AmeriCorps VISTA with MidTown Cleveland, Inc.

Overview: MidTown Cleveland, Inc. is seeking a motivated, resourceful, and strategic AmeriCorps*VISTA member to join our team for the 2018-2019 year. The MidTown VISTA will help sustain Cleveland’s renaissance and economic growth by creating access for Cleveland residents to job opportunities in a historically disadvantaged area in the urban core. The primary goal of MidTown’s Hire Local project is to expand economic opportunity and connect MidTown’s growing employment base to residents experiencing high unemployment and poverty by facilitating job placements and connections to wraparound resources.

The VISTA will establish a Hire Local strategy and community organizing plan to empower area residents with social capital, expanding their networks to nearby opportunities and reducing their transportation burden. In conjunction with MTC’s newly formed Community Connections board committee, the VISTA will crystallize hire local strategies, integrate best practices for community engagement and develop action plans. The desired end result is poverty reduction through the employment and retention of residents with local companies that provide career trajectories and wage growth.

About the AmeriCorps*VISTA program: VISTA members are passionate and committed to their mission to bring individuals and communities out of poverty. Members make a year-long, full-time commitment to serve on a specific project at a nonprofit organization or public agency. The focus their efforts to build the organizational, administrative, and financial capacity of organizations that fight illiteracy, improve health services, foster economic development, and otherwise assist low-income communities. The program is administered by the Ohio CDC Association (OCDCA), a statewide membership organization of Community Development Corporations (CDCs).