Resources

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Fall 2013 Internships

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Internships Available-Apply Today!

Just a few more days to apply for fall internships with the Congressional Black Caucus! The deadline to apply is this Friday, June 14. Interns are placed in CBC member offices and federal agencies and learn first-hand about the legislative process. CBCF also provides interns with housing and a stipend. Apply today and please share!

Apply and share.

Apply and share.

Tiff's Blog

Create a NOT To Do List

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How to get your to do list done by creating a NOT to do list.

 

2013NotToDoListWe are six months into 2013 and that means you are doing a great job getting started on your New Year’s resolutions, or you are procrastinating. If you are like most people, your New Year’s resolution is a list of things you will accomplish by year’s end, a to do list. Some of these items may be so huge you do not know where to start, so you do nothing. You keep putting it off until you just decide you are not going to do it. Then another year rolls around and you make the same resolution, but this time with a promise to yourself to do it.

If you have had the same New Year’s resolution for 2 years in a row and have never gotten it done, maybe it is time to take another look at this goal and approach it another way. Instead of creating a list of things you must do this year, put together a list of things you are NOT going to do. I will help you get started.

Not To Do List For 2013

1. Instead of, “I will lose 50 lbs”

• Try, “I will NOT eat foods with more than 6 grams of sugar per serving”

2. Instead of, “I will go to the gym everyday”

• Try, “I will not take the elevator or park less than 25 parking places from the door”

3. Instead of, “I will save $50/month”

• Try, “I will NOT go out for lunch everyday”

4. Instead of, “I will volunteer 10 hours every month”

  • Try, “I will not spend my discretionary time on activities that are not of service to others”

Not To Do Lists don’t work for everyone, but neither do New Year’s resolutions. Do you think a ‘Not To Do’ List is a better strategy for you? Leave your comments below.

Tiff's Blog

Teaching Your Teen To Eat an Elephant

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How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

elephant

The 2012/13 school year has come to an end (thank God).  I have mixed feelings about this school year. My son didn’t perform to his potential this year. In fact, he totally screwed up his sophomore year in high school. I’m still shaking my head about it. So, if you’re like me, you’re probably tired of your child’s teachers e-mailing about late or missing assignments. You’re also exhausted from having the same conversation with your teen about why they just can’t seem to get their homework done on time.

Lazy, unmotivated, not living up to potential – ever use these terms to refer to your teen? I have and plenty of times. However, I had a recent epiphany. A light bulb went off in my head. What if my 16 year-old isn’t lazy at all, but just does a poor job managing his time? Your teen could be having the same problem.

I created some tools to help you and your teen overcome the stress of trying to eat an elephant. You know how it is. You have a large project due in a few weeks but because it’s so large you don’t even know where to begin – so you don’t. Perhaps you are extremely organized and methodical about how you approach a project. Have you ever thought about teaching those skills to your teen?

Here’s how I taught my son how to eat an elephant one bite at a time.

Resources, Tiff's Blog

College Scholarships Using Twitter?

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Yes, you can use Twitter to find college scholarships.

WanttoknowaSecretTwitterIt’s no secret that the cost of a college education is making earning a degree a goal that is becoming unattainable for many. You don’t want your child’s college and career dreams to be a pipe dream. Use these helpful tips to use Twitter to find scholarships.

You always hear about what a great resource Twitter is for connecting with new people and sharing information. As a busy parent with a student busy with homework, clubs, and pursuing a degree, how are those tweets supposed to save you time and money? Well, the truth of the matter is Twitter can be an amazingly valuable tool for finding new scholarship
opportunities, but you have to know where to look and how to do it.

Think of it like this, if Facebook is where you go to connect with the people you know, Twitter is where you go to connect with the people you want to know, and in turn, find the information you’re looking for. So how does this translate to scoring some extra cash for college? Here are the steps you’ll need to take to grab that green.

• Follow the #scholarship hashtag. This is the first (and simplest) action you should take for finding scholarship opportunities on Twitter. Whether the tweets are coming from teachers, schools, or actual scholarship providers, anyone who uses that hashtag will show up in your search results.scholarshipswithTwitter

• Search key phrases. While hashtags are a good way to find helpful information, they’re far from the only method you should be using. Twitter also allows you to search for tweets that run key phrases or terms. When it comes to finding some college funding, try searching for related phrases like “financial aid,” “federal aid,” and “merit based.” Not only will you find tweets full of useful goodies, but you’ll discover which folks are actively discussing these kinds of topics. That brings us to our next point…

TwitterFollowUs

• Follow like minds. After you’ve run your searches you should start following the people that provide you with the information most relevant to your needs. Don’t stop there though—make sure to check out who those people are following too! More than likely you’ll stumble across a number of valuable contacts that are also tweeting about scholarship opportunities as well.

• Check for Lists. In addition to researching people to follow, you should also check to see if any of them have been added to a Twitter List. Twitter Lists are another great way to uncover relevant content for two reasons—a). they’re curated by real people and b). they’re usually focused on a single subject, so you know everyone that’s been listed is sharing the info you’ll want. Zinch is a great website for scholarship info and they have their own Twitter List of top financial aid sources too, which you can follow here.

With the dawning of the digital age there are more opportunities than ever to find ways to pay for college, but if you don’t have the tools to illuminate the way, you’re merely wandering around in the dark. By having a focused plan like the one listed above, you’ll be surprised at how easily this information shines through.

If you’re wondering where’s a good starting point for the best info on college admissions, student life, and financial aid, make sure to follow @Zinch; and if you know a great Twitter resource we should include, leave it in a comment below!

Tiff's Blog

Road Trip Games To Keep Your Kids From Asking, ‘Are We There Yet’?

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A Road Trip game to keep your kids from driving you crazy.

Road TripYou knew this time would come. . .Summer break. That means road trips. If you’re like me, you’re probably dreading being in the car for hours with small children who never know when to stop asking, “are we there yet”. Go ahead, admit it; it doesn’t make you a bad parent because you would rather be anywhere else than in a minivan with three small children who don’t want to be in the car with you either. Road trip games are your saving grace.

I have three children ages 19, 16, and 15. When they were much smaller, the most economical way to take a family vacation was a road trip. Although we saved money on airfare, I think I lost a lot of patience, and surely by the time we arrived at our destination, someone had gotten on the very last nerve I had left.

Oh, then there’s the time I thought I was being clever by putting the potty chair in the van so we wouldn’t have to stop every 15 miles for Maya to go to the bathroom. I put a Clorox tablet in the potty chair so we wouldn’t have to smell the potty chair until the next gas station stop. What a bad idea that was. The fumes almost killed us. Ah, the memories.

One of my ideas turned out to be the greatest idea ever. Now that my kids are older, I’m sharing it with you.

What you need for a road trip game that will keep your kids distracted:

  1. Oversized Gift Bag – Buy an over-sized gift bag. The larger, more colorful and fun, the better.
  2. Toys & Games – At a cheap dollar store purchase small, hand held games, toys, puzzles, coloring tablets, etc.
  3. Snacks – small snacks like cracker packs, fruit snacks, granola bars, etc
  4. Ribbon – Tie long ribbon to the end of each snack and toy and place all in the gift bag.
  5. Odometer – Tell the kids when the last number on the odometer is a 0 or 5 they get to pick something out of the bag. Instead of asking “are we there yet”, they’ll be intently watching the odometer. By the time they are bored with what they chose, it’s time to choose again. Hopefully, you have enough prizes to get you to your destination.

Good luck.