Digital Arts Service Corps - dangerousbook

BONUS Field Report: How to Stay Financially Stress-free On a VISTA Budget

Morgan Sully — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:14:25 +0000

Hello There VISTAs,

As a special BONUS Field Report, I decided to write about some money management tools/tips I came across recently. As a VISTA, money can be tight. If mismanaged, then money can be REALLY tight. If you're like me, than you were probably used to subsisting at a certain standard of living before becoming a VISTA (or not). You're suddenly having to figure out other ways to get to work, find the best deals on food and sacrifice things you thought you'd never live without. Having to reorganize your spending and budgeting habits can be pretty stressful.

However, the transition in to VISTAhood doesn't have to be as traumatic or hard on you financially, provided that you use your new found poverty (or stable paycheck!) as an opportunity to develop a strong spending and budgeting regimen.

In this field report, I'll give a brief overview of an automated Monthly Budget Calculator (attached at the end of this report) I'll also share with you the awesomeness of stress-free bank account automation - a nice little series of hacks to take the stress out of paying your monthly bills, build your savings and STILL have a little left over for that *Deluxe* bowl of Top Ramen.

Understanding Your Budget

Part of staying stress free during times of financial hardship is having a clear understanding of your financial obligations and limitations. It's also nice to know where you might a have a little more 'wiggle room' for those enticing moments (or unexpected expenses) that inevitably come along the way during these times.
Included at the end of this report is a *Monthly Budget Calculator. You will notice 4 columns in it: Income, Fixed Expenses, Variable Expenses and Totals.

Income:
In this column, there are two sub columns. One is simply for labeling your income source(s) - my hope is that you take this calculator with you where ever you may go. I've conveniently entered in 'AmeriCorps Stipend' for you as well as the monthly income ($800) for a VISTA serving in San Diego - this may be different dependent on the city and state you are serving in. You can change the $800 amount to fit what ever yours is.

Fixed Expenses:
Here is where you will list each of your fixed expenses and other monthly bills, like 'Rent', 'Savings', and 'Cell phone'. I've entered in some 'filler' numbers for these - change to fit your situation.

Variable Expenses:
These are expenses that can vary by month. Food is sometimes the most variable of these which can be either a good thing or bad thing (do let your supervisor or VISTA Leader know if you are running low on food - they're there to help and there are plenty of resources out there). Transportation is another one, like if you decide to bike to work one day instead of taking the bus or you end up carpooling. I usually try to round this up a bit, just in case - any extra left over can either go to my savings or for some extra 'discretionary income' (see below).

Totals:
Here is where all the magic happens. If you've been changing the numbers around in the other parts of the spreadsheet, you may have noticed that the numbers here change AUTOMATICALLY to reflect the changes you've made. Immediately, you can see where your money is going, the total of your expenditures as well as any 'Discretionary Income' you may have left over. This is income you can use as you wish: a visit to the book store, the movies or maybe even partially back in to your savings - savings are after all, an investment in your future.
Now that you've got a tool and framework for understanding what your monthly budget is, where your expenses are going and even how much 'extra' money you have available, the next step is to ensure that the right money goes to the right places and that you can do this all on time - without stressing.

Think you can't do it? Read on.

Getting Bills Paid On Time = Less Stress = Happy VISTA

A major cause of financial stress is bills. Well, not necessarily the bills them selves, but having to PAY them - especially if there is some unexpected expense that comes up during your VISTA year. While you can't do away with these completely, there are a few things you can do to be in strong financial standing.

Hack Your Bank: Automating Multiple Checking Accounts are Key to Avoiding Financial Stress

An oft over-loooked fact about most checking accounts is that you can set up automatic withdrawals and deposits. You can divide and disperse deposits made to your bank account across multiple checking/savings accounts, pay bills to specific utilities automatically and even mail checks - all by specific dates. All of these can be further set up to occur on regular, repeating dates (which works nicely as your AmeriCorps stipend also occurs on a regular, repeating date - hint, hint).

You can also set up multiple accounts to work in concert with your saving, checking and bill paying automation. When you first got your bank account, you most likely got a checking account and savings account. Referring back to our Monthly Budget Calculator tool, you can also set up another checking account for 'Fixed Expenses' - think of it as your specific 'bill paying' account. Used in conjunction with the automatic check dispersement of your VISTA Stipend deposit mentioned above, automatic bill payment from this new account takes the hassle out of writing and mailing a check or paying over the phone close to the time your bill is due. Just be sure the monthly amount in this account matches what you came up with previously in your Budget Calculator.

Setting all this up is usually free, takes just a few minutes and can work wonders for reducing stress.
All this so you can enjoy the finer things in life, like whether to get 'Oriental' flavor Top Ramen or 'Deluxe Oriental' flavor Top Ramen.

What are some other ways that YOU maximize and manage your VISTA Stipend?

*This 'calculator' is in Excel format (but you can open it in any program that read .xls files).

documented info on survey and social networking tools?

Rian Graves — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:01:33 +0000

I have been busy researching the contents of my nonprofit's digital literacy toolkit, which includes the following: 1) model integrated use of collaborative/workflow tools (filesharing, scheduling, project and task planning, synchronous communication and whiteboard), 2) model use of media tools (podcasting, videoblogging, digital storytelling, YouTube and Flickr), 3) survey tools, and 4) social networking tools (Myspace, Facebook, Linked In and Ning).

So far, I have only researched 1 and 2 so if anyone out there as any info regarding 3 and 4, it would be much appreciated. Meaning, I can do a Google search but if anyone has actually documented info on 3 and 4, feel free to send it my way! (you can check out the attachment to see what the format I will have to follow for 3 and 4)

IPv6

Josh King — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:58:34 +0000

So, long time no post. I was going to talk about one of the things I've been working on, which is IPv6. This'll take a little bit of background explanation, so if you're already tech savvy and know all about IPv6 just bear with me.

You probably have at least some idea of how the Internet works. Virtually every computer or device connected to the Internet (or just about any computer network really) is assigned an address, known as an "Internet Protocol" (or IP) address. These IP addresses are usually represented by a string of four numbers between 0 and 255 separated by dots, like 74.134.239.209. Computers on a network send packets of information much like you or I would address a letter. The packet is addressed with the number of the computer that it wants to send the information to (like a web browser requesting a copy of a webpage) and sends the packet on its way. That packet makes its way to the target computer, which reads the information and puts it to whatever use was intended (like processing the correct webpage and sending it back to the web browser). Exciting, eh?

The version of the Internet Protocol that we use is known as version 4, and has been in use since 1981, and has worked well. However, we are in perilous danger of exhausting the total number of unique address numbers available. There are only 4,294,967,296 unique addresses available using the current standard. This might seem like a lot, but consider that it is not even close to as many addresses are there are people in the world (~6.5 billion). Now think of how many Internet-connected computers and devices there are in the world, each of which possess one or more IP addresses. Furthermore, there are millions of those addresses which are reserved for special purposes, like private networks, multicasting, and other network-architecture related functions. So our available address space suddenly seems quite small. In fact, current estimates of address exhaustion place the time that we run our of unique addresses at sometime in the first half of the year 2010, at which point without a solution architectural growth of the Internet will come to a halt. This situation is what is known in technical terms as Not Good.

Enter IPv6. IPv6 is the next version of the Internet Protocol (IPv5 was an experimental streaming protocol that was designed to complement IPv4 but was never used). In the words of Bill Nye, IPv6 is Really Bigly Hugely Big. The address space is so large (2^128 addresses) that it's difficult to even adequately describe, so I'll attempt to do so with a series of metaphors I found on Wikipedia and elsewhere. IPv6 has roughly 50 octillion addresses (a 5 with 28 zeros after it) for each person on Earth. If the population of the Earth were 18 quintillion, there would be about 18 quintillion addresses for each of them. If the IPv4 address space were the volume of an iPod, then the IPv6 space would be the size of the entire Earth. I especially like this one: there are a million times as many IPv6 addresses as there are IPv4 addresses...for each star in the known universe.

So you get the idea. IPv6 is big, and should last us for a while. It also solves a lot of problems that IPv4 has introduced. In order to stave-off address exhaustion, various network technologies have been introduced which break the end-to-end nature of the Internet. Originally, the intent was for the Internet to be the great non-hierarchical redundant network, with every single Internet-connected computer (or "Host") with an unbroken two-way path to every other host. However, technologies like Network Address Translation (NAT) have been introduced which allow hosts to share "public" (visible to the rest of the Internet) addresses. This is why if you've ever looked at the network settings on your laptop when you're out at a café or something, your address always seems to be 192.168.blah.blah or something similar (maybe 172.16.blah.blah). These are addresses set aside for "private networks," which are networks which are never visible to the rest of the Internet. Probably the café only has one IP, which it shares with all of its clients. The end-to-end path is broken, because a set of hosts are behind a hierarchical structure made by NAT. Often there is a similar situation at home, where all clients of an ISP are behind the ISP's NAT. This makes it difficult if not impossible for you to publish content to the Internet without utilizing third-party services and websites, or paying ISPs extra money for "business class" services on top of what you pay for bandwidth.

What's more, that one address is probably "dynamic" rather than "static." That means that the café's Internet Service Provider (and probably your ISP at home) assigns an address to them dynamically from a common pool as they become available. Why is this a problem? Well, it's not, unless you want to provide content, like a website. A protocol called Domain Name Service (or DNS) assigns human readable addresses (like ctcvista.org) to IP addresses (like 208.113.151.31) based on a database of those pairings. If ctcvista.org had a dynamic address, then if the ISP decided to change it to 208.113.151.32, ctcvista.org would no longer point to the right place and no one would be able to find the website. This means that in order to have a website, people have to pay hosting providers for space on computers that have expensive static IPs that don't change.

Still with me? Okay, so IPv6 can solve these problems by assigning a public, static IP to every device on Earth. However, who gets to assign the addresses? Currently, all the IP addresses on Earth are assigned by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). IANA delegates that responsibility to organizations in charge of large geographical areas. So all of the addresses in North America are assigned by the American Registry of Internet Names and Numbers (ARIN). ARIN allocates ranges of IP address numbers called "blocks" to qualifying organizations, mainly large ISPs. This makes sense in a way, because ISPs provide the connectivity and it is architecturally simplest for the assigned numbers to reflect the actual structure of the networks that make up the Internet.

However, there are a large number of community projects that require a large number of addresses but don't fit into the established model. These are projects like community networks, municipal wireless networks, community technology centers, and community-run ISPs. These groups are often short on cash but need a large number of addresses for all of their computers, devices, and members. But even though there are a huge number of addresses available, they still have to pay an arm and a leg to go through the large ISPs that maintain a stranglehold on the address space as if it were still running out.

So, finally, enter my organization, Acorn. Acorn is working with ARIN to do two things:
1. Get a large allocation of addresses that Acorn can then hand out to community projects that need them without them having to go through the big ISPs.
2. Change the policy so that in the future any other organization can do the same thing.

Number one is accomplished. Acorn's been awarded a /32 block, which is 2^92 addresses. Billions and billions, to say the least. Now we're working on a policy proposal for early next year which, if ratified, will set up a procedure for other community organizations to get their own IP addresses to provide services to the people in their neighborhoods without having to go through the ISPs for anything but connectivity. Hopefully with this work, we can make the Internet become a better, fairer place like it was intended to be before the critical date in 2010 before IPv4 runs out.

So I hope that this is a fairly straightforward explanation while still being accurate. I'm far from being the world's foremost expert on Internet architecture, so if I got any points wrong feel free to correct me.

10 Tactics for Growing Your Community Online

Morgan Sully — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:56:22 +0000

Last week I attended an NTEN Member Appreciation Webinar entitled: 10 Tactics for Growing Your Community Online. As NAMAC's Online Community Manager, I found this webinar very helpful, engaging and well worth my time.

The webinar, provided by the awesome N-TEN, can be found in context here:
http://tinyurl.com/2mtekz

The following are the main bullet points that were discussed at the *session:

1) Let the potential members of the community know why you are providing an online community, and how being an active member of a community would benefit them.

2) Use every opportunity to showcase your online community.

3) Seed the community with groups, forum postings, blogs, etc., so that early adopters aren’t faced with an “empty” community.

4) Make it as easy as possible for people to sign up and to use the community tools.

5) Designate a staff person to be the facilitator or moderator of the community.

6) Acknowledge those members who use the community frequently.

7) Seek input from the members on your organization’s agenda and other organizational issues. Take what you learn from the community and put it into practice in the organization.

8) Use wiki and/or forum functionality to publish ongoing lists of group events.

9) Announce new initiatives and other important organizational news in the community first.

10) Keep the community content fresh.

Feel free to watch the powerpoint below (click on it to go to a download page):

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| View | Upload your own

The powerpoint was provided on kind permission from Christopher Dworin, VP of Business Development at GoLightly - thanks Chris! GoLightly provides communication and collaboration solutions for community-minded organizations. [Their] social networking tools give your members the ability to interact with you and each other in powerful new ways.

To read more about GoLightly, see: http://www.golightly.com/

"Working from Home"

Karl Otto — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:28:56 +0000

Hi Everyone,

So I'm going to continue being good and write a second update report.

When do you finally settle in to an organization? This question is more rhetorical than anything else. I think I'll still be settling until my last day there. Either that or it will remain unsettled. Who knows?

In the wake of my supervisor leaving, it has left everything more helter-skelter than usual. (By the way, I hate helter-skelter things with a burning passion.) This has resulted in me being the bug-fixer for the new website which has given me victories such as modifying my first PHP doc to quandaries such as being expected to modify an RSS feed in that same doc.

I had a good talk with my boss last Monday about being 5 months into the program and what I expected out of the next 7 months. I told her all of the tasks that I had been assigned (some of which she was unaware of) and how I could only put in 40 hours a week since I don't have an internet connection at my apartment yet. (I know that we are only supposed to work 40 hours a week and I'm behind that all of the way, but it's good to have some flexibility in that as well as the option to work extra if you want to.)

One of my big contentions with the talk was that I wanted to make sure that I was making finished products and adding to my technical skillset. The latter makes almost obvious sense professionally as well as personally. The former element has those as well, but there is also a morale element at work, as well. It takes away from your will to work if you don't have something that you can proudly say you did. I'm guessing this is a big issue in the nonprofit world, but I don't want that to prevent me from having the best possible experience with my organization that I can have.

When you're assigned to work with an organization, you can't expect them to take you by the hand, set you at a desk, and guide you along the way to work for a better tomorrow (or whatever). You have to pull yourself along and take a more active role in it than you might have thought originally. There is not only the work. There is also the value of it and the negotiations of managing where you work, how you work, who you work with, what you work on, what you get out of your work, etc. etc. (Let's not even mention the stuff that you have to deal with outside of your work.) That's some serious multitasking and also one of the biggest challenges I've faced being a VISTA.

So here I am, typing in my report at the Chicago Public Library by my house and thinking about what I need to do now and what I want to do later. It can get a little daunting, but I'm doing things little by little so it doesn't get overwhelming. I'm getting stuff done, tomorrow is another day, and all that jazz.

Morgan’s Manual Round-up: Resources for VISTAs Who Hate Writing Manuals

Morgan Sully — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:55:58 +0000

Morgan was a CTC VISTA Leader in 2007 (before we changed our name to the Digital Arts Service Corps) and while this round-up is a little dated it still contains some valuable resources.

Greeting VISTAs,
I don’t know about you but I HATE writing manuals – especially from scratch. If it has to do with showing someone how to use a computer using endless screenshots, reworked/inaccurate text instructions (that always seem to miss that TINY crucial step required to make the program ‘do-the-thing-that-you-want-it-to’) or a bloated MS Word ‘train-the-trainer’ manual - forget it. I just say DO A VIDEO TUTORIAL (plenty of them out there: http://www.socialsourcecommons.org/search/query?q=screen&submit=Search), host ‘em online and have your volunteers, tutors, managers and computer technology users watch them – much easier, always accurate and no typing – urg!

Of course, for those of you ARE crazy enough to undertake the devilish details of ‘computer lab manual creation’ - or a hardcover would simply be more fitting with your org and workplan - I present ‘Morgan’s Manual Round-up: 10 Resources for VISTAs Who Hate Writing Manuals’. Hopefully you don’t despise writing them THAT much - and it can be kinda satisfying to finish one, well, actually REALLY satisfying;)

After scouring the web - CTCnet, CTC VISTA, Stories For Change.net, The AmeriCorps National Resource Library and even our own CTCVISTA website - I handpicked these manuals based on a mix of reviews, personal use and relevance to our work as VISTAs – a hardworking VISTA in Washington inspired me (thanks Julia!). My personal fave is the YouthLearn Guide – great worksheets andwell written. Many of these guides can be found in the oft overlooked AmeriCorps VISTA National Lending Library. As VISTAs you have access to this SPECIAL COLLECTION of library resource materials to help you do what you do best as a VISTA (whether training volunteers, partnering with community orgs, or developing systems for the operation of your sites).

CTC Center Start-Up Manual
http://www.ctcnet.org/what/resources/startup_manual.htm
First published in 1997, the CTC Center Start-Up Manual is widely recognized as a principal guide for establishing CTCs and serves as an organized patchwork of CTC experiences. Toni Stone, founder of CTCNet, was principal author of previous editions of the Manual. With support from the Surdna Foundation, the manual was updated in January 2003 to reflect developing CTC experiences and needs.

Proof Positive: Developing Significant Volunteer Recordkeeping Systems, 21st Century Edition
http://nationalserviceresources.org/wgnsrclibrary/advancedsearch?action=...
Coordinate volunteers and develop computerized reports using this step-by step guide. Includes sample application forms, volunteer data files, assignment records, and time and activitiy reports. Ideas are offered for documenting hard-to-track activities. Information is provided for people doing manual file keeping as well as how to make the most out of computer software.

50 One-Minute Tips for Trainers
http://nationalserviceresources.org/wgnsrclibrary/advancedsearch?action=...
Examines the purpose and importance of training and development programs, and discusses tips to consider before training an audience. Includes determining needs, preparing a training manual, understanding how adults learn, and organizing a presentation.

The Community Collaboration Manual
http://nationalserviceresources.org/wgnsrclibrary/advancedsearch?action=...
Explores the options for building and sustaining collaborations. Discusses how to maintain the momentum of a collaboration, how to involve youth and business, and the role of the media in contemporary collaboration.

National Service Stress Survival Guide: Facilitator Guide and Training Manual
http://nationalserviceresources.org/wgnsrclibrary/advancedsearch?action=...
Provides facilitator guide and training materials to help national service programs combat stress. Group and individual exercises provide opportunities for self-assessment, reflection, and educational interaction. Includes handouts, self-tests, stress-reducing exercises, a resource list for participants, and a brief section called "Getting Things Done Without Burning Out."

Training the Trainer
http://nationalserviceresources.org/wgnsrclibrary/advancedsearch?action=...
Manual for use in workshops by trainers of tutors. Includes the training components of presentation, demonstration, practice, and follow up.

Creative Narrations Digital Storytelling Curriculum: Instructor Guide
http://storiesforchange.net/resource/creative_narrations_digital_storyte...
A guide to running digital storytelling workshops

Working with Technical Volunteers: A Manual for NPOs
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/volunteers/page5095.cfm?cg=search...
CompuMentor has developed an effective methodology for recruiting, matching, and managing technical volunteers. You can use this downloadable guide to assess your technical needs and identify areas where volunteers can help; recruit technical volunteers and assess their skills; manage technical volunteers; document their work; and find resources that will help your volunteers throughout the process.

AND REMEMBER:

“Never doubt the importance and relevance of your efforts. The benefits to the community you are serving are perhaps only outweighed by the benefits this service will bring to you in turn.” - Brandon Rogers, former VISTA and author of “The Effective Education Award”, a guide for helping AmeriCorps members make the most of their ed award.

Writing a Federal Grant: What to Expect

Meegan Kelly — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:43:27 +0000

WARNING! Federal grant applications are, by far, the most difficult and the most competitive type of proposal to write, even for veteran grant writers. They require more than 100 hours of work reading/understanding application requirements, researching and writing. On the other hand, if awarded, they are extremely beneficial to your organization, offering substantial, multi-year funding and credibility in future fund-seeking endeavors. The following is my advice after completing my first federal grant.

Step 1: Carefully read the announcements and rules in the Federal Register and application guidelines.

After reviewing the RFP, make sure that your organization's purpose, priorities and geographic region are compatible with the gov'ts announcement. Also, make sure you and your staff will have enough time to meet the deadline. Usually, the funder won't allow much time to complete these "bears" or "whales" or whatever gigantic and unforgiving animal you'd like to compare these grants to.

As far as completing the actual application, the guidelines are extremely specific and the reviewers will first examine your ability to comply with their technical requirements. Trust me, they will really make you jump through hoops. If you fail here...your application will not progress to the next level of review.

Step 2: Outline the process / time line you intend to follow for the project and share it with staff.

First, make a checklist with everything that needs to be done and which staff member is responsible for accomplishing it. This will give you a good idea of who you will be working closely with, and how much work you're personally responsible for.

Then, make a calendar for just the time you have until the deadline. It's also good to share this with staff. Pad your personal deadline to account for your reliance on "briskness" of your coworkers.

Also, plan to finish several work days before the deadline.

Step 3: Begin the information gathering process.

You will be expected to gather much of the same kinds of information for this grant, just like any other (organization history, mission, staff, accomplishments, goals of your project, etc). On the contrary, you will be asked to provide "documentation" for most of the arguments you make in your narrative. For instance, you may be asked to document the project's planning/development, or perhaps show evidence of the support of local residents.

Showing documentation and attempting to quantify benefits of the project/number of people affected by project is time consuming. I accomplished this task by sending out a survey to people in the community that would benefit from this grant. Once participants completed the survey and clicked "submit," the information was sent to my email box. I entered the data into a spreadsheet, and drew statistical information to support my project from it. I suggest this as a simple/quick solution. Below is a link to the survey I used, although I don't know how long my organization will keep it posted. Other ways to accomplishing this request include community meeting minutes and public forums.
http://main.nc.us/bbsurvey/

The rest of the information gathering process should be spent digging up buried information that you know you'll need. It involves contacting various departments within your org (finance, admin, etc) and stockpiling information you'll need for reference.

Note: Letters of support take a long time to coordinate and receive. They are necessary when applying for a federal grant. It is beneficial to solicit a letter of support from a state representative.

4. Seek a peer reviewer and don't be afraid to contact the Program Officer with your questions.

Peer review is an excellent opportunity to check over your work. If you know a fundraising professional who has written a grant before, make a copy of the application guidelines and your application. Give them a day or two to make some recommendations. I guarantee you'll sleep better after the grant is submitted if haven't relied solely on your own faculties.

Here are some links:
Catalog of Federal and Domestic Assistance - this site lists the federal gov'ts standard proposal review criteria. Click on "winning grant proposals" on the left side of the homepage.
E-Grants - the master directory for Federal grant information.
FirstGov - a federal site that is the gateway for all federal and state agencies that make grant awards.

Surviving on a VISTA Budget

danielle martin — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:20:20 +0000

Thanks to a great fellow VISTA Leader I met at VISTA Leader training last week in DC, Carly from Tufts University Campus Compact, I've got a little tongue and cheek version of how to live on the VISTA budget that former VISTA Leaders, Ira Hammerslough and Marc Velasquez, created. It's very Boston centric, but it does have a lot of general informative stuff.

Surviving on a VISTA Budget

The following is a short list of money-saving techniques your VISTA* predecessors have compiled for your fiscal pleasure. A lot of this is common sense, and some of it is comfort level. (The authors disavow themselves of any responsibility for legal ramifications and personal offense of following the advice contained herein.)

Sustenance

Live and play in cheaper areas. Immerse yourself in your community and bid your time with people of similar financial means- living within your budget will come naturally this way.
Food Stamps: mass.gov. Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance. Project Bread- projectbread.org. This will qualify you for Reduced Rate Utilities. Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) will walk you through the application process. Assets count, your household is who you prepare your meals with- doesn't have to include your roommates.
Costco, BJ's, Sam's, Big Lots
Farmer's Markets: Haymarket, weekends, Davis Square Wed, Union Square sat
Eat in!
When you go out, take half your meal for lunch the next day.
Tupperware- raid buffets, any and all catered functions
Co-ops. servenewengland.com 2 hours a month community service gets you a membership

Health and Well-being

YMCA
Walk/Bike/Run/Rollerblade/Skateboard whenever possible- avoid the gym!
Dental Student Clinics, Gentle Dental
Cut your own hair- it's cheap and often hilarious. Think Barber shop, not salon.
If you aren't given free access to your org’s gym, ask about free/reduced rates. Never underestimate the kindness of others.
Visit you local hospital's community development office, free yoga etc.
Take full advantage of your health care. If you want a physical, which isn't covered, just go to the doctor complaining of an ambiguous, non pre-existing ailment. The first thing they'll do is give you a complete physical.

Entertainment

Use you semi-student status to its full advantage. Look for student coupon and discount books.
Volunteer and go for free. Yoga, blue man group, Club Passim (Cambridge)
Free concerts and movies. Hatch shell and harbor, Copley.
Library. local, Boston, and campus
Discount Days. college day at museums.
Free Food. Grendels Den Pizzeria Uno, Pour house. Johnny D's monday night trivia has free pizza.
Shopping. Getsugar.com

Nightlife

Happy Hours.
If you smoke, quit. If you drink, quit that too :)
Cover charges. Are a bad idea even if you are rich, let alone if you make $11,000.
Spend time in your local watering holes- cheap pints and no pretension!

Life After VISTA*

CNCS Resource Center. access or make friends
Kaplan
Fee Waivers
Networking. Is a dirty word, but it's how you get jobs.
MeetAmericorps.com or VISTAOlinc.net

Frugality Tips

Turn in-kind into kind.
Make a budget, incoming outgoing, notice where you spend.
Save. If you can. if you have money now put some away so you're not hanging. Remember, most of you will not be able to save on the stipend.
Don't spend money you don't have- be wary of credit.
Your public transportation pass allows you to bring a friend for free on Sundays.
Coupons and Rewards Cards: Drug and grocery stores like CVS and Stop and Shop
One person's treasure...You'll be amazed at what people with too much money will discard. Go to Allston/Brighton on August 31st and furnish you place. Or check out the Garmet District near MIT for clothes.
Save your empty cans and bottles for the deposit. You've already paid for them.
Wireless Networks. "Borrow" some time on the internet in your neighborhood, find cafés with free wireless (Panera) or use access at work.
Tipping. Is important, but remember you wallet probably isn't what it used to be. Politeness, patience, and a modest tip go a long way.
Acknowledge your weakness. Everyone has an Achilles heel when it comes to spending. Acknowledge it, indulge it, but don't go crazy.