Northern Appalachian Coal Mining Heritage Collection VISTA Summer Associate -AmeriCorps

 

 

Position Title:  Collection and Traveling Trunk Programing – VISTA Summer Associate

Conservation Legacy Program: Stewards Individual Placement

Site Location:

Northern Appalachian Coal Mining Heritage Association

22 Coal Country Ln.

Bldg.

2 Fairmont, WV 26554

Terms of Service:


* Start Date: 6/1/2026


* End Date: 8/9/2026


* AmeriCorps Slot Classification: 300 hours (Minimum-Time)

Purpose:


* VISTA members perform indirect service to build capacity for organizations serving populations in poverty.

In the northern coalfields, these efforts support communities facing high levels of economic stress due to declining coal production and limited economic diversification.


* This project builds capacity by transitioning the Northern Appalachian Coal Mining Heritage Association (NACMHA) from a site-based museum to a proactive regional educator.

By developing sustainable outreach tools and operational frameworks, the project ensures the organization can serve its mission long after the service opportunity concludes.


* During their 10-week service term, the Stewards Summer Associate will serve as a catalyst for educational outreach by designing and launching the Northern Appalachian Coal Mining Heritage Association’s first Traveling Trunk Program.

The primary goal of this initiative is to "connect the dots" between NACMHA’s physical collections and the surrounding six-county region, bringing the industrial and cultural history of the northern West Virginia coalfields directly into local classrooms and community centers.

By transforming static museum artifacts into a mobile, tactile experience, the member will ensure that the stories of the Fairmont Field remain accessible to younger generations who may not be able to visit the museum in person.

 
Description of Duties:

The Summer Associate will focus on capacity-building activities that produce internal planning resources, documentation tools, and community engagement materials.

Duties may include compiling labor market research summaries, developing workforce resource inventories, creating community asset maps, organizing environmental data sets, drafting partnership coordination frameworks, designing planning templates and resource guides, and assisting with public-facing informational workshops, outreach campaigns, or site observations.

Activities are designed to strengthen host organizations’ capacity, guide long-term workforce and environmental program development, provide tangible connections between planning tools and community needs, and support measurable outcomes in workforce access, environmental stewardship, and community engagement.

This is the "start-up" phase of a new outreach initiative.

Your primary goal is to curate "history in a box" for local schools across the six-county "Fairmont Field".

Our member will select and organize tactile objects from the NACMHA collection, such as safety lamps, vintage hard hats, and coal samples, ensurin...