BuildingCapacity with Collaboration
AmeriCorps*VISTA- Education
The Charleston Area Service Collaborative is an AmeriCorps VISTA program thataims to put in place sustainable systems through which programs are offered to children, families, and veterans, so that they are seamless rather than fragmented, navigable rather than cumbersome, and effective rather than mediocre. We are well on our way to achieving that goal through the innovation and collaboration of our 16VISTA members.
Our 16 members are placed at 15 different sites throughout the Charleston, SC area working on unique projects, but linked through the overarching issue areas of education and veterans. While our members have had many individual successes, it is the collaboration between members that has really made our project exceed expectations.
From the start, individual members were encouraged to share information and work with each other on similar projects. At the beginning of the year, the VISTA leader created a shared document that allowed all members to list their skills and the resources their specific sites offered. Individual members were easily able to learn of resources in the community that they might otherwise not have been aware of through this document.
Specifically, one VISTAlearned and arranged for clothing vouchers to provide shirts, pants, shoes and coats for 182 low-achieving children served by her organization. Another member identified that children attending the library on Saturday could benefit from structured programming and connected to a member working with college students. Together they created a four session long science camp, which resulted in 4 college students leading 48 elementary students in structured, interactive science learning. Another VISTA member, created bullying prevention curriculums for her organization and through other members she was able to link to after school programs. By connecting to schools and community organizations she has reached 234 elementary and middle schools students. These examples are just a few of the many ways our members have collaborated over the last 7 months to serve a total of 5,836 disadvantaged youth.
The impact of our collaborative project is shown not only in the number of children and youth we’ve served, but also through the in-kind and cash funds raised, partnerships created, and volunteers recruited and managed. In 7 months our members have raised $61,711in cash funds and $183,561 of in-kind donations. Additionally, they have recruited 1,428 volunteers who have served over 3,200 hours in the community. They have contacted potential partners for their organizations, created new partnerships with over 60 organizations and sustained those partnerships. In addition, many of the partnerships were cultivated through the sharing of information by VISTA members and the ability of organizations linked through the Charleston Area Service Collaborative to meet a need of another organization. Through the ability of our AmeriCorps VISTA members, the Charleston Area Service Collaborative as whole has built the capacity of not only the 15 sites, but the Charleston community so that more children and families are receiving education-based services.