AmeriCorps

Adventure WV VISTA

The VISTA will work collaboratively with Adventure WV (AWV) Center for Community Engagement (CCE) to build capacity and enhance environmental based service projects for the WVU community. Additionally, the Member will work collaboratively with the Adventure WV First-Year Trips team to support various aspects of the First Year Trips, which research shows has increased retention and graduation rates among WVU students. This objective will include overall planning and coordination of the trip model, developing partnerships with local community partners to provide service opportunities for Quest participants, supporting leadership development for the Quest trip model through mentorship and supervision, talking with students and parents (phone and in person), and working with university partners to promote retention. When working with the First Year Trips program, the VISTA will have a special emphasis on overseeing and building capacity for the service-based trip, Quest. Increased capacity for year-round Adventure/Service programming will increase both retention and graduation rates for at-risk, low-income, first generation & STEM students.

Ascend Morgantown VISTA

The VISTA member will assist in developing community engagement and service opportunities for members of the Ascend WV program with the goal of creating meaningful and positive experiences with their new home. This person will also help us to identify ways of supporting and nurturing the community of remote workers that exist in and beyond our program. Additionally, this person will help us foster a collaborative and mutually beneficial relationship with local partners and stakeholders by pursuing opportunities for collective engagement. Ascend, WV a remote worker attraction and retention program in West Virginia, aims to not only attract remote workers to the Mountain State, but support them as they relocate in pursuit of a better quality of life, purposeful connection with their chosen community, and an outdoor driven lifestyle. The VISTA member will be a part of the Brad and Alys Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative at West Virginia University, which manages and operates the program in partnership with the West Virginia Department of Tourism.

VISTA Leader

Enhance VISTA project success by supporting recruitment and selection of high-quality VISTAs to ensure project success. Continue to develop and conduct orientation and training opportunities to equip VISTA members with knowledge and skills related to the project. Enhance VISTA project and member effectiveness by facilitating the VISTA team, supporting team members in their work, and monitoring member monthly reports. Enhance VISTA project stability and sustainability.  The VISTA Leader program is open to members who have served at least one year as a VISTA. VISTA Leader efforts will seek to alleviate poverty by raising awareness and promoting service engagement, especially for low-income students. The VISTA Leader will oversee all VISTA members, assisting members as they connect with WVU faculty, community partners, and local units using service as learning to provide direct pathways to volunteer learning experiences, both in class and in the community, that encourage enrollment and enhance retention of students on all campuses. The VISTA Leader will recruit, coordinate with, and support each of the VISTA members to help increase their impact. Through the VISTA Leader efforts, they will increase and enhance the number of innovative service-learning opportunities at WVU, as well as raise awareness of iServe and the opportunities to streamline service data.

WVU CCE Service-Learning VISTA

This is an enriching opportunity to contribute to the development of WVU’s service-learning. The VISTA will build the Center for Community Engagement’s service-learning program capacity by developing resources that increase the retention and education of service-learning scholars. CCE’s Service-Learning program creates a pipeline of community-engaged scholars to organizations throughout West Virginia by connecting engaged faculty and students with WV community partners. Work closely with the Academic Community Engagement (ACE) Coordinator and Faculty Advisory Committee to identify and support Service Learning (SL) needs at WVU. Assignments will include developing communication materials for service-learning and iServe, website management, and supportive measures for WVU SL instructors and students, such as consultations. Additionally, the VISTA will design, implement, and refine an ACE data management system to expand and improve the service-learning capacity to serve at least 10% more of service-learning students at WVU.

MindFit VISTA