New York Campus Compact
AmeriCorps VISTA Program
AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) is one of many national service programs administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). For over 40 years, it has been at the forefront of building capacity of communities to fight poverty. VISTA members devote a year of their lives to challenge poverty’s root causes. They achieve this by mobilizing volunteers and local resources and by increasing the capacity of individuals in low-income neighborhoods to rely on themselves to make positive changes. Although nationwide most VISTAs serve in human service agencies, Campus Compact has pioneered the use of this resource to enhance civic engagement in higher education.
New York Campus Compact (NYCC) has been partnering with CNCS since 2003 in order to assist member campuses in increasing the number of faculty, students and community members making a difference through volunteer service and service-learning. VISTAs have played pivotal roles in helping colleges and universities to address community needs, develop leadership among their students and improve collaborations between the institution and the community. The NYCC VISTA program enables colleges and universities to better respond to pressing issues facing low-income communities by improving the quality of and capacity for service programs that mobilize intellectual, human, and material resources to address community-identified issues of concern.
New York Campus Compact (NYCC) has been partnering with CNCS since 2003 in order to assist member campuses in increasing the number of faculty, students and community members making a difference through volunteer service and service-learning. VISTAs have played pivotal roles in helping colleges and universities to address community needs, develop leadership among their students and improve collaborations between the institution and the community. The NYCC VISTA program enables colleges and universities to better respond to pressing issues facing low-income communities by improving the quality of and capacity for service programs that mobilize intellectual, human, and material resources to address community-identified issues of concern.
NYCC AmeriCorps VISTA
To achieve its program purpose, VISTA operates under the following core principles: Anti-Poverty Focus – The purpose of the VISTA Program is to support efforts to fight poverty. All VISTA projects address helping individuals and communities out of poverty, not simply making poverty more tolerable through short-term services. Capacity-Building – VISTA members work to increase the capacity of organizations to fight poverty, rather than providing direct services to low-income individuals. Through activities such as establishment of community volunteer management systems, volunteer recruitment and management, fundraising, community outreach and collaborative development, VISTA members mobilize local resources to achieve lasting solutions. Community Empowerment – VISTA projects engage residents of the low-income communities in planning, developing and implementation. The project must be responsive and relevant to the lives of the community residents and should tap into inherent community strengths. Sustainable Solutions – VISTA members are short-term resources to help organizations address new or existing program areas related to their mission. VISTA members help build the capacity of an organization to implement its anti-poverty program on its own after a period of time (typically three years), as it plans for the eventual phase-out of VISTA members. |
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