Peace Corps needs teachers!
I can’t believe it! The end of June and nearly all of the Washington Reading Corps positions are filled!
This summer has proven to be the most successful recruitment season since I started working with the Washington Reading Corps five years ago. I’ve heard from other AmeriCorps directors across the state that they have also had record numbers of applicants. Not only have we experienced quantity, but we’ve also seen an increase in the quality of our applicants: Masters Degrees in education, years of teaching experience, energy, passion for service, tons of community involvement, and much more. When I first began as a recruiter, it was like pulling teeth to get people to apply. Now, we’re wait listing people who could run this program with their eyes closed and one arm tied behind their back!
However, yesterday I was shocked to hear that not all national service programs are experiencing this same bliss. I met with Kristina Lavcevic, a Peace Corps recruiter from the Seattle office. Surprisingly, she informed me that Peace Corps is having the opposite problem: too many positions and not enough applicants. They are having an especially hard time filling teaching positions. WHAT? When I thought of all of the out of work teachers in this country, I was floored!
I remember graduating from college in 2004 with the dream of serving in the Peace Corps. But just as I began my application, I was informed that without job experience, it was impossible to get in, and that even if you were lucky enough to get placed, it would take a year and most likely you would end up in Siberia. I, like many others, have continued to assume that getting in to Peace Corps was about as likely as getting in to Fort Knox. Kristina implored me to get the word out that Peace Corps needs you, and they need you now!
I’m not surprised that AmeriCorps programs are getting tons of applications this year. Now that unemployment is at an all time high, and many skilled folks are getting laid off, suddenly the monthly stipend, benefits, and education award don’t sound so bad. President Obama pushed AmeriCorps into the spotlight when he signed the Serve America Act and asked for a renewed call to service. The Baby Boomer generation heard this call from JFK, and now their children, the Millennials, have their own. I think it was something we as a generation needed after the helpless feeling created by the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Renewing the call to service reinvigorated our communities, and gave us a purpose. Five years ago, it was rare to meet someone who had heard of AmeriCorps. Now, when I say, ”I work for AmeriCorps,” people actually know what I’m talking about!
So why isn’t the renewed call to service invigorating the Peace Corps? Is it because people want to stay closer to home? Is a 10 month or year long commitment in your own country more appealing than 2 years overseas? What do you think?
Please join me in getting the word out about Peace Corps. If someone you know is out of work and they have skills in education, agriculture, business, or natural resources, tell them to consider Peace Corps! Wait out the recession in another country, doing great things for the most underserved communities. It could be the most amazing two years of your life!
Meghann featured on ServiceNation’s Videopalooza!
How awesome is WRC Project Supervisor Meghann? VERY AWESOME!
Hard to believe, but she's more awesome than this unicorn.
There are so many reasons why Meghann is awesome, but today the reason is because her “How to Apply to AmeriCorps” video was featured on ServiceNation’s Wednesday Videopalooza!
ServiceNation is a national campaign to increase service opportunities and elevate service as a core ideal and problem-solving strategy in American society. Today’s Videopalooza features social change videos. Also represented in the post are our dear friends AmeriCorps Alums and City Year.
The video is a great resource for walking people through the often challenging AmeriCorps application. Go Meghann!
AmeriCorps: not just for youngsters
“Isn’t AmeriCorps only for young people?”
As an AmeriCorps supervisor, a big part of my job is clearing up myths about AmeriCorps. Over the years, I’ve discovered that there are rumors out there, like this one, which prevent people from applying. My hope, along with the rest of the staff in my office, is to debunk the myths of AmeriCorps service. We affectionally call these AmeriLore.
The biggest misconception about AmeriCorps is that only people between the ages of 18-25 can serve. Although programs exist which only hire 18-25 year olds (City Year, Earth Corps, Individual Placement) the majority of AmeriCorps positions welcomes people of all ages.
In my office, none of our AmeriCorps programs have upper age limits. For this I am thankful because we get a richness of education, skills, experience, and histories among our members.
Consider the team of 81 members we have at Serve Northwst WA: 36% of our members are over the age of 25. On the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act team (ARRA), 50% of the members are over the age of 30. True, the majority of members on our teams are in the 18-25 year old bracket, but our agency represents a wide range of ages. Our youngest member is 18 and our oldest is 66.
Although some of you more mature folks might cringe at the idea of working with someone fresh out of high school, and some of you folks fresh out of high school might think working with someone outside of your age range would be, like, totally horrible; but I’ve seen success in intergenerational working relationships. It is amazing what we can learn from each other. AmeriCorps is a great opportunity for people of all backgrounds and ages to share their skills.
I wish more folks over the age of 30 would apply for AmeriCorps positions. Serving in AmeriCorps is a great way to start fresh, try a new career path, move somewhere different, or do something meaningful during your retirement. A retired human services exec served as a VISTA for four years in one of our school based programs. He made such an impact on his community that a group of students raised money to build a bench in his honor on the school grounds.
Even better is that with the new Serve America Act, there is legislation which makes AmeriCorps education awards transferable. That means that if you aren’t going to use your education award, your child or grandchild can. How cool is that?
Please help us all spread the word that AmeriCorps is for all ages. We want all of you!
Featured Supervisor Kurt Reeser: Grey's AmeriCorps
Kind of looks like an AmeriCorps team?
If you’ve ever seen the ABC television show Grey’s Anatomy then you know exactly what it is like to oversee an AmeriCorps program. Long exhausting days, complicated moral issues, life and death struggles, the epic fight between the Food Stamp people and VISTA members; they might as well call it Grey’s AmeriCorps the similarities are that… well similar. Here is my recap of a typical episode of Kurt’s AmeriCorps:
Izzie- For worse or for better every program’s got one. If she’s not sleeping with the ghost of a patient that she helped murder then she’s complaining about working 14 hour days in the middle of a recession but darn it she’s good at her job. Grey’s got Izzie; AmeriCorps has the drama-mamma. The drama- mamma is that person, place or thing that generates “interesting” storylines for your program. They are the ones typically responsible for Corpsmances, Corpsflicts, and the occasional AmeriWars; like Izzie they can bring unwanted negative attention to your program but with proper training and coaching can be an outspoken advocate for you and your team. Like the producers and writers on Grey’s it is a supervisor’s job to resolve these difficult situations in a healthy and appropriate manner while keeping our target audience (funding sources, partner schools, general community) happy. Depending on your year resolving intra-team conflict can account for 20%-98% of a typical workday.
Commercial Interruptions- McSteamy is walking out of the shower wrapped in nothing but a towel, the music swells, the camera zooms in and… SHAMWOW! All of a sudden you are forced to deal with the SHAMWOW guy and all his friends. The commercial interruptions go on for so long that you’ve forgotten who McSteamy is and why you were supposed to care. The project supervisor is often the in the middle directing communication between the AmeriCorps members, the host sites, the funding sources, and the AmeriCorps chain-of-command. As a supervisor you are not the master of your own schedule. You may plan to work on your 4th Wednesday report that was due to Shannon three weeks ago but one phone call from Izzie, or one of your site supervisors, can put you days behind schedule. That 4th Wednesday report is just going to have to wait another day. Sorry Shannon. Commercial Interruptions can account for 0%-150% of a typical workday.
Ratings- In the end TV is nothing but a numbers game, create programs that generate revenue. Stories that make money stay on the air while truly great TV shows (Pushing Daises) that don’t generate enough money get killed. AmeriCorps programs have numbers of our own: recruitment rates, retention rates, # of students served, # of hours of service provided, # of surveys completed, the list goes on longer than a SHAMWOW commercial. It is the responsibility of the project supervisor to facilitate the successful completion of all goals set for the program and communicate these accomplishes to anyone who will listen. Failure to do so may result in your program’s cancellation. Ratings can account for 25%-50% of a typical workday.
There you have it first hand insight on what it is like to manage an AmeriCorps program stay tuned for next week when we discuss: sweeps, stunt casting, and changing networks.
Kurt Reeser is a Project Supervisor for the Washington Reading Corps (WRC) program at ESD 112 in SW Washington. Prior to supervising AmeriCorps programs he served with the WRC for two years in Yakima County. He has been involved with National Service Programs for over 7 years. Since he is currently not working full-time he is looking into becoming a training provider for National Service programs so if you have advice call him.
AmeriPhobia: Mind Control through Service?
Before I begin, I’d like to direct you to a short video clip (from 2:50-4:18). Go ahead. It’s easy. I promise.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| I’s On Edjukashun – Textbooks, AmeriCorps & Strip-Search | ||||
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Ah, Stephen Colbert. Thank you for narrowing down the center argument against AmeriCorps to make it easier for everyone to understand:
“75,000 x 3 = MIND CONTROL.”
Let’s focus on the points Ms. Ingraham raised in the video, shall we?
AmeriCorps is paying people to “volunteer.”
One of my favorite arguments against AmeriCorps. “What’s the point of paying people to volunteer?” They ask.
Well AmeriCorps doesn’t pay people to volunteer. AmeriCorps provides a meager living stipend (approximately $800-1,000 per month depending on the position and location of the position) to their FULL TIME volunteers so that they can meet their basic needs such as housing and food. No one participating in national service is doing it for the money, they’re doing it to serve their country. I’ve yet to hear someone question paying members of our armed forces– another form of national service– for serving their country.
AmeriCorps members build capacity and bring money into communities, and the payoff is greater than any cost-benefit analysis can show. However, if you need numbers:
A cost-benefit analysis of AmeriCorps programs has concluded that every $1 in investment results in $1.50 to $3.90 of direct measurable benefits to the community: children tutored, playgrounds built, homeless people fed. (source)
‘Nuff said.
AmeriCorps is a vehicle for liberal political agendas.
AmeriCorps member contracts specifically limit any work that members can do to non-partisan, non-religious service. The Serve America Act was a bi-partisan act, and the members who serve in AmeriCorps come from all walks of life and all religious and political backgrounds. Organizations from Habitat for Humanity to the Red Cross have utilized national service members to improve the work they do in communities across our nation. The call to serve has no religious or political boundaries.
The new Serve America Act creates education centers and campuses for indoctrination of America’s Youth.
Every year new members take the AmeriCorps pledge in service to their nation. In recent months that pledge has been mocked, ridiculed, and related to Marxist and/or Nazi propaganda. I don’t feel the need to bring more attention to partisan bloggers and pundits, but if you would like to see grown men in lederhosen reciting the AmeriCorps pledge and singing “Edelweiss”* have at it. As a person who has taken this pledge twice in my life, I feel a certain amount of disgust for being related to a member of the Hitler Youth.
City Year and NCCC have campuses/centers, sure. Yeah, they wear uniforms. So do firemen. The fact of the matter is that these members bust their buns to work in some of the most challenging areas and meet some of the most pressing needs in our communities, and they do it with grace and style. AM calisthenics aren’t my thing, but so what? These programs aren’t re-educating America’s youth– they are empowering them.
Wait: Is that really what all of these pundits are afraid of?
*Edelweiss: “A show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music… It is sung as a defiant statement of Austrian patriotism by the von Trapp family in the face of the pressure put upon Captain von Trapp to join the navy of Nazi Germany.” (wikipedia) Anyone else get the irony here?
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