The VISTA Project

Katlin served as an AmeriCorps VISTA Leader with TMA from 2014 to 2015. In this role, she advanced civic engagement and scaled capacity-building initiatives across higher education institutions. Stationed in Frederick, Maryland, her work centered on mobilizing a dedicated team of VISTA members, providing high-level strategic guidance, and standardizing programmatic infrastructure to combat poverty through campus-community partnerships.

The Challenge
Managing a large-scale, decentralized network across 18 public and private higher education institutions presented significant operational complexities. Katlin was tasked with overseeing a massive $1.25 million federal grant portfolio while coordinating communication and compliance among more than 25 distinct higher education administrators, executives, and professional stakeholders. The role required maintaining precision across extensive monthly, quarterly, and annual federal data reporting while simultaneously driving uniform professional development for 18 disparate VISTA members stationed across Maryland and Washington, D.C.

The Solution
To streamline operations and resolve communication bottlenecks, Katlin engineered entirely new institutional frameworks, creating standardized welcome packets, request-for-proposal structures, presentation decks, and unified data compilation tools for the project network. She conducted direct, strategic on-site consultations to guide grantee partners through rigorous program design and assessment practices. In addition to editing and refining up to 25 VISTA project concept papers and federal grant applications, Katlin designed and executed more than five comprehensive, semi-quarterly professional development workshops and orientations tailored for both VISTA members and university executive supervisors.

The Legacy
Katlin's structural innovations significantly enhanced long-term organizational efficiency, leaving behind a sustainable infrastructure for federal grant tracking and onboarding across the regional network. Her collaborative leadership model successfully secured and optimized federal funding across all 18 host sites. By establishing robust communication channels between campus communities and local stakeholders, she built a lasting foundation for student changemaking and civic leadership that directly influenced her subsequent career trajectory in higher education administration.

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Life After VISTA

Following her VISTA Leader service, Katlin transitioned to the University of Maryland, where she has spent over a decade driving institutional culture change. As a foundational leader at the Do Good Institute, she has been instrumental in scaling the center into a nationally recognized institute, notably co-authoring a successful proposal that secured a landmark $35 million gift to expand campus operations, construct a new facility, and establish faculty endowments.

Today, she serves as Senior Program Manager, designing leadership and social innovation initiatives that serve over 2,500 students annually, while managing a university-wide Department of Communication partnership that scaled a social issue assignment from 450 students to over 4,000. Simultaneously acting as an Adjunct Instructor, Katlin designs and teaches undergraduate coursework in public policy, public speaking, and social change—equipping the next generation of civic-minded leaders to cross diverse perspectives and advocate for systemic social impact.