Michelle "Shell" Balek is a second year AmeriCorps VISTA serving at the City of Dubuque, IA, Sustainable Dubuque. Shell constantly finds satisfaction, meaning, and opportunity in her service for "liveable solutions" to answer a community in great need.

Shell's community outreach efforts are changing how the Dubuque community perceives reusable materials. Shell partnered with the Inter-Congregational Ecological Working Group and Wahlert High School's SAVE Club to spread the word about the use of plastic bags through the viewing of the film, "Bag It'. To "walk the walk," Shell recruited multiple community volunteers who together served over 250 hours of their time to participate in and promote a holiday "bag fast". These two efforts alone connected environmental organizations and classrooms around Dubuque that would have never otherwise been connected. Her enthusiasm is infectious and has caught on to co-sponsoring organizations that are now interested in the development of an annual environmental film festival.

As a resource for and ambassador of Sustainable Dubuque, Shell helps ensure that the city's sustainability efforts are not restricted to only city departments and employees, but to the community as a whole. Shell composes outreach e-mails to residents regarding the city's sustainability principles. In January alone, Shell composed three e-mails on clean water, healthy air, and smart energy use & resource management that were distributed through the Sustainable Dubuque List Serve. Her constant and strategic connection to the community gives Shell an opporutnity to communicate with potential and current volunteers, and gain a stronger understanding of the environmental interests in the area. This knowledge helps Shell be susscessful in another of her major service assignments, assisting with the planning and expansion of the Growing Sustainable Communities Conference hosted by the city. Shell has played a major role in formalizing the logistics of this conference which attracts attendees from the entire surrounding region. Workshops at the conference covered topics ranging from getting a green job to incorporating local foods into schools, businesses, and nursing home cafeterias.

Finally, Shell was deeply involved in helping the city to secure a team of AmeriCorps NCCC members. Shell trained the NCCC team, along with other community partners involved with the "Weatherization Challenge" in Dubuque, in the installation of energy saving toolkits. These volunteers could then educate and train the residents who would benefit from the use of these toolkits. Shell, along with other community partners involved with the "Weatherization Challenge" in Dubuque, trained the NCCC team in the installation of energy saving toolkits. These volunteers could then educate and train the residents who would benefit from the use of these toolkits. She also helped orient NCCC members to the Dubuque community where they would be serving for the next three weeks, and involved them in the recognition the city gave when proclaiming AmeriCorps Week 2010.

Through her AmeriCorps VISTA service, Shell has shown the innovation to create and support new sustainability projects, such as the Bag Fast, while expanding best practices, such as providing training and technical assistance through city communitcations and conferences. Overall, Shell's service has had a significant impact in making Dubuque, Iowa, a more "viable,liveable, and equitable community."