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Available AmeriCorps*VISTA Common Ground Fellowships are posted on the AmeriCorps*VISTA Recruitment Website. Positions can open at various times of the year.

PLEASE GO TO THE AMERICORPS*VISTA APPLICATION WEBSITE PERIODICALLY TO SEARCH FOR OTHER AVAILABLE OPENINGS.

Searching for the keyword "Homelessness" and Americorps*VISTA placements in New York will bring up any current positions available at Common Ground.

Introducing Common Ground Community

Common Ground Community is a non-profit housing and community development organization. Our mission is to solve homelessness through innovative programs that transform people, buildings and communities. Common Ground and its partners provide services in our buildings to ensure that our tenants maintain the ability to live independently. Common Ground manages over 1,600 units of housing and employs more than 170 people, some of them residents. Common Ground operates employment programs for tenants of supportive housing and own and operates several social business ventures.

Common Ground relies on common sense and cost effectiveness to offer new ways to think about homelessness and new approaches to ending this tragedy. Our mission is staked on the belief that homelessness is a solvable problem.

• The Mission of the Fellowship in Creative Responses to Homelessness
• Fellowship Benefits
• What Is Common Ground Community Seeking In Applicants?
• Expectations of Fellows
• Available Fellowship Positions
• Application and Selection Process

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The Mission of the Fellowship in Creative Responses to Homelessness

The mission of the AmeriCorps*VISTA Common Ground Creative Responses to Homelessness Fellowship is to assist college graduates in developing the skills to end homelessness. The AmeriCorps*VISTA Fellowship achieves this mission by inviting applicants to work for Common Ground and live in a Common Ground residence for a twelve-month period. As residents of a Common Ground facility, the AmeriCorps*VISTA Fellows are expected to take an active role in the community, and volunteer to assist at various building events. In addition to their work responsibilities, AmeriCorps*VISTA Fellows spend some of their time learning about other agencies in the community that deal with different aspects of homelessness.

The AmeriCorps*VISTA Fellowship is a reinforcement of the particular energy we seek to create around the issue of homelessness -- that it is a solvable problem that can yield to thoughtful, common sense housing-based strategies. The Common Ground AmeriCorps*VISTA Fellowship Program provides a unique opportunity for individuals to receive practical knowledge on many levels: through hands-on work on specific projects that address Common Ground’s mission to end homelessness; through exposure to the overall issue of homelessness; through extensive experience in a not-for-profit organization; and through their experience as tenants of a large-scale supportive housing program.

Fellowship Benefits

• Year long work opportunity with Common Ground Community.
• $10,728 stipend.*
• Housing at a Common Ground residence.
• AmeriCorps*VISTA Benefits package and Common Ground dental and vision coverage
• Seminars and site visits on issues related to homelessness and poverty
• Exposure to all aspects of Common Ground’s work.

* The AmeriCorps*VISTA stipend may increase slightly each June depending on funding. Also AmeriCorps*VISTA Fellows will be eligible for either a $ 4,725 educational grant or a $ 1,200 stipend from AmeriCorps*Vista at the end of the 12-month Program if sufficient funding is available.

Common Ground seeks college graduates who are motivated, creative, and hard working. Although we do take into consideration prior work experience in social services or a related field, we want to be certain that the candidates are interested in our diverse work. We seek those who are both organized and flexible, and are able to balance the different responsibilities of the program.

Expectations from Fellows

Common Ground expects AmeriCorps*VISTA Fellows to bring time and energy and exemplary work performance to our organization. They must adhere to all AmeriCorps*VISTA training, reporting and working requirements, work the full 12-month period, live in a Common Ground Residence; participate in all program activities; and assist in recruitment of additional AmeriCorps*VISTA Fellows.

Available Placements

• Available AmeriCorps*VISTA Common Ground Fellowships are posted on the AmeriCorps*VISTA Recruitment Website. Positions can open at various times of the year.
  
  
  • No applicaitons will be reviewed unless Americorps*VISTA applcation, resume, and 2 essays have been submitted.

PLEASE GO TO THE AMERICORPS*VISTA APPLICATION WEBSITE PERIODICALLY TO SEARCH FOR OTHER AVAILABLE OPENINGS.

• Searching for the keyword "Homelessness" and Americorps*VISTA placements in New York will bring up any current positions available at Common Ground.
  
  
• Please file your application at least 8 weeks before the start date of the placement.
  

Go to the AmeriCorps website, www.americorps.org and click on the AmeriCorps*VISTA link at the bottom of the page. Follow the link to the “Becoming a Member” section and file an electronic AmeriCorps*VISTA application. PLEASE NOTE: Your application must be current and Common Ground requires all references to be submitted within the on-line application.
In addition to the AmeriCorps*VISTA application, Common Ground requires the following:

1. A current resume

2. Two (2) Essays

Short Essay (approximately 100 words).

Answer one of the two.

1. Please describe an experience you have had in the housing, social services or related fields. (For example: working with the elderly, in soup kitchens, or in shelters.)

OR

2. Please describe an experience working on a project or assignment important to you. What was challenging? What did you learn?

Long Essay (approximately 500 words)

Choose one question

1. Part of Common Ground’s mission statement reads that the organization strives “to solve homelessness through innovative programs that transform people, buildings and communities.” Discuss your past experiences or goals for the future that would relate to this mission statement.

OR

2. Give a specific example of how you dealt with conflict between yourself and a friend, peer, or co-worker. What was the outcome? What did you learn from the experience?

OR

3. Describe an experience you had working or living with someone who was very different from yourself. What were the stresses and benefits of the experience?

After submission of your AmeriCorps*VISTA application on line, please send the resume and essays to:

Gopika Desai
Common Ground Community
505 Eighth Avenue, 15th Floor
New York, New York 10018

Your application will not be considered unless we have all three components: the on-line application with references, your current resume and the two essays.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact Gopika Desai at (212) 389-9323 or Fellowship_Info_2005@commonground.org