The Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) VISTA Fellows Project at Wichita State University recently coordinated placement for nine VISTAs (Volunteers in Service to America) in Wichita, Newton and Lawrence.

VISTA is an AmeriCorps national service program that brings eager volunteers and community organizations together to build capacity and create sustainable solutions in efforts to move people out of poverty. It is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that improves lives, strengthens communities and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering.

VISTAs will fill the full-time positions of volunteer coordinator, marketing assistant, project coordinator and development assistant in social service, education and public health organizations.

The VISTAs through the WSU CCSR project will serve with their sites for a year. They bring passion, commitment and hard work as they create or expand programs designed to bring individuals and communities out of poverty.

The VISTAs placed in Wichita include: Dan Swenson with Guadalupe Clinic Inc.; Rhianna Kline with Kansas Food Bank; Katie Mahuron with the Public Health Initiatives team, Center for Community Support and Research, WSU; Megan Lamb with Rainbow’s United; Jamela Peterson with the Sedgwick County Health Department; Darcy Wear with Wichita Fellowship Club. In Newton, Paula Whillock is with the Harvey Country Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Task Force and Mackala Blair is with Peace Connections. Daniel Smith is with Van Go Inc. in Lawrence.

This fall, the CCSR VISTA Fellows Project will recruit to fill about 11 openings in Wichita and Lawrence. More information will be available in October at www.wichita.edu/ccsr/americorpsvista.