VISTA

Work with the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health Department of Health Behavior, the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD), and local partnering agencies to address mental health, substance use, COVID-19, and people with disabilities.

The UAB Black Belt VISTA Leader will support VISTA members and the Black Belt VISTA Coordinator in developing and building the capacity of VISTA members and community organizations in rural Alabama. They will also create connections and develop partnerships in the Birmingham metro area. Their service will assist in creating sustainable solutions to poverty in rural Alabama.

This project is designed to build capacity for volunteerism programs among The University of Alabama at Birmingham undergraduate and graduate student body. Areas of designed service should support student exposure to and engagement with hunger and homelessness, access to education, food insecurity, community development, etc.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham's (UAB) Outreach and Engagement fellows will develop projects designed to increase UAB student and faculty involvement in education, health, and economic opportunity initiatives in collaboration with K-12 schools and other community-based organizations. Responsibilities: Create and manage pathways and incentives for students to develop their community engagement interests, both on- and off-campus, while providing capacity-building opportunities to community partners Create and manage additional support structures, including facilitating community partnerships, for faculty members teaching serving-learning courses Develop capacity for UAB to increase the number of local students who enroll and succeed in college at UAB, including providing on-campus guidance to those admitted students Assist with media outreach efforts, including documenting the quantity and quality of outreach efforts to grow the culture of community engagement across campus Assess service-learning course outcomes and evaluate program successes Successful candidates will exhibit a record of community service and/or civic engagement; demonstrated leadership; the ability to work well with a diverse group of individuals, including college students, children, the elderly, working families, and community-based partners; the ability to multi-task and exhibit flexibility in a fast-paced environment; and a positive and enthusiastic attitude.

Sustainability means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Performance toward sustainability can be described using the triple bottom line, which encourages decision-making based on effects among the interrelated dimensions of economy, society, and environment. For example, selecting the type of paper to use in offices may include not just the cost of the paper (economy), but also the way the trees are harvested to make the paper (environment) and how the paper company’s employees are treated (society).

The UAB VISTA Leader will support VISTA members and program staff in developing and building the capacity of UAB and community organizations in the Birmingham metro area. They will also create connections and develop partnerships in rural Alabama. Their service will assist in creating sustainable solutions to poverty in the Birmingham metro.