VISTA History and Mission
AmeriCorps VISTA is the national service program that works to eliminate poverty. The first VISTAs began serving in 1965 in the migrant farm worker camps in California, the hollows of eastern Kentucky, and the inner city of Hartford, CT. Since then, more than 180,000 VISTAs have served throughout America to expand the capacity of homegrown efforts to address community challenges.
VISTAs develop initiatives that enable people to become self-sufficient and secure. Our impact is reflected in the hundreds of programs that VISTAs helped launch over the decades, including Head Start, Upward Bound, the credit union system, Habitat for Humanity, and Neighborhood Watch.
Visit us for more information about VISTA, and to explore the many opportunities to serve.
AmeriCorps VISTA is a program of CNCS, the federal agency that improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering.