Position Overview
AmeriCorps VISTA members serve directly with nonprofit organizations to tackle our nation’s most pressing challenges. Through the Love Your Block grant program, our next cohort of AmeriCorps VISTA Members will help build stronger neighborhoods, one block at a time, by serving by helping deliver vital project support, community outreach, grant coordination, and administrative support to city halls, community members, and civic engagement teams.
Supporting a city staff lead and a Love Your Block Fellow, the AmeriCorps VISTA members will contribute to core project teams in the cities of
The term of service for the next cohort of Love Your Block AmeriCorps VISTA members begins on April 10, 2023.
Application Deadline – March 13, 2023.
Responsibilities include:
- Create Love Your Block mini-grant applications and timeline for potential grantees
- Work with the Love Your Block team to develop an orientation and training program for mini-grant recipients
- Conduct mini-grant application information sessions and other outreach in neighborhoods of focus
- Develop an outreach plan to effectively engage with diverse community members and promote the program and mini-grant opportunity to potential grantees
- Cultivate and maintain partnerships among stakeholders such as community organizations, city agencies, nonprofit organizations, neighborhood associations, and block groups
- Review and coordinate service requests from grantees with internal departments
- Draft press releases pertaining to program activities
- Design program flyers and brochures
- Develop Love Your Block handbook for grantees
- Work with neighborhoods to recruit volunteers for the Love Your Block program
- Create and maintain a database of Love Your Block projects and partners
- Assist in managing mini-grant recipient and partner relationships
- Build social media presence for the city’s Love Your Block program
- Write stories about the impact of the Love Your Block projects
- Collect project metrics from grantees
- Ensure that before-and-after photos are taken of each mini-grant project site as well as photos of volunteer work days
- Help secure funding to sustain and expand Love Your Block
- Other duties as assigned
To learn about what some of our previous AmeriCorps VISTA members have learned during their year of service and what they are doing now, check out some of our AmeriCorps VISTA member profiles on the Cities of Service website.
Duration and Compensation
This is a one-year, full-time AmeriCorps VISTA commitment commencing on April 10, 2023. A living stipend is provided and an additional end-of-service award is provided contingent on successful completion of the service year. Relocation assistance is provided if needed.
Qualifications
- Associate degree or higher preferred. Applicants without a college degree are encouraged to apply if they have 5 years or more of related work experience
- Certifications in community engagement considered
- Experience working in public or non-profit sector preferred
- Experience working in community engagement preferred (more specifically, we’re interested in candidates with experience in communications, conducting community outreach, and facilitating training sessions)
To Apply
- Option 1: Click one of the direct City application links below.
- Option 2: To apply for this service role please, visit https://my.americorps.gov/
- Click “Search Listings” (located under the login information)
- Select “AmeriCorps VISTA” for Program Type
- Select “Utah” for State (or the state you are looking for)
- Then search for “Love Your Block” under Program Name.
City Applications
Baltimore, MD | El Paso, TX (1) | El Paso, TX (2) | Jackson, TN | Salt Lake City, UT
About Love Your Block
Love Your Block is a grant program that brings city leaders and residents together to build stronger neighborhoods, one block at a time. Led by the Civic Engagement Practice at the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, Love Your Block helps revitalize neighborhoods by supporting community-led projects, building civic engagement capacity, and forming reciprocal relationships between community members and city hall. Participating cities receive two years of coaching, training, peer learning opportunities, and a cash grant for project personnel and mini-grant awards for resident-powered projects. A designated city staff lead, a Love Your Block Fellow, and an AmeriCorps VISTA member constitute the core project team that works together to build trust and engage a diverse set of community members in supporting and sustaining projects.
The benefits of Love Your Block go well beyond physical improvements. A 2021 Urban Institute study found that social networks sparked by deep resident-to-city-hall engagement can generate neighborhood-level improvements in addition to larger, sustainable improvements to municipal practices and policies. Love Your Block activates and builds social networks between residents, their neighbors, and city hall. This resident-to-city hall engagement can lead to collective efficacy that is often bidirectional: city officials can leverage neighborhood social capital in service of mayoral goals, and residents can leverage greater responsiveness from officials to address their needs and priorities. In other words, Love Your Block is a starting point for cities to more meaningfully engage their residents and improve communities in holistic and sustainable ways.
About Cities of Service
Now an initiative of the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at John Hopkins University, Cities of Service helps mayors build stronger cities by changing the way local government and residents work together. We help our coalition cities tap into resident insights, skills, and service to identify and solve critical public problems. Founded in 2009 by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Cities of Service supports a coalition of more than 280 cities, representing more than 84 million people across the Americas and Europe. Learn more about Cities of Service at citiesofservice.jhu.edu and by following us on Twitter @citiesofservice.
Since its founding, Cities of Service has helped cities implement change through the use of its Impact Volunteering strategy. This signature strategy engages resident volunteers to identify and solve pressing public problems alongside municipal government. It is a participatory process in which residents and city officials develop a shared vision, set short- and long-term goals for their community, and then work together to achieve those goals. As partners, they communicate throughout the process and reflect on their work, discussing and evaluating what they have done and holding themselves accountable for results.
About Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University
The Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins drives innovation in local government by marrying cutting-edge practice with world-class research. Together with public servants and government innovators around the world, we are transforming the culture in municipal management, delivering exceptional results for residents, and deepening trust in public service worldwide.
The Center draws on the insights and skills of residents to power better local solutions for cities. Effective civic engagement is centered around people as conduits for perspectives that can only be learned from understanding their lived experience, building trust, and establishing mutual support. With the support of grants, technical assistance, and other resources, the Center’s Civic Engagement Practice helps cities partner with residents and community members to design and implement projects that solve important public problems. Learn more about the Center by visiting https://publicinnovation.jhu.edu/ , following us on Twitter @publicinno, liking us on Facebook @publicinno, or connecting with us on Linkedin.