Fighting poverty and building sustainable community solutions AmeriCorps*VISTA Fellows AmeriCorps*VISTA is a program of AmeriCorps which focuses on fighting poverty in American communities. The Siena College AmeriCorps*VISTA Fellows Program is the only program across the United States that places VISTA members at community-based organizations with the goal to build campus-community connections. The Siena VISTA Program was established in January 2008 and has grown to 30 VISTA Fellows. Each VISTA Fellow is placed within the community at a school, non-profit, or other community organization to promote civic engagement by fostering reciprocal relationships between students, faculty, administrators and local community members.
Carolyn Holthausen Trinity Alliance
John DeCirce ’11 Hope 7 Community Center
Carolyn works as as the Coordinator for Assessment and Development at Trinity Alliance. One of her biggest projects is helping to coordinate Trinity’s 100th Anniversary, for which she serves as the main contact person. Another favorite part of her position is serving as the Editor in Chief of the South End Voice, a monthly paper written for and by the residents of Albany’s South End. She publishes many works written by an adult GED writing class. The students look forward to seeing their work published.
John is currently serving as the interim manager of the Hope 7 food pantry. He has made several improvements to the pantry including providing more nutritious food options, opening the pantry on Saturdays for those who work during the week, and connecting clients with other free services in Troy such as free healthcare, legal aide, and domestic violence shelters. John has recruited several volunteers from RPI and Russell Sage to provide homework help for the kids. John has secured a donation of a variety of art supplies including sewing machines.
ACE Annual Report Page 6
Natasha Grant Green Tech High Charter School Natasha is serving in her second year as the Career & College Resource Development Coordinator at Green Tech Charter High School for Boys. Since Green Tech is four years old, 2012 marks the first graduating class of seniors. Natasha has strived to instill a strong desire in the young men to go to college and provides them with the tools to get there. One of her biggest projects is coordinating the Historically Black Colleges & Universities Tour.