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Welcome!

The Up2Us Sports VISTA Program is excited to partner with you!

The following application will help us collect information about you, your organization & program, and how you would like to partner with the Up2Us Sports VISTA Program. Your participation in this yearly partnership application helps ensure that Up2Us Sports is accountable to its funders, donors, partners, staff, participants, and communities.

Prior to submitting the call for partnership application we recommend attending an information session on either Wednesday, January 11th or Wednesday, January 25rd. You can register for the sessions using this link. If you are unable to attend either session more information about the Up2Us VISTA program can be found here.

To ease the submission process we have included the general length of time to submit each application. We recommends, before starting, to have a clear understanding of the projects you'd like your VISTA to complete, how they will be supervised and your plan for orienting them to your organization.


All VISTAs (summer and Full Year) must serve within a commutable distance from your organization. Remote work is no longer allowable by AmeriCorps. VISTAs (Summer and Full Year) are still able to serve both hybrid or virtually as long as they are within a commutable distance from your organization and the communities you serve.


  • VISTA Program Full Year ONLY (est. time to complete: 45 mins)

  • Summer VISTA Program ONLY (est. time to complete: 35 mins)

  • VISTA Program Full Year AND Summer VISTA Program (est. time to complete: 75 mins)

If you have any questions about the VISTA Program, please  reach out to Kim Chinn at kchinn@up2ussports.org.

If you are interested in hosting a coach with Up2Us Sports or want more information about the Up2Us Coach program please contact Up2Us Coach Program Director Jack Callahan at jcallahan@up2ussports.org.

Hidden Fields

Organization Information

Organization Address






Contact Information for Person Completing Application








Contact information for the person managing the VISTA(s).







Organization Tax Information

VISTA Partnership Application

AmeriCorps offers a variety of service opportunities, connecting individuals and organizations to help communities tackle their toughest challenges. The AmeriCorps VISTA program focuses on building capacity within organizations to increase effectiveness, efficiency or scale and reach. The Up2Us VISTA program focuses specifically on expanding the capacity of youth sports organizations. Below you'll find an outline of both the Up2Us VISTA Full Year Program and the Up2Us VISTA Program.

***ALL Summer and Full Year VISTAs member must serve locally or within a commutable distance from your office and/or the community you serve. Both Summer and Full Year VISTAs are able to serve virtually or in a hybrid model, but must reside within the community. Full remote service, where the VISTA lives outside a commutable range, is no longer supported by AmeriCorps.***

Up2US VISTA Program (Full Year)
The Up2Us Sports AmeriCorps VISTA (Full Year) program aims to build the capacity of Up2Us Sports member organizations who run high-quality youth sports or sports-based youth development programming in under-served communities. This year and moving forward the Up2Us VISTA program is prioritizing program partnerships with organizations that are rooted in sports based youth development, the advancement of women and girls in sports and those organizations providing safe and healthy outlets, through sports or movement, to youth. Current existing partnerships that fall outside of these three categories are able to complete the program cycle they are currently in. At the end of their three year cycle, they will be asked to adjust their projects to focus on the advancement of sports. 

All members in the Up2Us VISTA Program (Full Year) serve full time for one calendar year with start dates ranging from August 2023 - January 2024.They receive a modest living allowance and will serve at your organization to complete the projects designed by you and your team. All projects are built to improve the scale and reach, efficiency and effectiveness of your organization. VISTAs are unable to provide direct service to members of your community. All projects are conducted at the administrative level of the organization. 



Up2Us Summer VISTA Program
The Up2Us Summer VISTA program aims to build the capacity of Up2Us Sports member organizations who run high-quality youth sports or sports-based youth development programming in under-served communities through a nine-week program from mid-June to mid-August. Due to the short nature of this program, partner organizations should prioritize projects in one of five key areas : Program Operations, Coaching, Marketing, Development or Community Engagement. The Up2Us Summer VISTA program will prioritize partnerships with organizations that are rooted in sports based youth development, the advancement of women and girls in sports and those organizations providing safe and healthy outlets, through sports or movement, to youth.


Up2Us Summer VISTAs receive a modest living allowance and an end of service benefit for their service during the summer. They will complete projects designed specifically by your organizations that focus on the capacity building of your organization for eight to nine weeks in the summer. Unlike the full year VISTA program, the Up2Us Summer VISTA program DOES allow direct service. Projects typically align closely to summer programming offered by organizations, summer coaching or preparing for fall programming.

Up2Us Sports VISTA Programs

VISTA Program (Full Year): Supplementation, Non-Displacement, and Non-Duplication Guidelines

The Up2Us VISTA Program (Full Year) is a full year, full-time AmeriCorps program that provides a service member to eligible partner organizations. Below are five key things an eligible organization must  supply in order to host a VISTA member.

  • Year-long, full-time supervision and support

  • Reimbursement for travel conducted (outside of their commute) on behalf of your program

  • Resources needed to complete their project, as MINIMUM: phone, desk/office space, laptop and wifi (computer is expected to be given to VISTA working in or outside the office)

  • $7,500 cost share  in the form of four quarterly payments over one year to Up2Us Sports

  • Optional - Additional support from your program in the form of rent subsidy or transportation assistance

***Full Year VISTAs member must serve locally or within a commutable distance from your office and/or the community you serve. Full Year VISTAs are able to serve virtually or in a hybrid model, but must reside within the community. Full remote service, where the VISTA lives outside a commutable range, is no longer supported by AmeriCorps.***

As a subgrantee of Up2Us Sports, all partners must follow regulations around supplementation, non-displacement and non-duplication of employees.

Please read below carefully and certify you understand before continuing.


A VISTA may not perform any services or activities that would otherwise be performed by an employee as part of an employee's assigned duties. In other words, a VISTA cannot replace a full time employee. They can join a team to support the effectiveness, efficiency and capacity by integrating  into the team. They should not take on administrative tasks like answering phones, keeping calendars for other employees, or other office administrative tasks.  They should complete the projects designed by each organization to move the mission forward. An employee may not be replaced, in whole or in part, by a VISTA member.

Further, the services of a VISTA may not impact:

  • the hiring of a worker or

  • the possible promotion of an employee

  • Nor may VISTAs perform services or duties that have been performed or were assigned to any:presently employed worker;employee who recently resigned or was discharged;employee who is subject to a reduction in force or who has recall rights pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement or applicable personnel procedures;employee who is on leave (terminal, temporary, vacation, emergency, or sick); or employee who is on strike or who Is being locked out.


VISTAs candidates must meet the eligibility requirements outline below:

  • Be a US citizen OR a permanent resident 

  • Be 18 years or older 

  • Nepotism is fully restricted. A VISTA cannot be related to any member of staff at your organization. 



VISTA Program Information

VISTA Requirements


Host Site Type


Full Year VISTA Program: Project Goals, VISTA Activities, Performance Measure Reporting (YEAR 1)

Year 1 VISTA

The goals below are part of the AmeriCorps Strategic Plan and guide our evaluation of applicants as well as reporting throughout the year. These AmeriCorps measures allow us to assess the individual and collective results of programs and continue to enhance program effectiveness. A common set of measures also expands our ability to account for the combined contributions of all of our grantees, sponsors and partners, as well as the state service commissions.

VISTA Service Activities Guidance

The purpose of the VISTA program is to support programs in their mission to alleviate poverty. What alleviating poverty means can vary from program to program but the work your organization is doing should be grounded in creating social movement for your participants. A VISTA can engage in capacity building projects to help your organization achieve its mission.


According to the National Council of Nonprofits, capacity building is whatever is needed to bring a nonprofit to the next level of operational, programmatic, financial, or organizational maturity, so it may more effectively and efficiently advance its mission into the future. Capacity building is not a one-time effort to improve short-term effectiveness. Some examples of capacity building projects include identifying a communications strategy, improving volunteer recruitment, ensuring thoughtful leadership succession, designing curriculum, updating a nonprofit’s technology, and improving how it measures its outcomes.


In a detailed paragraph, describe the project plan you have for each VISTA that will support the advancement of your mission through capacity building. Please review THIS EXAMPLE to help support your answer to this question. Answers that are direct copies of the example with slight changes will not be reviewed. Please submit a thoughtful and thorough overview of the project you envision your VISTA completing to advance the capacity of your organization.

If you are applying for more than one VISTA, please click "Add another VISTA position description" below under the initial position description to the left.



For the following questions, please refer to the RFP Service Activity Guidance. This guide provides insightful ways your VISTA can bring your capacity building to life through the project you outlined above.  Briefly describe (one sentence) all applicable Service Activities for this project. Only complete those sections that apply to your project. Leave all unrelated sections blank.


Example: After reviewing the RFP Guidance above the VISTA’s project falls into four categories: Community Assessment, Outreach, Expand/Strengthen Partnerships and Volunteer Recruitment.

Community Assessment: Our VISTA will conduct surveys to better understand the programming wants/needs from our participants and their families. 

Outreach: Our VISTA will develop community outreach plans, through social media and other outreach methods, to communicate the seasons/sessions we offer to increase registration.

Expand/Strengthen Partnerships:Our VISTA will conduct outreach to local businesses and local park and rec departments to ensure permits for field space and in-kind donations for events and programming.

Volunteer Recruitment: Our VISTA will develop a volunteer recruitment life cycle to ensure all interested volunteers are engaged, trained and are aware of available opportunities. 


Please use the following sentence starter for all sections that apply “Our VISTA will...”


If you are applying for more than one VISTA please click "Add Another Response" on the bottom right under the initial VISTA Activity.

VISTA Activity










VISTA Activity











AmeriCorps requires reporting on selected Performance Measures. If awarded you will select, in partnership with the Up2Us VISTA team, specific Performance Measure targets that correspond to the VISTA project goals.

To help guide us in that conversation, if awarded, please think thoughtfully about how you plan to measure impact at your organization and  potential targets in three key areas: in-kind donations, cash donations and volunteer recruitment.

Up2Us Sports provides support and tools for reporting on the impact of VISTA members, but it is important that your organization is set up to collect and communicate the progress that your VISTA makes on their project.



VISTA Project Goals
If your project addresses the following areas please enter the target goal for your VISTA members project. Only complete the areas that apply your VISTA's project goals.

If you are applying for more than one VISTA please click "Add another project goal" to the bottom right for your second VISTA.  



VISTA Project Goals
If your project addresses the following areas please enter the target goal for your VISTA members project. Only complete the areas that apply your VISTA's project goals.



Youth Served Information
Please estimate the total number of youth served and total number of youth that will have improved academic achievement in the 21-22 programming year. If you do not measure improved academic performance please put zero (0). 


Full Year VISTA Program: Project Goals, VISTA Activities, Performance Measure Reporting       (Years 2/3)

VISTA Year 2 and 3

The goals below are part of the AmeriCorps Strategic Plan and guide our evaluation of applicants as well as reporting throughout the year. These AmeriCorps agency-wide measures allow us to assess the individual and collective results of programs and continue to enhance program effectiveness. A common set of measures also expands our ability to account for the combined contributions of all of our grantees, sponsors and partners, as well as the state service commissions..

VISTA Service Activities Guidance

The purpose of the VISTA program is to support programs in their mission to alleviate poverty. What alleviating poverty means can vary from program to program but the work your organization is doing should be grounded in creating social movement for your participants. This could be through sport, education, access to programming or community engagement. A VISTA can engage in capacity building projects to help your organization achieve its mission.

To ensure project growth from year to year AmeriCorps has set specific vertical growth from year one to year two and year two to year three. The guide below outlines the goals each year should set to achieve.

Year 1 Projects: Program Launch. Laying the foundation and building blocks for the program and getting the program off the ground. 

Year 2 Projects: Revising and refining what was created in year one. Using this year to create a sustainable plan to move forward.

Year 3 Projects: Continuing to refine and perfect the process to hand off to the site to continue implementing without support from a VISTA member.

1. In a detailed paragraph, describe the project plan you have for each VISTA that will support the advancement of your mission through capacity building? Please review THIS EXAMPLE to help support your answer to this question. Answers that are direct copies of the example with slight changes will not be reviewed. Please submit a thoughtful and thorough overview of the project you envision your VISTA completing to advance the capacity of your organization

If you are applying for more than one VISTA, please click "Add another VISTA position description" below. If the second VISTA position you're applying for is a "Year 1" project, please indicate that in your second VISTA position description.



For the following questions, please refer to the RFP Service Activity Guidance. This guide provides insightful ways your VISTA can bring your capacity building to life through the project you outlined above.  Briefly describe (one sentence) all applicable Service Activities for this project. Only complete those sections that apply to your project. Leave all unrelated sections blank.


Example: After reviewing the RFP Guidance above the VISTA’s project falls into four categories: Community Assessment, Outreach, Expand/Strengthen Partnerships and Volunteer Recruitment.

Community Assessment: Our VISTA will conduct surveys to better understand the programming wants/needs from our participants and their families. 

Outreach: Our VISTA will develop community outreach plans, through social media and other outreach methods, to communicate the seasons/sessions we offer to increase registration.

Expand/Strengthen Partnerships:Our VISTA will conduct outreach to local businesses and local park and rec departments to ensure permits for field space and in-kind donations for events and programming.

Volunteer Recruitment: Our VISTA will develop a volunteer recruitment life cycle to ensure all interested volunteers are engaged, trained and are aware of available opportunities. 


If you are applying for more than one VISTA, please click "Add another response" below to complete this section for your second VISTA.


Please use the following sentence starter for all sections that apply “Our VISTA will...”

VISTA Activity










VISTA Activity











AmeriCorps requires reporting on selected Performance Measures. If awarded you will select, in partnership with the Up2Us VISTA team, specific Performance Measure targets that correspond to the VISTA project goals.

To help guide us in that conversation, if awarded, please think thoughtfully about how you plan to measure impact at your organization and  potential targets in three key areas: in-kind donations, cash donations and volunteer recruitment.

Up2Us Sports provides support and tools for reporting on the impact of VISTA members, but it is important that your organization is set up to collect and communicate the progress that your VISTA makes on their project.



VISTA 1
VISTA 1: If your project addresses the following areas please enter the target goal for your VISTA members project. Only complete the areas that apply your VISTA's project goals.

If you are applying for more than one VISTA, please click "Add another Set of Project Goals" below for the second VISTA role.



VISTA 2
VISTA 2: If your project addresses the following areas please enter the target goal for your VISTA members project. Only complete the areas that apply your VISTA's project goals.



Youth Served Information
Please estimate the total number of youth served and total number of youth that will have improved academic achievement in the 21-22 programming year. If you do not measure improved academic performance please put zero (0). 



VISTA Program: Member Support and Experience

Full Year VISTA
In this section, we are asking that each site consider recruitment, VISTA management and your work from home policies. These are critical elements to the success of the VISTA project at your site. Please review THIS DOCUMENT that overviews why each of these three areas are important to consider before applying and a two step outline for crafting your answers for this section. Answers that are direct copies of the examples outlined with only slight changes will not be reviewed. Please submit a thoughtful and thorough answer that reflects your recruitment, management and work from home plan.




Up2Us Summer VISTA Program

The Up2Us Summer VISTA program aims to build the capacity of Up2Us Sports member organizations who run high-quality sports-based youth development programming in under-served communities through an eight to nine-week program from mid-June to mid-August. Due to the short nature of this program, partner organizations should prioritize projects that allow organizations the opportunity to have short term support in  one of four key areas : Program Operations & Coaching, Marketing, Development or Community Engagement. The Up2Us Summer VISTA program will prioritize partnerships with organizations that are rooted in sports based youth development, the advancement of women and girls in sports and those organizations providing safe and healthy outlets, through sports or movement, to youth.   


Up2Us Summer VISTAs receive a modest living allowance and an end of service benefit for their service during the summer. They will complete projects designed specifically by your organizations that focus on the capacity building of your organization for eight to nine weeks in the summer. Projects typically align closely to summer programming, summer coaching or preparing for fall programming. 


***ALL Summer VISTAs member must serve locally or within a commutable distance from your office and/or the community you serve. Summer VISTAs are able to serve virtually or in a hybrid model, but must reside within the community. Full remote service, where the Summer VISTA lives outside a commutable range, is no longer supported by AmeriCorps.***


Summer VISTA Program Important Information:

Cost Share: $300 - made in one payment to Up2Us Sports

Length of Program:  9 weeks from mid-June to Mid-August

Program Benefits: Living allowance based on the county your program is located.

End of Service Benefit: A choice of ONE of the following - $311 cash stipend OR $1,459.26 education award.

 

 

Up2Us Summer VISTAs are able to fulfill a capacity building role OR a coaching role during the summer program. All projects submitted must align with one of the five bucket areas below.

 

Coaching: Up2Us Summer VISTA members can support any coaching positions for the 8 or 9 week summer program timeline.

Programs Operations: An Up2Us Summer VISTA can work alongside a site director in operations to ensure a summer camp site is running. They can manage pick up/drop off, organize meals, organize schedules for participants and coaches, and ensure that each site runs smoothly.

Marketing: A VISTA can help run social media, support any summer fundraising events, develop content or edit videos.

Development: A VISTA can research grants, write LOI's, track application deadlines, create templates.

Community Engagement: A VISTA can organize a community event (cannot be political in nature), recruit volunteers, support the dissemination of COVID information, resource map, determine community need


The application will address your project plan for your summer VISTA, your recruitment strategy, management plan and remote work plan (if applicable). Please plan to complete this application in one sitting.


Up2Us Summer VISTA Program

Summer VISTAs

Project Goals, Summer VISTA Activities, Performance Measure Reporting

Summer VISTA
In partnership with AmeriCorps, Up2Us Sports wants to mobilize Summer VISTA members to build organizational capacity to ensure access to a variety of sports to youth in all communities. Organizations can use the Summer VISTA member in the following areas: Program Operations & Coaching, Marketing Development, and/or Community Engagement.

 In a detailed but brief paragraph outline your project goal for your Up2Us Summer VISTA. Please use THIS EXAMPLE to help support you in crafting your project outline. Answers that are direct copies of the example with slight changes will not be reviewed. Please submit a thoughtful and thorough overview of the project you envision your summer VISTA completing to advance the capacity of your organization


If you are applying for more than one Summer VISTA, please differentiate each position by including the title before describing the role. If all VISTAs will be doing the same role, you can indicate that by using the example below. See the example below.

Summer VISTA 1: Marketing VISTA The marketing VISTA will...

Summer VISTA 2: Development VISTA The development VISTA will…

Summer VISTA 3: Coaching VISTA

The coaching VISTA will…

OR

VISTA 1 & 2: Coaching VISTA

The coaching VISTA will…



VISTA Program: Member Support and Experience

Summer VISTA
In this section, we are asking that each site consider recruitment, VISTA management and your work from home policies. These are critical elements to the success of the VISTA project at your site. Please review THIS DOCUMENT that overviews why each of these three areas are important to consider before applying and a two step outline for crafting your answers for this section. Answers that are direct copies of the examples outlined with only slight changes will not be reviewed. Please submit a thoughtful and thorough answer that reflects your recruitment, management and work from home plan.




About Your Organization

Your Organization





About Your Organization's Youth Programming

Youth Programming









Participant Demographics

Demographic Details

Please provide the following information on participant demographics. Up2Us Sports collects this information to understand your programs more and to be accountable to our stakeholders and funders.

For each of the percentage or number fields below, please enter in one whole number that represents the overall average for that demographic group.
% of youth served who qualify for free/reduced lunch % of youth served who have physical and/or mental disabilities % of youth served who are youth of color Age range of youth
%
%
%
Total no. of youth served annually across all programming No. of Male Youth No. of Female Youth No. of Non-binary Youth
Youth Zip Codes

Please provide the top five zip codes of your youth participants.

If there are not five different zip codes, please provide, at a minimum, one zip code.
1. Youth Zip Code 2. Youth Zip Code 3. Youth Zip Code 4. Youth Zip Code 5. Youth Zip Code
You have reached the end of the application. Please submit your application by selecting "Submit" at the bottom of the page. A member of the Up2Us Sports staff will review your application and follow up with you.
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