AmeriCorps volunteers are getting things done

One person can make a world of difference, especially for a nonprofit that needs all the help it can get.

"The thing that I think is common with all the nonprofits is there is not enough money to pay staff," said Barb Mueller, co-founder of nonprofit makerspace Gizmo-CDA. "You have to make these decisions about what programs you are able to do because you can’t staff them. Having a volunteer this year allowed us to be able to not only do more than we did last year, but build the foundation for the year coming up."

That volunteer is Kelly Lattin, a Coeur d’Alene resident and University of Idaho organizational communication graduate who has been working with Gizmo through the AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America program since last August. Lattin spent the year connecting Gizmo with schools in the area to set up afterschool programs, science, tech, engineering and math events, "all the kinds of stuff we should be doing as an organization in prior years, we just haven’t been able to keep up,” Mueller said. "If Kelly’s doing that for us, think what good things happen in all the other organizations around town when they get that kind of support."

AmeriCorps VISTA is a national initiative that originally came from President John F. Kennedy's VISTA program, which was founded in 1965 and brought into the AmeriCorps network in the 1990s. It was designed to help alleviate poverty while providing work experience and professional development opportunities. More than 80,000 Americans of all backgrounds across the country join AmeriCorps each year. Its tagline is "Get. Things. Done."

"What I have loved about being a VISTA is how it allowed me to align my path with that of a well-established organization in my local community," Lattin said. "Gizmo is tackling some really big challenges and projects, not just on a local scale, but on a national scale."

It's a federally funded program being coordinated by United Way of North Idaho through the Better Futures for Idaho Youth AmeriCorps project at 11 sites across Idaho, eight of which are in Kootenai County — including the Coeur d'Alene School District, Children's Village and North Idaho College.

"The role of the VISTAs is to build capacity for the organizations in which they’re placed to help those agencies more effectively generate private sector resources and volunteer services," said Keri Stark, community impact director for UWNI.

United Way of North Idaho was approved for a three-year, statewide grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service in 2015, with a continuation application each year and required reports twice a year. All the funds go directly from the CNCS to the VISTAs. The VISTAs are given a living allowance stipend, but it isn't much — about $1,000 a month.

"They get a stipend that is poverty level, and that's intentional," Stark said, explaining that this low income allows the VISTAs to "walk in the shoes of the people you're working with."

But the reward is not just in experience. VISTAs work full time positions for little pay, but at the end of the year they’re awarded about $6,000 to go toward higher education, or they can receive a smaller amount in cash. Stark said it's a tightly structured program since it is federally funded, so the VISTAs are required to document their work and measure their performances.

Sustainability is a big part of that work. Stark said the VISTAs put projects in motion that next year's VISTAs will be able to continue.

"One of VISTAs started a book drive and the reading wagon," she said. "It's become a critical part of our early education outreach.”

Kathy Gurko is the AmeriCorps volunteer coordinator and working with Family Promise of North Idaho, a nonprofit that serves homeless families with children. She said her children served in AmeriCorps and other service-oriented roles and have gone on to be quite successful. Gurko was out of the workforce for eight years and went back to school to get her degree, then had to pay her student loans. She joined AmeriCorps and capitalized on the education award.

"It seemed the reasonable thing to do, as well as to gain job experience and training," she said. "AmeriCorps VISTA has great training programs on every subject one can imagine. With my interest in helping people, I thought of AmeriCorps VISTA first. I also wanted to move closer to my children, and a VISTA position came up with Family Promise that I am now working."

These experiences can lead to permanent employment. Lattin was pleased to announce that through her AmeriCorps experience with Gizmo, she secured a paid position with the organization.

“She now has this institutional knowledge that we can grow and that she can now give to the next volunteer," Mueller said.

AmeriCorps VISTA positions are still available in North Idaho. Visit www.unitedwayofnorthidaho.org/vista to view listings. Sign up through www.americorp.gov or by calling United Way North Idaho at 208-667-8112.