Overview of SCP VISTA Service Projects

Mission: “Through Christian community and faith-based relationships, we help meet the physical, spiritual, social, and emotional needs of all the people we encounter. In order to achieve our goals, we offer a variety of mission-based programs for youth and adults. Participants can choose to serve the Cumberland Plateau through home repair or day camp programs.”

Project(s): Centering their service around the affordable housing repair efforts that Mountain T.O.P. offers, VISTAs developed a weatherization program to address the high costs associated with living in older houses. Members also developed logic models and evaluation tools to measure the organization’s impact in its service area and conducted resource mapping with the intent to build capacity for Mountain T.O.P. leadership and staff to refer residents to local partners for complementary services. Coordinated community surveys helped to understand crucial housing repair needs and affordable housing availability for local residents.”

Impact: Mountain T.O.P. has been in partnership with South Cumberland Plateau communities since 1975 and serves five counties in Tennessee. Data from surveys developed by VISTAs have helped the organization focus its efforts on residents’ most pressing needs. The logic models and evaluation tools initially designed by service members provide roadmaps and data to inform leadership’s decision-making. Resource mapping efforts supported the organization’s mission of addressing their clients’ holistic needs, laying the foundation for a collaborative group that provides continuum of care resources to citizens of Grundy County.”

Mission: “To build the capacity of sustainable food security systems to serve residents of the South Cumberland Plateau.”

Project(s): Service members worked alongside multiple community partners to develop local Hunger Relief and literacy efforts. In 2014, VISTAs partnered with the Chattanooga Area Food Bank to focus on outreach for rural communities in the Plateau region. Members partnered with McClurg Dining Hall and Tennessee Department of Human Services to create structures for the USDA-funded “South Cumberland Summer Meal Program,” a sustained, multi-partner initiative to increase food availability for youth during the summer months; this was paired with the coordination of the South Cumberland Community Fund’s “B45 Early Childhood Literacy Committee,” which worked with local schools and libraries to provide reading programs. VISTAs also engaged in grant-writing and volunteer recruitment for multiple food security organizations on the Plateau: Grundy County Food Bank, Morton Memorial Food Pantry, Southeast TN Human Resource Agency’s quarterly food commodity distributions, and Monteagle-Sewanee Rotary’s annual “Hunger Walk”.

Impact: The South Cumberland Summer Meal Program and partnered literacy efforts remain a summer staple in the region, with food distribution points at local schools, libraries, churches, and nonprofits. VISTA grant-writing and volunteer efforts have led to capital improvements and new equipment to support food organizations in increasing their efficiency and public access: new loading docks, improved shelving, micro-food pantry development, websites, infrastructure support, and foundational plans for a future mobile food pantry.

Mission: “We promote resilience in young families through our integrated network of literacy and place-based educational programs. Through these programs, Discover Together delivers multi-generational interventions as a means to build positive social networks grounded in place, community, and literacy — ultimately fostering resilience.”

Project(s): VISTA service members helped create curriculum and volunteer structures for an afterschool literacy program serving local youth. Members also supported sustainable resource development for the co-op program’s popular summer camp, Camp Discover. Service members engaged over 300 community members in a needs assessment to identify educational priorities for resident families.

Impact: Discover Together’s network stretches far and wide. The connections and programmatic development by VISTAs has strengthened the organization’s ability to collaborate with other services on the Plateau. Today, Discover Together continues their growing Family Co-op educational program (serving birth to 5 years) and youth summer camp, and supports an afterschool tutoring program for high schoolers.

Mission: “Funded under a grant contract from the State of Tennessee Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services, the Grundy Safe Communities Coalition serves as the substance abuse prevention coalition for Grundy County. Our mission is to be united together to establish a safe, caring, drug-free community that supports youth and families.”

Project(s): Early VISTA member efforts at Grundy Safe Communities Coalition (GSCC) included research on models for rural youth opioid prevention and partnership-building with regional mental health services. Service members conducted in-depth surveys, focus groups, and town hall meetings in an effort to understand the challenges encountered by youth, parents, and community members; medical forums were additionally held to gain insight from area physicians on prescription drug misuse. Using this information, VISTAs worked with coalition members to design and launch a youth prevention program to serve Grundy County teenagers.

Impact: The fully-formed Youth Coalition at GSCC mobilizes youth to be leaders in drug, alcohol, and tobacco prevention in their Grundy County community. This focus on healthy futures, a complement to substance recovery efforts in the area, helps to address economic poverty by combating factors that can lead to substance misuse before it begins. With the support of VISTAs, dedicated program volunteers, and caring GSCC leadership, youth have taken active roles in the development of prevention outreach, including movies in the park, trivia night, and more.

Mission: “Our mission as a non-profit economic justice enterprise is to provide equitable financial services and coaching as a pathway out of dependence on predatory loans.”

Project(s): VISTAs served alongside the organization's leadership to develop a holistic loan and financial coaching program to meet the financial needs of low­ income residents. Members also helped to strengthen and develop volunteer-operated programs and resources, including Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) services, financial coaching, and professional soft skills trainings. Additionally, members supported the integration of the Junior Achievement job­ readiness program with local schools and refined outreach processes to strengthen connections with neighboring counties.

Impact: Founded by a VISTA, Better Fi has since expanded to serve residents of additional Southeast Tennessee counties and has created two additional, locally­ staffed positions to serve clients. VISTA efforts to focus on organizational sustainability and curriculum development for financial coaching paid off - the program continues to serve residents in robust ways: delivering youth programming to schools, customized financial coaching to adult residents, and managing VITA services. BetterFi has saved its clients more than $1.3 million since its inception.

Mission: “The SETHRA-CASA (Southeast TN Human Resources Agency Court-Appointed Special Advocates) program uses responsible, trained, and caring volunteers to effectively promote the best interest of abused, neglected, or dependent children and provides greater assurance that their needs for safe, loving and permanent homes will be met with dignity and respect.”

Project(s): VISTAs supported the development of the organization’s annual fundraiser, the “SETHRA CASA Rodeo”, an event that serves to raise operational funding for the organization and increases visibility of area child advocacy services. Under the guidance of program staff, VISTAs monitored court cases, developed evaluation criteria for program efforts, and gathered feedback from community members and volunteers to inform the CASA onboarding process. Service members additionally developed a website for the organization targeted at recruiting volunteer advocates for Grundy County.

Impact: Robust, one-to-one advocacy services offered by CASA volunteers are vital to child wellbeing as youth of all ages encounter foster care and court systems. Service member efforts supported SETHRA in improving and expanding the program’s CASA resources for children within the Grundy County community. The SETHRA CASA  website, developed by a VISTA, hosts easy-to-access, one-stop-shop information for potential CASA volunteers and a targeted resource listing for advocates seeking support services on behalf of their youth clients.

Mission: “We are a community coalition that brings people and organizations together to reduce youth substance abuse and violence through education and prevention strategies in Franklin County.”

Project(s): Service members developed resources to support agency efforts, including a crisis intervention booklet for distribution to local law enforcement agencies and presentations, games, activities, and campaigns to support youth programming. Members also worked with University of the South students on efforts to reduce binge drinking, expanded the reach of the Coalition’s “Count It! Lock It! Drop It!” safe drug disposal program, and created community resource packets for emergency medical service personnel to offer to clients suspected of overdose.

Impact: Franklin County Prevention Coalition stands on the front lines of drug and opioid prevention efforts for all citizens in Franklin County, Tennessee. The development of sustainable prevention programming and resources by VISTAs strengthened the coalition’s capacity to meet its mission, especially in youth and young adult spaces. The organization offers upwards of 16 drug and opioid support services and programming, eight of which directly support youth and teens.

Mission: “Arts Inside uses art as a tool for expression, healing, and connection for incarcerated individuals and their families in rural middle Tennessee. While mindful of systemic injustices, we aim to create spaces outside of and within correctional facilities for personal and communal healing through multidisciplinary arts and writing programming.”

Project(s): VISTA members served on Arts Inside projects with two primary goals: reducing local recidivism rates and mitigating economic disparities often faced by ex-incarcerated individuals. Using the arts as a framework, members developed curricula and organizational structures to support re-entry programs at nearby detention centers. These included creative classes, art shows at local government buildings and coffee shops in which participants were able to offer their art for sale, a train-the-trainer workshop on a restorative writing program, and a partnership with an academic research course at the University of the South. To reduce stigmas around incarceration, service members set up an outreach effort with the local newspaper to run a storytelling column about Arts Inside participants. VISTAs also developed the organization’s website and engaged in foundational grant writing to support operational activities and projects.

Impact: Founded by a former VISTA, Arts Inside enhances access to resources, services, and support for ex-incarcerated individuals and their families. Robust volunteer training and process development by VISTA service members empower Arts Inside volunteers to lead regular weekly workshops in painting, creative writing, journaling, and more. Concentrated program development efforts by VISTAs have supported the nonprofit’s expansion to five detention  centers in Middle Tennessee.

Mission: “Z.E.A.L. seeks to develop the independence and self-sufficiency of immigrant families and members of the larger community by providing them with education needed to navigate daily life in the United States.”

Project(s): The VISTA member positioned at Z.E.A.L. secured curriculum for the program’s literacy classes, created a robust volunteer structure, and trained volunteers from local service programs to teach classes. The member also secured grants for volunteer stipends and training on collaborative classroom models, and helped to prepare the organization for its transition to nonprofit status. Additionally, the VISTA expanded Z.E.A.L. partnerships in unique ways: working with a local automotive agency to teach English to its community of immigrant workers and engaging the organization with resource fairs and bilingual financial literacy workshops.

Impact: The Z.E.A.L. program seeks to bridge language and literacy barriers with a robust learning curriculum. Participants study currency, financial, and banking systems in the United States and participate in group discussions and activities to support cultural awareness. The program offers classes three times a week to English language learners of all backgrounds.