Catholic Charities West Virginia - Recruitment and Engagement AmeriCorps VISTA

Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center is a comprehensive social service agency located in Wheeling, WV. The Center’s staff team provides food pantry services, meal delivery services to homebound persons, hot meals for persons who are typically unsheltered, case management services, and emergency assistance with rent, mortgage, & utilities. The Center also provides short-term housing for a family transitioning out of homelessness. The Center relies heavily on a large pool of volunteers to ensure seamless delivery of many of these services. Perhaps our greatest challenge is volunteer retention and recruitment post pandemic. We are adding a VISTA to our team to assist in this endeavor. The Volunteer Recruitment and Engagement VISTA would be primarily responsible for helping Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center enlist new volunteers. We are particularly interested in increasing volunteerism among those in the 18-24 and 30-39 year old age brackets, the two groups that report highest rates of volunteerism in West Virginia, per available data. It is our hope that once these individuals volunteer at the Center once or twice, we can retain them as more frequent volunteers supporting our various projects and programs. This VISTA position is a part of Catholic Charities USA’s Family Strengthening Program, a national intermediary project. As a member, you will meet virtually with VISTA Leaders and other VISTAs serving throughout the country, all focused on alleviating poverty. 

Member Duties : The Volunteer Recruitment and Engagement VISTA will provide information to a minimum of thirty people in the target population, per quarter, regarding Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center (CCNC) and its efforts to alleviate poverty. The VISTA will also promote current volunteer opportunities/needs in order to engage new volunteers from the target population. In addition, the Volunteer Recruitment and Engagement VISTA will coordinate one special project per quarter to engage potential, new, and veteran volunteers in CCNC initiatives. Furthermore, the VISTA will assist with one volunteer recognition event annually. Finally, the Volunteer Recruitment and Engagement VISTA will develop a system to communicate with volunteers in order to keep targeted volunteers aware of current volunteer needs and events.