Thanks to the Ohio CDC Association, Home, Inc. is able to benefit from the AmeriCorps VISTA program. VISTAs are full-time volunteers who pledge a year of service to help build capacity for mission growth at nonprofits who are working to alleviate poverty in America. In exchange for their service, VISTAs receive hands-on nonprofit experience, a monthly stipend, and benefits.

2021-2022 Americorps VISTA, Rachael Chromec

Rachael Chromec is the Stewardship Americorps VISTA for 2021-2022. She grew up in rural Vermont where the traditional family farms and small businesses that used to pocket the landscape have mostly closed due to rural America's struggle to survive the modern economic landscape. This helped mold her interest in helping solve the economic hardships that small communities and the working class face. 

She attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio for 2 years before heading west to Montana to volunteer with the Buffalo Field Campaign. At the BFC she helped with their efforts to create permanent year-round protection for America's last wild herd of buffalo. Since her work with the BFC Rachael has moved between Chicago, Ohio, Vermont, and Colorado before returning to Yellow Springs to settle down. As support staff for RE/MAX Alliance in Nederland, Colorado, Rachael saw first hand the struggles that rising housing prices and gentrification cause for the working class. Most recently, her work representing Quicken Loans as a customer service representative at Assurant in Springfield, Ohio gave her an intimate look at the housing inequity crisis happening all over America. This opened her eyes to the severe lack of help available for those struggling with homeownership. She has worked in several small businesses in Yellow Springs and has watched with concern as the people who work in the village increasingly cannot afford to live there. 
Rachael strongly believes affordable housing should be accessible to every American, no matter their economic class. She is excited to be a part of Yellow Springs Home, Inc.'s efforts to provide guidance to and create affordable housing for low-income residents.