Americorps—Getting Things Done in Santa Cruz County

As part of my job at the Volunteer Center, I help coordinate Americorps programming in Santa Cruz County. In the process of my day to day, I regularly come across former Americorps members, many of them still quietly taking up the task of service in our community.  The National Alumni Directory indicates there are over 800 members in the Bay Area chapter, making this one of the largest chapters in the country.

Local stand-out contributors to National Service include former Mayor Mike Rotkin, who served as Americorps VISTA early in his public service career, and Congressman Sam Farr, who helped champion the original legislation ushering in the first wave of Americorps Volunteers in 1994.

As it is National Americorps Week, the Volunteer Center wants to bring together and celebrate our local Americorps service champions.

In honor of the Week, Volunteer Center Americorps members in collaboration with Save Our Shores are inviting all Americorps alumni, current members serving throughout the county, and Americorps supporters to join in a beach clean-up at Seacliff Beach in Aptos on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a celebration to follow.

What is Americorps Week? It is our national opportunity to spotlight the vital work done by Americorps members in communities across the country. Since the inception of Americorps, 706,000 men and women have joined and have given more than 860 million hours of service to help communities respond to disasters, improve education, expand economic opportunity, provide health services, protect the environment and support veterans and military families.

At the Volunteer Center, in partnership with fellow nonprofits, we host members to serve as volunteer coordinators through the Americorps Volunteer Infrastructure Program (VIP).

In the last year, our nine members have collectively recruited 1,845 volunteers to accomplish over 14,0000 hours of service. 

Sean Griffin who serves at the United Way was the main volunteer recruiter for Project Homeless Connect this March, helping to recruit over 300 volunteers to provide a one-stop shop of crucial services to over 1,000 homeless individuals.

During her time at Mountain Community Resource Center, Laura Benjamin hosted and coordinated a volunteer-run Phone-A-Thon that brought in over $30,000.

Woubzena Jifar has engaged hundreds of local teens in service to work with seniors, the environment, and community programs through her work with Youthserve.

At the Walnut Avenue Women's Center, Denise Gonsalves has implemented a new training structure for ongoing volunteers, recruiting over 300 volunteers this year, and is coordinating 200 volunteers for the WAWC's Annual Strawberry Festival.

At the Homeless Garden Project, Kelly Mercer helped opened a new retail store for HGP's Holiday Project. She also organizes volunteer composting days at Natural Bridges Farm with groups varying between 20-50 volunteers each day.

In exchange for a year of full-time service, these individuals receive a modest living allowance of only $14,000, an accomplishment in and of itself, given the cost of living in Santa Cruz County.

Many of our members are recent college graduates who have chosen to take a year to dedicate themselves to community service in the hopes of improving their graduate school prospects or building their resume to overcome the obstacle of a 9.4 percent unemployment rate for graduating students.

Our program is just one among many within the county, positioning Americorps members to tackle important community issues. You can find members at the Homeless Service Center, CASA, The Second Harvest Food Bank, and the Resource Conservation District, to name a few.

In light of recent budget debates in Congress and the threatened elimination of funds for the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) in 2012, AmeriCorps Week highlights how we can leverage federal dollars to improve the health of our communities.

We can’t all devote ourselves full time to service, but there are those in our community who have chosen to do so. If you know an Americorps member or former member, take the time to thank them this week for making our communities stronger, and if you feel inspired, join them this weekend at the beach.  For those members, alumni, and supporters who can’t make it but would still like to connect with the Americorps community, contact Courtney Jones at the Volunteer Center, at americorps@scvolunteercenter.org.