Ingenuity Choreographing Youth Potential
VYT Partner Sites
Howard Center
Project Hire - *currently not recruiting*
Community Engagement - *currently not recruiting*
Talent & Training - *currently not recruiting*
Howard Center serves the most vulnerable, working to improve the well-being of children, adults, families, and communities. They provide supports and services to address mental health, substance use, and developmental needs. Three VISTA members serve at the Howard Center. The Project Hire Associate VISTA serves as part of a team that helps individuals with Intellectual Disabilities and/or Autism Spectrum Disorders find and maintain meaningful employment. The Community Engagement VISTA is placed with the Development & Communications team, which supports the agency’s poverty-alleviation focus through marketing, advertising, public relations, communications, donor relations, fundraising, and internal communications. The Talent and Training VISTA is immersed in the Human Resources department, building capacity and increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of our Talent Acquisition, Benefits, Training & Development, and Safety processes.
Middlebury College Center for Community Engagement
Mentoring and Outreach VISTA
The Center for Community Engagement prepares students for lives of meaning and impact through service, scholarship, and citizenship. The VISTA helps build capacity in programs and community partnerships that improve college aspirations and success and aim to pull children, primarily from low-income backgrounds in Addison County, out of poverty. The VISTA collaborates closely with the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) Program Director and Assistant Director on a number of mentoring and education initiatives. The VISTA also builds capacity around college-positive volunteerism and first-generation college student access and success by providing support to mentoring programs and initiatives.
Rural Arts Collaborative
*Currently Not Recruiting*
The Rural Arts Collaborative’s mission is to cultivate lifelong learning exploration to enrich community, schools, and economy through creativity, conversation, and collaboration with programs that support community wellbeing. Based in Greensboro VT, the Rural Arts Collaborative hosts community events and classes, supports local schools and afterschool education, and provides open space and resources for creative and entrepreneurial endeavors. Program participants include families, youth, people with disabilities, and adults. The VISTA supports delivery of youth enrichment activities through communication and coordination with teaching artists. They promote and plan community classes and events that center on art, creative skills, and connection and create resources to build our organizational capacity, like our creative workspaces and digital/online content, accessible to all members of our community. The VISTA enriches the lives of community members and brings joy, connections, creativity, and independence to our rural community. The VISTA increases community access to otherwise sparse resources and feels the growth and resilience our organization builds.
Vermont Youth Tomorrow
VYT places up to 28 VISTA members at sites across VT to build capacity and promote high-quality programs and initiatives that address poverty and its effects. The VYT Team Leader is part of a professional team overseeing this statewide VISTA program. Duties include implementing a comprehensive professional development training plan; visiting VISTAs at their sites; developing esprit de corps; providing individual support; and helping VISTAs gain leadership skills.
Willowell Foundation
The Willowell Foundation connects people to the environment, arts, education, and each other through land-based programs. At Willowell’s beautiful outdoor settings, youth of all ages engage in enriching activities, such as wildlife tracking, visual arts and other creative endeavors, and hikes, civic discussions; and coordinating community service projects. Willowell is dedicated to equity and inclusion and ensuring that all youth have access to high-quality afterschool and summer activities.
Vermont Agency of Education
*Currently Not Recruiting*
The Vermont Agency of Education (AOE) implements laws and policies to ensure all Vermont learners have equitable access to high-quality learning opportunities. Special Education Team Vision Statement: Our team, together with all stakeholders, ensures access to opportunity, and equity by providing solution-based oversight, leadership and support to build capacity and improve student outcomes.
The mentoring program that the VISTA member coordinates is a part of the AOE’s larger special educator “attract, recruit, retain” initiative, which aims to ensure that staff are available to ensure that the needs of all students with disabilities, including students living in poverty, are met. Poverty is not a secondary topic in the field of special education, as poverty has a compounding impact on the educational achievement of all children, including those with disabilities. The AOE prioritizes schools with higher numbers of students qualifying for Free and Reduced Lunch. The VISTA coordinates the development of a new teacher mentor model that prepares and supports those educating students with disabilities impacted by these variables.
For more information about the VYT Host Sites, contact:
Makenna Crosby
Assistant Director of National Service Programs
Danielle Shaw
Interim Director of National Service Programs