Created in 1964 as part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) was a program that recruited, trained, and placed full-time volunteers with nonprofit and public organizations that serviced low-income communities.
Whereas VISTA began under the presidency of Johnson, its roots lay in the administration of John F. Kennedy. Before the early 1960s, most Americans were not aware of poverty in the United States. Through media attention and books such as Michael Harrington’s The Other America, awareness of poverty in the United States became increasingly evident. As a result of this visibility, in 1962, Kennedy established a study group, headed by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, to explore the idea of creating a domestic service program whose volunteers would work in low-income communities. The committee proposed the establishment of a National Service Corps (NSC). State legislatures had several goals for the NSC. By utilizing full-time volunteers, the NSC would be able to reach those in greatest need of services. Legislatures hoped that the work and visibility of the volunteers would aid in garnering support from both the private and the public sector, promote further volunteerism by other community members, and encourage people to work in fields that provided social services.
In May 1963, hearings began in Congress on the NSC bill. Concerns over political agitation, integration, and leadership, however, prevented the legislation from moving successfully through Congress.
Seven months after Congress defeated the NSC bill, it was reformed and renamed VISTA as part of Johnson’s War on Poverty programs. In March 1964, Johnson delivered an address before Congress about the seriousness of poverty in the United States, and he declared that poverty could be eradicated with help from Congress. Johnson asked for funding and for the authority to create a volunteer corps. Under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, Congress allocated almost a billion dollars for the formation of 10 different antipoverty programs, including VISTA, Head Start, and Job Corps. The goals of the new VISTA were no different from those of the failed NSC. Unlike NSC, however, VISTA would function under the Office of Economic Opportunity. At the center of these policies was the assumption that solutions to poverty required direct intervention and that low-income people had a right to participate in housing, health, education, and work solutions.
VISTA volunteers served full time in one-year terms. They worked for a variety of agencies and participated in projects ranging from literacy programs to economic and community development to battered women’s shelters. In addition to the experience gained during their term, volunteers received a living allowance, health insurance, and an educational award to be used toward future education or student loan debt. While volunteers had to be 18 years old to participate, there was no upper age limit set for participation. Many of the volunteers possessed college degrees, but not all positions required a degree.
VISTA changed with subsequent presidential administrations and shifting political climates. In the early 1970s, President Richard M. Nixon combined several programs, such as VISTA and the Peace Corps to form the ACTION agency. ACTION discouraged the community development emphasis of VISTA, and such activities declined. VISTA, however, continued to secure federal funds and maintained its community organizing initiatives. During the 1980s, action administrators dismantled the recruiting and training structure of VISTA. In addition, there was a decline in the number of organizations that received volunteers. Grassroots efforts ensured that VISTA’s work in community organizing remained alive. In 1993, ACTION combined with three other groups under the National Service Trust Act to form the Corporation for National Service, and VISTA officially became AmeriCorps VISTA.
By the turn of the 21st century, there were more than 100,000 former VISTA volunteers. Since its founding, the effect of VISTA workers on the communities they served has been debated. Recent evaluations of the program suggest that VISTA workers do in fact have a positive impact on the neighborhoods and communities in which they work.
According to the executive summary for 1997, volunteers that year each generated an average of $24,000 in funds for their sponsoring organizations and recruited more than 4 million hours of community service. Though the survival of VISTA has at times been uncertain, changes in the decades after its creation have kept it alive.
Further reading: T. Zane Reeves, The Politics of the Peace Corps and VISTA (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1988).
—Heather L. Tompkins
World History
