The Points of Light Foundation's Americorps*VISTA Initiative
"Strengthening Communities One Volunteer at a Time"

By Kristen Cambell

In June 2004, the Points of Light Foundation began a three-year initiative to further its mission. The Strengthening Communities grant allows the Foundation to tap the resource of Americorps*VISTA volunteers and place them in Volunteer Centers to perform work related to the development, growth, and sustainability of the centers in four focus areas: homeland security/disaster relief, faith-based and grassroots volunteering, family strengthening, and asset development.

The objectives of this initiative, as outlined by the program goals and paralleled with the Points of Light Foundation's mission, are:

• To develop new and strengthen existing programs that increase the number of volunteers engaged in these efforts
• Provide and promote service opportunities that are inclusive of and address issues related to low-income communities
• Build the capacity of local organizations by developing materials and delivering trainings that strengthen their ability to provide quality volunteer opportunities.
• Develop strong community partnerships with business, government, faith-based and secular nonprofit agencies that support and provide service opportunities.
• Develop the long-term sustainability of the Volunteer Center programs developed in these areas

The capacity of the grant allows for 75 VISTA members to be distributed in 35 Volunteer Centers nationwide. VISTAs perform a variety of diverse tasks ranging from event planning to resource material creation.

Sue Baldwin at Volunteer LEON has developed an extensive manual on working with faith-based organizations, called Project InterFACE (Faith-based and Community Engagement) that is regularly utilized by six organizations. At Volunteer Macon, during the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, Sandra Stone and Pollyanna Ransom worked sixteen hour days with the Red Cross processing over one hundred families a day from Louisiana and Mississippi. Sandra trained 175 caseworkers in two days in Family Services to ease the load of the current caseworkers.

Albion Volunteer Service Organization VISTAs Jennifer Jarosz and Caundace Cloy organized a school supply carnival and back-to-school celebration and head-up the local chapter of VolunTEENS. The Resource Center of Flint, Mich. watched Athena McKay and Adia Wheeler conduct a live television interview issuing a call for volunteers to get trained in tax preparation to help raise awareness about the Earned Income Tax Credit. The girls are canvassing the city with information about their cause.

Get more information about the Strengthening Communities initiative. Get more information on Americorps programs, including Americorps*VISTA.