The Douglas County AmeriCorps*VISTA Team began in 2003 as a partnership between five community non-profit organizations. In August of that year, the first six VISTA members began their year of service in Roseburg. Since then, the team has continued to add new sites and members every six months, and as of January 2006, the team has grown to include seventeen members at ten organizations. Our team is the first in Oregon to be based on a particular county, rather than on a common theme of work. Most teams are spread out across the state, and focus on a common cause, such as child abuse or hunger issues. Our team members work with a broad range of agencies, addressing issues from safe after-school programs to college access, from food self-sufficiency to micro-enterprise business skills. We work to recognize and understand the inter-related causes of poverty, and thus the necessity of working across agencies to alleviate poverty. Based in one region, we can meet regularly as a team and use our common identity as VISTA volunteers to increase collaborative efforts between our organizations and across the community as a whole. The team also acts as a support network for each member, with help finding affordable housing in the area, ongoing training opportunities, people to listen during times of frustration, friends to hang out with on the weekends, occasional team trips just for the fun of it, and whatever else you might need to make your year of service successful and rewarding. | 
Active Sep 29, 2006 to Oct 9, 2006
