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Managing Your VISTA Project. Roles, Responsibilities, and Support. Session Objectives. By 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 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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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,
[email protected] — 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