June 18, 2018

Delta College has received two grants through the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).

For the first grant, Delta College will have five full-time AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers throughout a three to five year service project. The VISTAs will have a one-year commitment each year to focus on eliminating barriers to achieving success throughout the Great Lakes Bay Region. VISTAs will be developing systematic approaches to eliminate barriers for individuals attempting to achieve postsecondary education, accomplish career goals, increase employment opportunities, decrease poverty status and fight the nationwide opioid epidemic.

In May, Delta College welcomed onboard Amanda Jordan, Christopher Wesolowski, Jordan Duletzke and Kristina Sandoval. These individuals will be researching and developing student success workshops, mentoring programs and identifying volunteers for community outreach and college involvement in low performing communities within Bay, Midland and Saginaw counties. Service projects will consist of:

• Develop a volunteer recruitment and management system in which recruited community volunteers will mentor program participants (K-12, adult learners) in low performing communities.
• Assist the Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) by assisting first generation and low income students with enrollment in post-secondary education.
• Develop Action for College Education (ACE) workshops on topics such as leadership, financial literacy, career pathways, employment opportunities, campus engagement and opioid addiction.
• Provide strategies for prevention of opioid abuse, stigma reduction, intervention and improved access to opioid treatment in effort to assist the Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Program (DAAPP) Committee and faculty that work with Families Against Narcotics (FAN).
• Collect and analyze participant data through an online, systematic approach to determine individuals’ progress towards educational/career goals and develop a targeted communication process to encourage individuals to complete the process of enrolling in post-secondary education with an outcome of graduation and employment.

For the second grant, Delta College engaged nine AmeriCorps VISTA Summer Associates, who will assist Delta College with a ten-week project servicing low-income communities within Bay, Midland and Saginaw counties. Those members are Dominique Baldwin, Virginia Heighes, QueShyra Mason, Dwight Peters, Jack Rechsteiner, Herman Sims, Bria Smith, MaKenzie Smith and Tatiyana Tivis. Summer service projects will consist of:

• Programming to provide meals to hungry children
• Programming to prevent summer learning loss
• Programming to support youth substance abuse prevention
• Providing education and career development to youth and adults

Overall, the AmeriCorps VISTA project will conduct outreach to low-income communities through services dedicated to increase education opportunities, improve retention rates, increase awareness of the opioid crisis, and assist with student success of nontraditional students (K-12 and adults), servicing students through the Possible Dream Program and other Delta College initiatives.