The Rio Grande Valley, located in the southern portion of Texas and partly along the Mexican border, encompasses four counties and covers over 4,200 square miles. AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps*VISTA, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve members with the Rio Grande Valley National Service Program serve a large part of this geographical region. Since 1995, these service organizations have collaborated in several key ways. These include four annual joint National Service Day projects, a mid-year member social, and a one-day member training conference (conducted in both Spanish and English). This collaboration serves to pool resources and bring together widely dispersed members and volunteers. Submitted by Jennifer Jefts of AmeriCorps Youth Harvest at the Southwest Cluster AmeriCorps Program Directors Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico held in February 2002.

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