What is VISTA?
“AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) members bring passion and perseverance where the need is greatest: to organizations that help eradicate poverty. AmeriCorps VISTA members serve as a catalyst for change, living and working alongside community members to meet our nation’s most pressing challenges and advance local solutions.”
According to NationalService.gov
AmeriCorps VISTA is a one-year commitment, which can be renewed for a total of 3 years. Host sites apply for a three-year VISTA project, so they could have one VISTA for 3 years, two for a combination, or three VISTAs for 1 year each.
My service year began on July 21, 2019, and will end on July 20, 2020.
If you want to learn more about my VISTA year, keep reading!
VISTA Assignment Description (VAD)
A VISTA Assignment Description, or VAD, is submitted by a host site to VISTA National when applying for a VISTA member. The VISTA member then receives the VAD with the placement offer. It includes the project period, focus areas, and goals and objectives.
The VAD is a living document. Over the course of the VISTA project, goals can change or performance measures may need to be shifted. For example, when I started my service, I had a list of specific performance measures to track. However, we did not have the infrastructure to track one of the measures, so I was consistently reporting zeros every time I submitted a monthly report. I worked with my supervisors and with NC Campus Compact to determine what a better performance measure would be, and we shifted reporting so I could track actual actionable data.
Goal of the Project
The VISTA member will build capacity within existing initiatives for UNC Greensboro to address hunger and food insecurity on-campus and in the greater Greensboro community. Through increasing student participation in these efforts,the VISTA project seeks to improve access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food for members of the Greensboro community.
Objective of the Assignment #1
The VISTA member will create and support existing opportunities for UNCG students to address hunger through the Farmer Foodshare donation station, Spartan Open Pantry (SOP) community gardens, days of service, Empty Bowls program, and Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week. These can include volunteer opportunities, internships, and fellowships.
Member Activities
Identify, document and implement effective means of marketing volunteer opportunities to UNCG students through email, social media, and website.
Strengthen management of volunteers to ensure clear process for signing up, training, checking in, and volunteer recognition.
Create PowerPoint training modules for student volunteers that can be used across programs as an introduction to food insecurity. Create training that is specific to the SOP community garden program and the donation station program.
Develop volunteer assignments for new SOP community garden and manage volunteer schedule.
Objective of the Assignment #2
The VISTA member will set up outreach systems to promote awareness of Spartan Open Pantry and the Farmer Foodshare Donation Station.
Member Activities
Develop a marketing, educational, and anti-stigmatization campaign including physical or digital resources to expand student awareness and usage of the Spartan Open Pantry.
Work with donation station recipient organizations, the Greensboro Farmer’s Curb Market, and Farmer Foodshare to effectively promote the donation station and its impact at the market, on-campus, and in the community.
Objective of the Assignment #3
With advisement of Spartan Open Pantry Staff, the VISTA member will develop new SOP community garden space.
Member Activities
Research and identify types of produce desired by SOP recipients.
Develop an operations plan that includes planting and garden maintenance schedule.
Office of Leadership and Civic Engagement (OLCE)
Spartan Service Day:
August 24, 2019
Participants
293
Site Leaders
22
Sites
16
I organized marketing, registration, and logistics for one of UNCG’s largest Spartan Service Days. Students arrived in the morning, met up with their groups, and then were transported to their service sites. After completing their service, they returned to campus for lunch and reflection activities.
Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week:
November 16 – 24, 2019
Participants
725
Volunteers
40
Events
7
I worked with campus partners and a student planning committee to plan and host a series of educational, service, and fundraising events. We hosted a donation competition, painted bowls for Empty Bowls, and created blankets for homeless individuals. Additionally, we organized two community service events for students and I facilitated an educational presentation.
MLK Day of Service:
January 18, 2020
Participants
351
Site Leaders
15
Sites
14
I organized marketing, registration, and logistics for one of UNCG’s largest MLK Days of Service. Students arrived in the morning, met up with their groups, and then were transported to their service sites. After completing their service, they returned to campus for lunch and reflection activities.
Farmer Foodshare Donation Station
Donations
($)
747
Donations
(lbs)
863
Volunteer Hours
228
Farmer Foodshare connects people who grow food to people who need it through local farmer’s markets. Customers donate produce to the Donation Station table at the market, then we donate the collected produce to local hunger relief organizations. The donation station is run by volunteer interns, who are managed by the Civic Engagement Fellow that I oversee.
I revamped an old flyer and used the new design to create marketing images. We used them to publicize openings for both interns and a Civic Engagement Fellow. I went through the applications I received and made recommendations to my supervisor. After discussing some candidates, the hiring decisions were left largely up to me.
To make sure that the Donation Station is adequately staffed, we try to maintain an intern pool of 4 – 6 individuals. That cuts down on the dates when we do not have availability for coverage. On the days that we cannot have any interns there, the CEF steps in or calls on OLCE staff members to cover the shifts.
Sara Ghobrial
Farmer foodshare intern
“Volunteering with Farmer Foodshare has been a humbling experience as it has made me aware of the growing struggles of food insecurity within my own community. I may come from a humble background, but I recognize that I am privileged enough to be able to volunteer my time when so many are finding it difficult to have their basic needs met. Having dealt with food insecurity in the past, it has inspired me to do all that I can for those around me. I’m glad I’m able to share all that I have learned and give back to the community.”
Spartan Open Pantry (SOP)
SOP: Overview
Neighbour
Visits
737
Food Output
(lbs)
8,620
Clothing Output
(lbs)
170
I coordinated scheduling and created onboarding guides for volunteers, while also maintaining safe, clean, and welcoming operation of the Pantry. In conjunction with the UNCG Nutrition Department, we created a cookbook for our Pantry users, or neighbours, to use while creating meals from what we have in stock. Additionally, I worked with organizations around campus to share information about the Pantry and to raise donations.
Data Analytics:
August 14 – December 18, 2019
Spartan Garden Gnomes (SGG)
Volunteers
46
Volunteer Hours
1,102
The Spartan Garden Gnomes cultivate both the community garden on UNCG’s campus and the garden at Greensboro College. The produce harvested from these gardens is then donated to the Spartan Open Pantry.
I started the SGG in September 2019. I did not know if students would come out to garden with us in the evenings, but so many of them rallied around us and our mission, which was heartwarming.
Gold Leadership Project:
Project Site Supervisor
Gold Members
5
Volunteer Hours
20
The Leadership Challenge program offers leadership education, training, and development to all UNCG students. Once students go through Bronze and Silver, they can join Gold, where they take on a project with 60 required service hours.
I oversaw two Gold groups with the Spartan Garden Gnomes. They created volunteer onboarding guides for us to use and worked hands-on in our community gardens.
Other Projects
Title IX: Process Flowchart
I designed a flowchart for students, staff, and faculty to understand the Title IX reporting and investigative process. Using multiple rounds of feedback from the Title IX investigators, I edited the flowchart to ensure its readability and accessibility.
I actually went to Title IX to propose this project myself in August of 2019 because I wanted to make it easier for students to understand the process of how to file a report. When I started in this role, I knew that I would be working with vulnerable populations that historically have a higher probability of experiencing a Title IX issue. The process of filing a report and going through an investigation seems very complicated to those who are not familiar with it. I wanted to have a simple flowchart that someone could follow if they were considering filing a report as a Reporting Party or if they were mentioned in a report as a Responding Party.
Food Insecurity Resources Flyer
I pulled together a list of on-campus and off-campus resources, including the three big departments that we refer students to.
This list was created to send out to academic advisors, success coaches, and other key staff about how to help students who are experiencing food insecurity. These individuals may not have the same access to resources that we have in Student Affairs, so we wanted to make sure that they had this information.
I created this at the request of the Food and Housing Insecurity Working Group, which includes Dr. Cathy Akens, the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. I sent a list of resources to Jolie Helton, Marketing and Communications Coordinator for Student Affairs, who had a student worker create this flyer.
Silver Leadership Challenge: Coach
Silver Students
2
Meeting Hours
2
The Leadership Challenge program offers leadership education, training, and development to all UNCG students. Given that I was already a Project Site Supervisor for the Gold level, I decided to also coach Silver students.
I coach two Silver students. This basically means that I meet with them 6 times throughout their Silver Challenge to make sure that they are staying on track to complete their requirements.
Guest Lecturing / Presentations
First Year Experience Class: October 30, 2019
I guest lectured to a First Year Education (FYE) class on October 30, 2019. My topic was Gender and Sexuality, which I have lectured on in the past. The students were very receptive to the material, although they seemed hesitant at first to discuss unconscious biases and the like. Once they became more comfortable with me and one another, they shared their thoughts and questions with me, which gave me a baseline to start with for the educational material.
MADHouse: November 14, 2019
I presented to 18 students with the Make a Difference House (MADHouse) living and learning community on November 14, 2019. My topic was hunger, as the presentation occurred the week before Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. In the 2-hour time period, I shared my personal experiences of dealing with hunger and being on SNAP, and shared facts about hunger in Greensboro, especially at UNC Greensboro. I made time for the students to ask questions or talk about their thoughts and experiences between topics, keeping the presentation more of a conversation than a lecture.
John Mitchell Benton
Assistant Coordinator of Residence Life
“We were extremely grateful that Eli came to speak about hunger and homelessness tonight for our Make A Difference House Living and Learning Community weekly Community Gathering! They provided a wealth of knowledge about hunger in general, as well as how it is greatly impacting our campus here at UNC Greensboro, and the food desert that our campus backs up to! My students and I learned a great deal about how we can individually make a difference to our students struggling with hunger here, and how we can also make a difference at the food pantry serving those that come in. A great experience!”
Certifications
Ask Listen Refer online suicide prevention training
Interpersonal Violence Survivor Support Ally Training
Managing Secondary Traumatic Stress Training
Safe Zone 1.0
Safe Zone 2.0
Supporting LGBTQ+ Survivors of Violence Training
Media Coverage
Life after VISTA
I’m still figuring that out.
If anyone has any ideas, let me know!