Managing Your VISTA Project

Roles, Responsibilities, and Support

Session ObjectivesBy the end of this session, you will be able to:

►Describe in broad terms how your VISTA project fits

into the context of the National Service Network

►Follow and support communication protocol with

Corporation State Office

►Recognize VISTA project responsibilities

►Identify opportunities for member support

►Know where to go, when, and for what!

www.nationalservice.gov

Review of How You Became a VISTA Sponsor or VISTA Site

►Concept Paper –Submitted in eGrants which identified the unmet needs in a low-income community and described how the VISTA resources would be used to address those needs.

►VISTA requires that the concept and the application be developed in collaboration with a community advisory group.

Review cont’d Project Plan includes:● VISTA Application –Submitted in eGrants which included:

Executive Summary, Needs and Activities, Recruitment and Member Development, Program Management

● Description of the community need that your project will address

● Goal statement that describes the impact your project will have in addressing the community need. The goal statement should cover a three year period

● Performance milestones - the result the agency hopes the VISTA will achieve over the course of one year

Review cont’d

►Memorandum of Agreement/Notice of Grant Award

● The MA is a legal agreement outlining the roles and responsibilities of CNCS and the sponsoring agency

● May start before members are placed or may coincide with the placement of your first VISTA

What is the Corporation State Office?

►Corporation State Office staff develop, manage and oversee VISTA programs – both in their state and often in other states or on a national basis

►Staff are also responsible for understanding all of the Corporation’s programs, not just VISTA. We are a diversified agency—our job is to help you determine which program or resource is most appropriate to meet your needs

Support from Corporation State Office

►Project application process

►Conference calls, webinars and technical assistance

►Support the supervision of VISTAs

Recruiting and Welcoming VISTA Members to Your Organization

►The VISTA Assignment Description (VAD)

●Submit to state office for aproval

●Use as a recruitment tool

●Accompanies VISTAs to the PSO

►On-Site Orientation and Training (OSOT)

●Submit OSOT plan 30 days prior to the VISTAs arrival

●Required when the VISTA arrives on-site

Relationships

Member support, within chain of command:

● VISTA member should go to immediate supervisor first

● Then parent organization (if applicable)

● Then CNCS State Office

● Then CNCS Headquarters (if not resolved)

Handling VISTA Member Issues

► Prohibited Actions (Policies related to employment, political activity, criminal history or activity)

► Early terminations

► Removal from project► Other

Service Restrictions:Nepotism

►A person cannot hold the position of VISTA member if a member of his/her family exercises supervisory authority over the person

►A person cannot hold the position of VISTA supervisor if he/she is related to the CNCS program official responsible for the VISTA project

VMSU and Sponsors

A sponsor may intervene on behalf of a member and contact the VISTA Member Support Unit (VMSU) if there are support issues related to the member’s benefits of service.

866-473-5733

If a sponsor contacts the VMSU for any other reason, the VMSU will refer the sponsor to their State Office.

VMSU Support Areas

►End of Service Benefits

- Education Award

- Interest Accrual

- Forbearance Requests

- Stipend►Travel

- Reimbursements- Emergency

► Service Letters

- Currently Serving

- Verification of Service

- Income Disregard► Benefits

- Child Care

- Health Benefits Plan► Forms

-W-4, W-5, Direct Deposit, Life Insurance

Living Allowance

►Standard VISTAs (not operational grant VISTAs) are paid directly by VISTA through direct deposit

►Direct deposit and all related forms are available via https://my.americorps.gov

►Contact the VMSU about:

- W-2 and 1099 forms

- Deductions

Online Member Support

►VISTA Campus—vistacampus.org● Member page— Starting VISTA?

—TCB—Civil Rights—PSO info—Resource Board

● Essentials page—Intro to mission of VISTA and capacity building

VISTA Resource BoardOn the Essentials page of the Campus

Helping your VISTA member

►What can you do as a VISTA sponsor to support your VISTA member?

● Housing

● Food/gifts

● Clothing (agency logo apparel)

● Promotional items

VISTA Leaders

►VISTA Leaders have already served one year: Leaders help recruit, mentor and coordinate teams of VISTA members serving with larger projects or within a given region. A project needs at least 6 VISTAs to qualify for a leader

►VISTA Leaders can help to coordinate report writing: They can interpret data from VISTAS and guide them in their data collection

Sponsor Verification

● Bi-weekly fax (retrieved from Portal) confirming the VISTAs’ service

REPORTING►Project Progress Report: The PPR reportsthe accomplishments of the overall project, not the individual VISTAs

● Submitted via eGrants● Supervisor’s Narrative● Member(s)’ Narratives● Sampling of press coverage, newsletters,

curriculum to state office via hardcopy or email — Links, attachments, and images are not

allowed thru eGrants

VISTA Progress Report Supplement (VPRS)

Reporting Periods►First year projects report quarterly

►Second and third year projects report semi-annually, at the discretion of the state office

Project Period Covered: Date Report is Due:

►July 1 - Sept. 30 —October 30

►Oct. 1 - Dec. 31 —January 30

►Jan. 1 - March 31 —April 30

►April 1 - June 30 —July 30

VISTA Progress Report Supplement (VPRS)

► The VPRS, submitted through eGrants, is an annual supplement to the PPR

► The data is aggregated and reported externally-

It is not used to assess individual progress performance

► The VPRS asks for performance information that CNCS tracks from all Corporation programs.

VISTA Progress ReportSupplement (VPRS) cont.

►The data is based on VISTA service in the following areas:● Mobilizing Community Volunteers, including

Boomers and students

● Resource Development

● Disadvantaged Youth

● Independent Living Services

VISTA Progress ReportSupplement (VPRS) cont.

►Annual report, due October 31 for the previous fiscal year (Oct. 1 – Sep. 30)

►Talk with your state office to determine what data you need to report

► Establish tracking tools to collect the data

VISTA Recovery Progress Report Supplement

In addition to PPR and VPRS►Projects receiving Recovery Act VISTAs will be

required to report on a specific set of activities central to economic recovery

►Reporting will be done in eGrants in a modified version of the VPRS called VISTA Recovery Progress Report Supplement (VRPRS)

►Reports will be submitted quarterly

What goes in the VRPRS?Measures that pertain to a narrow set of program activities central to economic recovery that include:

●Volunteer Generation and Management

●Non-profit Capacity Building

●Employment and Skills Training Programs

●Home Foreclosures and Housing Assistance

●Financial Planning

You are only responsible for reporting on those measures that are relevant to your project’s activities.

Reporting Schedule for VRPRS

►Project Period Covered: Date Report Due:

• Oct. 1, 2009 – Dec. 31, 2009 Jan. 7, 2010• Jan. 1, 2010 – Mar. 30, 2010 Apr. 7, 2010• Apr. 1, 2010 – Jun. 30, 2010 Jul. 7, 2010• Jul. 1, 2010 – Sep. 30, 2010 Oct. 7, 2010

Reporting

►PPR: Quarterly/semi annually-reports on the accomplishments of the overall project

►VPRS: Annually-reports on CNCS metrics

►VRPRS: Quarterly –report on program activities related to recovery

Informal Communications

►In addition to quarterly reports, we encourage you to communicate with your state office:

● Email (snippets of accomplishments, member activities are helpful)

● Phone

Monitoring and Compliance Visits ► Site visits

● Conducted by state office staff and occasionally by Headquarters staff

● May be informational, to provide technical assistance, or specifically for monitoring

► Compliance Monitoring visits● Involve interviews with project staff, the VISTAs, advisory

council members, and the local community● Are scheduled in advance; typically twice in first 3-year cycle● After the visit, a letter outlining the results is sent to both the

project director and sponsoring agency executive

Corporation State Office Visits

Contacts & ResourcesProject Support/Policy & Procedure

● Your State Office (listed in Resources section of your binder)● VISTA Member Handbook vistacampus.org● Supervisor Terms, Conditions, and Benefits (TCB) Tutorial – vistacampus.org● Supervisor Handbook vistacampus.org

Member Support● My AmeriCorps — my.americorps.gov — recruitment, in-processing documents,

National Service Trust, allowance statements 1-800-942-2677● VISTA Member Support Unit (VMSU) — 866-473-5733,

vistamembersupportunit@cns.gov — travel, living allowances, benefits, emergencies

Training & Development● VISTA Campus — vistacampus.org -learning center tailored to VISTA members,

supervisors, and state offices with interactive tutorials and activities, forums, and rich materials to connect the VISTA community.

More Contacts

Training & Development (continued)● The Resource Center--nationalserviceresources.org--general wide range of

materials

Benefits● Seven Corners & Member Health Care Guide (866-699-4186)

americorps.sevencorners.com/ ● NACCRRA: 800-570-4543 / http://www.naccrra.org/VISTA/

General Information● National Service Partners, www.nationalservice.gov● CNCS, www.cns.gov● Help Desk 888-677-7849● Resource Board, www.vistacampus.org