When local nonprofit organizations go searching for grant assistance, it usually comes in the form of a monetary award.

YouthTruth Inc. got Heather Doney.

Doney is an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer who will complete one year of service with the agency, which is dedicated to providing mental health and substance abuse services to adolescents and adults throughout St. Tammany Parish. A 2006 University of New Orleans graduate, she double majored in English and political science, finishing with both university honors and departmental honors in the latter.

AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Heather Doney, a 2006 University of New Orleans graduate, will complete one year of service at YouthTruth Inc. (Staff Photo by Anne Lautzenheiser)

She was inspired to join VISTA after numerous volunteers from AmeriCorps and other organizations helped her family rebuild their Slidell home in the months following Hurricane Katrina.

“Your attitude changes once you’ve been in a position where you need help,” she said. “The VISTA program allows me to stay here and give back to my own community.”

The AmeriCorps VISTA program is designed to fight poverty by providing nonprofit groups with qualified personnel as a way to facilitate community involvement. It was begun in the early 1960s as an extension of President John F. Kennedy’s vision of a national service corps to help provide services in both urban and rural poverty areas.

YouthTruth fund development coordinator David Kiviaho found out about the program at a Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations meeting several months ago, where he met with two VISTA members from Bogalusa.

“We applied for a grant and had to put down everything we needed help with, such as grant writing, fund raising, etc., and we waited and waited,” said Kiviaho. “I was checking in at least once a month.”

While Kiviaho was told his agency would be approved for a volunteer, the problem was finding someone available to work in Slidell. Most volunteers wanted to work in New Orleans, where the rebuilding process is still agonizingly slow and the community needs are much different.

Patience finally paid off when Doney was assigned last month.

The young woman will split her time between YouthTruth’s adolescent services section in Covington, where she’ll provide administrative support, and the Slidell office, where she’ll work with Kiviaho on grant writing and data collection. She’s already working to develop a matrix program to illustrate all the evidence-based programs for each section of the agency, as well as a statistical database.

“The thing we get asked the most by potential grantors is, ‘What are the populations most in need?’” said Kiviaho. “Heather’s project will be extremely helpful in our strategic planning.”

Doney will receive a modest stipend from AmeriCorps for her service, and at the end of her term she will be eligible for either an “end of service” award or an education award.

She plans to pursue a master’s degree in political science with a concentration in public policy and said she is “thrilled” to have such hands-on experience.

“VISTA requires its members to work on sustainable development projects, to help programs meet a specific need,” she said. “What better training could I have?”