VISTA Assignment Description

Training Manual for VISTA Sponsors

Updated May 2021
VISTA Assignment Description

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Table of Contents

1 Summary...............................................................................................................1

2 Instructions...........................................................................................................1

2.1 Creating and Submitting a VAD ..................................................................................................................1

2.2 Assigning a VAD to a Candidate .................................................................................................................9

2.3 Changing a Member’s VAD Assignment/Assigning a VAD to an Existing Member ...............................10

2.4 Workarounds for Issues in Saving & Submitting a VAD in eGrants.........................................................14
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VISTA Assignment Description

1 Summary

VISTA sponsors are asked to fill out a VISTA Assignment Description (VAD) form for each VISTA member who 

serves with a VISTA project. A VAD explains a project position and role assigned to a member and includes 

goals, objectives, and activities a member is expected to complete to satisfy project needs. Sponsors can 

electronically create, edit, save, and archive VADs, as well as assign VADs to new and existing VISTA members

using the Grantee Portal (eGrants Phase II). Additionally, AmeriCorps Region staff electronically 

approve/reject VADs created and submitted by the sponsor, and VISTA members can view their VAD through 

their My AmeriCorps Portal account.

2 Instructions

2.1 Creating and Submitting a VAD

1. In the eGrants Phase II Portal, that VAD workbasket can be accessed 2 ways:

i. Through the VISTA Workbasket – By clicking the “VADs” tab.

ii. Through the Recruitment Workbasket – By clicking the “VADs” tab.
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2. To create a new VAD, click on the “Create a New VAD” link. The VAD creation page will appear.

3. Fill in the fields on the page (or choose an option from the available drop-down menus). An item 

marked with an asterisk is a required field.
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4. To save the VAD without submitting it to the Region Office for approval, click “save.”
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VISTA Assignment Description

i. The VAD will then appear in the workbaskets under the “VADs” tab in the “Pending” status. 

VADs in the Pending status can be edited and submitted to the Region Office for approval at a 

later time.

5. To save and submit the VAD to the Region Office for approval, click the “Save and Submit” button.

i. The VAD will then appear in the workbasket under the “VADs” tab in the “Submitted” status. 

VADs in the Submitted status cannot be edited, but they can be deleted.
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6. Once a VAD has been created, you can copy the information from the existing VAD into a new VAD 

that is being created. This will allow you to instantly reuse information, instead of manually reentering information that may be used for multiple VADs. The steps for copying VAD info are as 

follows:

i. Choose an existing VAD from the “Copy from Existing VAD” drop-down menu.

ii. Click the “copy” link, and the remaining information will automatically fill into the VAD 

fields.

iii. Edit the information as needed before submitting the VAD.
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7. Once the VAD has been reviewed by the Region Office, the VAD will either be Approved or 

Rejected by the Region Office Staff. The VADs will still appear in the workbaskets with the updated 

Status.
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VISTA Assignment Description

i. Rejected VADs can be edited and resubmitted to the Region Office for approval. You must 

edit the VAD before attempting to resubmit; if you do not edit the VAD prior to resubmitting, you 

will receive an error message.

ii. VADs that have been rejected will include comments from the Region Office. These 

comments will remain on the VAD until it is resubmitted to the Region Office and either Approved 

or Rejected. The comments can be viewed in 2 ways:

a. (1) Click on the title of the VAD. The VAD will open as a PDF, and the comments 

will appear on the first page.
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b. Or (2) click on the “edit” link. The Edit VAD screen will appear with the comments 

shown at the top of the screen.
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2.2 Assigning a VAD to a Candidate

1. When filling out the Sponsor Recommendation form, all approved VADs will appear in the dropdown menu. (If the drop-down menu is blank, there are no approved VADs for your VISTA project.)

2. To request a VAD assignment for a candidate, choose an approved VAD from the drop-down menu 

when submitting the Sponsor Recommendation Form. Once the candidate selection is approved by 

the Region Office and the member is assigned to a project, the VAD will officially be assigned to the 

member.
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VISTA Assignment Description

2.3 Changing a Member’s VAD Assignment/Assigning a VAD to an Existing 

Member

1. To change a member’s VAD assignment, or to assign a VAD to an existing member, click the

“Change VAD Assignment” link located in the left side bar of the member home page.
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2. The “Request Member VAD Assignment Change” page appears. On this page you can view the 

current VAD assigned to the member (if no VAD is currently assigned, the page will specify “None 

Assigned”), as well as choose a new VAD assignment for the member.

3. Choose a new VAD assignment from the drop-down menu, and click “submit.” This will submit the 

VAD assignment change request to the Region Office for approval.
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4. You can view the status of the VAD assignment change requests by going to the “VAD 

Assignments” tab of the VISTA Workbasket. This will allow you to see submitted change requests 

along with their status.

i. If a VAD assignment change request is approved by the Region Office, the VAD assignment for 

the member will be updated. 

a. To view the current VAD assigned to a member (as well as any VADs previously assigned 

to the member for that project), refer to the VAD section on the Member Home page.
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ii. If a VAD assignment change request is rejected by the Region Office, the VAD will not be 

assigned to the member. Also, comments from the Region Office will be available to view. 

a. To view the Region Office’s comments, click on the title of the requested VAD on the VAD 

Assignment tab. The VAD will open as a PDF and the comments will be shown on the first 

page.
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2.4 Workarounds for Issues in Saving & Submitting a VAD in eGrants

Summary: Some users may have an issue with the creation of a VAD in eGrants due to the version of 

the browser that is being used. It is recommended that users always use Internet Explorer (IE) when 

working in an AmeriCorps application as that is the compatible browser. However, we have found that 

the “Save and Submit” button on the “Create VAD” screen in eGrants (below) may not work when a 

user is on Internet Explorer Version 10 or above, and it may not work on other browsers such as Safari, 

Firefox etc. This prevents Sponsors from creating VADs for their projects.

“Save and Submit” button on Create VAD Page:

Two workarounds for this issue are described in this document. Please use the 

corresponding workaround depending on which version of Internet Explorer you 

are using (v11 or v10).

The Save & Submit button 

may not work for IE 10 or 

IE11.
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Workaround for Internet Explorer v11

1. Go to your eGrants homepage and log in.

2. Click on the “Gear” symbol in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

3. Click on “Compatibility Settings.”

4. The URL for the page will be populated.

5. Click “Add” then close the window.
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6. Click on “Portal Home” in the eGrants Application.

7. Click on the “Gear” symbol in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

8. Click on “Compatibility Settings.”

9. The URL for the page will be populated (americorps.gov).

10. Click “Add” then close the window.
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Workaround for Sponsors using Internet Explorer v10

1. Go to your eGrants homepage and log in.

2. Click on the following links: Portal Home→VISTA Workbasket →VADstab.

3. Click the “Create New VAD” link.

4. Click the “Broken page” icon at the top of the screen in the address bar.

5. Enter VAD information and then click Save & Submit.
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