The Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA member at Miami University Middletown helped establish several community outreach programs between the university and local organizations. These programs included America Reads, America Counts, and Adopt-a-School tutoring initiatives that provided over 2,000 hours of tutoring to local schools. The VISTA member also worked with a local homeless shelter, the Center of Hope for Women and Children, developing a tutoring center and garden that provided food for meals. Through these and other efforts, the VISTA helped connect campus resources with community needs and provided opportunities for 150 volunteers contributing over 2,500 hours of service worth an estimated $11,000.

1.
Engaging campuses in service to the community
Ohio Campus Compact VISTA Impact Report 2010-2011: Miami University Hamilton
The Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA member 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: Education/college access and
homelessness
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
For more information contact:
Miami University Middletown is a regional VISTA Corps member: Cayla Adams
campus located in Southwest Ohio. Miami Middletown
Site Supervisor: Mira Smith
is closely integrated with the community and supports
(513) 727-3339 • smithmt4@muohio.edu
a very diverse student population. The regional Ohio Campus Compact VISTA Sr. Program Director:
campus enrollment rate hovers around 2,700 students, Lesha Farias (740) 587-8571 • lfarias@ohiocampuscompact.org
mostly drawn from surrounding communities. www.ohiocampuscompact.org
Middletown, Ohio has significant economic
problems, having depended on industry that has slowly
left
area. With an unemployment rate of 8.5%,
the
Middletown has the highest level of unemployment in
the
local area. Beyond this, over 20% of the citizenry
earns and lives below the poverty level. The
Middletown City School District is considered a Title I
school district where over 50% of the students receive
free or reduced lunch.
PUTTING DOWN ROOTS
The project’s goal was to utilize the available
land to create both a recreational and educational
tool. Research began by looking at the needs of the
shelter, and the idea that a healthy mind is closely
connected to a healthy body. Eating nutritious foods
and exercising on a regular basis are two major
elements to fighting the adverse effects of substance
abuse and many other physical and mental disorders.
In addition, wise food choices lead to an overall sense
of wellbeing. Therefore, an outdoor environment was
created with this in mind.
The project began with putting in raised beds
for a vegetable garden, where the vegetables would be
used in the daily meals at the Center of Hope. A
gently used swing-set was donated for the children to
encourage healthy outdoor activity. Another aspect of
the project was creating stairs and a walkway to a
small patio to encourage the women of the center to
be outside and active in the sunlight.

2. AMERICA READS, AMERICA COUNTS AND ADOPT-A- The VISTA Impact
SCHOOL TUTORING PROGRAMS
These tutoring programs were originally created, implemented
by the numbers:
and now thrive on the Oxford campus of Miami University. They are
now being transplanted for the regional campuses. America Reads and Putting Down Roots
America Counts are both federally funded programs where tutors are
fully paid from their federal financial aid work-study stipend. America Volunteers: 100
Reads concentrates solely on reading and writing skills for grades K- Community Partners: 20
12, while America Counts centers on mathematical development in
the same age groups. The VISTA was able to establish these programs Total Direct Service Hours 120
by creating the recruitment strategies and orientation and training Approximate Value of Community $5,000
schedules for the programs. Throughout the year, there were a total In-Kind Donations/Funds:
of 5 tutors each semester. They were trained and placed at three
different tutoring sites in the Middletown City School District including Total
Rosa Parks, Miller Ridge and Wildwood. These particular schools were Total Number of Volunteers: 150
chosen by previous partnerships and based on their willingness to
partnership with Miami University. The tutors gave a total of 2,000 Total Direct Service Hours: 2,500
hours of service and served in over 20 different classrooms. $11,000
Adopt-a-School is another tutoring program that had its Total Cash/In-Kind Funds Raised:
advent on the Oxford campus but is being transplanted to the regional
campuses. The VISTA coordinator began a test semester with an
educational leadership class in the spring semester and was able to
successfully place over 12 tutors in the Middletown City School
District. About Ohio Campus Compact
AmeriCorps*VISTA
CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY IMPACT
The VISTA served as a connector between the campus and Ohio Campus Compact is a statewide nonprofit
community and developed several community partnerships with local coalition of colleges and university presidents and
organizations, including the Kiwanis Clubs of Area 5 that brokered their campuses working to promote the civic
over 50 volunteers for various projects in the Middletown Area. She purposes of higher education. Ohio Campus
also worked closely with students; planning, organizing, and Compact provides resources, services &
implementing projects in which students participate. She also worked partnerships to help Ohio campuses deepen their
closely with the Center of Hope for Women and Children (COH), a ability to educate students for civic and social
local homeless shelter, where she locted funding to develop a tutoring responsibility and to improve community life.
center for the women and children. Tutors from Miami University will
staff the tutoring cetner. On the peripheral, she worked with the AmeriCorps*VISTA is the national service program
women of the Center of Hope on educational opportunities, and is designed specifically to fight poverty. Founded as
happy to report that 5 women of the Center of Hope will attend Volunteers in Service to America in 1965 and
incorporated into the AmeriCorps network of
Miami Middletown and Oxford in the fall.
programs in 1993, VISTA has been on the front
lines in the fight against poverty in America for
OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE FUTURE more than 40 years.
There are many opportunities for expansion of all of these
newly established programs, including a newly developed program, the The Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps*
“Young Authors” project with the children of the COH. Expansion of VISTA Program places and supports VISTAs who
the Putting Down Roots Project can continue by developing an create and expand programs designed to bring
entrepreneurial angle to the project and perhaps encouraging the individuals and communities out of poverty. VISTAs
women to sell excess yield at a local farmers market. Another serve in the poorest areas of their communities to
opportunity is further expanding and properly implementing Adopt-a- tackle poverty-related problems such as hunger and
School, America Reads and America Counts by identifying better homelessness, financial literacy, veteran student
avenues of recruitment and beginning to groom student leaders. services, public health and college access. More
information at: www.ohiocampuscompact.org