2011 Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA Impact Report

Engaging campuses in service to the community. Ohio Campus Compact VISTA Impact Report 2010-2011: Ohio Wesleyan University The Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA program strategically connects college resources with communities in need. Corps members gain valuable experience and educational awards. Campuses expand their civic outreach. And community partners receive critical support. Poverty Alleviation Focus Area: Homelessness and housingHISTORY & BACKGROUND VISTA Corps member: Mery KanashiroOhio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private, (740) 368-3856 • mmkanash@owu.eduliberal-arts university located in Delaware, Ohio, Site Supervisor: Susan Pastersroughly twenty miles north of the capital city of (740) 368-3084 • smpaster@owu.eduColumbus. The student body at OWU is small and Ohio Campus Compact VISTA Sr. Program Director:intimate- only 1,850 students- but their passion for Lesha Farias (740) 587-8571 • lfarias@ohiocampuscompact.orgservice and activism has left an impact on the www.ohiocampuscompact.orgneighboring community that is deep and wide. OWU has a reputation for valuing community serviceand civic engagement as a vital part of a well-roundedliberal arts education, and was one of threeuniversities and colleges in the nation to be awardedwith the Presidential Award for Excellence in GeneralCommunity Service in 2009. OWU has a longhistory of participation with the Ohio CampusCompact AmeriCorps VISTA program, having hostedfive VISTAs since the program’s inception.Mery Kanashiro, OWU’s sixth VISTA, has beentasked with non-profit capacity building andcultivating partnerships with new community agenciesfocused around the issues of housing andhomelessness. Delaware County is one of thewealthiest and fastest growing counties in the nation,but it continues to have pockets of deep poverty. AsDelaware expands, those individuals with needbecome at ever-greater risk of becoming underserved Ohio Wesleyan students assist with honeysuckleand displaced. Mery has helped to utilize the removal at a local organic farm. The students weremultitude of resources available in the OWU participating in a weekend immersion trip focused oncommunity to fulfill agency needs, allowing them to learning about homelessness, poverty, and food scarcityperform their missions more effectively and issues in Delaware County. Ohio Campus Compactefficiently. She has also worked to increase AmeriCorps VISTA Mery Kanashiro organized, planned,awareness of homelessness and poverty in Delaware and lead the three-day experience. The VISTA’s work atthrough a variety of events, and has been able to OWU throughout the year focused on connectingprovide assistance to several new and emerging OWU students and university resources with the needscommunity organizations with fundraising assistance, of community agencies, helping to increase their capacitylong term planning, and relationship building with the to serve their populations and creating a generation ofOhio Wesleyan and Delaware community. civically-engaged students.

COMMUNITY IMPACTDelaware County is a region of striking contrasts. A suburban community of The VISTA Impactabout 165,000 individuals, it is the fastest growing county in the state of Ohio. by the numbers:Approximately 5% of the population lives below the poverty line, however, andawareness of those individuals in need has dwindled as a new perception ofDelaware as a wealthy community has grown. Additionally, Delaware County Total Amount of Money $11,031.34has no shelters for homeless individuals within its county borders, and those Fundraised 2010-2011:who present as homeless have been traditionally sent to Columbus. Total Amount of In-Kind $1,800 Donations Received:Family Promise of Delaware County is Delaware’s first “shelter” program, and Total Number of 122the VISTA’s primary community partner. Designed for individuals with children, Volunteers Engaged:families are sheltered by a network of local churches for a week at a time. The Total Hours Served by 714.5VISTA assisted in recruiting volunteers for their Day Center, creating and Volunteers:advertising fundraising events, and developing non-profit building opportunities Estimated Value of $15,261.72*for students such as economics majors who designed new marketing materialsand a website for the organization. Additionally, she spoke about homelessness Volunteer Hours:and Family Promise’s work with classes, clubs and at events on campus and in *One hour: $21.36 (Source: Independentthe community, raising the profile of this new organization among the student Sector, 2010)body. “Our need to raise community supportThe VISTA has also worked with a number of other organizations, ranging from continues to be our greatest challenge. Merythe Second Ward Community Initiative to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. She has Kanashiro is keenly aware that these individualsassisted with fundraising, food drives, volunteer recruitment, training, and need our assistance and she is making aeducation. She has brought to the community over $11,000 in cash and $1,800in in-kind donations, as well as an estimated $15,261.72 in saved money from concentrated effort to assist us in getting thevolunteer hours. word out to the movers and shakers in our community. Mery is a pleasure to work with.CAMPUS IMPACT Her sensitivity to those in need, and her strongThe VISTA served as a connector between faculty, staff, and student groups leadership skills are a great combination. Shewithin the community to provide education, awareness, and increased service has a natural ability to put people at ease andopportunities. As an alumna of the university, she was able to tailor requests is a team-player. We are fortunate that thefor service from the community to the appropriate campus groups, as well as OCC VISTA program has placed her here.”tap into new sources of volunteers that have been previously under-utilized. -ROSIE PORAMBO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTORThese included increasing quality and quantity of service among the Greek Concerned Citizens Against Homelessnesscommunity and the small-living unit community (themed houses that requirestudents to execute a project focused on their house’s mission each semester). About Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTAWithin the non-profit building capacity, the VISTA filled various roles, Ohio Campus Compact is a statewide nonprofitsupporting a variety of ongoing programs and events surrounding non-profit coalition of colleges and university presidents and theirbuilding that have been established over a 20-plus year existence. She has been campuses working to promote the civic purposes ofable to connect non-profit building with the student body through new means, higher education. Ohio Campus Compact providesin particular by expanding social media presence. She assisted with the annual resources, services & partnerships to help OhioService Fair, the Crop Walk, Bowl for Kids Sake, the monthly newsletter, and campuses deepen their ability to educate students formore throughout the course of her year. civic and social responsibility and to improve community life.KEEPING THE PARTNERSHIP STRONG: OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE AmeriCorps*VISTA is the national service programFUTURE designed specifically to fight poverty. Founded asAs this first year of the three-year OCC VISTA cycle comes to an end, many Volunteers in Service to America in 1965 andopportunities for continued work are evident. Conversations are underway for incorporated into the AmeriCorps network oflarge student involvement with the newly formed Second Ward Community programs in 1993, VISTA has been on the front lines inInitiative, an organization aimed at providing a variety of services to the the fight against poverty in America for more than 40economically depressed 2nd Ward on the south side of Delaware County. years.Additionally, the VISTA is planning on building on groundwork laid over the pastyear with the Delaware General Health District to produce a series of PSA’s The Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps*aimed at homelessness education with filmmaking students at OWU. Plans to VISTA Program places and supports VISTAs whoexpand the volunteer program with Family Promise will also move forward, create and expand programs designed to bringincluding developing training sessions for volunteers and potentially adding an individuals and communities out of poverty. VISTAsOhio Benefit Bank site to the Day Center. serve in the poorest areas of their communities toAs the structure of the current office shifts over the upcoming year as well, the tackle poverty-related problems such as hunger andVISTA will be focusing on re-examining the operations of the office and homelessness, financial literacy, veteran studentexploring options for streamlining and expanding the reach of non-profit services, public health and college access. Morebuilding. information at: www.ohiocampuscompact.org

2011 Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA Impact Report

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