Vermont Campus Compact

AmeriCorps*VISTA

Education Award Only

AmeriCorps*VISTA

2008-2009 VISTA Positions

Vermont Campus Compact is looking for people to fight poverty as organizers, collaborators, and catalysts for change as AmeriCorps*VISTA Members. Each Member will serve one year at a participating college or community organization, working with students, faculty, administration, and local communities to build volunteer and service-learning programs on the campus and mobilize the resources of higher education to serve the needs of the community. By coordinating the integration of service and academics, you will effect sustainable change that serves community needs while fostering much needed leadership and civic engagement in college students.

POSITION DESCRIPTIONS

General responsibilities include:

Building and maintaining community partnerships
Recruiting student volunteers
Training student leaders
Increasing access to and retention in higher education for low-income students
Working with faculty to develop service-learning programs.

Benefits Include:

In addition to extensive professional development training, members receive a living stipend, health benefits, and can elect to receive an educational award to pay off existing student loans or finance future education.

Qualifications:

College Degree (Bachelor degree preferred)
Excellent communication skills
Public speaking skills
Desire to work with college students
Volunteer experience and a demonstrated commitment to service
Leadership experience

A car and valid driver's license is required for this position.

All positions will begin August 18, 2008.

To apply, please email (preferred), fax, or mail a cover letter, résumé, and three references to:

Tori Kuehn
AmeriCorps*VISTA Team Leader
Vermont Campus Compact
Marbleworks Complex
152 Maple Street, Suite G1
Middlebury, VT 05753
vkuehn@middlebury.edu
Phone: 802-443-5652
Fax: 802-443-2047

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2008-2009 VCC VISTA Positions Include:

VISTA Leader (Middlebury, VT)
The VISTA leader will make both a statewide and tri-state impact as they recruit, support and train other VISTAs throughout their experience and help them fight poverty in their communities. VISTA Leaders assist VISTA members to coordinate the integration of service and academics so they effect sustainable change that serves community needs while fostering the development of leadership skills and civic engagement in college students.

The Team Leader works with VCC staff to provide resources and support for members, plan trainings and conferences, maintains strong communication and networks among the VCC A*VISTA members, and collaborates with other Northern New England Campus Compact VISTA leaders and staff for tri-state events, and works with program development at the VCC office.

With a dozen sites ranging from urban to rural, the Vermont Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA program offers many exciting opportunities for persons wishing to take a leadership role in a progressive field.

The VISTA Leader works closely with the AmeriCorps Programs Coordinator to manage the Vermont Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA team. The VISTA Leader will be responsible for:

Planning and coordinating monthly VISTA trainings/meetings
Working collaboratively with VCC program staff to make programmatic decisions and to plan tri-state trainings including Pre-Service Orientation, Continuing Development Training, and Life After VISTA
Providing ongoing support for VISTAs through telephone calls, emails, and site visits
Connecting VISTAs with appropriate resources related to service-learning, community service, poverty, public safety and other pertinent topics
Leading teambuilding activities to facilitate the cohesion of our team
Recruiting, interviewing, and coordinating placement of VISTA members

VISTA Leader candidates must have served for one year of National Service with AmeriCorps VISTA.

Washington West Supervisory Union (Waitsfield, VT)
The overall goal of the project is to develop a supervisory union-wide program/system for service and Service-Learning, within laboratories of democracy, that is aligned with a curriculum that is cohesive and collaborative and promotes student engagement and essential, deep, and enduring understandings about equity. This project will continue to build upon the successes that have occurred through the Learn and Serve funded project for Harwood Union Middle and High School over the course of the past three years, as well as our first year with our VISTA Member. Also, since 2006, Washington West has collaborated with KIDS Consortium. With the support of KIDS, a Service-Learning Leadership Team works to foster and maintain service-learning initiatives throughout the district, including five primary schools, two middle schools and Harwood Union High School. For the 2007-2008 school year, a VISTA Member worked with our schools to continue the work of the Learn and Serve project and spread the service-learning sucessesses that Harwood has sustained, throughout the supervisory union. Continuing this project next year would provide the necessary resources and support for the ongoing work of increasing K-12 service-learning and civic engagment options to meet the learning needs of our students, while aligning to some authentic service needs of our communities. The combination of Harwood's beginning successes, the support of KIDS Consortium and our partnership with Vermont Campus Compact and VISTA for the 2007-2008 school year creates an ideal environment for a VISTA volunteer to partner with us again in the fall of 2008. The VISTA will:

Work with WWSU community members to coordinate Creating Democratic and Service Oriented Schools in the 7 schools of WWSU,
Assist the WWSU Director of Curriculum and Assessment to design and implement service and service learning opportunities throughout the SU,
Assist the DCA to create common and appropriate assessments for this work,
Serve as Coordinator for the KIDS Consortium work, and
Enjoy living in, working in, and serving a superb Northern New England community, full of natural beauty, wonderful people, and healthy sporting and cultural opportunities!

University of Vermont- Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources (Burlington, VT)
The University of Vermont Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources seeks an Americorps VISTA to further develop long-term, meaningful partnerships between the RS and its surrounding community. The VISTA will work to match faculty and students with appropriate partners in the community and to connect faculty and community members with resources to make partnering on environmentally based projects easier and more effective. Key responsibilities include: Receiving, organizing, and seeking appropriate matches for community projects related to the environment and natural resources. Documenting and evaluating community-based learning activities in the RS. Designing and piloting a leadership development program for students, in which current students will gain leadership and professional skills while providing service to the RS Dean's office. Other responsibilities include: Assisting in further developing and sustaining the new Office of Experiential Learning in the RS. Contributing to multicultural education and other efforts related to diversity in the RS. And establishing and coordinating activities to promote community involvement in the RS. Candidates should have a experience in community-based work and have an interest in developing creative and interdisciplinary projects. Candidates should possess a high level of organizational skill, an ability to present themselves professionally to a wide audience, and proficient knowledge with computer applications. A background in natural science or environmental studies, and an interest in higher education programs, is preferred.

College of St. Joseph (Rutland, VT)
Small independent college in Vermont seeks volunteer interested in a challenging and rewarding professional opportunity working with foster care students as they transition into the college environment; facilitating personal life skills development programming; and connecting students to community service opportunities working with seniors and facilitating financial asset development. Position supplies housing, meal plan, campus benefits related to gym and library access, and possible tuition remission. Volunteer would be implementing and developing a new program in conjunction with strategic plan of the College of St. Joseph master plan.

University of Vermont- Campus Kitchen Project (Burlington, VT)
The University of Vermont (UVM) is seeking an A*VISTA member to fill the position of our first Campus Kitchen Coordinator. Campus Kitchens are a new hunger relief effort taking place on campuses across the United States. UVM will launch the first Campus Kitchen in Vermont early in 2009 and need a dynamic, organized, and dedicated person to help launch the project. This position will manage a student task force, assist in training and scheduling volunteers to work in the kitchen, do large amounts of fundraising to support the $15-20,000 project budget, and work closely with community agencies. Experience in fundraising, community organization relationship building, student club advising, and student leadership support is important. A Bachelor's degree, personal experience in student organizing on campus, and an ability to work independently and as part of a team required. If you are interested in addressing hunger relief in a semi-rural community and working closely with passionate student leaders, then this job is for you! Additional perks include access to campus resources and living in the beautiful city of Burlington, VT. It is important to also mention in this proposal that the Gettysburg College Campus Kitchen just was awarded an A*VISTA to help build their project.

World Learning (Brattleboro, VT)
The World Learning post-program project coordinator will be responsible for initiating World Learning's post-program services, often called re-entry services, as they relate to civic engagement, social action, academic enhancement and professional development. World Learning's re-entry project focuses on providing program participants with tools, resources and networks that will help them put into action the transformational international experiences they had while on our programs. One of the main responsibilities will be to coordinate the World Learning Fellows project. The World Learning Fellows project will better equip our students and alumni to tackle the social issues they learned while on our programs; issues such as poverty alleviation, environmental sustainability, social justice, economic development, and public health. The Fellows project will provide resources and training to support students as they take their international experiences and apply them to their everyday lives on their campuses and in their communities. The post-program project coordinator is the first full-time individual responsible for researching, developing and implementing projects that will give our students and alumni tools for global citizenship.

Primary job responsibilities include:

Research, write, develop and implement resources, activities, conferences and trainings that provide students with skills for social action, civic engagement, academic enhancement and professional development as global citizens
Collect data, write and organize handbooks, online materials, toolkits and best practices that focus on transforming study abroad and international experiences into social action; these may include a student re-entry manual, a campus chapter toolkit, a media/citizens journalism toolkit and others
Coordinate the new World Learning Fellows Project, including being the first point of contact for all Fellows, providing on-going support to ensure that Fellows implement their action plans, and monitor and report project progress
Develop online materials and webpages providing students, alumni and parents with resources to become more engaged global citizens on their campuses and in their communities
Aggregate and disseminate information from different departments and individuals within WL who are working on social justice, civic engagement and professional development in order to make this information accessible to our students
Write and edit content related to civic engagement, social action and global citizenship for e-newsletter
This position will work for and in collaboration with all World Learning programs and departments directly related to providing students with resources to make them more engaged global citizens on their campuses

Castleton State College (Castleton, VT)
Castleton State College, a small liberal arts institution, encourages its students to make a difference in their college and community before they go out to make a difference in the world. The AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer we are seeking will assist The Center for the Support and Study of the Community in the above mission, by creating and sustaining meaningful civic engagement opportunities that meet the needs of the campus, local, national and international communities. They will be a liaison to the community partners with whom we have multiple projects and assist service-learning faculty with logistical and planning issues. The VISTA will assist with established programs like Alternative Spring Break, Recycling and our Green Campus Intitiative, while also working with a new initiative that focuses on mentor training and evaluation. It is our hope that the addition of an AmeriCorp*VISTA volunteer will take our programs to the next organizational level and expand Castleton's reach "for the benefit of Vermont."

Champlain College (Burlington, VT)
Dynamic, mature, culturally competent and savvy organizer to work collaboratively with senior staff, faculty, community partners and student leaders to build systems for the identification, personalized support, and training of volunteers for underserved individuals in Vermont. The Community Partner Coordinator will utilize higher education resources at Champlain College to develop our signature student life experience by developing multiple meaningful service opportunities in the city schools, community centers and after school programs. In addition, The Coordinator will identify community groups and potential partners that can assist in dialogue to understand the issues of poverty and equity.

We are looking for someone with strong listening and relational skills, who has a creative mind and who sees the possibilities in partnerships of diverse people.

The Champlain College Community Partnership Coordinator VISTA's primary responsibilities will include:

Meet with and identify service opportunities at our existing community sites
Research and connect with new community-based partners
Document service and engagement opportunities for integration into LEAD grid and experience planning
Market opportunities to LEAD developers and students, Residence Hall Directors and faculty
Identify partners willing and interested to speak in classes or at community dialogues on issues of poverty
Match the initiatives of our community partners with the interests and competencies of individual students, resident halls, courses and faculty
Maintain systems for documenting college/community service partnerships
Collaboratively design evaluation systems to strengthen partnerships
Assist with Volunteer Opportunity Fairs
Assist with the Tent City, Alternative Spring Break planning and other student-initiated service and engagement projects

Green Mountain College (Poultney, VT)
Green Mountain College is a small liberal arts college whose mission focuses on the sustainability of natural environments and social communities. The service-learning program is very successful, with nearly half of the faculty teaching courses with service-learning components every year. The VISTA at Green Mountain College will work with our successful Office of Service-Learning and Sustainability and the Poultney Schools to develop new K-12 service-learning programs and to coordinate preexisting partnerships. The VISTA will become an active leader in the award winning Poultney Partners mentoring program in which 20-25 college students mentor the same number of elementary students weekly. In the third year of this VISTA position, he/she will expand service partnerships to other area schools, and will be key to the establishment of a new Watershed Alliance program matching GMC interns with area students in water sampling and bioregional education programs. He/she will have offices both at the college and the high school. The VISTA will update the assessment of current service programs, and suggest the development of new programs. He/she will also develop a sustainability plan for the future of these programs beyond this third and final year.

Johnson State College (Johnson, VT)
The VISTA at JSC will support and sustain local service efforts; manage the Bonner Leader Program and supervision of 15 students volunteering at local community-based organizations, facilitating workshops and training sessions, arranging for guest presenters, and including some recruitment of incoming students with support of Director of Bonner Leader Program; organize local service projects; work with Residential Life programming; create and implement training program for organizing local service projects; assist in the recruitment and supervision of student leaders and volunteers; develop and enhance new and existing community partnerships; and support faculty efforts in extended classroom experiences.

Middlebury College (Middlebury, VT) POSTION FILLED
Middlebury College seeks a dedicated individual to engage both the campus and community to support, train, and educate students eager to become agents of social change. Ideal candidate will be familiar with campus- and community-connected work; be knowledgeable about social movements, both in terms of historical context and practical application; have excellent interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal); and be able to maintain a delicate balance of leading, supporting, and stepping aside while students take initiative in response to community-identified needs. VISTA member will provide service-learning support for a course to be offered within a Commons as part of focused energy on a pilot project. VISTA member will also offer workshops and pursue programming to help students build a "tool kit" of necessary skills; and help frame realistic projects for student action that promote social and economic justice. Finally, VISTA member will also ensure that pertinent records and data are maintained, as well as appropriate evaluation of individual projects and overall effort.

Contact John Coutley with any questions about Vermont Campus Compact's AmeriCorps*VISTA Program