AMERICORPS VISTA

VISTA Assignment Description

What led me to serve as a vista

Growing up in Paterson, New Jersey, a city stricken with poverty and crime, I faced an uncertain future as a Latino coming from a low-income family. Surrounded by negative influences, I witnessed many of my peers community fall down the wrong path. Though the odds seemed stacked against me, I knew from a young age that I wanted to pursue something greater. After graduating high school, I explored different career paths in college including animal science, medicine, physical therapy and engineering. I ultimately settled on pursuing computer engineering, after years of being unsure on what I wanted to do, drawn to using my creativity and desire to create. The one thing I was sure that I wanted to do was to find a way help others. Thats where AmeriCorps came in and provided me with a way to help the vulnerable youth in the same community I grew up in by leveraging my technical knowledge and problem solving skills to help build capacity for non-profits located at Passaic County Community College. Though Passaic's struggles are far from over, I found meaning in trying to break the cycle of poverty through empowering the next generation with access to technology and education. My work aims to open up the any opportunities that allows the students to beat the odds. I discovered that service can be the path to both bettering your community and achieving your higher goals.

PCCC Community Service VISTA

While in college, I served as an AmeriCorps VISTA, helping provide educational resources and support to children from low-income families in the neighborhoods of Passaic that I grew up in.

Men of Color Success Initiative

The Men of Color Success Initiative(MOCSI), with the support of AmeriCorps VISTA at PCCC, offers male-identifying students of color opportunities to engage meaningfully on campus and a safe space to share their dreams and aspirations with faculty and administrators from similar backgrounds. In the fall semester of 2017, MOCSI emerged in its current configuration on campus. What began as a passion project of a few faculty and administrators has evolved into a college-wide imperative to reverse attrition rates and grow enrollment among male-identifying students of color.

Contributed to a 76.6% retention rate for MOCSI participants from Fall 2022 to Fall 2023, surpassing the 55.5% rate for other students, demonstrating the program's effectiveness in fostering student success.
Developed and supported leadership and professional development workshops, directly impacting the retention and academic progression of MOCSI participants.

Suit up for Success

One of the services we try to open to the male-identifying students at PCCC is getting them prepared for an interview. We educate these young students on the importance of formal attire in the process of interviewing for a job. We make an effort to collaborate with community partners and collect donations of suits, ties, shirts, pants, and any other items that can serve to be useful to the young rising professionals. Students get measured and are provided with a suit or anything that is near their size that can be tailored. We make an effort to make sure at least every student goes home with at least some ties and a lesson on how to tie them properly.

MOCSI Mentoring Program

I worked collaboratively with my VISTA team in developing and implementing the Beyond A Mentor (BAM) Program, a pioneering initiative designed to support the growth and development of male students of color. Through the BAM Program, we offered a comprehensive series of mentoring sessions that addressed critical life concepts including Boyhood to Manhood, Brotherhood, Fatherhood, and Sonhood, providing students with the tools and insights needed for personal and professional growth.

Enactus

Enactus is an international non-profit organization that connects student, academic, and business leaders through entrepreneurial-based projects that empower people to transform opportunities into real, sustainable progress for themselves and their communities. Enactus teams create and implement community empowerment projects around themes like sustainability, opportunity inequality, and entrepreneurship. Projects aim to improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need. In 2023 PCCC became the second community college to ever be a part of Enactus. As an AmeriCorps VISTA I had the role of supporting the Enactus team at PCCC as an advisor.

Pop-up shop

One of the projects that we helped the students start was a pop-up shop. With this pop-up shop the students were able to develop their entrepreneurial skills. Different members were tasked with the responsibility of managing the inventory, the costs/revenue, advertising and sales, providing students with hands on experience on how to conduct a business. We made sure students can understand why things might go wrong and what not to do when conducting business. This project allowed us to conduct business and raise funds for a good cause.

virtual Mentoring Space

During my term of service as a Community Service VISTA, I was also working closely with a couple of the pre-college programs located at PCCC. I was tasked with the development of a virtual mentoring space, where middle schools participating with the pre-college program Collegebound, can have a virtual space whee they can meet with their counselor, mentors, faculty and other students in a virtual space that feel more personal then a platform like Zoom or Teams. In this space everyone will have avatars and the ability to turn on their cameras and speak to each other through mics in a virtual setting. The advantage this space provides is that it provides a space where students won't feel alone while doing their work. This space is designed to be easily accessible through web-browsers and virtual reality headsets for a more immersive experience. Collaborating with a company the hosts these virtual spaces, I was able to create something that is sustainable and secure to host up to 100 people.

HISPA Partnership

As part of my AmeriCorps VISTA role at Passaic County Community College (PCCC), I had the unique opportunity to collaborate with HISPA (Hispanics Inspiring Students' Performance and Achievement). This partnership aimed to bridge the educational gap for Hispanic students by providing them with role models and educational resources. Through this collaboration, we organized interactive sessions and workshops, directly impacting students by offering insights into professional paths and fostering a supportive educational environment.

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