The Washburn University VISTA Fellow Project
At the beginning of 2008, Washburn University’s Learning in the Community (LinC): Center for Community Service and Civic Engagement, headed by Dr. Rick Ellis, was awarded a three-year VISTA grant to do anti-poverty work in the Topeka area. LinC very successfully runs the Bonner Leader Program and the Community Service arm of Washburn’s Transformational Experience (www.washburn.edu/wte) requirement. The number of Washburn students wanting to do community service in Topeka and the sheer volume of the work needing to be done prompted Dr. Ellis to write the VISTA grant to place volunteers in non-profits throughout the city.
Volunteers in Service to America, or VISTA, is a government service program placing volunteers in poverty-fighting non-profit agencies all across the US. The vision of President John F. Kennedy and initiated by President Lyndon Johnson under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the VISTA program was modeled after the Peace Corps. It is now a part of Americorps and falls under the directorship of the Corporation for National and Community Service.
The purpose of a VISTA member is to build capacity in the organization in which they serve. The VISTA member helps the organization to identify and increase or enhance its resources whether in its constituency, volunteer base, funding or services provided. VISTA members volunteer for up to three years, receiving in return a small living allowance, health benefits and an end-of-service stipend or education grant.
Currently, 40 Washburn University VISTA Fellows members serve in communities from Topeka, Lawrence, Wichita, Manhattan, and Kansas City to alleviate either the cause of tech effects of poverty in these areas. Jsut a few examples of our community partners include Topeka Habitat for Humanity, Partners for Wichita and Metro Lutheran Ministries.The History of AmeriCorps VISTA
Community service and volunteerism have always been a vital force in American life. Throughout history, our nation has relied on the dedication and action of citizens to tackle our biggest challenges.
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy envisioned a national service corps “to help provide urgently needed services in urban and rural poverty areas.” Less than two years later, President Lyndon B. Johnson realized Kennedy's dream by launching the “War on Poverty.” Johnson welcomed the first group of 20 VISTA volunteers saying, “Your pay will be low; the conditions of your labor often will be difficult. But you will have the satisfaction of leading a great national effort and you will have the ultimate reward which comes to those who serve their fellow man.”
VISTA, like Head Start and other lasting antipoverty programs, was created by The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 to serve the needs of the poorest Americans.
The first VISTA members started in January 1965, and by the end of the year more than 2,000 members were working in the Appalachian region, California migrant worker camps, and Hartford, Connecticut poor neighborhoods. By 1966, more than 3,600 VISTA members were serving the country. By the end of its first decade, VISTA had helped develop a range of projects around the United States, including block watch clubs, credit unions, agricultural cooperatives, community groups, and small businesses. Many of these entities still thrive today—including some of the first Head Start programs and Job Corps sites. As experience with poverty issues grew, VISTA also recruited lawyers, doctors, and architects to work in undeserved areas.
In the 1970's, VISTA merged with Peace Corps and the National Senior Service programs, and the ACTION agency was born. As experience with poverty issues grew, VISTA recruited professionals trained in specific skills. Doctors helped develop new health care facilities, architects helped renovate and build low-income housing, and lawyers encouraged housing and health care reform. In the 1980's, the program placed a strong focus on literacy, substance abuse prevention and treatment, citizen participation, and community self-help.
The 1990's saw a resurgence of national service. In 1990, President George H. Bush developed the Commission on National and Community Service. With the signing of the National Community Service Trust Act in 1993, President William Clinton expanded national service to create AmeriCorps. The programs merged to create AmeriCorps VISTA.
Throughout the 1990's, AmeriCorps VISTA continued the long tradition of starting new and innovative programs. VISTA members helped develop low-income housing cooperatives, created programs to help people transition from welfare to work, expanded Individual Development Accounts to help people save money, and provide constructive out-of-school activities for disadvantaged youth.
Throughout the decades, VISTA evolved to respond to local problems and the changing face of poverty. Today, under President George W. Bush, VISTA is larger, stronger, and more vital than it has ever been. Its 6,500 members—who serve at 1,200 projects nationwide—continue to address the root causes of poverty. They are developing new programs, raising funds, helping manage projects, and otherwise building the capacity of nonprofit organizations to become sustainable and of families to break the cycle of poverty. They also are setting the standard for volunteer mobilization and leading the charge to answer President’s Bush call for every American to become engaged in their community through volunteer service.http://www.americorps.gov/about/programs/vista_legacy.asp
What AmeriCorps VISTA Members Do
The Mission of Vista: To start, strengthen, or expand programs, systems or services that help people move out of poverty.
AmeriCorps VISTA members live and serve in some of our nation’s poorest urban and rural areas. With passion, commitment, and hard work, they create or expand programs designed to bring individuals and communities out of poverty.
Each VISTA member makes a year-long, full-time commitment to serve on a specific project at a nonprofit organization or public agency. In return for their service, AmeriCorps VISTA members receive a modest living allowance and health benefits during their service, and have the option of receiving a $5,500 Segal AmeriCorps Education Award or a $1,200 stipend after completing their service. About 6,500 VISTAs are placed each year in more than 1,200 projects in low-income communities around the country.
VISTA members do not provide direct services, such as tutoring children or building homes. Instead, they focus their efforts on building the organizational, administrative, and financial capacity of organizations that fight illiteracy, improve health services, foster economic development, and otherwise assist low-income communities. VISTAs develop programs to meet a need, write grants, and recruit and train volunteers. A VISTA might:
- Create an adult literacy awareness campaign and recruit volunteer tutors.
- Set up transitional housing dedicated to helping the homeless turn their lives around.
- Expand programs to help low-income families obtain affordable health insurance.
- Recruit mentors for children of incarcerated parents.
- Organize shelter and job opportunities for victims of disasters
In each case, the VISTA would be strengthening an organization so it can continue to serve the needs of the community once AmeriCorps VISTA support has ended.
AmeriCorps VISTA member benefits
- Monthly living allowance paid biweekly. Federal income tax is deducted. This living allowance will not in any way reduce or eliminate any governmental benefits (public assistance, food stamps, disability or retirement) that a person is currently receiving.
- Health benefits. The US government self-insures the VISTA health benefits. The benefits are administered by Seven Corners. There is no deductible and most things are paid 100%. Existing conditions are exempt from coverage.
- Child care is available to those persons who need it and are eligible under state guidelines.
- A modest relocation allowance is available to those who relocate here from a distance.
- The VISTA who completes the year of service is eligible for either a $5,500 Segal AmeriCorps Education award or a $1200 end-of-service stipend. Note: a person may serve up to three years as a VISTA member but may collect only two Segal Ed awards.
- When VISTAs complete their year of service, they earn the status of having one year of non-competitive eligibility (NCE) for federal employment.
