January '08 Organization Guidelines, Procedures & Fees

AmeriCorps*VISTA programs place full-time capacity building volunteers with organizations that are serving low-income communities.

The CTC VISTA Project places its VISTA members (who serve for at least one year) with community technology centers and other organizations that are using media and technology to address the needs of low-income people.

The Project is currently accepting a limited number of applications from organizations that want a VISTA to work on one of the following types of projects:

• Community Networking: including infrastructure or service projects, such as community ISPs or wireless community networks, and information focused projects such as community portals (websites that connect people with community resources and encourage civic participation).
• Technology Assistance to Non-profits: projects which develop tools or provide services which help small non-profits (non-CTCs) use technology to build their capacity.
• Digital Media: including projects which empower individuals and organizations to effectively communicate their values and advocate for their communities, and projects which engage youth in media making as means of providing technology training and media education.
• Access and Inclusion: Projects that make use of assistive technology and extend technology tools, resources, and skills to people with a variety of disabilities.

Summary
An organization that is interested in hosting a CTC VISTA begins the process by submitting an Intent to Apply which briefly describes the organization, the project(s) that the VISTA will be working on, and the specific role (task and activities) that VISTA will engaged in.

When the Intent to Apply is approved the applicant organization completes the remainder of the application as recruitment begins. The job description provided in the Intent to Apply is posted on the Project's recruitment website.

CTC VISTA Project receives applications from the national AmeriCorps recruiting system and forwards interested and appropriate candidates to the hosting organization for consideration. The hosting organization should also recruit locally.

During the recruiting period the applicant organization should complete the remainder of the application.

When the applicant organization selects a person for their position the Project reviews the individual and organizational applications and can give a preliminary approval of the placement at that time.

Then applicant organization then works with the VISTA candidate to assemble and submit the remaining paperwork. Assuming all the paperwork is received by the deadline, the Project will submit the paperwork to the Corporation for National and Community Service for final review. Should Corporation have any questions or issues regarding the application, the Project will work with the applicant organization to address these.

New CTC VISTAs will begin their year of service following the pre-service orientation (PSO) held in the Philadelphia area January 22-25.

Step	Deadlines
1. Please review: the Project's VISTA Service Description Guidelines , Expectations of Participation, and our Summary of VISTA Supervisor Responsibilities so that you have a good understanding of what is involved in participating in this program. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about this information.
2. Submit your Intent to Apply. You will be asked to provide a brief description of your on your organization, the project on which your VISTA would be working, and a job description which will be posted to our recruiting site once approved. We will review the Intent to Apply, contact you with any questions or concerns, and then (once approved) post your position in our recruitment page.	It takes time to recruit a VISTA so please submit your Intent to Apply ASAP!
3. Begin Recruiting. Recruiting a appropriate person to serve as your VISTA is the most important part of the entire process. Once the Project approves the position description that you provide in your intent to apply, the selection of the appropriate VISTA candidate is largely the responsibility of the organization. Your organization should recruit locally but we will also send you information on VISTA applicants that apply to the CTC VISTA Project via the AmeriCorps national recruiting system if they express a specific interest in your position and seem reasonably qualified.
4. Identify a candidate to whom you would like to offer a position and contact us so that we can review their application. Once we have reviewed the application, your placement can be given 'preliminary approval'– contingent upon the receipt of the required paperwork and final Corporation approval, see V below).	December 14th
5. Complete the application online. This is done using the same system that you used to submit your intent to apply. When the intent to apply was submitted an email was sent to the contact person identified in the intent to apply. That email contains the link that will enable you to re-enter the application system and complete or update your existing information.We'll review application and request revisions when necessary.	December 14th
6. Submit the remainder of the organizational application and all additional paperwork. We then submit all of the applications (for organizations and VISTA candidates) to Corporation for final review and notify you of the outcome (a week or so.) At this time organizations that are recruiting second VISTAs or continuing beyond the third year will be given preliminary approval (see B. and C. below).	December 14th
7. VISTAs begin their service following the pre-service orientation.	Orientation will be held January 22-25 in Philadelphia. VISTAs will begin service January 28th.

Notes on the placement process:

A. The recruitment/placement process is competitive. We have a limited number of VISTA positions to fill in each round but do not put a limit on the number of organizations that can participate in the recruitment process. The Project operates in this manner in order to ensure that all of the positions that we have been alloted are utilized. While this inevitably means that some organizations will not receive VISTAs through from the CTC VISTA Project, we are available to advise these organizations how they might pursue other options/avenues for obtaining a VISTA.