Why I Fight the Zero
Catherine
Simply put, my AmeriCorps year completely changed my life. Six months into my position, I made a promise to an eleven-year old boy that I would not leave Miami until he graduated from high school.
Four years later, I’m still here, and on the 26th of every month, I take that (now) 15-year old boy to dinner to commemorate a month of no suspensions from school. My AmeriCorps year gave my life purpose, and in return I do what I can to remind my Dreamers just how important they are in this world.
Without AmeriCorps, my Dreamers would not have a solidified network of volunteers to mentor, tutor, and enrich their lives in and out of school. Without AmeriCorps, the I Have a Dream program would be isolated—on its own—without a solidified network of community partners, which include nonprofit organizations, corporations, and universities. Without AmeriCorps, my Dreamers would not have an assured opportunity for higher education, because they would lack the resources and opportunities to qualify for their Take Stock in Children scholarships. It is time for our Members of Congress to recognize the value of AmeriCorps and other national service programs by voting to continue funding to the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Lizzie
The motto of AmeriCorps is Getting Things Done. And that is what AmeriCorps members do. The American public may be jaded about Congress or the state of the world today, but just as in every generation, young people are optimistic that they can help, they can make a difference. AmeriCorps gives people of every age, but especially youth, the chance to serve their community.
I first served with a part-time program for college students, completing 300 hours of service in the community where my college was located. While I had always wanted to get involved with volunteering, AmeriCorps pushed me into it and I am forever grateful. The people I met during my term of service became my friends, my supporters, my community. After I served was the first time that I felt like a member of the community, not just a college student temporarily residing in the town. I served a second term with the VISTA program in the same town. Both programs convinced me of the importance of volunteering. I helped connect college students to local non-profits and vice versa. Seeing students excel in their volunteer positions, find a career path, or truly join the community was inspiring.
That's what AmeriCorps does - it inspires. It gives youth an outlet for their desire to serve, aids nonprofits and other organizations in meeting community needs, and connects individuals to the greater community. Without AmeriCorps, I would be a different person. Instead, I'm a graduate student pursing an MPA in Nonprofit Management so I can continue to give back. I'm fighting for AmeriCorps so every generation will have the opportunity to give back.
Brady
People talk about that one experience in life that changes them forever. If you asked me to tell you mine, I would say it was my summer with Montana Conservation Corps. I went into this experience not knowing what to expect, but working alongside new friends, sharing our stories, coming together to accomplish more than we could alone, we built memories that will last a lifetime.
At times I didn’t know if I’d make it, but I persevered and will never forget what I learned about myself in those moments – that I am limited only by how I see myself. I developed a good understanding of how to respect wildlife and preserve it. I have been taught to always be aware of my surroundings whether it’s during the middle of crosscutting or just bouncing up trail.
The morals I built during my season will last me till I’m old and gray. I learned so many life lessons that I can hopefully someday teach to future generations, but the most rewarding thing I learned through MCC is the power of the individual. Sometimes it seems like an individual is just one in a million, but a single person can make a difference – if only you change the way you see yourself.
Aurel
In 2002 I began the process of homeownership with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami. From ground zero to finish, I worked every step of the way with Habitat volunteers building frames, laying tile, and nearly every other step in building a home that you can think of. Throughout the process, there were always a group of AmeriCorps members working alongside me.
It was a really great experience working with the AmeriCorps members. When no one else would come out on building days, they were there faithfully, even though lot of the members had other commitments with school or work.
Being a homeowner has changed my life a lot. I’ve had the opportunity to go from renting to investing in my home, and my children got the chance to witness their house being built from start to finish. AmeriCorps members were a major part of building my home, and I hope the program survives so that they can help more people build homes in the future.
Julia
My story is an all too familiar one. After graduating from a small liberal arts college in 2009, I moved back in with my parents. Though I have worked the odd temp jobs here and there, I am still at home searching for long-term employment.
Two and a half years out of undergrad has left me still chipping away for open AmeriCorps slots and wondering what, if any, value my degree actually has. Still, I keep going because of my strong belief in this program. I have friends who have been through the AmeriCorps system, and can testify that this is a program that works. AmeriCorps has something for everyone, from education to environmental programs. In some cases, a year of AmeriCorps can help a person realize their true passion and pursue it. Cutting funding for AmeriCorps simply should not be an option. It would be cheating this generation out of a truly worthwhile experience.
Prospects in this country already seem pretty bleak, this would just be eliminating another employment prospect for the people who need help the most. To solve the unemployment problem in our country, people are relying on AmeriCorps now more than ever. AmeriCorps is an organization we can count on, and should be able to count on for many years to come.
Tina
In 2008 I graduated from a liberal arts college with a double major in theater and psychology along with a minor in English, (and no, you aren’t alone in wondering how on earth I was going to connect those fields into a useful, paying career, let alone get a job right out of school). As an East coast girl I was interested in a bit of an adventure so I applied to an AmeriCorps VISTA program in South Dakota. I was placed in a large university and spent a year working with the local community and engaging college students, professors, and staff in service-learning and civic engagement.
I finished my first year of VISTA with the country still in a recession and quickly learned the hard way that a meaningful job would be hard to come by. Not sure what to do I decided to complete a second year of VISTA in Portland, OR.
I served through Oregon Campus Compact (ORCC) and worked in a small college refining those same skills I had learned in my first year of service. After I finished this second year of VISTA I felt like I’d really found something I could spend my life doing and transitioned into graduate school.
Happily, upon graduation in March my part-time position will transition into a full time dream job with ORCC working on grant writing, volunteer management, and event planning (key skills I would never have learned without my years as an AmeriCorps VISTA)! Now, more then ever, it’s clear to me that we need AmeriCorps. With over 500,000 people applying for just 85,000 AmeriCorps positions, this is not the time to cut jobs that benefit both our youth and our communities.
Morgan
I am fighting the zero because AmeriCorps transforms lives and invests young people into fixing our most pressing problems. I first experienced AmeriCorps in College when I served in a part time program called Students in Service (SIS). The program helped connect me to my community inspired me to become a VISTA after graduation. My experience as a VISTA helped me land a job as a college service-learning Coordinator, where I managed a SIS program with 73 members.
While managing the SIS program I met Veronika, a junior majoring in International Studies. Veronika completed over 1,200 hours of service in two years. She used the education award to pay for tuition. Her parents didn’t have a lot of money so she was paying for school on her own. At one point Veronika was working 4 jobs on top of volunteering. She used any extra money she saved to pay for Alternative Spring Breaks, week long service trips that focused on different social issues.
I just wrote Veronika a letter of recommendation for Teach for America and she is pursing AmeriCorps as well. I am organizing Fight the Zero because if we don’t, Veronika and thousands of other young people won’t be able to experience AmeriCorps. We need meaningful jobs for young people, jobs that are going to invest in our communities and tackle our pressing social problems. AmeriCorps does all that and more.
Cristina
Approaching the end of my senior year in college, I found out about a Literacy AmeriCorp program in my hometown of West Palm Beach and decided to join. Most of my days as a member involved working with low-performing readers at a middle school in an underserved neighborhood.
Tutoring them in small groups or one-on-one, we worked together on their reading skills throughout the school year. I watched one of my seventh graders go from being a self-conscious student to one who volunteered to read out loud in a group. Although she was in seventh grade, she had been held back and was supposed to be starting high school the following year with her friends. After working with her several times a week, she completed her missing class credits and improved three grade levels in reading, allowing her to start high school the next year as planned.
I went into AmeriCorps with only a vague idea of what I wanted to do with my life. By the end of my service year, I became passionate about working in the nonprofit sector and enrolled in a Master of Nonprofit Management degree program. I know firsthand the value of national service programs. Eliminating funding for programs like AmeriCorps means students like my seventh grader won’t get the help they need and young people like me won’t have the opportunity to gain valuable job skills. Let’s keep up the fight for funding these programs – there’s too much at stake not to.
