Digital Arts Service Corps - beginning

Your 1st Month: Personal Housekeeping

Bill Brown — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:42:57 +0000

Health, Childcare and Other Benefits
AmeriCorpsVISTA has many health and living benefits: some are provided directly by VISTA and others by community and other social benefits. AmeriCorpsVISTA service may expose you to some of the hardships experienced by the 36 million Americans who are living in poverty. While these may place increased burdens upon you in your daily life, your host organization should be aware and make allowances for the extra time you may need to spend in seeking care or services.

Because of federal laws, most social services, such as food stamps or childcare, are not affected by the AmeriCorps living allowance if you sign up for them prior to becoming an AmeriCorps*VISTA member. Below is more information on specific social services you may wish to pursue prior to becoming a VISTA—though you probably will still be eligible if you sign up after your AmeriCorps service begins.

Official Health Benefits
AmeriCorps*VISTA members receive health benefits (though not technically health insurance) through the Corporation for National Service managed Seven Corners health plan. In brief, this plan covers catastrophic injury (e.g. emergency room visits) and prescription drugs, but not preventative health (e.g. general physicals). Many questions can be answered on their Frequently Asked Questions: http://americorps.sevencorners.com/faq.htm or by calling them at (866) 699-4186

We highly recommend finding a primary care physician during the first few weeks of your service. Doing so will mean you have someone to turn to when you need to; and is cheaper than an emergency room visit. For a list of doctors, visit http://americorps.sevencorners.com/providers.htm

Alternative Healthcare Options
If you are already covered by a parent’s or spouse’s healthcare plan, you can elect to opt-out of the official AmeriCorps healthcare plan.

Your state may provide free or reduced-cost healthcare for low-income individuals that is superior to or less expensive than the healthcare offered through AmeriCorps. Check your State’s website to learn what health options may be available (look for links to Health): http://www.firstgov.gov/

Childcare
You may be eligible for childcare, but we highly recommend contacting us before your Pre-Service Orientation in order to go over your options. Dependent children must be under 13 years of age and live with you. AmeriCorps’ childcare is limited to $300 per moth per family regardless of the number of children. More information can be found at the http://www.naccrra.org/americorps/

If your child is already receiving childcare through a social service program, you may be receiving better benefits than if your child was enrolled through the AmeriCorps’ childcare program. If you enroll your child through a social service program before becoming a VISTA, your status as a VISTA will (usually) not affect your benefits—thus ensuring the best care for your child.

Food Stamps
As a VISTA, you should be eligible for food stamps because of your monthly income. You may receive as much as $200 per month for food stamps, which can mean the difference between making or breaking your budget. But, your eligibility may also depend on your current assets such as savings, stocks or retirement accounts: usually less than $2,000 but check your local requirements.

A Directory of Food Stamp Application Offices:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/outreach/map.htm

They're not really stamps: Most states now have Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards which make accessing benefits like food stamps much easier. It makes it look like just another credit card when at the cash register.

Proof of Income and Service
Contact the Transmission Project (or your VISTA Leader) for a letter certifying your VISTA service and monthly income (or download one from http://my.AmeriCorps.gov). Most public service programs will require proof of income or evidence that you are serving as an AmeriCorps*VISTA Member. The Transmisison Project can also be helpful if your local social service office doesn’t want to provide you benefits to which you are legally entitled.

Understanding End of Service Awards

When you have successfully completed your service, you are eligible for either (not both):

$5,350 Education Award to pay for college tuition or pay-off qualified student loans; it expires after 7 years, or
$1,500 Cash Stipend that is paid as a lump sum in your last paycheck. Simple.

You must complete a full year—12 months—of service in order to receive one these benefits. Except in exceedingly rare circumstances (death in your immediate family, personal catastrophic health problem or the complete dissolution of the Transmission Project) these benefits will not be prorated if you terminate or leave early. All or nothing, basically.

Student-Loan Related Benefits and Eligibility
AmeriCorps*VISTA service offers unique opportunities for any student loans you may have outstanding. During your service, your student loans may be able to be deferred or forbeared. After service, you may be able to use your Education Award to pay-down your student loans.

During your VISTA service, you may be able to delay payments on your loans through either deferment or forbearance:

Loan Deferment means that payments do not have to be made and no interest accrues
Loan Forbearance means that you don’t have to make payments, but interest does accrue. If you choose the Education Award, the Corporation for National and Community Service will pay the interest that does accrue on your qualified student loans.

Not all loans are eligible to be paid off by the Education Award. Only qualified student loans can be repaid with the Education Award.

National Service legislation defines a “qualified student loan” as an educational loan backed by the federal government or a state agency. The most common are subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans, William D. Perkins Direct loans, guaranteed student loans, Family Federal Education loans, Federal Consolidated loans and subsidized and unsubsidized Ford loans. If you have a Perkins loan, you may qualify for a partial cancellation of your loan.

Call your lender to make sure that you’re loan is eligible for deferral, forbearance or is qualified for use with the Education Award!

You can learn more about Loan Postponements, Interest Payments, and Financial Aid by visiting the official AmeriCorps Website.

Here’s one last reminder: a lot of the preceding benefits can be managed via you’re My.Americorps.gov
account (in fact it is the only way for some). Make sure that within the first few weeks to sign up for an account and login. They will ask for your name and, likely, social security number to verify your identity, and after that you will be granted an account.

However it does take a few days/weeks for your information to be uploaded to the database attached to the site so do not be surprised if it takes a little time to access your account.

Your 1st Month: Organizational Housekeeping

Bill Brown — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:37:47 +0000

On your first day you should receive a proper orientation to your organization. It should be led by your supervisor and be fairly thorough. It should include everything you will need to know and do to get successfully set-up. Here’s a list of some of the things that you should expect during your orientation/first few weeks at your organization:

Tour of your facilities
Personal (not email) introductions to organizational staff and volunteers
Organizational handbook/manual/marketing materials
Your own personal desk space
Access to a computer and internet
Basic office supplies (pens, paper, stapler, paper clips, folders, etc.)
Near constant communication with your direct supervisor (until you’re on your feet)
Not to be treated like a volunteer; you should be treated the same as any other staff member
Getting information on the commute to work (directions, tips on short-cuts)
Get set-up with an email address

Downtime? Learn as much as you can!
There can be a lot of downtime during the first few weeks and months of your service. Don’t get frustrated or anxious about it as nearly every VISTA goes through the same process. This early period is a great time for learning all you can about your organization and community.

Here are some questions, documents, and background information you should be asking about during your first month to get you up to speed:

Find out about previous, current grants and how your organization is funded
Inquire about Board of Directors/Advisory Board structure and who its members are
Ask for your organization’s Mission/Vision statement(s)
Ask for an organizational manual if your organization has one
If there is no organizational manual then ask for an organizational chart that maps out roles and functions
Ask for the most recent strategic plan
Find out about current and past leadership
Research all past, current, future programs and projects your organization has been a part of
Review all previous marketing materials, websites, newsletters, brochures, etc.

The First Week

Michael Ewing — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:40:47 +0000

So it begins again.

My VISTA position here at Chicago Access Network Television (www.cantv.org) is actually my second year as a VISTA? Why did I sign up again? Did I just enjoy living in poverty THAT much? Let's just say that the combination of public service and media work was just too tempting for me to resist.

Things are a bit different here at CAN TV than they were at the last organization that I served. The first, most noticeable one is its size. The Volunteer Center had only a handful of employees, and really had more VISTAs than staff. CAN TV is a medium sized organization with access to a (somewhat) steady source of income, thanks to a Chicago ordinance that mandates all cable stations in the area dedicate funds to public access television. There's quite a few more employees, and all of them have pretty concrete job responsibilities, instead of slashes (my job was marketing/communications/tech support/social media coordinator at The Volunteer Center).

But when you're a VISTA, some things do remain consistent. The paychecks are consistently small, no matter where you go, but that's something you adapt to. And I think that the initial period of "discovery" is always an interesting one, where you learn about the organization and they learn what you can really do for them. I'm looking forward to finding out more about CAN TV and how I can make an impact on the community through my year of service here.

If anyone is looking for advice from a grizzled veteran VISTA who's still out in the field, feel free to contact me at miketewing@gmail.com.