Sonya Hill and Latoshia Frierson will both end their work as AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers in November, but the circumstances of their departure are quite different.
Hill’s second one-year VISTA contract ends Nov. 14. But for Frierson and the four other VISTAs in Lowndes County, their work will end abruptly on Nov. 24 after the board of directors for the Columbus Arts Council voted to discontinue the program due to rising costs and difficulty in administering the program.
“As I understand it, the board just felt that the logistics of running the program were just too much to continue,” said Beverly Norris, CAC’s interim director and program manager. “We are at the point in the program where the costs were going up every year and the regulations and compliance issues were increasing every year. It just became too much for us to manage.”
Lowndes County has been part of the federal program since 2012, when former CAC Executive Director Tina Sweeten applied for — and received — a grant for it. Although VISTA volunteers have worked for nonprofits throughout the county, the responsibility for running the program fell to the CAC.
What VISTAs do
VISTA, an acronym for Volunteers in Service to America, is a federal program focusing on alleviating poverty founded in 1965. VISTA volunteers are paid at the poverty level ($11,000 per year) and work at nonprofits. Part of the program requires organizations that use VISTA volunteers to find non-routine work for them to expand the organizations’ outreach in new ways.
For Frierson, who is a VISTA at Palmer Home for Children, that means serving as a volunteer coordinator.
“My job is to go out to schools, churches, organizations and tell them about the volunteer opportunities at Palmer Home,” said Frierson, 38, who began her VISTA work at Palmer Home in March. “Before I become a VISTA, I had worked at Contact Helpline, and they had two VISTAs while I was there. I’ve seen so many people have success from VISTA, so when they told us it was shutting down, I was sorry to hear that, not just for me, but because all of the things the program has achieved.”
Hill, 37, said her two years as a VISTA at Columbus Main Street, has helped her hone skills she never imagined she could develop while helping to re-orient her plans for the future.
At Main Street, Hill has worked with the Mississippi University for Women’s Project Chew and the Hitching Lot Farmers Market to promote the Healthy Living Initiate teaching children about the importance of incorporating fresh fruits and vegetables into their diets.
She also worked the first year to reestablish the county’s Farmers Market Nutritional Program, which offered vouchers for fruits/vegetables at farmers markets to low income residents as supplement to any other food programs, including SNAP and WIC.
Hill said the program had been placed on probation the previous year because of low redemption rates, either because recipients didn’t know how to use the vouchers or case workers didn’t follow through to assist them.
After taking over the program, Hill said redemption rates “went through the roof.”
“It went so well my first year, they agreed to let us do it again this year and I think it’s going to continue,” she said.
That experience, she said, is all the proof she needed of the value of the VISTA program.
“To see the work I can do now, it’s work I would never have thought I could do,” said Hill, who will graduate from MUW in December with a degree in accounting. “I was a bit of an introvert, but my time here gave me chances to work on personal goals — public speaking, networking, reaching out to the community and being able to put a team together. I would never have been able to do those things without this experience.”
In addition to the stipend, VISTA volunteers also can get help in paying student loans and, in some cases, even student-loan forgiveness if they choose a career in nonprofit work.
Finding another host organization
Barbara Bigelow, Columbus Main Street director, has used two VISTA volunteers and spoke highly of the program.
“Both of our VISTA workers have been absolutely wonderful,” she said. “I’m sad to see the program go away, but if it comes back, we would absolutely want to be involved. For a lot of nonprofits, having a VISTA volunteer is a really big deal. It’s adding another staff member. So, yes, I’m a big believer in the program.”
Other organizations with VISTAs this year are the Frank P. Phillips YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Golden Triangle (two workers) and Father’s Child Ministry.
Norris said the costs of the program were a key issue in the CAC’s decision.
“We’ve reached the point in the program where every year we had to pick up the cost of one more volunteer. This year, in addition to the cost of the coordinator ($21,000), we had to pay for one of the VISTAs. Next year, we would have had to pay for two and on from there.”
Norris said that while the participating nonprofits share in those costs, for some the extra expense was becoming a hardship.
“Ideally, someone else could come in and run the program that has the resources, not just in terms of money, but in administration, to make this work,” she said. “My understanding that if any group does come in and apply for the grant, the program would go back to the start, which would mean they wouldn’t have to start paying for VISTAs right away.”
Norris said the decision to end the VISTA program is not a reflection on the work the VISTAs do.
“I think just about anyone who has had an experience with VISTAs will say it’s a great program,” she said. “So hopefully, it will come back under a new organization.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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