Johnson Service Corps

Don't forget to stop by THIS SATURDAY to help welcome the new JSC Fellows to Durham!
RSVP and find all of the details here: https://www.punchbowl.com/parties/73c1c8314b9141e2c74d

Its Move In Day!! Julia and AP can't wait to greet the fellows throughout the day and welcome them to Durham for the next 10.5 months!

Tomorrow we welcome the Fellows to Durham, and in 9 days YOU can help welcome them too!
Come greet and get to know this year's Fellows on Saturday, August 24th and help us warm up their JSC house with fellowship, a potluck, games, and a house blessing.
You are invited to drop by any time between 5 pm and 8 pm. We will officially bless the house and the fellows at 6 pm.
Find more details and RSVP so we know how many people to expect:
https://www.punchbowl.com/parties/73c1c8314b9141e2c74d

Meet the JSC Board of Directors for 2024-2025!

Do you have some extra stuff lying around your house that you have been meaning to get rid of? We may be able to use it at the JSC house! Email [email protected] if you have any of the items below that you would like to donate!
- Kitchen Trash can
- 1 or 2 bar stools (we currently have black saddle style, but they do not need to match!)
- A bench for the front porch
- Area rugs (10' runner for downstairs hall, 2 - 6' runners for bedrooms, 4x6 rug, 6x8 rug)
- A floor lamp
- A mini or full size refrigerator for downstairs
- Outdoor weatherproof storage box
The fellows move in Friday, so we would need to arrange pickup/dropoff by Thursday 8/15. Thanks for helping make the house a little extra cozy!

JSC Fellows and Partner Organizations have been matched!
Christina --> PORCH-Durham
Efi --> Urban Ministries of Durham
Jon --> Jubilee Healing Farm
Emily --> Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice
Sydney --> Code the Dream
Tamara --> Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina
We look forward to partnering with these organizations starting September 3rd!

Do you love to cook? Is hospitality a gift you love to share?
Help us welcome the fellows with some home cooked meals!
- Dinner on Friday August 16th
- Dinner on Saturday August 17th
- Lunch on Sunday August 18th
- Picnic appropriate dinner on Saturday August 31st (something to bring to Paperhand Puppets!)
- Dinner on Tuesday September 3rd (after their first day of work with the POs)
Please email [email protected] if you would like to provide one of these meals and we will coordinate the details. Thank you for sharing your love through food, and taking take some pressure off of the community during their first two weeks settling in!

We are excited to partner with Urban Ministries Durham again this year!

Urban Ministries of Durham is the primary point of connection for those who are homeless, hungry, or in need in Durham. They are the primary public homeless shelter in Durham, and welcome neighbors regardless of race, ethnicity, religious beliefs or non-faith, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. The JSC Fellow will support the community-facing programs like the Food Pantry & Clothing Closet, the Community Café, our Volunteer Engagement Programs, and the literal front doors to our Community Resource Center.

We are excited to welcome Tamara to JSC for the 2024-2025 program year! Read the rest of her bio below.

"I am originally from Burlington, NC and recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I am a Communications Major Specializing in New Media with a Minor in Dramatic Art. I am very interested in Japanese anime and video gaming in my spare time.
For many years I didn’t focus on my spiritual well being due to religious trauma. I hope I can connect with local Pagan and Wiccan groups as well as exploring Unitarian Universalism during my time with JSC!"

We are excited to partner with PORCH-Durham this year!

PORCH-Durham’s mission is to provide supplemental food to Durham children and their families who are facing food insecurity. Since 2011, they have partnered with schools and agencies across Durham County to provide food assistance to families in Durham County. The JSC Fellow will help manage the monthly food collections and distributions, along with some administrative and communication support.

We are excited to welcome Sydney to JSC for the 2024-2025 program year! Read the rest of her bio below.

"I graduated in May from the University of Mississippi, where I pursued a Major in Political Science, complemented by minors in English and Business, with a specialized emphasis in Law and Courts. During my undergraduate years, I had the privilege of serving as an Ambassador for the university, while also being an active member of Delta Gamma Sorority. I am very excited for this upcoming year with the Johnson Service Corps and look forward to all the opportunities the future holds!"

We are excited to partner with the Pauli Murray Center again this year!

The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice embraces the transformative power of collecting and telling stories and truths as a process that heals these divisions and promotes human rights. The JSC Fellow will facilitate programming, help lead the Faith Task Force, and engage with community members through site visits and walking tours.

We are excited to welcome Jon to JSC for the 2024-2025 program year! Read the rest of his bio below.

"I received my Bachelor's in Computer Science with a minor in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University. Considering Brazil my second home, I spent the years of 2022 and 2023 teaching English in the country, becoming fluent in Portuguese in the process. I'm thrilled to be a part of the JSC — especially considering the opportunity to learn, grow, and contribute to one of the most respectable communities I've come across."

We are excited to partner with Jubilee Healing Farm this year!

Jubilee Healing Farm fosters mental health through a land-based approach, dedicated to cultivating an intergenerational movement that nurtures human well-being and flourishing. The JSC Fellow will largely focus on facilitating the POEM program (Peer Outdoor Education for Mental Health). POEM trains black and multiracial college students to become Peer Support Specialists and provides additional outdoor leadership and eco-therapy training to address the racial disparity in mental health care through a land based approach.

We are excited to welcome Emily to JSC for the 2024-2025 program year! Read the rest of her bio below.

I just completed my Masters of Divinity on the chaplaincy track at Boston University School of Theology. Chaplaincy, and the intersection of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual care, are important to me as I continue to explore what a vocation to chaplaincy might look like. I hope to get involved with Restorative Justice Durham as it is a passion of mine when I move. Several years ago I found a home within the Episcopal Church as a welcoming space for questions about faith and belonging within the community and the liturgy. I am thrilled to be joining JSC to invest in the community: the neighborhood, city, and intentional community, and I’m hoping to find a sense of rootedness in relationships and this beautiful place through service, shared spiritual practices, and living in intentional community.

We loved our morning volunteering as the full JSC group with Urban Community AgriNomics. Can't wait to visit again with the new group of fellows!

We are excited to partner with the Episcopal Diocese of NC again this year, but on a different project.

The mission strategy of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina is a grassroots, organic plan that invites every member of the Diocese to be a part of it. It is built and focused on the five diocesan mission priorities: Racial Reckoning, Justice & Healing, Congregational Vitality, Collaboration & New Communities, Formation, and Creation Care. The JSC Fellow will serve two diocesan ministries: Reparations and Restitution Ministry and Black Ministries.

We are excited to welcome Efiotu (Efi) to JSC for the 2024-2025 program year! Read the rest of her bio below.

Efi has public service experience in both Georgia and North Carolina, including two legislative sessions at the GA House of Representatives as well as the NC Office of Strategic Partnerships. Over the next several months, she hopes to make the most of the personal development and community service opportunities provided by the Johnson Service Corps. She plans on pursuing a career in political advocacy and public policy after the fellowship's end.

We are excited to partner with Code the Dream again this year. This partnership is extra special, as the Fellow's supervisor will be JSC alum Reid (2019-2020)!

Code the Dream offers free, intensive training in software development to people from diverse, low-income backgrounds. The goal of CTD is for coders to gain real experience building apps that make the world a better place, then use that experience to launch careers with opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities. The JSC Fellow will provide administrative, communication, and programmatic support for CTD’s code school and alumni network.

Johnson Service Corps is looking for a Program Director to help support our fellows on their spiritual, professional, and personal journey. This is a 20 hour a week position, with 8 hours required in person on Fridays to support the Friday Formation programming. Please find the full job listing on our website (under support), and share with anyone you know who might be interested!
https://johnsonservicecorps.org/support/were-hiring/

We are excited to welcome Christina to JSC for the 2024-2025 program year! Read the rest of her bio below.

"I am taking a gap year from university where I dual major in public policy and Africana studies with a minor in community health. At Georgia Southern University I found my passion for the struggle for liberation as well as the joys of being in community. This took the form of leading a political education collective on campus, joining the Democratic Socialists of America, working with Sunrise Movement, being on leadership for the school's newspaper and being part of the NAACP.
I did not grow up with an emphasis on personal connection to religion or spirituality. Often, participation in these practices was performative, in many ways lacking meaning and leaving me feeling isolated and confused. I want to take this year to dive into the universal truths behind connecting with god and exploring what it feels like to live in a way connected to source. I am so looking forward to the year ahead, I know it will be healing and transformative in ways I can't yet imagine.
I am beyond grateful for this opportunity!!"

July is a month of planning and preparation. Our new JSC Fellows will move in in just 5 weeks, and start work with their partner organizations in just over 7 weeks! Over the next few weeks, we will be introducing you to the incoming cohort of fellows and the organizations we will be partnering with in the 2024-2025 program year.

It's a bittersweet time of year at JSC -- our Fellows are stepping into the next chapter of their lives as the 2023-2024 program year comes to a close. Through their collective efforts over these last ten months, they have served over 7000 hours and 1800 people with our nonprofit partner organizations. We are wishing them well in their next venture, but the Krewe will be missed!

Lynn, one of JSC's very own Fellows, will be performing today at the 7th Annual Triangle Community Band Festival! Stop by the Durham Central Park at 5:00pm to see her band perform -- for FREE! There will be food trucks, good music, and lovely summer vibes. Good luck, Lynn!

Tomorrow alum Emma Sternlof is joining Heather and Julia to put together the Alumni Map! However, we only have locations for 75 of our 153 alum (and some of those may be outdated!). If you have not updated us this year, please comment or message us with your current city and state so we can represent where our alum have ended up!

We hope you will join us for the alumni reunion for 4-5pm this Sunday, June 2nd at St. Philip's Episcopal Church Durham, NC, and stay for the rest of the evening. If you have not RSVP'd yet, please do by this Friday. Details can be found here:
https://www.punchbowl.com/parties/851c037449a027d2e960

We are so excited about our menu for the End of Year Celebration, this Sunday, June 2nd! It was planned around produce that Urban Community AgriNomics is able to source from local partner farms, highlighted in bold. The fellows will be sous chefs to Chef Toni Harris to help prepare the food that we will all enjoy on Sunday.

It is not too late to RSVP!!!

We hope you can join us on June 2nd at St. Philip's Episcopal Church Durham, NC. Alumni, please join us early at 4pm for a special alumni gathering. The main event starts at 5pm.

All are invited, whether you are an alum, donor, partner organization, past staff, board member, mentor or part of the JSC community in another way - or even just someone who wants to connect and learn more

You can find more information and RSVP here:
https://www.punchbowl.com/parties/851c037449a027d2e960

Thank you all for coming out last night to raise money and non-perishable food for Urban Ministries of Durham all while supporting our wonderful artists. All in all, it was a great evening and the JSC Krewe thanks all who joined us! Thanks again to SEEDS for use of their beautiful space!

Please join the JSC Krewe tonight at SEEDS (706 Gilbert St, Durham NC) for Praxis for Justice from 5-8:30pm to raise funds and food (non-perishable) for Urban Ministries of Durham. If you can’t make the event please donate here: https://venmo.com/u/johnsonservicecorps and https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=99C49KJ3BMQ32

Here are some items Urban Ministries is looking for in terms of non-perishable foods:

PROTEIN
- Peanut Butter
- Canned Meat (tuna, chicken, salmon, Vienna sausages)
- Chili
- Beans (canned and dried)
PASTA
- Dried Pasta
- Canned Pasta (ravioli, spaghetti-ohs)
- Pasta Sauce
- Mac & Cheese
- Hamburger Helper-Style Meal Kits
CANNED FRUIT & VEGETABLES
- Vegetables (especially green vegetables)
- Corn
- Tomatoes
- Canned Fruit
- Applesauce

RSVP now at https://forms.gle/Pttr9mnbpq7dfbGz7

Please join the JSC Krewe tomorrow night May 25th from 5-8:30pm at SEEDS (706 Gilbert St, Durham NC) to raise funds for Urban Ministries of Durham. We are so grateful to be able to use the wonderful space at SEEDS for this event. Come mingle with artists and activists as you learn more about food justice, and what actions YOU can take to fight hunger in your community. A donation of funds and/or non-perishable food is required for entry. There are no minimum or maximum limits on the donation.

RSVP now at https://forms.gle/Pttr9mnbpq7dfbGz7

Image Description:
A graphic promoting "Praxis for Justice," a Johnson Service Corps project. It is a square graphic with colorful doodles in the background. In a red square is a list of details about time, date, and entrance fee.