The Montana Community VISTA project is recruiting up to seven AmeriCorps VISTA members to our summer cohort. These VISTAs will serve with one of our partner host sites tackling community needs that range from increasing access to mental health care, developing curriculum for farm to school programs, developing volunteer programs to support holistic family support programs, and implementing community health improvement plans.
Service Activities
VISTAs will develop community analysis and assessments to understand the community's prevention vision (gather information such as data and conduct inventories, facilitate awareness); form groups, boards, committees; support and strengthen partnerships with key community members, identify resources and match to meet community needs, work with partners, determine measures of success; create strategic plans; successfully build capacity; garner cash and non-cash funds to create financial sustainability of the project; recruit volunteers to continue work the VISTA started after the VISTA's service term is complete; increase the number of individuals/clients served; develop new and improved services for individuals; and support national days of service, specifically MLK Day, September 11, and AmeriCorps week.
Community Need Addressed
The Montana Community VISTA Partnership (MCVP) is uniquely poised to develop partnerships with leaders and organizations to address a variety of factors related to poverty. MCVP knows that there is no silver bullet for prevention efforts, so we have opted for a concerted long-term multipronged approach. Because the MCVP is a VISTA intermediary project (meaning, we partner with organizations to place VISTAs around the state) housed in the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, we have the capacity to expand and support VISTA workstations that fall more toward holistic and broad projects that would not have a "home" elsewhere. Every unique VISTA project focuses on one primary focus area, Healthy Futures - related to health care access, prevention, and adequate access to key wrap-around human services; Education - related to decreasing school drop-out rates, increasing K-12 readiness, and building access to early childhood education, and; Economic Opportunities - related to increasing low-income people's access to transitional or permanent housing or building job skills.
Position Outcomes
The type of service activities conducted by VISTAs and their workstations will follow the community building process, and each workstation is unique in responding to community needs. Examples of the kinds of work VISTAs perform include: conducting community needs assessments and collecting community data; establishing local prevention coalitions; leading and facilitating local coalitions through strategic planning efforts; assisting in implementing community strategic planning efforts; writing grants; establishing cooperative partnerships; establishing volunteer programs, youth centers and opportunities for youth to be engaged in healthy alternatives during "prime time hours"; developing parent resource centers and parenting programs; conducting education and outreach; developing public relations campaigns; and conducting program evaluations.
Benefits
Childcare assistance if eligible, Education award upon successful completion of service, Health coverage, Living allowance, Non-competitive eligibility (federal jobs), Relocation allowance (if applicable), Student loan forbearance, Training
All MCVP members have the opportunity to participate in professional development and training opportunities throughout the year. As a VISTA, you receive 10 days of sick leave, 10 days of personal leave, the choice between the Segal Education Award or a cash stipend upon completion of your service term, the option to forbear eligible student loans, healthcare benefit, and non-competitive eligibility for federal jobs for one year after completion of the service term.
Skills you will gain
Leadership, nonprofit management, fundraising, grant writing, communication, strategic planning, team work
Competencies You Will Develop
Communication
Lead group discussion, Listen to and consider others' viewpoints, Maintain open lines of communication with others, Speak clearly, in precise language and in a logical, organized and coherent manner, Write cleary and effectively
Creativity & Problem Solving
Able to identify and define the problem, Capable of generating possible solutions, Improvise, Provide relevant expertise
Teamwork
Develop constructive working relationships and maintain them over time, Establish a high degree of trust and credibility with others, Interact professionally and respectfully with supervisors and co-workers, Stay positive and outcome oriented, Use appropriate strategies and solutions for dealing with conflicts and differences to maintain a smooth workflow
Decisions
Accepts responsibility, Anticipate the consequences of decisions, Identify and prioritize the key issues involved to facilitate the decision making process
Tools
Consistently choose the best tool or technological solution for the problem at hand, Seek opportunities to improve knowledge of tools and technologies that may assist in streamlining work and improving productivity
Planning
Able to prioritize various competing tasks, Create environment of contribution, Create plan of action, schedule tasks so that work is completed on time, Effectively delegate tasks, Facilitate group planning, Set goals
Service
Be pleasant, courteous, professional and respectful when dealing with internal and external customers or clients, Recognize the importance of maintaining privacy and confidentiality of those being served, Understand and anticipate the needs of others, Understand the importance of one's role in the functioning of the organization