The Center for Community Engagement (CCE) at the University of Arkansas Fayetteville is seeking a VISTA member to serve the Division of Student Affairs’ efforts to increase resources and services to serve the whole student through building and supporting cross-departmental partnerships and benchmarking and assessing next steps to support the basic needs of all students. The CCE mission is “Empowering students to become engaged citizens through service, experiential learning, and practicing social value." The CCE is a department of the Division of Student Affairs at the University of Arkansas and is home to the Volunteer Action Center (VAC) student group. CCE staff advises the work of the VAC, which includes these signature programs; Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry, Razorback Food Recovery, Dream Big: Believing in Girls, PAL: Passionate about Literacy, Be BOLD: Boys Mentoring & Development, and Student Engagement. The CCE is seeking a VISTA member to develop and advance basic needs support at the University of Arkansas. The goal of advancing basic needs moves beyond access to food assistance and seeks to create safety net programs that promote student success through support of housing access, mental health access, financial assistance programs, and a range of other support programs. This member will create opportunities for students to engage in peer-to-peer mentoring, programming, and advocacy work. Additionally, this member with coordinate partnerships across campus and the community to create a comprehensive assistance resource. These initiatives will work to alleviate poverty by expanding access to food resources, educational opportunities, and broadening the scope of the types of assistance available. The member will work with campus partners to reach students from minority backgrounds, first generation students, and other marginalized populations. The VISTA will build the capacity of the VAC student leaders and program to support new initiatives.