2023-2024 TMA AmeriCorps VISTA: Open Positions
Serve your community! Engage in a year of paid volunteer service that advances equity and the work of campus-community partnerships! Transform Mid-Atlantic's 30+ AmeriCorps VISTA projects are currently recruiting for 2023-2024 AmeriCorps VISTA members across Maryland, DC, and Delaware. View 2023-2024 TMA AmeriCorps VISTA projects on the map below and scroll down to learn more about current openings!
As an AmeriCorps member in the VISTA program, you will support an organization to make sustainable change in areas that effect poverty, including education, public health, climate, access to benefits, and more. Through activities such as fundraising, grant writing, research, and volunteer recruitment, you will gain professional experience and leadership skills. This opportunity prepares you for a life of service in the public, private, or nonprofit sector.
AmeriCorps VISTA members are eligible for a host of benefits during their service year, including (*depending on site placement):
- Stipend/Living allowance
- Health Coverage
- Relocation Allowance*
- Segal AmeriCorps Education Award / End of Service Stipend upon successful completion of service
- Eligibility for the President's Volunteer Service Award (PVSA)
- Application waivers & scholarship opportunities at colleges & universities designated as Schools for National Service as an AmeriCorps VISTA alumni
- One year of non-competitive eligibility for federal employment opportunities after service year
- Professional development opportunities through Transform Mid-Atlantic & partner organizations
- Gym Membership, free on campus parking, & housing*
- Childcare assistance, if eligible
AmeriCorps VISTA Leader Positions at TMA
Sponsor Organization: Transform Mid-Atlantic
Service Location: Frederick, MD
Project Overview: The TMA AmeriCorps VISTA Leaders work directly with the members placed at higher education institutions across the Maryland-DC-Delaware region to encourage and promote the expansion of service and quality campus-community partnerships.
**Eligible applicants for AmeriCorps VISTA Leader positions must have completed at least one prior year of AmeriCorps service.**
TMA Communications and Strategic Partnership Coordinator
Sponsor Organization: Transform Mid-Atlantic
Service Location: Frederick, MD
Project Overview: Generating new resources to use in the fight against poverty is a main outcome of this project. The TMA Communication and Strategic Partnership project will strengthen the relationships between higher education institutions, TMA VISTA partners, VISTA members and engage TMA VISTA alumni. This project includes sharing TMA’s story of impact and improving its communications capacity throughout the region, initiation of TMA VISTA member alumni network, curating a robust communications and website presence.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
TMA Community Education and Grants Support Project
Sponsor Organization: Transform Mid-Atlantic
Service Location: Frederick, MD
Project Overview: The TMA AmeriCorps VISTA member will help coordinate conversations and meetings with campus and local community leaders, help find and pursue grant support for this and related TMA programs, and help facilitate community events and engagements promoting sustainability, climate resilience, and environmental justice learning and impact. This position allows for flexibility, creativity, and opportunity both to make a difference and to gain meaningful professional development.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
ACM Center for Mind-Body Medicine
Sponsor Organization: Allegany College of Maryland
Service Location: Cumberland, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: Using learner-centered best practices, enhanced by our longstanding partnership with the Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM), this project will establish the Allegany College of Maryland (ACM) Center for Mind-Body Medicine Holistic Education (CMBMHE/working title). To address the ubiquitous mental health crisis which continues to accelerated as we enter the third winter of the pandemic, the CMBMHE is ready to scale ACM’s Culture of Care and CMBM’s evidence-based trauma relief program through our own community and through our continued partnership with other Maryland community colleges. Funding is being sought to expand the Maryland initiative through a new partnership with The Community Colleges of Appalachia.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
BCCC VISTA Success Coaching Project
Sponsor Organization: Baltimore City Community College
Service Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The VISTA Success Coach Project provides success coaching for students who need extra support inside and outside of the classroom by connecting them with tutors or other beneficial resources on campus and by helping them maintain confidence and motivation. Intervention is provided at the earliest point of the participants academic career with BCCC, ensuring that students are provided with the tools, knowledge, and support necessary to be successful.
Bowie Bold: Feed the Need
Sponsor Organization: Bowie State University
Service Location: Bowie, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The Bowie State University TMA AmeriCorps VISTA initiative will strengthen the university’s current, robust mitigation plan by extending opportunities and resources available to our targeted student population. In addition to providing access to free healthy food and support services to the BSU community, the program is focused on identifying and supporting students who have expressed (either officially or in conversation with community members) they are food insecure and/or in need of nutritional support.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
Carroll Community College Wellbeing Coordinator
Sponsor Organization: Carroll Community College
Service Location: Westminster, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: Using a trauma informed and wellbeing framework the TMA AmeriCorps VISTA will help to create a culture of wellbeing on campus and partner with Pell grant eligible and first-generation students to understand their needs and how CCC can work with them to support their journey from High School through college. This will include qualitative and quantitative assessment, wellbeing programming, centralizing information, and a campus wide newsletter.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
City Schools/Johns Hopkins University Student Volunteer Mapping and Training
Sponsor Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Service Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: Currently, undergraduate students at JHU engage in education-based programming to support the education of Baltimore City youth primarily through tutoring. Although these programs aspire to provide City Schools’ students with quality tutoring as well as access to valuable mentorship opportunities, there are often gaps in training across programs which we hope to address within the City Schools/JHU Mapping and Training VISTA role. This TMA VISTA role will support both City Schools and the JHU’s Center for Social Concern in analyzing existing programming and associated trainings and work with City Schools to build a training curriculum that could be replicated at other Baltimore City-based colleges and universities that also work with City Schools’ students.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
CCBC VISTA Bridges to Success
Sponsor Organization: Community College of Baltimore County
Service Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: Bridges to Success is a partnership between Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS), and Baltimore area businesses to address the needs of low-income students in navigating college curriculum and increase their chances of being prepared for the job market. Many students enter CCBC without a clear understanding of the labor market and limited guidance about career planning. This program will provide a hands-on system to ensure high school and college students are making informed decisions in their course selection and have maps to guide them from non-credit to credit courses. Business partners will help the college align its outreach into high schools and its curriculum with in-demand job skills. The three-year project will increase graduation rates, decrease dropout numbers, and strengthen the low-income community’s economic outlook.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
Coppin State: A Civic Engagement Student Experience
Sponsor Organization: Coppin State University
Service Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The TMA AmeriCorps VISTA member will support the implementation of the civic engagement program. They will assist with planning and executing student centered civic engagement and community service projects; maintain related data; guide students in the development of service projects and connect with non-profit organizations to establish partnerships, identify partner needs, and match student interests.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
Delaware State University Substance Abuse Prevention
Sponsor Organization: Delaware State University
Service Location: Dover, Delaware
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The Transform Mid-Atlantic AmeriCorps VISTA member will assist Delaware State University, in partnership with Delaware Multicultural and Civic Organization (DEMCO), in delivering universal prevention interventions to youth between the ages of nine and twenty, within the Kent and Sussex communities. The TMA AmeriCorps VISTA member will play a key role in the coordination and development of alcohol and substance abuse prevention curriculum, resources, and referral processes that will result in DSU being able to deliver universal prevention intervention to local at-risk youth between the ages of nine and twenty beyond the three-year grant term. Through the implementation of this program, students will gain that knowledge and confidence to help them make responsible decisions around alcohol and/or drug use and strengthening their personal coping mechanisms and develop a healthy lifestyle.
Eastern WV Community Connection to Food Insecurity
Sponsor Organization: Eastern West Virginia Community & Technical College
Service Location: Moorefield, West Virginia
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The goal of ECCFI Project is to increase the likelihood of the food insecure completing education pathways to achieve better economic outcomes. The partners will create three new programs (Food pantry box, Student Food Program, and Grant for additional support of low-income community members) and enhance three existing projects (SNAP education program, Food Fellowship, and Community Food Outreach) in three years to provide food and access to food programs to these individuals so they can focus on academic or workforce education that will lead to new or better jobs in career pathways with secure economic futures.
FCC: Supporting Student Parent Degree Attainment
Sponsor Organization: Frederick Community College
Service Location: Frederick, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The VISTA project at FCC seeks to meet the needs of parenting and caretaking students in attaining a college degree. The goal is to embed a VISTA student-parent coordinator within Academic Affairs to support, connect, and provide resources to parenting students while collecting their stories and providing feedback to the college on the needs of this unique and vulnerable population.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
First-Gen: Next Gen Project
Sponsor Organization: Notre Dame of Maryland University
Service Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: TMA AmeriCorps VISTA member will 1) collaborate with the Directors of NDMU’s Trailblazers and Bonner Student Leaders Programs to recruit college mentees and recruit/train college mentors who identify at first-generation college students; 2) collaborate with this identified cohort of NDMU student mentors to design and implement workshop materials and mentoring session topics based on needs they had while navigating the same processes; 3) identify a community partner in year one and collaborate with that community partner to identify potential high school student participants for the program, as well as assess their greatest needs; and 4) support activities to expand programming.
GBC Volunteer & Mentoring Program
Sponsor Organization: Goldey-Beacom College
Service Location: Wilmington, Delaware
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The TMA AmeriCorps VISTA member will serve to support the expansion and function of the GBC Volunteer & Mentoring program offered through the Boys and Girls Club of Delaware. The TMA VISTA member will be responsible for the recruitment and training of Goldey-Beacom College students to become Goldey-Beacom College mentors. The students will serve as mentors by implementing programs in conjunction with the Boys & Girls Club of Delaware and provide opportunities for Club youth to develop skills in STEM, physical education, and college exploration.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
Homes Not Borders Refugee Community Support VISTA
Sponsor Organization: Homes Not Borders
Service Location: Landover, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: Since the fall of Kabul in August, 2021, Homes Not Borders has grown from a small volunteer group that prepared an average of one apartment per week for incoming refugees to one of the largest independent nonprofits serving refugees and SIVs in the greater DC area. Through partnerships with resettlement agencies, including the IRC, HNB now furnishes the equivalent of 6-10 apartments per week and has positively impacted dozens, if not hundreds, of newly arrived families. HNB endeavors to ensure that clients have access to the tools they need to thrive in their new homes, and that the apartments we prepare are not just places to sleep at night but homes where our clients can feel empowered and secure in all aspects of their lives. The TMA AmeriCorps VISTA will support implementation of programs that will prove critical in ensuring self-sufficiency and providing the tools our clients need to successfully grow and integrate in their new communities.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
Loyola Strong York Road Schools
Sponsor Organization: Loyola University Maryland
Service Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The Center for Community, Service, and Justice at Loyola University Maryland partners with community groups, public and nonprofit organizations, schools, and initiatives in Baltimore City and beyond that provide learning, service, and scholarship opportunities for Loyola community members and create positive impact for a more just and equitable world. As part of the work of the Center for Community, Service, and Justice the Strong York Road Schools AmeriCorps VISTA project will oversee a research-based literacy tutoring program at Govans Elementary School and develop a culture of parental involvement and community engagement at Walter P. Carter Elementary/Middle School. The AmeriCorps VISTA will recruit and train students from Loyola University Maryland to serve as volunteer tutors in an after-school literacy tutoring program and provide on-site support for the tutoring program throughout the school year. The Strong York Road Schools AmeriCorps VISTA member will also spend time each week at Walter P. Carter Elementary/Middle School, working closely with school the Community School Director to create a culture of parental involvement and community engagement within the school.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
York Road Food Access & Equity
Sponsor Organization: Loyola University Maryland
Service Location: Baltimore, MD
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: Along the York Road corridor from the city/county line to 39th Street, there are 5 fast food chains, 8 convenience stores, 15 carry-outs (5 of which are liquor stores) -- and zero grocery stores. Our community lacks access to basic produce, and oftentimes the small amount of produce available is not fresh or locally grown. York Road Food Equity TMA AmeriCorps VISTA project will coordinate and strengthen sustainable food access programming through overseeing the implementation of the Govans Community Fridge, revitalizing interest in and support for Freshcrate: A Healthy Corner Store Initiative to work towards a healthier York Road and Govans community. Loyola University Maryland is located in the Greater Govans community of Baltimore City. Our campus sits adjacent to York Road, a historical dividing line used in discriminatory lending practices. This racial and economic redlining (along with restrictive covenants, disinvestment, and racist housing programs) created lasting effects in the York Road community, with predominately white residents on the west side of York Road now having access to more education, resources, and job-related opportunities than the predominantly Black residents living on the east side. Through the York Road Initiative at Loyola Maryland’s strong community connections including neighborhood associations, residents, and schools will collaborate with staff to develop a healthy neighborhoods educational initiative that will be distributed through pre-existing programming. Over the course of three years, this project will seek to grow food nutrition and equity in the Govanstowne neighborhood of Baltimore City.
Maryland Nonprofits JEDI Project
Sponsor Organization: Maryland Nonprofits
Service Location: Baltimore, MD
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: Maryland Nonprofits’ JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) training program spearheaded by our Director of Consulting helps nonprofit organizations work towards having boards of directors and staff that are diverse and representative of their culture and client base. This project in support of this effort and will help nonprofit organizations in Maryland to expand their capacity in the areas of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI). Through our capacity-building work and JEDI program, Maryland Nonprofits has a role to help well-resourced, mainstream organizations diversify and strengthen their commitment to diverse communities. And, to help small, people-of-color led organizations strengthen their ability to grow, compete for resources, and expand their impact.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
MC Academic Coaching for Course and College Success
Sponsor Organization: Montgomery College
Service Location: Rockville, MD
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The Academic Coaching for Course and College Success VISTA project is focused on several capacity-building projects for the Achieving the Promise Academy, Montgomery College’s academic coaching program. The Achieving the Promise Academy was created in 2016 following a collegewide taskforce convened to develop strategies and scale existing programs that would close the “achievement gap” and promote student success, especially for students historically marginalized and underserved in higher education. Today, ATPA supports over 12,000 students annually with embedded Academic Coaching in 500+ sections of the highest-enrolled courses required for completion that historically have been the hardest for students to pass, as well as 450+ students who work with personal Academic Coaching for college success until graduation and/or transfer. Academic coaching is a powerful and distinct approach to student success, where coaches use evidence-based strategies to proactively help students reflect on their academic performance and goals, create personal success plans, and persist in mastering necessary academic content and skills.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
MICA Art & Design College Accelerator Program Project
Sponsor Organization: Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)
Service Location: Baltimore, MD
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The Art and Design College Accelerator Program (ADCAP) provides a pathway to high-quality art and design college education for Baltimore City students who face financial challenges and are from underserved communities. ADCAP students are recruited from Baltimore City high schools including MICAs partnership with the Baltimore Design School. The ADCAP curriculum provides students with a three year engagement over their sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school that often concludes in admission to the college.
Morgan State / Neighborhood Design Center Inclusive Community Planning in Low-Income Baltimore Neighborhoods
Sponsor Organization: Morgan State University
Service Location: Baltimore, MD
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: By investing a VISTA resource in this partnership based community planning project, NDC will be able to increase participation by low income residents in NDC planning and design projects in low-income neighborhoods in Baltimore city and develop resources that can help NDC sustain increased participation following the end of the VISTA service period. The TMA AmeriCorps VISTA member will support the development of a more inclusive planning process using the following strategies: 1) Research on inclusive and equitable approaches to participation; 2) Develop strategies and materials for supporting inclusive and equitable participation; 3) Piloting and evaluating strategies and materialsIn addition, by implementing this project as a partnership.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
PGCC Community Garden Project
Sponsor Organization: Prince George's Community College
Service Location: Largo, MD
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) with students, staff and community members, will plan and develop a community garden to address food insecurity and promote healthy eating among low-income populations on and near the college campus. Organizational partners will include the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension and local government offices. The Transform Mid-Atlantic (TMA) AmeriCorps VISTA member will serve as an intermediary between partners and coordinate the planning and development of the project. It is anticipated that the development and implementation of this project will be three years and achieve the following outcomes: increase in food literacy among PGCC students, increase local food reliance, increase accessibility and consumption of healthy food and minimize food insecurity within the community. This project will advance a culture of equity by giving all campus and local community members the opportunity to learn and practice sustainable gardening as well as increase accessibility to and availability of fresh, local produce. It also aligns with AmeriCorps Healthy Futures priority by promoting healthy eating as a human right and aiming to eliminate economic and racial barriers to food security and improved health outcomes.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
Refugee Community Engagement Project - Baltimore
Sponsor Organization: International Rescue Committee
Service Location: Baltimore, MD
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: IRC’s Community Engagement Program is an outward-facing department of IRC-MD. Its mission is to share stories of the resilience of refugees and other humanitarian immigrants, shed light on the positive work that the IRC does in the community, and engage the community in meaningful ways to actively participate in IRC’s work supporting humanitarian immigrants. Last year, the Community Engagement Program of the IRC-MD leveraged approximately 650 volunteers to provide 60,000 hours of community service in support of IRC clients. Additionally, the Community Engagement Program facilitates donations of needed in-kind goods for clients, saving IRC clients tens of thousands of dollars each year.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
Refugee Community Engagement Project - Silver Spring
Sponsor Organization: International Rescue Committee
Service Location: Silver Spring, MD
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: IRC’s Community Engagement Program is the outward-facing department of IRC-MD. Its mission is to share stories of the resilience of refugees and other humanitarian immigrants, shed light on the positive work that the IRC does in the community, and engage the community in meaningful ways to actively participate in IRC’s work supporting humanitarian immigrants. Last year, the Community Engagement Program of the IRC-MD leveraged approximately 650 volunteers to provide 60,000 hours of community service in support of IRC clients. Additionally, the Community Engagement Program facilitates donations of needed in-kind goods for clients, saving IRC clients tens of thousands of dollars each year.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
The Civic Circle: Lift Every Voice Project
Sponsor Organization: The Civic Circle
Service Location: Silver Spring, MD
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The Civic Circle is expanding its arts-based civic learning program, which currently reaches students ages 8-13 in Eastern Montgomery. Our lead community partner is the subsidized housing provider Making Home Possible/Montgomery Housing Partnership (MHP), but we are also piloting Civic Clubs in direct partnership with schools. Students learn seven civic skills we call “steps to democracy,” including civil conversation (Listen!), news literacy (Learn!), and voting (Choose!). Civic learning correlates directly to measurable increases in academic achievement, graduation rates, employability and voter turnout. The Civic Circle is in the process of quadrupling its program reach over three years, and building the infrastructure to achieve sustainability. It is also creating online curriculum materials to make its unique, arts- and skills-based method for empowering young students available to teachers everywhere. The expansion will involve ongoing evaluation of existing programs, the creation and use of tools and infographics to demonstrate impact, curriculum enhancement, the establishment of new partnerships, and new funding streams. A key part of the project will be institutionalizing and expanding partnerships with community allies, such as Montgomery College, that have made older students available to visit Civic Circle workshops as guest speakers. This program offers the VISTA member opportunities to develop skills in a variety of areas, including educational and arts programming, community outreach, civic engagement and civic learning, fundraising, evaluation, marketing and nonprofit management.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
Towson University Basic Needs Hub
Sponsor Organization: Towson University
Service Location: Towson, MD
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The Basic Needs Hub at Towson University (2000+ sq. ft.) will expand the scope of services for low-income students and families from our current FoodShare Pantry to a wraparound support and capacity-building center covering eight functional areas: Childcare & Parenting Support, Clothing Closet, Financial Literacy, FoodShare, Housing Assistance, Medication Assistance, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Enrollment and Education, and Transportation Assistance. The Basic Needs Hub programming will be organized in partnership with the Dean of Students Office and the Office of Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility to increase consciousness of the impact of poverty on college students and foster the capacity to engage in individual and collective anti-poverty work. Key highlights include: • co-coordinating and designing a food map, • creating and distributing marketing materials on campus and on social media, • recruiting and hiring student volunteers, • creating and implementing a training curriculum for volunteers, • recruiting and supervising volunteers, • supporting the development of workshop series’ in the eight functional areas, • supporting educational efforts to develop students’ civic agency, • tracking utilization of the Basic Needs Hub resources and its educational offerings, • convening monthly Hunger Free Campus Task Force meetings, • participating in the Anti-Poverty Steering Committee, • and assisting in the creation of campus surveys and other assessments focused on low-income students.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
Towson University Food Security Initiative
Sponsor Organization: Towson University in Northeastern Maryland
Service Location: Bel Air, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The Food Insecurity Initiative is a plan to create a new food pantry (Food Share) to the campus of Towson University in Northeastern Maryland (and Harford County) over the next three years. The program plan is to create a Food Pantry (Food Share) based on research and assessments gathered. Collaborations from community partners and TUNE students will be expected to gain expertise and feedback along the way. There will be marketing of the pantry, recruitment of volunteers, education, trainings, programming, and an advisory group. There will be a tracking system in place and new measurable goals implemented each year. The TMA AmeriCorps VISTA member, their supervisor, and student leaders and volunteers will be the major collaborators on this project. By end of year 3, the hope is to have the Food Pantry (Food Share) at TUNE fully sustainable.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
University of Baltimore Bee Well Initiative
Sponsor Organization: University of Baltimore
Service Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The TMA VISTA will be responsible for the development of the Peer Health Educators Program who will be trained to disseminate information and resources to the campus community. Specifically, the TMA AmeriCorps VISTA will design, implement, and recruit for the Peer Health Educators Program. Furthermore, the TMA VISTA will lead the charge in bringing Active Minds to our campus, a national nonprofit organization that addresses mental health awareness, and plan an Awareness Campaign to end the stigma on mental health. The TMA VISTA will develop a partnership with the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) and Chase Brexton to gather resources related to physical, mental, and sexual health. This partnership will also work as a referral service to our campus community to help increase access to healthcare providers. Additionally, the TMA AmeriCorps VISTA will work to identify and establish partnerships with local organizations whose mission aligns with the Bee Well Initiative.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
UMD Campus Food System Education Project
Sponsor Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Service Location: College Park, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The Campus Food Systems Education Project at the University of Maryland, College Park is a partnership between the Department of Dining Services, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, and the Coalition for Terps Essential Needs. Through existing close collaboration, these entities enhance campus and community food literacy by supporting and managing three programs, Campus Food Gardens, Terp Farm, and the Campus Pantry. The Campus Pantry serves UMD students, faculty and staff experiencing food insecurity by making free shelf-stable and refrigerated/frozen groceries available and accessible on campus. It also operates a Teaching Kitchen that offers cooking and nutrition classes for the community. The three Campus Food Gardens grow vegetables, fruits, and herbs for donation to the Pantry. They also offer lessons to campus and community members about sustainable agriculture, urban gardening, and healthy lifestyles. Terp Farm is a 5-acre sustainable vegetable operation that grows exclusively for UMD Dining Services, including donating to the Pantry. All of these spaces support learning and employment opportunities for UMD students. The TMA AmeriCorps VISTA member will support the three main goals outlined to foster a Hunger-Free UMD: 1) build capacity for the Campus Food Gardens and Terp Farm to support campus and community food security, 2) build capacity for the Campus Pantry Teaching Kitchen to offer comprehensive learning opportunities, and 3) expand food literacy both on and off-campus through student and youth empowerment. At the end of this project, there will be an established program manual, training modules, and organizational structure to coordinate between the UMD Campus Food Garden and UMD Campus Pantry. With the foundational work of the VISTA service member, the Food Gardens, Pantry and Teaching Kitchen will eventually be able to be operated by student staff.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
UMD First Generation Student Success Project
Sponsor Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Service Location: College Park, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The TMA AmeriCorps VISTA will work with the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) to build out initiatives supporting first-generation college students in order to develop and implement a campus-wide comprehensive strategy that supports first-generation student success. This project will utilize a three-year format emphasizing institutional collaboration to address areas of growth in meeting students’ needs. The project will build capacity in order to sustainably foster the success of UMD’s first-generation student community.
VISTA MEMBER OPPORTUNITY FILLED!
UMD SAFE Center for Human Trafficking Survivors
Sponsor Organization: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Service Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: The Transform Mid-Atlantic AmeriCorps VISTA project will help build the SAFE Center’s capacity to provide sustainable and inclusive programming and services to survivors by creating and restructuring internal policies, and creating partnerships with BIPOC-led organizations in Prince George’s County. In addition, the project will support the center’s creation of a survivor leadership program to provide advocacy, inform decisions, leadership and economic opportunities for survivors of human trafficking. The creation of a survivor leadership program will allow the SAFE Center to more effectively serve larger numbers of trafficking survivors and create inclusive survivor led programming and structural changes.
UMES Hawks Corner Community Engagement Project
Sponsor Organization: University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Service Location: Princess Anne, Maryland
Additional Service Benefits at this Site: None
Project Overview: This TMA AmeriCorps VISTA Member’s role will be to help develop a community engagement site at Hawks Corner, a campus-owned meeting space in the town of Princess Anne. Through this project, VISTA will assist the center with hosting meetings, workshops, and trainings that draw on the resources and human capital of the campus. Activities will be planned with community involvement, and the VISTA member will be actively involved in holding community listening sessions and assessing community needs and interests so that Hawks Corner programming would be fully responsive to and engaged with the community. VISTA will facilitate activities that focus on “Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Sharing”, by engaging University faculty and staff to lead discussions that provide the surrounding community partners with additional and new knowledge that will serve as the foundation for a more engaged campus-community.