Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA

1. Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA ` 2019-2020 PROGRAM & APPLICATION OVERVIEW

2. Founded in 1965 as Volunteers in Service to America and merged with the Corporation for National Service as an AmeriCorps program in 1993 • Domestic anti-poverty program focused on increasing the capacity to lift Americans out of poverty • In FY2019 AmeriCorps VISTA anticipates awarding 850 new and continuation applications for an estimated 8,000 full-time VISTA members and Summer Associates to leverage human, financial and materials resources to develop sustainable solutions to problems in low-income communities

3. How AmeriCorps VISTA resources flow • Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS) • CNCS Regional Office – Manchester, NH • Sponsor – Campus Compact • Campus Compact VISTA Host Sites

4. Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA Campus Compact is an intermediary AmeriCorps VISTA sponsor through the Manchester, NH regional office of the Corporation for National Service (CNCS). For the 2019-20 program year 80 AmeriCorps VISTA members including three VISTA leaders are expected across 10 states. Awards under the Campus Compact VISTA program are subject to appropriations and approval from the Corporation for National Service.

5. Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA Eligibility • Institutions of higher education who are members of Campus Compact in good standing as defined by the payment of their membership due • May host multiple VISTA positions under one project/partnership with separate VADs • May host multiple VISTA positions for multiple projects under separate proposals and separate VAD’s • Non-profit organizations, regional consortia and K-12 schools who are partners with higher education institutions • Will be considered when the organization or school is partnered with an institution of higher education who is a member of Campus Compact

6. Campus Compact VISTA Projects Must include all four core principles • Anti-poverty • Community empowerment • Sustainable solutions • Capacity building • Focus on one of the program priorities • Education • Economic Success • Healthy Futures • Veterans and Military Families • Environmental Stewardship AND

7. Education Priority This focus reflects the mission, values, strategic goals and strengths of the members of Campus Compact and Campus Compact as a national organization. Campus Compact VISTA will support projects that leverage a VISTA to enhance access to services and resources that contribute to improved educational outcomes for economically disadvantaged children and youth. Projects will propose to build capacity in one of the following focus areas: • School Readiness • K-12 Success • Post-Secondary Education Support • STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)

8. School Readiness Preparation for Kindergarten (ages 0 – PreK) which includes multiple indicators assessed across developmental and behavioral domains including but not limited to physical well-being, health and motor development, social and emotional development, approaches to learning, language development, cognitive development, and age-appropriate academic skills and behavior. Including, but not limited to, capacity building for tutoring, mentoring, other classroom support, out-of-school time programs, family engagement, service learning, summer learning, classroom teaching, social and emotional support

9. K-12 Success Building capacity to support improved academic and behavioral outcomes of low-income students in elementary, middle and high schools – improved academic performance, increased school attendance, and decreased disciplinary incidents are a few of the outcomes of this focus area. Including, but not limited to, capacity building for tutoring, mentoring, other classroom support, out-of-school time programs, family engagement, service learning, summer learning, classroom teaching, opioid and drug prevention/intervention/recovery

10. Post-Secondary Education Support Building capacity to prepare students for higher education and/or training to improve the prospects of success in post-secondary education institutions which may include two- or four-year college programs or occupational/vocational programs for economically disadvantaged students. Including, but not limited to, programs that help students prepare for college and careers including building capacity for tutoring, mentoring, college-access, service learning, summer learning designed to support the post-secondary academic success of low-income college students.

11. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Building capacity to prepare students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds for higher education programs and careers in STEM. Including, but not limited to, tutoring, mentoring, other classroom support, out-of-school time programs, family engagement, service learning, summer learning, and classroom teaching programs that help students prepare for college and STEM careers.

12. Economic Success Priority Campus Compact VISTA will support projects that leverage a VISTA to enhance access to services and resources that contribute to improved economic success outcomes for economically disadvantaged individuals. Projects will propose to build capacity in one of the following focus areas: • Financial Literacy:Programs serving low-income individuals through financial literacy, education, financial fraud prevention and tax preparation • Workforce Development:Programs to provide opportunities for low-income individuals to get workforce training, education, and skills that will meet the needs of employers including improving or creating job skills training programs that lead to increased employment,

13. Healthy Futures Priority Campus Compact VISTA will support projects that leverage a VISTA to enhance access to services and resources that contribute to improved food security or provide opioid addiction prevention/intervention/recovery programs for economically disadvantaged individuals. • Food Security:Programs that alleviate hunger and increase access to nutritious food for economically disadvantaged individuals • Opioid Addiction, Prevention and Recovery:Create or expand opioid prevention, intervention and recovery projects targeting low-income communities

14. Veterans and Military Families Priority Campus Compact VISTA will support projects that leverage a VISTA to build capacity for projects that focus on education, economic opportunity and healthy futures for low-income veterans and military families. Projects will propose to build capacity in one of the following focus areas: • Education:Post-secondary education success and training for veterans and military families • Economic Opportunity:Workforce development, financial literacy and homelessness prevention/reduction for veterans and military families • Healthy Futures:opioid prevention, intervention and recovery with veterans and military families

15. Environmental Stewardship Priority Campus Compact VISTA will support projects that leverage a VISTA to build capacity for education and training in environmental stewardship and/or environmentally conscious practices for low-income individuals in low-income communities.

16. Additional Priority: Populations Campus Compact VISTA will support projects that leverage a VISTA to focus on serving the following populations and communities: • Rural Communities • Indian Country • Areas of Concentrated Poverty

17. Capacity Building A set of activities that expand the scale, reach, efficiency, or effectiveness of programs and organizations. Capacity building activities may also leverage resources (e.g., funding, volunteers, in-kind support, or partnerships) for programs and/or organizations. As a general rule, CNCS considers capacity building activities to be indirect services that enable organizations to prove more, better and sustained direct services.

18. Capacity Building Activities • Intend to support or enhance the program delivery model • Respond to organization’s goal of increasing, expanding or enhancing services in order to address pressing community needs • Enable the organization to provide a sustained level of more or better direct services after the VISTA’s term of service has ended. Sample VISTA Assignment Description (VAD) activities include: create or improve outreach, marketing and recruitment materials; enhance volunteer recruitment and management systems; write grant proposals, and identify in-kind resources to meet the designated program intervention objectives.

19. Capacity Building Scope - Organizations VISTA members will build capacity at the organizational level for multiple campus departments to work together successfully to address the education needs of children and college students who live in poverty. VISTA members will assess and align multiple disconnected education efforts on campus that either internally or externally address the education needs of students and children who live in poverty. Sample VAD activities include, but are not limited to: developing an inventory of internal and/or external departments or centers focused on educational inequities; creating systems for tracking and measuring a diverse array of teaching, research, and institutional practices occurring within campus-community partnerships; improving evaluation and assessment efforts; and building partnerships internally or externally that improve the ability to meet the needs of economically disadvantaged children and students.

20. Capacity Building Scope – Systems/Collective Impact VISTA members will build capacity for systems-level collective impact through multi-sector partnerships working together to address the education needs of children and students who live in poverty. Collective impact requires multi-sector involvement and leadership including educational systems, government, private industry, nonprofit organizations, and funders. Sample VAD activities include, but are not limited to, creating and conducting community-wide asset mapping and needs assessment activities; developing inventories of all campus activities that impact local schools (teacher education programs, tutoring and mentoring programs, admissions outreach etc.); facilitating connections among various community projects within the collective impact focus; enhancing communication between and among various stakeholders including the students and their families; and collecting and reporting on performance measures which hold stakeholders accountable to their common agenda.

21. Host Site Eligibility Applications for the VISTA grant will be awarded primarily to institutions of higher education who are members of Campus Compact in good standing on or before July 1, 2019. Non-profit organizations, regional consortia and K-12 schools are eligible to apply under this program to leverage a VISTA member. Host Site Requirements • Recruit for VISTA member • Process host site fee • Designate a full-time employee to provide day-to-day supervision • Provide VISTA site support and accommodations (office space, computer & phone access, and office supplies) • Check-in on progress of VAD throughout service year • Reimburse work-related travel and transportation

22. Role of Host Site Supervisor • Supervise and support the VISTA member • Attend Supervisor’s Orientation • Attend two grantee meetings/year • Accommodate one site-visit and one monitoring visit • Support the completion of reporting, compliance with program provisions and VISTA terms conditions and benefits

23. Role of Campus Compact VISTA Member • Serve at host site and partners • Regularly communicate with Campus Compact program staff and VISTA Leaders • Attend Campus Compact required trainings including retreats, training days0 and service days: AmeriCorps Opening Day, 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance, and MLK Jr. Day of Service • Assist with recruitment for Campus Compact VISTA members • Contribute to Campus Compact communications (share the good news of what’s happening at the host site) • Write reports • Communicate changes to VAD • Advocate for themselves

24. Role of Campus Compact • Manage overall AmeriCorps VISTA program • Provide supervisor training & support • Provide comprehensive VISTA member support and training • Provide a conduit for program and partnership information sharing, best practice, and networking • Oversee Federal grant compliance and reporting requirements

25. Reporting Requirements AmeriCorps VISTA projects have two (2) main conceptual components: (1) Build capacity of programs or organizations that are (2) intended to help individuals and communities out of poverty. Host site supervisors will work with their VISTA(s) to complete reporting biannually for submission to Campus Compact. Campus Compact will review reports, verify information, and aggregate reports for submission to the CNCS.

26. Application Timeline • February 1, 2019 – Intent to Apply due • March 1, 2019 – Host Site Applications due • March 22, 2019 – Host site notification/feedback letters sent electronically • March 2, 2019 – Response to feedback letters due • May 2019 – Supervisor Orientation • June 1, 2019 – MOU and Host Site invoices issued • July 1, 2019 – MOU, On-site Orientation and Training (OSOT) plan, and Host Site Fee invoices due • July 22, 2019 – Campus Compact VISTA 2019-20 begins with Virtual Member Orientation (VMO)

27. Application Requirements Title Page Executive Summary Statement Need Statement Strengthening Communities Goals/Outcomes History & Partners Campus Connections/Alignment Continuous Improvement Plan and Sustainability Organizational Capacity Organizational capacity statement Minimum requirements certification Additional non-cash support • Project Management • Supervision • Community Involvement • Collaboration with other CNCS programs • Recruitment and Member Development • Performance Measures and Data Collection Plan • Assessment of Project Performance • Attachments • Letters of Support • VISTA position Job Description • VISTA Assignment Description (VAD)

28. Executive Summary The executive summary will be used to describe your partnership in written materials with Campus Compact VISTA recruitment and on the Campus Compact website. To help applicants make their summary clear, concise, and compelling the following template is completed in the online application: [Host site name]’s mission is [mission statement]. The proposed VISTA project aligns with the [choose one of the CNCS focus areas] focus area. The VISTA project will seek to [enter goals] and expects to benefit [enter number and type of low-income beneficiaries]. The VISTA member(s) will contribute to the capacity building goals of the project by performing activities such as [enter activities] over the course of [enter expected length of project].

29. Need Statement Clearly describe, BOTH, the unmet poverty-related education needs you propose to address using a VISTA and why there is a need to leverage a VISTA member to build this capacity to address this need. Ensure that your answer addresses each of the bullet points

30. Strengthening Communities Describe how your VISTA project aims to complement or expand current efforts in the community to address need(s) described by including: • Goals/Outcomes • History & Partners • Campus Connections/Alignment • Community Involvement • Collaboration with other CNCS programs Pay careful attention that your answer in each section responds to all the bullet points

31. Organizational Capacity Describe the capacity of your department/campus or organization to successfully host a VISTA member in collaboration with your proposed partners including providing the required member support. • Describe how you will manage the project and supervise the CCSNE VISTA member; • Describe the roles of the key staff who will be involved • Indicate the source of the required host site fee • Describe the experience of your department/organization/partnership in operating anti-poverty programming to benefit the unmet educational needs of children, students and their families

32. Project Management Describe the role of everyone involved in the capacity building efforts of the VISTA. • Supervision:Discuss who will supervise the VISTA and what daily support, regular check-ins, performance review at the campus and partner sites (if applicable) could look like • Community involvement: Discuss how you will ensure the voices of the low-income community you’re serving is heard • Collaboration with other CNCS programs: Discuss how you will work with other national service programs within the organization/institution to maximize the impact of Federal resources – if there is another national service program

33. Recruitment and Member Development Recruitment • Describe how the host site will recruit for the proposed VISTA position • Highlight the skills most needed for the position • What are the service-related transportation needs of the proposed VISTA position? • Please describe how your organization and/or partnership would provide reasonable accommodations to VISTA members with disabilities Member Development • Describe potential training and professional development opportunities available to the VISTA at your host site

34. Recruitment Timeline

35. Recruitment Expectations • Host sites are required to conduct local recruitment for the AmeriCorps VISTA position at their site. • All host sites must: • Post their position • Screen and interview candidates • Submit the locally recruited candidate to Campus Compact • Selected Candidates must: • Submit an application in the AmeriCorps Portal (my.americorps.gov) • Submit a resume, cover letter to Campus Compact • Be reviewed and screened by Campus Compact before being forwarded to the Corporation for National Service for processing and approval

36. Performance Measures and Data Collection Plan To complete this section, select your project’s primary focus area from the drop down menu. The performance measure associated with the primary focus area you have designated will appear below. Please take time to carefully review each performance measure, its description and strategies for measurement. • *Review and select the measures your project will report on. You are not required to select and report on each performance measure under the primary focus area you have designated for your project. Assign realistic target outputs for each measure – targets are the estimated number of low-income individuals you hope to reach through the capacity building efforts of the VISTA member during this grant period. Reporting requirements for the Campus Compact VISTA program consist of the following: • Narrative reports: submitted twice yearly • Data Collection • Evaluation of selected capacity building impact assessment measures

37. Attachments: Letters of Support • Letter of support from the senior administrator in charge of the division where the VISTA will be hosted detailing knowledge of the proposal, how the goals of the project are aligned with the organizational/institutional mission and vision and a statement of the resource commitment of the campus to support the VISTA placement • Proposed partner letter of support (if applicable) Letters of support should be scanned into one PDF and uploaded as one document

38. Attachment: VISTA Job Description One page job description of the proposed VISTA position that includes the contact information of the host site supervisor and the benefits of serving with VISTA. This document will be used for recruitment of potential VISTA member. info • The job description is scanned and uploaded as a Word Document

39. Attachments: VISTA Assignment Description (VAD) Template • Project Title, Goal & Focus Area Info • Each objective includes: • Statement of objective • Performance Measure/Indicator • Performance Period • Action Steps The VAD is completed in the VAD template and uploaded as a Word document

40. Questions?

41. Next Steps • Submit online Intent to Apply form by February 1, 2019 • Submit online application by March 1, 2019 www.ccsne.compact.org Contact for Application Process: Sharon Bassett, Director, Campus Compact for Southern New England VISTAsbassett@compact.org617-553-5537