Estes Park Library Resource Development VISTA
Bringing over 100 years of library service to the Estes Valley and surrounding communities, the Estes Valley Library was begun in 1916 by the Estes Park Woman’s Club. The first library was opened in the schoolhouse with 262 volumes. Now with over 40,000 traditional collection items, and over 600,000 digital items, the library serves over 12,000 local residents, hundreds of seasonal residents, and many thousands of visitors to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. The Estes Park Library provides free services, resources, and events for folks in the community who otherwise may not have access to them; this contributes to creating better financial and social outcomes for folks experiencing poverty, and in turns strengthens community engagement and development. The Library invests in the overall success of the community as a space for growth and accessible, equitable, free resources. The VISTA will foster capacity and sustainability at the library so that it can provide more expansive services and reach a larger population, which impacts access to resources for folks living in poverty. Additionally, libraries are a major source of reading material for many children of poverty and contribute to better educational outcomes for these youths, more investment in libraries and librarians means better language and literacy development, and that supporting libraries can help overcome the negative effect of poverty on literacy development and school success. The Library is located in Estes Park, just 90 minutes from Denver, in the eastern entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. A majestic mountain destination known for outdoor adventure, watchable wildlife and scenic beauty, Estes Park is Colorado's quintessential mountain town.
Member Duties:
- Grant Writing: The VISTA will generate and prepare proposals, develop proposals by assembling information and build trackers to increase the libraries funding streams. Write, revise, and edit drafts including executive summaries, conclusions, and organization credentials.
- Donor Research and Recruitment: Create systems for monitoring development activities including gift processing, donor relations, and donor cultivation. Motivate and identify donors and prospects to make major gifts. Establish a variety of donor appreciation activities, programs, and mailings.
- Marketing: Create fundraising materials that describe and promote brand. Update social media as well as newspaper communications. Promote mission to donors in the community via communication plans.
- Systems Building: Research best practices for record retention. Create system for retaining human resource records. Document procedures for new records system.
Program Benefits:
- Members earn a living allowance of up to $17,600 (disbursed in equal payments every two weeks) for their term of service (1700 hours)
- Eli Segal AmeriCorps Education Award of $6,895 OR End-of-Service Cash Stipend of $1,800 upon successful program completion
- For members at least 55 years of age, ability to transfer ed award to a child, step-child, foster-child, grandchild, or step-grandchild
- Housing Assistance made payable directly to property owner
- Two Healthcare Benefit Options: See here for more details
- Relocation Travel Allowance* based on the direct mileage between home of record to service site
- Settling-In Allowance of $750 attached to first paycheck
- Cold Weather Gear Stipend: Reimbursement up to $500**
- Close-of-Service Travel Allowance based on the direct mileage between service site to home of record upon completion of service
- Forbearance and accrued interest payment for eligible student loans: See here for more details
- Child Care assistance, if eligible: See here for more details and eligibility requirements
- Professional Development, an extensive Alumni network
*Relocation assistance is available for those who:
- Sign up for a 12-month service term in the AmeriCorps VISTA program, AND
- Move more than 50 miles from their permanent address, also referred to as home of record, to a new residence
**Given on a case-by-case basis. You have to provide a narrative as to why assistance is needed.
Qualifications:
- Be a U.S. citizen or U.S. national or a lawful permanent resident alien of the U.S.
- High school diploma or GED required; must be at least 18 years old
- Pass required criminal background checks, including a National Sex Offender Website search, to serve with at-risk or vulnerable populations. AmeriCorps service is contingent on passing these background checks. If background checks have not been resolved by the conclusion of a member’s training, they will be placed on administrative hold until they meet the clearance threshold.
- Be willing and able to complete 1700 required hours of service (52 weeks) by April 9, 2024.
- English fluency, with clear and concise communication skills. Fluency in Spanish preferred.
- This is a full-time AmeriCorps position. Must be able to serve a total of 40 hours per week. Days and hours may range from Monday to Sunday and from 9am to 7pm Mountain time. Schedule will be determined by the host site’s needs. The host site recognizes that all state holidays will be treated with the same expectation as working on the weekends. Those that are scheduled to work and make calls, will still be expected to work. All regularly scheduled meetings will be cancelled on state holidays.