What is a VISTA?
AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) members are participants in the National Service Program, AmeriCorps. VISTAs can be anyone over the age of 18 who is legally allowed to work in the United States. VISTAs are often recently college graduates seeking meaningful work where they can develop skills further their careers, but VISTAs are also long-term volunteers who decide to commit to one year of high-level service with an organization they already care about, experienced folks seeking to transition into government or non-profit work, retirees or returning-to-work folks who want to engage with their community in a meaningful way, and more!
VISTAs commit one year of their life to mobilize Montana communities to find long-term solutions to poverty. VISTAs increase the capacities of community organizations to help make a better future for Montanans.
VISTAs assist in carrying out the mission of the Montana Community VISTA Partnership to keep Montana children, communities and families strong and resilient, improve and protect the health, well-being and self-reliance of all Montanans and support the strengths of families and communities by promoting employment and providing the assistance necessary to help families and individuals meet basic needs and work their way out of poverty.
Montana Community VISTA Partnership has three primary focus areas. VISTA projects are developed by you, the host site, and focus on building up you capacity to do more for your community. Your project must align with at least one of the following areas:
- Healthy Futures - Projects that focus on increasing access to healthcare or prevention programs, nutrition, food security, and childhood hunger programs, public health assessment or implementation of public health programs, increasing access to essential human services, etc.
- Education - Projects that focus on school drop-out prevention, K-12 readiness programs, and early childhood education.
- Economic Opportunity - Projects that focus on providing services to create or strengthen opportunities for low-income individuals to develop workforce knowledge and skills, or that focus on increasing access to temporary or permanent housing.
VISTAs are "capacity builders". They do indirect service, which means they are NOT tutors, front-desk managers, phone bank workers, or other direct service volunteers. VISTAs create systems and increase the efficiency of your organization. Some of the work they may do includes:
- Coalition Building: creating community partnerships
- Needs Assessment: determining community need, resources (or lack of), gaps in services
- Group Facilitation: coordinating coalitions, teams of volunteers, or other stakeholders to implement strategic plans
- Resource Development: writing grants, soliciting donations, and building the systems needed to support the furtherance of nonprofit programs
- Sustainable Systems: developing training manuals, work flows, and training procedures to ensure the work they do continues after they're gone
All MCVP projects are created using the Community Building process.VISTA projects are a time-limited resource. Every years a VISTA serves with your organization working on the same initiative, they should be leaving you with more and more capacity until the VISTA isn't needed anymore. VISTA projects can last a total of three years.
Each VISTA receives...
- A modest monthly subsistence ($1,755/month as of 7/19/2024).
- Temporary forbearance or deferment of repayment of qualifying Federal student loans.
- An educational award of $7,395 or a $1,800 end-of-service cash stipend at the end of the term of service.
- Choice of supplemental health coverage (includes wellness checks, prescriptions, and emergency dental; no vision) or Healthcare Allowance (can be used towards annual deductible or coinsurance costs, co-payments for office visits, or prescriptions).
- Relevant training and career development opportunities.
- Round trip travel expenses including mileage and per diem to Montana from their home of record.
- Eligibility for term life insurance.
- Ten days paid annual leave.
- Ten days sick leave.
- Non-competitive federal civil service preference (must meet all other terms and conditions under OPM regulations).