ORLANDO, FL -- The Corporation for National and Community Service has convened hundreds of nonprofit leaders at the Hilton Orlando this week for the first-ever national symposium of AmeriCorps VISTA sponsors.

This three-day event is an opportunity for 600 AmeriCorps VISTA sponsors to learn new tactics for recruiting and training AmeriCorps VISTA members, discover the latest developments in project management and evaluation, and build critical connections with other nonprofit leaders from across the country.

Attendees heard a keynote address from Barbara Stewart, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that administers the AmeriCorps VISTA program, and Eileen Conoboy, Acting Director of AmeriCorps VISTA. Additional plenary sessions celebrated VISTA’s more than 50 years of lifting people out of poverty in Americ

“Our neighbors will never be far from our minds when we place ourselves in their lives and communities. That’s the strength of national service, that’s the strength of VISTA,” said Barbara Stewart, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “With ideas big and small, our nation is a better place for the work that AmeriCorps VISTA does – now and during the last 50 years. The 2019 National VISTA Sponsor Convening was a reminder that together, we can make this nation a better place for all.”

Since 1965, VISTA has been on the frontlines of the war on poverty, placing passionate Americans where the need is greatest, who serve as a catalyst for change, living and working alongside the community in which they serve. Now one of AmeriCorps’ three signature programs, AmeriCorps VISTA engages approximately 8,000 Americans in service each year to help build the capacity of nonprofits across the country helping organizations do more, for more people.