What is AmeriCorps VISTA?

What is an AmeriCorps VISTA?

One of Ohio Campus Compact’s flagship programs is our campus-based AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) Program. In 1998, our first year, six AmeriCorps VISTA members were charged with developing an America Reads tutoring program on their assigned campus, including recruiting and training student volunteers, identifying and working with local schools serving low income students, and integrating the program into the community. As AmeriCorps VISTAs, these coordinators were charged with working in low-income areas, and with creating a program that would eventually become self-sustaining.

We’ve come a long way since 1998. There are currently 34 OCC AmeriCorps VISTAs serving across the state on more than 25 member campuses to make manifest the mission of the federal VISTA program, to eliminate and alleviate poverty and poverty-related problems in the United States. By offering their skills and talents and drive to create local and long-term solutions to poverty in their communities, these VISTAs are developing and managing specific issue focused programs and projects that address poverty and issues of poverty.

Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTAs focus on the four key principles of VISTA:

  • Anti-poverty focus
  • Capacity Building
  • Sustainable Solutions
  • Community Empowerment

Our Poverty Alleviation Focus Areas include:

  • College Access
  • Food Security
  • Ohio Benefits Bank (OBB) and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)
  • Veteran Student Services
  • Housing & Homelessness
  • Bridges Out of Poverty
  • Public Health
  • Other – including Nonprofit Capacity Building, & Workforce Development

Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTAs commit to one to three years of service to achieve desired community and campus goals around these specific areas of poverty. So whether it is establishing an Ohio Benefit Bank clinic on a college campus, organizing a college access program for area school children and their families, or working with area agencies to expand access to local and nutritious foods, the Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTAs are advocating for change and mobilizing their campus and community partners to make a distinctive impact in the communities where they serve.

For more information about the program, please contact OCC VISTA Program Director Lesha Farias by email or by phone at 740-587-8571.