VISTA Community Corps

The Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact VISTA Community Corps strives to eliminate poverty through campus-community partnerships by placing full-time capacity building support in nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions.

As a part of a new strategic alliance, Iowa and Minnesota Campus Compact merged VISTA programs into one with sites across both states with members building capacity for community-campus partnerships in health, education, and economic opportunity.

The merger allows for the expansion of successful models. Among the sites and focus areas are six member campuses in Minnesota working to address non-academic, low-income student needs to improve retention. According to the latest #RealCollege survey report fromThe Hope Center, 45% of college student respondents were food insecure in the prior 30 days, 56% of respondents were housing insecure in the previous year, and 17% of respondents were homeless in the previous year. VISTA members are supporting strategic efforts to address these issues through research, community partnerships, policy change, and more.

Focus Areas and Sites

Health Corps

Health Corps members support sites in long-term approaches to the social determinants of health. This includes meeting low-income student needs and a variety of projects with health-focused community organizations.

Sites:

  • C.A.R.E. Clinic, Red Wing, MN
  • Community Action Center, Northfield, MN
  • Hamline University, St. Paul, MN
  • Hennepin Technical College, Brooklyn Park, MN
  • Imagine Grinnell (supported by the Claude and Dolly Ahrens Foundation), Grinnell, IA
  • Macalester College, St. Paul, MN
  • Normandale Community College, Bloomington, MN
  • Southwest Minnesota State University and Minnesota West Technical College, Marshall, MN
  • University of Minnesota – Center for Health Interprofessional Programs (CHIP), Minneapolis, MN
  • University of Minnesota – College of Pharmacy, Duluth, MN
  • WellShare International, Minneapolis, MN

Education Corps

Education Corps members support sites in long-term approaches to issues related to K-12 educational success and college access including literacy programs.

Sites:

  • Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA

Opportunity Corps

Opportunity Corps members support sites in long-term approaches to issues related to personal economic success including housing and employment support.

Sites:

  • Catherine McAuley Center, Cedar Rapids, IA (two members)
  • Willis Dady Homeless Services, Cedar Rapids, IA (two members)

Become a Host Site

“The work VISTA members have done at the Cedar Rapids Public Library has truly helped us transform our summer learning programs. Every year during our busy summer reading program, our library sees a spike in circulation, program attendance, and patron visits. Therefore our staff is greatly needed to manage our existing services and support our patrons at the library. Our VISTA members have expanded our capacity during our busiest season to do more outreach into targeted populations of our community, respond to new partnership opportunities, adapt to changing needs, and train our growing summer volunteer base. While we will always serve patrons coming into the library, the work of our VISTA members has helped us lay the foundations for expanding our outreach to support youth with barriers to accessing library resources.”

-Jessica Link, Volunteer Coordinator at Cedar Rapids Public Library
 

 

Host Site applications for the 2022/23 program year are closed.

Email Kara Trebil-Smith (ktrebilsmith {at} compact(.)org) with questions.

Previous Materials

VAD TEMPLATES

You are welcome to use the following templates to create your VAD.

You are welcome, but not required, to use any of the following templates to create your VAD.

See previously awarded VISTA Assignment Descriptions

Become a VISTA Member

About IAMNCC VISTA Community Corps

  • AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) is a national service program that works to alleviate poverty.
  • The IAMNCC VISTA Community Corps program focuses on economic opportunity and education, working with our VISTA host sites to strengthen relationships between institutions of higher education and the communities they serve.

Apply now!

All of our positions are listed on My AmeriCorps. Applicants must create a profile and may apply for any position(s) they are interested in. To find positions, you can search by program (VISTA), state (Iowa, Minnesota), and program name (Iowa and Minnesota Campus Compact).