AmeriCorps gets it done

If you look around, you'll see them everywhere. AmeriCorps members cleaning parks and rivers; preventing and responding to disaster; teaching, tutoring, and mentoring everyone from school-children to college students to refugees; keeping owners in their homes, counseling the homeless, or building new housing; helping families gain financial stability and providing employment assistance; finding quality healthcare for the uninsured; and mobilizing a substantial number of diverse community volunteers to help them -- all of this in West Michigan, and all of these projects being just a subset of a much longer list.

 

"I don't think most people recognize the scope of the AmeriCorps program. AmeriCorps members are everywhere! They are critical to helping agencies like the Literacy Center of West Michigan serve more people in thoughtful ways," says Shay Kraley, family literacy director at the Literacy Center of West Michigan.

AmeriCorps is a national program, commonly described as the "domestic Peace Corps." Individuals, known as 'members', commit to a specific term -- usually one or two years -- and are housed in nonprofit organizations, schools, or other agencies. Over 1,000 of these members are serving in Michigan right now. AmeriCorps programs focus on human needs, education, environment, public safety, health, disaster preparedness, foreclosure prevention, and homelessness.

 

AmeriCorps also addresses critical issues for the members who serve. Members receive a small living stipend and, upon successful completion of their service, an education award applicable towards higher education or to pay student loans. Their experiences also create a pathway to employment by providing individuals with opportunities to gain valuable job skills and contribute in their own community.

"In my view, AmeriCorps service is a two-way street. Members give to the program and their host site organization; meanwhile, their host site and the program gives to them," says Rachel Diskin of the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan.

Research has shown that after one year of AmeriCorps, members are more likely to stay in the community they served, pursue careers in the nonprofit and public sector, and continue a lifetime of volunteerism. "Many of the members are unfamiliar with the schools or the neighborhoods we serve, so (their service) really broadens their view of the community in which they live," say Kraley.

As a result of these benefits, recent years have seen a record-breaking number of applications for AmeriCorps positions -- more than 580,000 applied in 2011 for just 82,000 AmeriCorps positions. Although recent sequestration will likely shrink the program in the near future, overall, the impact and sheer manpower of AmeriCorps members will remain worthwhile -- and right under our noses.

Here's how you can get involved:

 

 - For more information about AmeriCorps or to learn more about specific programs, visit www.michigan.gov/mcsc.

 - Apply for a Michigan's AmeriCorps position here.

 

 

Sources: Michigan Community Service Commission, Rachel Diskin of the Community Economic Development Association; Shay Kraley, Family Literacy Director at the Literacy Center of West Michigan

Writer: J. Rae Young, Do Good Contributor