HAMBURG, N.Y. – Serve New York at The Service Collaborative of Western New York has funded an AmeriCorps VISTA position, which will split time at Hilbert College and St. Bonaventure University, with an objective to develop an Office of Veteran Affairs. Serve New York has named Morgan Woodson to the VISTA post.
Woodson is a veteran of the United States Air Force. She served as a Pharmacy Technician at David Grant Medical Center. Woodson was deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2010 where she operated a pharmacy and assisted in the air evacuation of injured soldiers. She is currently pursuing her Master of Public Administration degree at Hilbert.
The goal of this new position is to create an Office of Veteran Affairs that will recruit student veterans and increase the number of current services provided to student veterans and their families at Hilbert and St. Bonaventure. The Vista member will coordinate with student admissions to conduct veteran outreach, design and implement veteran specific orientations, increase community awareness, research best practices, and enhance current services offered at both campuses resulting in increased veteran student retention.
By accomplishing this project, Hilbert College and St. Bonaventure University will work to enhance employment opportunities for our veteran community, as more veterans will have access to higher education through these efforts. This position is projected from July 2014 - July 2015, with a goal to increase the total number of veterans and family members receiving GI benefits at Hilbert and St. Bonaventure.
The Service Collaborative of WNY (TSCWNY) is the new face of an agency that has a long history of impactful service to the WNY community. From its humble beginnings as a 10 member youth corps as part of the West Seneca Youth Bureau, to its brief tenure as WNY AmeriCorps ultimately transitioning to an independent non-profit, TSCWNY is a new name, with the same community focus. TSCWNY is built on an infrastructure of responsible stewardship of Corporation for National and Community (CNCS-AmeriCorps and VISTA) and other federal funds for almost 30 years, producing countless quality programs involved in transformational service.