Life After VISTA: What's Next?
Service as an AmeriCorps VISTA member can be a wonderfully enriching opportunity. It is a unique chance to gain hands-on experience in the nonprofit sector, understanding firsthand how to grow and develop the types of mission-driven work that is combatting poverty in cities throughout the country. A year of service can be a fantastic stepping stone for changemakers who want to help create a better future for their community. We sat down with our two outgoing Cleveland VISTA members, Liv and Melissa, to see where they’re headed next.
Melissa spent the past year serving as the AmeriCorps VISTA Refugee Integration Specialist in Cleveland.
What were your main roles as the VISTA Refugee Integration Specialist?
My main roles were volunteer coordination and working on youth programming. Most of my responsibilities over the last year have been working on the Remote Learning Mentoring Program for the previous academic year during COVID and more recently organizing the summer youth program and women’s art therapy group. Currently as I’m nearing the end of my service I’m working with the current summer associate to develop a mentoring action plan for the upcoming school year.
What was your favorite part of being a VISTA and working at UST?
My favorite part about being a VISTA and working with UST was being able to meet some of the clients we serve and observe various aspects of the resettlement process. I learned so much about refugee resettlement and immigration here in the United States, and I definitely want to stay involved with refugee resettlement wherever I end up in the future!
What are your plans after service?
After my VISTA service I will be attending the University of Michigan in the fall to complete a Master’s program in the School for the Environment and Sustainability (SEAS). I will be studying ecological modeling with the hopes of doing international collaborative great lakes research between the great lakes here in North America and the great lakes in East Africa.
What would be your advice to the new VISTA members?
My advice to new VISTAs is to always be mindful and reflective of the work we are doing in refugee resettlement. We work with people from various backgrounds, cultures, languages, and experiences, and it’s really important to take the time to think about how our identities and internalized biases can affect how we serve our refugee and immigrant populations!
Liv spent the past year serving as the AmeriCorps VISTA Community Engagement and Development Specialist in Cleveland.
What were your main roles as the VISTA Refugee Integration Specialist?
My main roles as Community Engagement and Development Specialist were to run communications on behalf of the Cleveland office (i.e. social media, blogs, and newsletters), fundraising for the Cleveland office, coordinating donations from community partners, and meeting with community groups and organizations to expand our agency’s network.
What was your favorite part of being a VISTA and working at UST?
My favorite part about being a VISTA and working at US Together was giving Refugee 101 presentations to community groups, classes, etc. over the past year. A lot of people don’t know a lot of information about refugees and how resettlement works as a whole, and I loved to educate others on all of that. I also really enjoyed working alongside my colleagues since everyone is so hardworking, helpful and fun!
What are your plans after service?
After my VISTA service I will continue to work as a full-time employee at US Together as Development Specialist! I’m incredibly excited to continue the projects I’ve been working on and to keep working with the amazing UST staff! After this next year, I plan to get my PhD in Sociology to study gender, war and immigration.
What would be your advice to the new VISTA members?
My advice for the next VISTA would be to learn as much as you can about the work the we do at UST while you’re here! There’s so much to learn and it’s best to soak it all in and enjoy your time while you’re here!
Learn more about US Together’s AmeriCorps VISTA programs and members, including all kinds of stories and statistics, by clicking here!