VISTA Community Health
The Center for Community Learning & Leadership, together with The Health Trust, is a sponsoring organization for AmeriCorps*VISTA, a national service program dedicated to eradicating poverty. Eight VISTA members, divided between the Health Trust and the CCLL, work together on a variety of ongoing projects related to community health. (Learn more about AmeriCorps*VISTA
at the national level.)
The goal of the VISTA program is to provide sustainable programs and resources to address the health needs of lower-income people in targeted areas of San Jose. Within this broad framework, VISTA members have used their year of service to implement such activities as:
- Integration of health programs and activities with the City of San Jose, Strong Neighborhoods Initiative, specifically Five Wounds/Brookwood Terrace area. VISTAs are helping to facilitate the collaborative efforts between City programs, The Health Trust, and community learning courses in order to involve faculty and students in health promotion and health-related research projects, health education, community mapping, health surveys, and ethnographic studies, the sum of which are to serve as a model for other underserved neighborhoods throughout Santa Clara County.
- Open Air Health Fair, held twice a year at the Berryessa Flea Market, provides cardiovascular disease screenings, health education, and referrals to community clinics, as well as exercise demonstrations and children’s activities. More than 400 students volunteers support this event.
- Salud Sundays, a health education program presented as a part of a weekly summertime Farmer's Market event at Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose. Each Sunday, a different community health organization presented educational resources, demonstrations, and/or screenings to promote awareness of health issues in a largely underserved, immigrant community.
- Expansion of the Meals on Wheels volunteer base, outreach to clients, developing service and resource manuals, fund development, AmeriCorps service coordination and supervision, scheduling and holiday route coordination.
- Organizing a Women's Health Conference including fundraising, planning, volunteer recruitment and support; with proceeds benefiting The Women's Health Fund which awards grants to organizations providing health-related services to underserved women and girls in Santa Clara County.
- Support for The Health Trust’s School Health Clinics, Community Wellness and Health Connections programs
- Midday sports programs at Linda Vista Elementary School
Note: In collaboration with VISTAs, SJSU AmeriCorps members and community learners from disciplines such as Health Science, Nursing, Urban and Regional Planning, Management Information Systems, and Anthropology have further contributed to the research, planning, and implementation of health promotion activities benefiting the local community.
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