1. Engaging campuses in service to the community.
Ohio Campus Compact VISTA Impact Report 2010-2011:
Ohio Wesleyan University
The Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA program strategically connects college resources with
communities in need. Corps members gain valuable experience and educational awards. Campuses
expand their civic outreach. And community partners receive critical support.
Poverty Alleviation Focus Area: Homelessness and housing
HISTORY & BACKGROUND VISTA Corps member: Mery Kanashiro
Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private, (740) 368-3856 • mmkanash@owu.edu
liberal-arts university located in Delaware, Ohio, Site Supervisor: Susan Pasters
roughly twenty miles north of the capital city of (740) 368-3084 • smpaster@owu.edu
Columbus. The student body at OWU is small and Ohio Campus Compact VISTA Sr. Program Director:
intimate- only 1,850 students- but their passion for Lesha Farias (740) 587-8571 • lfarias@ohiocampuscompact.org
service and activism has left an impact on the www.ohiocampuscompact.org
neighboring community that is deep and wide. OWU
has a reputation for valuing community service
and civic engagement as a vital part of a well-rounded
liberal arts education, and was one of three
universities and colleges in the nation to be awarded
with the Presidential Award for Excellence in General
Community Service in 2009. OWU has a long
history of participation with the Ohio Campus
Compact AmeriCorps VISTA program, having hosted
five VISTAs since the program’s inception.
Mery Kanashiro, OWU’s sixth VISTA, has been
tasked with non-profit capacity building and
cultivating partnerships with new community agencies
focused around the issues of housing and
homelessness. Delaware County is one of the
wealthiest and fastest growing counties in the nation,
but it continues to have pockets of deep poverty. As
Delaware expands, those individuals with need
become at ever-greater risk of becoming underserved Ohio Wesleyan students assist with honeysuckle
and displaced. Mery has helped to utilize the removal at a local organic farm. The students were
multitude of resources available in the OWU participating in a weekend immersion trip focused on
community to fulfill agency needs, allowing them to learning about homelessness, poverty, and food scarcity
perform their missions more effectively and issues in Delaware County. Ohio Campus Compact
efficiently. She has also worked to increase AmeriCorps VISTA Mery Kanashiro organized, planned,
awareness of homelessness and poverty in Delaware and lead the three-day experience. The VISTA’s work at
through a variety of events, and has been able to OWU throughout the year focused on connecting
provide assistance to several new and emerging OWU students and university resources with the needs
community organizations with fundraising assistance, of community agencies, helping to increase their capacity
long term planning, and relationship building with the to serve their populations and creating a generation of
Ohio Wesleyan and Delaware community. civically-engaged students.

2. COMMUNITY IMPACT
Delaware County is a region of striking contrasts. A suburban community of The VISTA Impact
about 165,000 individuals, it is the fastest growing county in the state of Ohio. by the numbers:
Approximately 5% of the population lives below the poverty line, however, and
awareness of those individuals in need has dwindled as a new perception of
Delaware as a wealthy community has grown. Additionally, Delaware County Total Amount of Money $11,031.34
has no shelters for homeless individuals within its county borders, and those Fundraised 2010-2011:
who present as homeless have been traditionally sent to Columbus. Total Amount of In-Kind $1,800
Donations Received:
Family Promise of Delaware County is Delaware’s first “shelter” program, and Total Number of 122
the VISTA’s primary community partner. Designed for individuals with children, Volunteers Engaged:
families are sheltered by a network of local churches for a week at a time. The Total Hours Served by 714.5
VISTA assisted in recruiting volunteers for their Day Center, creating and Volunteers:
advertising fundraising events, and developing non-profit building opportunities
Estimated Value of $15,261.72*
for students such as economics majors who designed new marketing materials
and a website for the organization. Additionally, she spoke about homelessness
Volunteer Hours:
and Family Promise’s work with classes, clubs and at events on campus and in *One hour: $21.36 (Source: Independent
the community, raising the profile of this new organization among the student Sector, 2010)
body.
“Our need to raise community support
The VISTA has also worked with a number of other organizations, ranging from continues to be our greatest challenge. Mery
the Second Ward Community Initiative to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. She has Kanashiro is keenly aware that these individuals
assisted with fundraising, food drives, volunteer recruitment, training, and
need our assistance and she is making a
education. She has brought to the community over $11,000 in cash and $1,800
in in-kind donations, as well as an estimated $15,261.72 in saved money from concentrated effort to assist us in getting the
volunteer hours. word out to the movers and shakers in our
community. Mery is a pleasure to work with.
CAMPUS IMPACT Her sensitivity to those in need, and her strong
The VISTA served as a connector between faculty, staff, and student groups leadership skills are a great combination. She
within the community to provide education, awareness, and increased service has a natural ability to put people at ease and
opportunities. As an alumna of the university, she was able to tailor requests is a team-player. We are fortunate that the
for service from the community to the appropriate campus groups, as well as OCC VISTA program has placed her here.”
tap into new sources of volunteers that have been previously under-utilized. -ROSIE PORAMBO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
These included increasing quality and quantity of service among the Greek Concerned Citizens Against Homelessness
community and the small-living unit community (themed houses that require
students to execute a project focused on their house’s mission each semester). About Ohio Campus Compact
AmeriCorps*VISTA
Within the non-profit building capacity, the VISTA filled various roles, Ohio Campus Compact is a statewide nonprofit
supporting a variety of ongoing programs and events surrounding non-profit coalition of colleges and university presidents and their
building that have been established over a 20-plus year existence. She has been campuses working to promote the civic purposes of
able to connect non-profit building with the student body through new means, higher education. Ohio Campus Compact provides
in particular by expanding social media presence. She assisted with the annual resources, services & partnerships to help Ohio
Service Fair, the Crop Walk, Bowl for Kids Sake, the monthly newsletter, and campuses deepen their ability to educate students for
more throughout the course of her year. civic and social responsibility and to improve
community life.
KEEPING THE PARTNERSHIP STRONG: OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE
AmeriCorps*VISTA is the national service program
FUTURE designed specifically to fight poverty. Founded as
As this first year of the three-year OCC VISTA cycle comes to an end, many Volunteers in Service to America in 1965 and
opportunities for continued work are evident. Conversations are underway for incorporated into the AmeriCorps network of
large student involvement with the newly formed Second Ward Community programs in 1993, VISTA has been on the front lines in
Initiative, an organization aimed at providing a variety of services to the the fight against poverty in America for more than 40
economically depressed 2nd Ward on the south side of Delaware County. years.
Additionally, the VISTA is planning on building on groundwork laid over the past
year with the Delaware General Health District to produce a series of PSA’s The Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps*
aimed at homelessness education with filmmaking students at OWU. Plans to VISTA Program places and supports VISTAs who
expand the volunteer program with Family Promise will also move forward, create and expand programs designed to bring
including developing training sessions for volunteers and potentially adding an individuals and communities out of poverty. VISTAs
Ohio Benefit Bank site to the Day Center. serve in the poorest areas of their communities to
As the structure of the current office shifts over the upcoming year as well, the tackle poverty-related problems such as hunger and
VISTA will be focusing on re-examining the operations of the office and homelessness, financial literacy, veteran student
exploring options for streamlining and expanding the reach of non-profit services, public health and college access. More
building. information at: www.ohiocampuscompact.org