BY BREANNA SHELL, PLANNING DIRECTOR, CITY OF HUNTINGTON
The City of Huntington is recruiting two AmeriCorps VISTA members for the second year of Love Your Block, a program to revitalize distressed areas of the city through volunteer activities.
In 2018, the City of Huntington was selected to participate in Cities of Service’s Love Your Block program. Love Your Block is a proven strategy to revitalize neighborhoods and strengthen the social fabric. The first year of the project was declared a hit by the Herald-Dispatch due to how the program has “shown what is possible when there’s a goal of making community improvements, a little bit of seed money and the development of partnerships among like-minded groups and individuals. It provides a lesson to community residents and city government that working together on ways to improve the community can yield a result greater than the sum of its parts.’
As part of the program, we are recruiting two AmeriCorps VISTA members who will work out of Huntington City Hall to help build capacity and awareness for Love Your Block. We are seeking members that are enthusiastic, organized, take initiative, and have a passion for community interaction. Love Your Block VISTAs will work alongside senior level city staff and nonprofits, build community and organizational capacity, and be a part of a nationwide network of Cities of Service AmeriCorps VISTA members. You can see the full position description by clicking here.
Cities of Service is a nonprofit organization that helps mayors build stronger cities by changing the way local government and citizens work together. We help coalition cities tap into the knowledge, creativity, and service of their citizens to help identify and solve critical public problems. Cities of Service supports a coalition of more than 260 cities, representing over 73 million people across the Americas and Europe.
For its 2018 City Hall AmeriCorps VISTA Love Your Block program, Cities of Service awarded each winning city $25,000 to be used for mini-grants and resources to support the efforts of citizen groups and local nonprofits to fight property blight through home repairs, lot transformations, and community cleanups. In addition, two AmeriCorps VISTA members serve in each winning city’s city hall to build capacity and raise awareness.
Cities of Service Love Your Block AmeriCorps VISTA members’ term of service begins on September 3, 2019.
Apply to this VISTA position by completing the online application here.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Bre Shell, at shellb@huntingtonwv.gov or Talia Ramella, at talia@citiesofservice.org.
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