SerVermont VISTA Program RPF Grant

AmeriCorps VISTA members are made available through SerVermont through a VISTA Supervision Grant from AmeriCorps, the federal agency that oversees National Service. SerVermont has administered the VISTA Umbrella Project on behalf of AmeriCorps since 2011 (now in its 15th year) and is currently the only VISTA project in Vermont. The statewide SerVermont VISTA project seeks to end poverty in Vermont by building capacity in organizations that address homelessness, provide job training, invest in food security, provide nutrition education, and promote disaster resiliency. In the 2026-2027 Program Year, SerVermont is anticipating the availability of up to 21 VISTA member positions.
SerVermont is especially interested in partnering with organizations with a focus on disaster mitigation, recovery and resilience, in addition to organizations that address housing security and support workforce development initiatives.
Every VISTA Project Host Site must fall within the VISTA Programming Framework:
Anti-Poverty Focus - The purpose of VISTA is to support efforts to eliminate poverty. The goal of every project must be to help individuals and communities move out of poverty, not simply make poverty more tolerable. The project should focus on long-term solutions rather than short-term services.
Community Empowerment - VISTA Project Sponsors and Host Sites must ensure that their project engages residents of the low-income community in planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating the project. The project must be responsive and relevant to the lives of residents in the community, and should tap into inherent community assets, strengths, and resources.
Sustainable Solutions - As originally designated in the Domestic Volunteer Service Act and reinforced in the Serve America Act, VISTA members are a short-term (one-year) resource who serve to build the long-term sustainability of anti-poverty programs. All VISTA projects should be developed with a goal to phase out the need for VISTA members and strengthen the ability of the project to continue without them. VISTA projects typically last three years, occasionally longer. From the beginning of the project planning process, the sponsor and community must think about how to use the VISTA project to phase in other resources and systems to replace the VISTA resource.
Capacity Building - Through activities such as fundraising, establishment of volunteer recruitment and management systems, community outreach, and partnership development, VISTAs help sponsors achieve lasting solutions to poverty. In order to build capacity, VISTAs do not perform direct service. Direct service is defined as activities that immediately address individual clients’ needs, and these activities are usually focused on short term goals. Ideally, VISTAs work their position out of existence and create systems that remain long after their service ends.