AmeriCorps is a national service network that provides full and part-time opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and address local environmental, educational, public safety or other human needs. In exchange for their service, AmeriCorps members receive a living stipend and/or educational award for college or vocational training.

Goals

• Getting Things Done by helping communities meet their needs through service.
• Strengthening Communities by bringing together people from all backgrounds to solve problems at a local level.
• Encouraging Responsibility through service and civic education.
• Expanding Opportunity by providing professional skills, invaluable experience and education awards.

Values

• Community
• Educational Opportunity
• Responsibility

California Conservation Corps AmeriCorps Programs
Click on the buttons to the left to learn more about AmeriCorps programs offered by the CCC, including Backcountry, SafeCorps, Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), Watershed Stewards Project and YouthServe.

For More Information
Talk to any of the CCC AmeriCorps program coordinators listed for each program or visit the AmeriCorps Web site

SafeCorps

The CCC is no stranger to emergency response and neither is the American Red Cross. The two organizations have complementary missions, and putting the two together for the California SafeCorps program is a match made in AmeriCorps.

The SafeCorps concept – Community Ready and Prepared through Service – focuses on homeland security and emergency preparedness. The AmeriCorps-funded program is administered through the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the American Red Cross.

As of July 2004, the CCC has two AmeriCorps members in each of four locations – Crescent City, Eureka, Irvine/Santa Ana and Redding -- devoting 11 months to community outreach and educational efforts. The role of the SafeCorps members is to generate additional local volunteers to help communities be prepared. The program gives corpsmembers an opportunity to be on the training end of emergency response and also provide support and training services for those communities most in need.

The SafeCorps program adds a little more support to the workforce to help communities be better prepared. At the same time, the corpsmember participants will get experience in public speaking and teaching as they carry out their emergency preparedness efforts.

SafeCorps efforts include strengthening the Red Cross' program to underserved populations, such as youth, the elderly and disabled and those in rural areas; recruiting bilingual volunteers; forming Citizen Corps councils; and building a solid core of local volunteers with strong leadership skills.

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Watershed Stewards Program

The Watershed Stewards Project mission is to conserve, restore and sustain anadromous watersheds for future generations through education and high quality scientific practices.

The Watershed Stewards Project (WSP) is a comprehensive, community-based watershed restoration and education program. Established in 1994, biologists and educators created WSP to fill critical information gaps in scientific and education communities. In collaboration with the commercial and sport fishing industry, timber companies, teachers, nonprofit organizations and public agencies, WSP members and the WSP partnership work to revitalize watersheds inhabited by endangered and threatened species through the use of the WSP “Real Science” environmental education curricula and state-of-the-art data collection and watershed techniques.

What Members Do
Under the guidance of resource professionals, in collaboration with local land owners, public agencies and private industry, members:

• learn and perform advanced monitoring and analysis techniques
• present the WSP “Real Science” curricula to students in grades K-12
• participate in instream and upslope restoration activities
• tutor K-12 students in math and science
• perform environmentally-based public outreach
• conduct environmental education workshops and symposiums

Project Locations
Arcata, Crescent City, Eureka, Fort Bragg, Fort Jones, Fortuna, Happy Camp, Hopland, Klamath, Orleans, Petrolia, San Francisco, Sawyers Bar, Weaverville, and Yreka.

Education Award and Living Stipend
Members who successfully complete 1700 hours of service receive an educational award of $4,725. These awards can be used to attend accredited academic and vocational institutions or to repay student loans. Additionally, WSP members receive a living allowance of $11,475 per year, health care benefits and student loan forbearance during their term of service.

Become a WSP Member
To apply, you must have two years of college and 25 college units in science, and/or equivalent experience, plus be interested in natural resources and dedicated to serving the community.

In compliance with the CCC zero-tolerance drug policy, all Watershed Stewards Project participants will be required to undergo a pre-employment drug and alcohol test. This test will be arranged following the selection process.

For More Information
For more information about WSP, please contact:

Carrie Gergits, Project Director, or Lindsay Selvaggio, Outreach Coordinator
Watershed Stewards Project
1455-C Sandy Prairie Ct.
Fortuna, CA 95540
Phone: (707) 725-8601
Fax: (707) 725-8602
E-Mail: fishhelp@northcoast.com
Website:www.watershedstewardsproject.com

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YouthServe

YouthServe is a collaborative effort of AmeriCorps, the CCC's Northern District and local community organizations dedicated to empowering youth to make a difference to themselves, their communities and the environment. This is a school-based program in Humboldt County, focusing on both academic mentoring and life skills and using a service-learning approach to work with educationally and economically at-risk youth.

There are five types of placements in Humboldt County offered to YouthServe members – Academic Mentoring, Service Projects through CHOICE programs, the Action Corps program, the PEPP program, and Leadership positions. Brief descriptions follow.

Academic Mentoring
YouthServe members work with either middle or high school students, attending one of two alternative education schools, either community or continuation schools. Two members at each site will provide academic assistance in the classroom with a primary focus on academically mentoring up to 10 students each more intensely. They also work with the students on setting and achieving academic and behavioral goals. In order to develop mentoring relationships with these students, members are placed at a school site and serve there throughout their term of service. AmeriCorps members also co-teach a life-skills/service learning curriculum each day, for one hour. Members work with these students to plan field trips and assist them with service learning projects.

Service Projects: CHOICE Programs (Choosing to Help Others in our Community and Environment)
These AmeriCorps members work with students from multiple schools. Working with school administrators, families, teachers, and local community members, CHOICE allows students to perform meaningful service in lieu of suspension or in accordance with a school contract. The job of a CHOICE AmeriCorps Coach is to directly aid students transitioning from being suspended or expelled to returning to an educational program. This is done through supervising service opportunities, guiding them through orientation and debriefing sessions, and modeling good character.

Youth Corps Programs – Action Corps
AmeriCorps members work with 16- to-19-year-olds in a new Community School. Crews of 15 students are engaged in 3 ½ hours of academic learning linked to 4 hours of paid environmental and community service. The AmeriCorps members, along with a credentialed teacher and crew supervisor, create a team approach to encourage academic success, life and job skills development and civic involvement. Members also co-lead a life skills curriculum one day a week after school. These Action Corps students (the majority had either dropped out of school or were in danger of dropping out) are now earning high school diplomas, learning valuable life and job skills, and experiencing meaningful employment -- skills and experience that will assist them into adulthood.

Youth Corps Programs -- PEPP (Probation Environmental Preservation Project)
This is a community school-based program for teens involved in the juvenile justice system with an interest in forest or environmental-related education. Educational services are provided through independent study with a credentialed teacher. Additional forest-related curricula are presented through community resources such as National Forest personnel, local colleges and forest-related businesses. AmeriCorps members provide academic mentoring assistance in the classroom and project support out in the field. A current PEPP project is the construction of a handicap-accessible nature trail on the Glen Paul campus for the developmentally disabled.

Leadership Positions
These AmeriCorps positions provide support to the other YouthServe AmeriCorps members.

• 50% Rites of Passage Activities: Train and support the other AmeriCorps members in incorporating Redwood Coast Institute’s (RCI) rites of passage activities into their service with the students at their school sites (these activities include teambuilding activities, camping trips, challenge courses and other adventure opportunities).
• 25% Training and Member Development: Assist AmeriCorps Site Supervisor in developing and enhancing crew culture, crew dynamics, and team cohesion among members; plan and facilitate weekly team meetings and biannual retreats; develop an annual training schedule that includes securing presenters for weekly/monthly group trainings; encourage written reflection; assist members with objective tracking; assist members in having a service learning experience and train members to incorporate service learning methods into all AmeriCorps projects.
• 25% National Service Days (NSD): Lead planner. Organize NSD committees. Serve on the North Coast Regional Network Service Events Committee, assist members in incorporating special days of recognition into their daily service activities, promote and publicize events, document results for objective tracking purposes and scrapbook/yearbook entries.

To become involved as an AmeriCorps member in YouthServe, applicants must be at least 20 years old (no upper age limit); have at least one year of college; have previous experience teaching, mentoring and/or leading youth; and pass a pre-employment physical, drug/alcohol test and background check. The initial program begins in August of each year with positions available throughout the year.

For more information and to apply to YouthServe AmeriCorps, contact Cindy Porter, AmeriCorps Coordinator, at (707) 839-9892.

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Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA)

The CCC currently has two VISTA volunteers, one working with the AmeriCorps YouthServe program and another at the Corps' Fortuna Center, both in Humboldt County.

The Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) Program offers an exciting opportunity for people of all ages to be a part of a national network of AmeriCorps members working to “strengthen and supplement efforts to end poverty in the United States.” VISTA members, referred to as VISTAs, encourage corpsmembers to volunteer in their local communities and also coordinate resources to improve corpsmembers’ lives.

What Members Do
VISTAs carry out service activities such as assessing volunteer programs and developing strategies for expansion; assisting with AmeriCorps programs at CCC and local corps sites; generating public and private resources to provide tools for development; enhancing public relations efforts; developing a network of community volunteers to support corpsmembers’ needs; and coordinating corpsmember volunteer activities in their communities.

VISTA Accomplishments So Far:

• recruited corpsmembers and community volunteers to assist in a wide range of events including service at food banks, wildlife refuge cleanups, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events, parades, Christmas in April, Special Olympics, cultural fairs and community cleanups
• recruited community volunteers to be tutors, guest lecturers, teachers, computer lab assistants, teacher assistants and provide driving and job shadowing opportunities for corpsmembers
• generated resources to reward corpsmembers, provide incentives and meet site needs
• generated thousands of dollars in donated goods and services from the public and private sector including T-shirts, books, gift certificates, tickets to recreational events, food, a pool table, computers, training, newspapers, office supplies and equipment

Education Award and Living Stipend
VISTAs who successfully complete 1700 hours of service receive an educational award of $4,725 for use at accredited academic and vocational institutions or repayment of student loans. Additionally, VISTAs receive a living allowance of $9,775 per year plus health care benefits and can delay student loan repayment during their term of service.

You Can Be a VISTA!
You can apply to become a VISTA if you are at least 18 years of age, have some experience with community service and are available to serve a one year term of full time service.

www.americorps.org/vista/index.html

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