folks walk down to DC and say, "Look, we are all AmeriCorps alums, and we are [00:37:00] all still, leaders in our communities.
We're taxpayers. We're community members. We're coaches. We're teachers. We're doctors. We work in, we're s- entrepreneurs. We work in corporate, social responsibility. We do all these things, and we d- we're doing this, and we're doing this well because of our service year." And this amazing podcast has over 115 stories of AmeriCorps alums who- started to do this work because of their service.
If th- we could just get them to hear us, and I do believe that there is a very strong non- nonpartisan support for the AmeriCorps agency. However, the funding continues to get cut, and every year we're on the chopping block, and every year somebody comes in and says, , "What's the return on investment?"
And I understand that an audit is necessary. However, we need to understand that we need to start, we need to start surve- surveying those [00:38:00] alums. Yeah,
Tavon Johnson: yeah.
Nicki Fiocco: What's the return on investment? What if you pulled together all of our salaries and said, one service year, which as a VISTA, I think VISTAs get paid maybe $14,000, maybe $16,000, maybe 20, I don't know, a year to do- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm
a service year. And you found the mean, median, and the return on investment, and then you take their taxes, and you say, "That person went through a service year." Yep. "And now they're giving back in this way." If you wanna dollar and sense it, then let's dollar and sense it that way. But I just, I agree with you so much that it's so disheartening when you see a member doing that work, and you wanna get behind them as a program officer, and you wanna support them, and you want to shield them from, don't look behind the curtain.
Just continue to do work and take your growth year. So sorry I went off on a tangent, but I couldn't agree with you more that once you start raising through the ranks a little bit in this national service landscape, it can be like, wait, what? There's people that don't want this program? [00:39:00] I don't know.
That's hard to hear.
Tavon Johnson: No, for sure. It's really tough. And then, yeah, again, I've, I've been fortunate enough to do AmeriCorps in three different locales, uh, well, two different locales and one ended up being virtual, as I mentioned. But again, it just seems like there's a lot of, like, similarities ac- across different locales and with, every city, I think every summer we're having the same discussion about, what are youths gonna do?
Do we have, things for them to do? I mean, they should be doing AmeriCorps, they should be engaged- Yes ... in something in their community. They should be doing other, you know, Peace Corps, other different, like, programs to keep them engaged, give them that resume-building material, identity capital, however you wanna call it.
And there shouldn't really be a question about what they w- might wanna spend that time doing for the summer outside of school. Um, uh, as you mentioned, same thing with retirees and, the older folks in our community, they shouldn't be forgotten about. They should be inclus- included in all the things that we're moving and g- you know, having moved and then having discussions about.
Uh, I... To me, it just seems like an easy fix. And, whether it has to be mandatory or [00:40:00] not, that's a different discussion for a different day. But I think there's certainly a lot of opportunity that, that goes un- unlooked into, uh, you know, just in terms of just having to be a bit of connen- connecting people with different, different ways in which to kind of stay connected to that community, but also give them some skills, come back to that community and say, you know, "I kn- I can do A, B, and C.
Um, I can teach someone else to do A, B, and C." And, one hand wash the other, and now our community's all uplifted and all being supported and benefited from
Nicki Fiocco: You know, something you just said that sparked, a thought in my brain. In,, in middle school and high school,, public schools, counselors, there's college readiness programs, there's college readiness- Yeah
classes. Yeah. I don't necessarily agree with making national service mandatory. I feel like it could take away that transformational aspect of it, because I don't know about me, about you or, or other people that are listening, but if anybody makes me have to do something, I automatically don't wanna do it.
So [00:41:00] I don't know about that. I know that we've had a couple people on the podcast that, that do, have done res- extensive research on it. But what if we included in our public schools and, charter schools and, and, and just, uh, rearing from middle school to high school, service experience readiness?
Yes, you'd wanna go to college. Guess what? If you wanna take this growth year, uh, you can learn a little bit about your community. You could serve in a different state if you're, out of high school- Yeah ... or out of college and you're not quite sure what you wanna do. Yeah. And you can take a year to earn a little bit of money, like you said, get an education award.
And if, if you don't mind me saying, that's based off the Pell Grant. If you had two of those- Yeah ... that's almost $14,000 that you had towards school. And then if you, like you said, that school matches that, folks,, this is how we can get people to, into, into the higher education system and, and- Exactly
and I don't know. I just thought about that. I was like, "Oh, what if we did,, national service readiness programs?" [00:42:00] Let's do it.
Tavon Johnson: Yeah. Let's... I'm, I'm ready. I'm ready. I think we, I think we have a lot of experience between the two of us with national service. I think we can definitely implement it in, in, I think, high school, and K through 12 in general.
And I've, I've worked in that space, like in, served in that space right through the, through AmeriCorps in Delaware, um, with Great Oak Charter School and some other places. And I think, um, even Job Corps, right, as a technically a trade program, but they're doing some high school stuff, some high school credit recovery.
I, I, it seems to me like a easy way to implement and mirror and then solve a lot of problems at, at one, with one fell swoop. If, if there, there's... And again, that's something that there's not a lot of people even know about AmeriCorps, right? So I think just, just that it furthering exposure, that furthering accessibility.
And looking at the demographics as well, there's some, seems to be, um, not as many people demographically, depending upon where you're coming from, um, who know about it as well. So I think that would be a big benefit for sure.
Nicki Fiocco: Yeah. I wanna be mindful of your time. We're coming up on an hour. But, I also know, and just let me know if you wanna speak to this [00:43:00] or we could just not, um, you also have a resource hub that you organize that's outside of your, your 9:00 to 5:00.
Is that, is that accurate?
Tavon Johnson: Yep, that's accurate. Yeah, so I am in a space where I'm, I'm able to connect with community here in Milwaukee, and I do, um, some stuff around youth and young, young adults and engage in the community, and basically, um, help to run and operate a resource center. And we essentially do a lot of different things, but most of what we do is help to mitigate, youth, young adults experiencing homelessness, um, to connect them different resources, uh, community partnerships and things of that nature.
So again, I have, I've been really fortunate in my whole career, but especially even, um, more recently with the, move to Milwaukee. I, I was not sure about how it was gonna go. Also in the in between time became a dad for the first time. So- Congratulations ... yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, just a lot of moving and, a lot of moving and grooving and, um, again, I think AmeriCorps definitely prepared me in a lot of ways for, like, all the things that, that were to come, would be to [00:44:00] come.
Nicki Fiocco: That's so great. I wanna just ask you one question. So you're the oldest of eight. So did any of your siblings do national service? Do we need to have them on the podcast? Is it a family affair?
Tavon Johnson: I try. I try to c- I've tried to, I've tried to kind of push them towards it. They, they did not seem to want to do it, uh, unfortunately.
But I tell them every day that they missed out. They missed out. Yeah. I have a lot of good friends and, I've met, people who've met their husband and wives, you know, through AmeriCorps and dif- you know, different things. It's really, really like a own, in its own kinda social bubble commu- co- community in that way, so, um
But definitely told them about it, so definitely feel like they should've done it, but ended up not doing it.
Nicki Fiocco: Well, you're, in good company because, my kids, did anything but national service. I was like, "If you don't know what to do, you could just do national service. You finish your- Yeah
college, you could..." You know, it was during COVID. I was like, "Sign up for a national service year." Yeah. Yeah. My son was like, "No." "You say AmeriCorps 1,500 times a day." I'm like, "Okay, sorry." As we wrap up here, uh, [00:45:00] is there anything that I didn't ask you or anything that we didn't cover that you wanna make sure, the audience leaves with?
Tavon Johnson: Yeah. I, I don't think so, Nicki. I think it's been, uh, again, great to talk to you. I, I know we've been kinda in each other's, like, sphere of influence for quite some time, and then just wanted to, uh, send my con- send my thanks and, you know, you know, gratefulness towards you because again, this is a great, great podcast, you know, a great, great platform that you have to push the, the, the virtues and extol the virtues of, of AmeriCorps service and the national service in general.
Um, and also wanted to also thank you for you came on, and talked to my program, right? The members of my program. So I appreciate that as well. Wanted to say thank you for that as well. But yeah, anything I can do to push, push the network and, keep the ball rolling for the national service, please let me know.
I definitely wanna, um, you know, keep that in mind as I, as I still matriculate through my own professional and personal growth.
Nicki Fiocco: That's awesome. And that's what we do, folks. Once you become an AmeriCorps alum, you're part of the family, and we're gonna open doors for you. So Tavon, thank you so much for joining us for another AmeriCorps Connections podcast, and I will be [00:46:00] back with another alum, talking about amazing things that they do, how they're still getting things done.
So thank you so much, and have a wonderful, rest of your day