Meet Our AmeriCorps VISTA Member,
Lindsey Cotner

Please join us in welcoming Lindsey to the Coalition for Kids family and our community. If you see her in the halls or out in the community say hi and make her feel welcome.

Read below to learn more about the AmeriCorps VISTA program

Born and raised in St. Louis, MO, Lindsey grew up with a strong interest in numbers and business. She can remember loving to count and re-count the money from bank withdrawals her mom made and playing “teacher”, which for Lindsey meant spending hours making up fake grades for her fake students and then calculating her students’ grade point averages. Not surprisingly, Lindsey went on to graduate from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2004 with her bachelor’s and master’s degree in accountancy and obtained her CPA license that same year. After 6 great years working in the audit department at a regional public accounting firm in St. Louis, however, Lindsey realized she was no longer interested in a “traditional” accounting career. She quit her job in 2010 to join AmeriCorps. Lindsey spent the next year volunteering as a caseworker for a non-profit in Washington DC before finding and applying for the Financial Literacy position at Coalition for Kids. Serving as the AmeriCorps VISTA member with Coalition for Kids’ “Money $marts” program since late-August 2011 has been a dream come true for Lindsey, as it has given her the opportunity to combine her interest in finance with her desire to serve others and make positive community change. Lindsey has enjoyed learning more about the administrative side of non-profits. She has also been pleasantly surprised at the unexpected ways her casework experience has helped her in her new position, including developing financial education curriculum that “Money $marts” will provide to returning citizens as part of a local reentry program. Lindsey's biggest hobby is traveling. Her favorite travel spots to date include Australia (where she lived for 4 months on an accounting work exchange), Alaska and Italy. She hopes to travel to all 7 continents at some point in her life. For now, having never been to Oregon before, Lindsey is enjoying all the great outdoor activities and theatre events that Grants Pass and the rest of the state have to offer!

United Communities AmeriCorps VISTA Program

Lindsey is a member of the UCAN VISTA Coalition, a regionally-based, individual placement model AmeriCorps VISTA program. It is administered by and housed at United Community Action Network (UCAN).This year, UCAN VISTA Coalition includes 18 members at 14 sites in Douglas, Josephine, and Coos counties.

VISTAs volunteer full-time for one year, immersing themselves in the community they serve. The UCAN VISTA team acts as a support network for each member, with help finding affordable housing in the area, ongoing training opportunities, people to listen during times of frustration, friends to hang out with on the weekends, occasional team trips just for the fun of it, and whatever else you might need to make your year of service successful and rewarding.

Referred to as "indirect service," VISTA offers extensive experience in community organizing, program development and management, grant writing and fundraising, volunteer recruitment, and non-profit administration. It is a broad-based introduction to the non-profit and social service world, and a wonderful opportunity for anyone interested in a career in non-profit or narrowing their focus before graduate school.

To learn more about AmeriCorps VISTA, visit www.AmeriCorps.gov.