Joomla mentor needed for np site setup...

[joevv3]

Hi guys...

I type w/ 1 finger, so please excuse any brevity of explanation here...

My wife and I are starting a grassroots political site for the disabled community in the US...  So far its just a vb forum ( http://theunderrepresented.com/vbf/index.php )(and not yet public) but Id like it to be a portal AND forum… and joomla seems to be the cms of choice to add...
Now, my problem is this: Im very new to the jooomla/cms scene and could REALLY use a bit of knowledgeable guidance to get things up and running(w/o the steep learning curve).  So far, Ive stumbled my way through getting joomla installed and have worked through a couple of the available tutorials re: template creation.  I dl'ed and installed the JSAS server but havent been successful at getting the version that I have installed on our web server (1.0.7) to function with the JSAS testing server.
I more than willing to do all the work involved in getting the site up and running.  It's just I'm finding that I'm spending more time trying to troubleshoot random things that go wrong than I am on getting the site put together.  I guess what I'm asking for, it is someone to walk me through the setup process, including customizing a template or creating my own template, integrating the vbulletin forum, installing other modules or components, etc.
Features Id like the site to eventually have include the ability to do petitions, e-mail politicians, allow users to have their own homepage on the site, a newsletter, rss feeds from the site, etc.
I can't afford to pay anyone to do the setup process, but I would be more than happy to give full credit to any one who helps on the site itself including advertising or whatever.  In the end I would like to know how to set up such a site as well as be fully competent in maintaining said site.
I'm a very quick learner and I promise I will not drop the ball at any point in this process.

Thanks,

Joe VanderVeer

[gram]

Its a tall order Joe, but if you are willing to learn and experiment, you'll get there.

If the site is NP, pm me with some information and lets talks.  I will be happy to setup the joomla and VB integration for you.

The template may be another issue.  Perhaps a template dev will step in to assist.  I can help with Joomla templating in a limited manner.

GRAM

[joevv3]

thank you gram...check your msgs...