VISTA Host Sites
Learn about the local nonprofits impacting the Lexington community and how you can be a part of their mission serving as a VISTA Member! Listed below you will find the various nonprofits actively looking for VISTAs to serve, those that have VISTAs serving already, and what their needs are.
Enjoy!
Open Positions
LEXINGTON COMMUNITY RADIO
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Lexington Community Radio is a nonprofit organization with two operational Low Power FM stations, El Pulso 95.7FM, Lexington's only Spanish-language radio, and WLXU 93.9FM. Our studios are in the Lexington STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts and Math) Academy, a public magnet high school in Lexington's North End. WLXL and WLXU are Lexington's first low-power FM stations, an FCC designation intended to give the power of the microphone and radio waves back to community members and nonprofit entities. Each of our 100-watt signals creates a 5 miles broadcast radius (approximately), which allows us to create and air content that informs and entertains the 200,000 people in our combined broadcast area.
Click LOGO
Click LOGO
CIVICLEX INC.
POSITION DESCRIPTION
We are a non-profit civic education organization that focuses on bringing daylight to the issues, policies, and procedures that impact Fayette County, Kentucky. We envision a Lexington in which all residents are able to meaningfully participate in the decisions that shape where they live.
LIVING ARTS & SCIENCE CENTER
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Our mission is accomplished through hands-on and interactive instruction in arts and science directly from professional educators and active artists and scientists. Activities include collaborative experiences for the community, educational programs in schools, community centers, and other venues as well as free programming for all members of the Central Kentucky community. The LASC also offers education tailored to special needs, at risk and underserved children and adults. The staff and board of directors support this mission through maintaining high ethical standards and efficient oversight of the LASC.
Click LOGO
Click LOGO
LIFE ADVENTURE CENTER
POSITION DESCRIPTION
The innovative programming at Life Adventure Center is built on the principles of outdoor adventure and the emerging field of adventure therapy. We use the natural environment to help individuals affected by trauma cope with and overcome cognitive, behavioral, and social challenges. We prioritize an experiential process that emphasizes building resilience through goal setting, personal decision-making, accountability, and developing positive behaviors.
COMMUNITY INSPIRED LEXINGTON
POSITION DESCRIPTION
CIS is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, established in July 2014, our mission is to provide educational and recreational activities and experiences to youth to promote education and deter youth violence in our community of Lexington, KY and support families to help them become productive members of society. Our organization strives to provide youth with educational opportunities such as STEM, mentoring, tutoring, the arts and cultural education.
LEXARTS INC.
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Click LOGO
LexArts is greater Lexington’s premier cultural development, advocacy and fund raising organization.
As both the area arts council and united arts fund, LexArts provides a wide range of programs and services designed to integrate the arts into our daily lives including the LexArts Gallery Hop, Lexington Youth Arts Council and ArtScope…This Week in the Arts email calendar.
LexArts’ President & CEO and board members work closely with community leaders and local and state officials concerning public funding and cultural facilities. Through its annual Fund for the Arts, LexArts raises millions of dollars in support of local arts and distributes general operating support to its Partner Organizations, as well as offering competitive special project and programming grants to other arts organizations in the area.
EXPLORIUM OF LEXINGTON
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Explorium serves a broad audience from across the state and country, in fact last year there were visitors from 110 of Kentucky’s 120 counties and 47 of the 50 states – not to mention several foreign countries. Explorium focuses on being a warm, friendly place where families come to learn and play together. We are also dedicated to being a partner and resource for teachers. To further those goals, the Museum has adopted this mission statement:
Explorium of Lexington creates a fun and dynamic hands-on learning environment that inspires imagination and curiosity.
Click LOGO
Click LOGO
I WAS HERE
POSITION DESCRIPTION
One of the foundational precepts of the project is to take the humanities out of the museum, the university, the art gallery, and bring them onto the street so that citizens come face to face with a visual history lesson rarely, if ever, encountered on the streets of America. Based on archival records, the enslavement of Africans touched almost every corner of the United States. i was here synthesizes a wealth of humanities and historical scholarship into a set of iconic Ancestor Spirit Portraits that create a comprehensive visual history bringing the past into view. The images, reproduced on translucent tapestries, allow light to pass through. They are clearly visible on both sides creating a visual metaphor for the complexities that embody this wound.
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS VENTURE
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Click LOGO
SBV is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and is a social enterprise that provides technical assistance, training, and support social entrepreneurs and enterprises.
Closed Positions
BLUEGRASS GREENSOURCE
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Bluegrass Greensource is the source for all things green in central Kentucky, encouraging small steps toward a sustainable future for our communities. Formerly known as Bluegrass PRIDE, Bluegrass Greensource is a non-profit organization that provides education and resources on how we affect our environment. Since 2001, we have provided outreach to schools, community groups, businesses, local governments, and citizens throughout Central Kentucky.
Click LOGO
Click LOGO
GLEAN KENTUCKY
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Glean Kentucky gathers and redistributes excess fresh fruits and vegetables to nourish Kentucky’s hungry. Gleaning means to gather small amounts from a variety of sources. Studies estimate that up to 40 percent of food produced in the United States is never consumed but ends up in the landfill. Glean Kentucky’s founders saw that Kentucky’s food system didn’t have the infrastructure in place to get excess food from point A (growers and grocers) to point B (hungry bellies), giving birth to our work. Glean Kentucky is a vital link between programs working with food-insecure populations and sources of excess fresh fruits and vegetables. By gleaning Kentucky, we help to bring food security to those without it!
GLOBAL LEX
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Global Lex is a multilingual, multidisciplinary center where local residents and our foreign-born population obtain information, access programs and services, meet to celebrate cultural events and visit our international art gallery. Global Lex is available to facilitate strategic partnerships in a wide variety of fields in order to meet both our city’s, and our growing international community’s needs.
Click LOGO
THE FAYETTE EDUCATION FOUNDATION
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Click LOGO
The Fayette Education Foundation supports educational excellence in Fayette county public schools by promoting equity for all students. Fayette Education Foundation will provide opportunities for individuals, businesses, and the community to invest in the educational needs of Fayette County Public Schools support the school district’s commitment to equitable access to opportunities and resources for all students; and strive to fulfill unmet educational needs and remove barriers to opportunity.
LEXINGTON PRIDE CENTER
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Pride Community Services Organization (PCSO) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Lexington, KY that strives to improve the quality of LGBTQ+ individuals’ lives in Central and Eastern Kentucky.
The PCSO operates the only physical, community-based Pride Center in Kentucky, which is often utilized as a free meeting space for LGBTQ+ organizations in the community.