Americorp VISTA week
By DELORES ROBERTS
Americorp VISTA manager
Americorp/VISTA week is May 9-16 and the agency has a lot to be proud of in eastern Utah. Presently the agency have nine Americorps/VISTA'S in Carbon and Emery counties.
The five VISTA's in East Carbon do many of the activities in the area under the direction of the mayor. We have one in Emery county that works for Homeland Security doing whatever is needed.
The three we have in Price work for the BEAR/VISTA project. The people at BEAR (business expansion and retention) look for and then make sure the Carbon businesses get the information on anything that will help them stay viable.
The agency has brought in $850,000 on the rural fast track grant alone (this is ongoing for manufacturers and service companies in the last year. Currently we are working on helping companies that qualify get the Targeted Business Tax Credit, which is another $100,000 check for the area.
We have also been working with Four Corners Mental Health on the workforce drug programs.
We also work on the IDA (Independent Development Accounts) where individuals that qualify can get $3 for every $1 they save; this can be used to start a new business, education or to buy a first home.
Along with all that we do food drives and just recently worked on collecting items for "Road Home Kits".
Americorps provides opportunities for 75,000 Americans to give back in an intensive way to their communities each year. In the local area Americorps/ VISTA members serve full time fighting poverty. In exchange for a year of full time service, participants receive a small living stipend monthly plus health care and at the end of service they can receive up to $1200 or an education award of $4,725 that can be used to pay for college or graduate school, or to pay back student loans.
For information on being involved in VISTA call 636-3295.
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