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Guest Post by Dorothy Grannell

As a supervisor of AmeriCorps VISTA projects in 3 different states over 20 years, working with 14 different individuals in 4 separate programs, I have had a unique opportunity to see what AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA projects do in building communities. VISTA is different from the general AmeriCorps program in that its members are building infrastructure rather than doing direct service- although sometimes they have to do some direct service in order to build the infrastructure. What does building infrastructure mean? How can it be beautiful?

If you have ever built a house or seen a building being built you know that long before walls and roofs go up, there is a lot of messy, time consuming work that takes place. Think of a seven story building. First there has to be the idea that it is a good thing to build this building, that there is a need for it and that it will be used and useful. Then there has to be funding to support the project. Then there is the planning. What else? Well, soil testing, wet lands discovery, core drilling to see if there is bed rock to support the weight, and finally the actual design has to be developed with all of its considerations. Is this going to be a “green building”? who will the contractors be? This is the kind of work that is done when the community organization writes its AmeriCorps VISTA Grant. Once the grant is accepted, the rest of the hard, unseen and often unglamorous work starts. This is the point in time where the AmeriCorps VISTA members come in. In a sense they are the ones who - if they were building the building - would be digging the foundation, pouring the footings, laying the septic and water lines, putting in the underground wiring and geo-thermal heat pumps and finally building the foundation.

The part of the building that gets noticed is its design , its outward appearance, inner functionality and decoration. It may take years to build the building. But the evaluation of the building comes many years after it has been put into service and after it has weathered storms. An AmeriCorps VISTA project works that way too. The beauty is that the programs last and serve the public and make the community stronger.

The project that I am currently coordinating, the VolunteerMaine VISTA project, is a three to five year grant that is designed to promote the use of the VolunteerMaine web site (in all of its facets and this blog page is one of those facets), develop “Volunteer Centers without Walls,” promote best practices in volunteer management and provide training to achieve those best practices, and to manage volunteer response in times of emergency and disaster. Many of the things that these AmeriCorps VISTA members will do will never be seen by the general public and we won’t know if we have built a sustainable product for at least five years. The members move ahead however, without any assurances that their work will make a difference, and do their very best.

If my experience with AmeriCorps VISTA tells me anything, it is that the work will make a difference and that volunteers and non-profit organizations in Maine will have a better experience because of the work of these members. In ten years they will be able to look back and see how Maine is better prepared to respond in emergencies, has well prepared managers of volunteers and a growing base of actively engaged community volunteers. They will also bring strong organizational and partnership development skills to the communities where they land and be actively engaged in their communities.

In Maine, the infrastructure that AmeriCorps VISTA members are building across the state is making Maine a better place to live. This AmeriCorps Week gives us all a chance to say thank you to those who have done this hard work for us. If you see someone with an AmeriCorps Logo on a shirt or you see it on an application for a job or a volunteer position take the time to say “thank you” for serving Maine and our nation. The 14 individuals I have had the opportunity to work with over the years are some of the finest people I know and I am blessed and privileged to have been in their company. We may also want to write to our legislators and urge continuing support of AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA programs. Let them know that these programs are among the best of federally funded programs that there are. They may not be sexy but they have lasting beauty.

Dorothy Grannell coordinates the Volunteer Maine VISTA project.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 8:26 am and is filed under AmeriCorps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.