AmeriCorps at 30: Rising Up to the Challenges of Our Time

“Hey, we have to be at the White House in thirty minutes!”

We quickly scrambled to get ready, and slipped through the security gate just as it was about to close for the event. The hotel wake-up call hadn’t come through, and we almost slept through the historic occasion that took place 30 years ago this month.

After that near miss, I was pleased to finally settle into an open chair on the White House lawn. Upbeat music from Soul Asylum played as we awaited the start of the event. Soon President Clinton approached, surrounded by a group of young people attired in the gear of various national service programs.

Creating AmeriCorps

The energy and enthusiasm was palpable as President Bill Clinton signed the National & Community Service Trust Act, which created AmeriCorps . Sure, getting an invite to an event at the White House as a twenty-something is inherently exciting. But more importantly, it was the sense of hope and idealism that imbued that day.

President Clinton’s remarks when he proposed the program earlier in 1993 capture that spirit, “National service will be America at its best -- building community, offering opportunity, and rewarding responsibility. National service is a challenge for Americans from every background and walk of life, and it values something far more than money. National service is nothing less than the American way to change America.”

Unleashing the energy and idealism of national service participants would be a powerful way to solve current problems - tutoring children, clearing trails, and much more. But perhaps even more importantly, those of us championing national service back then hoped AmeriCorps would help develop civic skills and attitudes that would help strengthen our democracy over time.

Thirty years of impact

AmeriCorps has certainly produced impressive results in the 30 years since that bill signing. As noted on the AmeriCorps 30th website, some 1.25 million Americans have provided billions of hours of results-driven service since the program began.

In addition to meeting ongoing needs like supporting youth development and education, AmeriCorps has a long history of pivoting to meet the crises of the day, ranging from responding to 9/11, supporting hurricane relief, or more recently, recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Programs across the country are now piloting approaches to creating a Climate Corps, seeking to leverage national service in the existential fight to protect our planet.?

We recently held the initial orientation for SCI Social Capital Inc. 's 17th cohort of AmeriCorps members. Before we hosted our own SCI AmeriCorps program, we had AmeriCorps placements from the Massachusetts Promise Fellowship program. So we have been part of AmeriCorps for nearly 20 of the program’s 30 years. [Check out my interview with our first SCI AmeriCorps member Roger Wong .]

We have now had over 300 SCI AmeriCorps members serve with us, leveraging thousands of volunteers and developing a cadre of young leaders addressing community needs. While the numbers are important, I find the stories even more inspiring, ranging from Paloma helping to feed families early in the COVID-19 pandemic to Matthew Brown ’s recent project where he created a recording studio for youth at the Roxbury YMCA.?

While the immediate impact of AmeriCorps members’ service is impressive, I’ve always thought that the development of effective leadership for the nonprofit sector and beyond is perhaps where AmeriCorps has the greatest impact. I’ve certainly seen this when following what AmeriCorps alumni have done after serving with our programs.

For instance, Mary O'Donnell , who was in the AmeriCorps program at Generations Inc., (now Literations ), is now serving as President at the RRF Foundation for Aging . At SCI, we have frequently seen our alums hired onto the staff of their host site organizations. And several of our current host sites have SCI AmeriCorps alums in key leadership roles. Right here with SCI, we have 3 AmeriCorps alums leading our programming, Philip Gordon , Sophia Ichizawa and Jhona Xaviera Fabian .

AmeriCorps clearly plays a key role in developing a pipeline of talent for the nonprofit sector. This is particularly important when you consider that over 10% of the private sector workforce in the United States is in the nonprofit sector; and that figure is over 17% in Massachusetts, with our abundance of nonprofits.

In addition to sheer numbers of people employed at nonprofits, AmeriCorps contributes to helping address the anticipated gap created as Baby Boomers retire from nonprofit leadership positions. As shown in the examples I cited early, AmeriCorps helps put people on a pathway to those positions.

Rising up to the challenges of our time

For all the powerful impact of AmeriCorps in our communities, one would hope that 30 years after AmeriCorps was created, the state of American civic life would be in good shape. Of course, we know nothing could be further from the truth, with the January 6 insurrection at the capital being the most visible indicator of the threats facing our democracy.?

The “racial reckoning” of 2020 called attention to the long history of violent racism in our country and led to large commitments of corporate and philanthropic dollars. Yet today, questions are being raised about whether those commitments are being honored while inequality persists and many state and local governments seek to roll back curriculum teaching a more inclusive and realistic history of our country.??

Thirty years after a bill was signed with aspirations to bring people together to create healthy communities, our divisions hamper our ability to create more equitable, thriving communities. While AmeriCorps might not have solved all of our nation’s problems, the work continues to position the program as a vital resource for rising up to the challenges of our time.

For instance, a paper titled “No Greater Mission” by David Eisner and John Gomperts sets forth recommendations for how national service can advance “bridgebuilding”, intentional efforts to bring together people of divergent political views in order to reduce polarization. Current AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith has placed a great emphasis on advancing equity at AmeriCorps, a focus we are pleased to see at SCI. AmeriCorps programs continue to tackle the pressing issues of the day, from climate change to addressing the significant educational and mental health impacts of the pandemic.

SCI AmeriCorps innovations

Here at SCI, we have been innovating our AmeriCorps program to further increase its impact and make the opportunity to participate more equitable.?

While diversity of program participants has always been a goal of AmeriCorps, the small stipend and other aspects of the way the program is structured causes barriers to recruiting a diverse group of members from the communities we serve.

Increasing the benefits SCI AmeriCorps members receive has been one part of our strategy to make the program more equitable. We have increased our stipend to $24,000 for the 10 month year of service; this is up more than $10,000 from 2020. Our total benefit AmeriCorps package is now close to $50,000 when factoring other benefits such as the health care and education & training offered. The AmeriCorps agency is now moving toward increased benefits for the program at the national level as well.

In addition to increasing the financial benefit package, we have placed a major emphasis on enhancing the training and support we offer members. This is important in order to engage a diverse corps, plus a strong training program will help achieve the AmeriCorps program’s aspiration to develop leaders who can bring people together to address the problems we face.

We created a new SCI Developing Leaders training curriculum last year, which includes units on DEI and building social capital, as well as other topics SCI AmeriCorps members need for their service roles. This year, we are taking our SCI AmeriCorps member learning experience to another level, with a major new partnership with Merrimack College. Through this partnership, Merrimack College faculty will join SCI staff in delivering the Developing Leaders curriculum, and members will be able to take a free graduate level course on community engagement.

2024 update: Since I originally wrote this article in 2023, the SCI AmeriCorps program has continued to innovate! For the 2024/25 AmeriCorps year, we have rolled out a new housing benefit through a creative partnership with StudentRoomStay . Kudos to SCI Deputy Director Philip Gordon and team for continuing to add additional value to those that choose to serve with SCI AmeriCorps.

Conclusion

A lot has transpired in the world and my own life since that AmeriCorps bill signing event 30 years ago. I am still very much involved with AmeriCorps, with the SCI AmeriCorps program being a major way we carry out our mission.

Our challenges are certainly great at this moment in our country. I continue to be convinced that one of the most important things we can do is engage a diverse group of Americans in serving together to meet the challenges we face. AmeriCorps provides that opportunity to unite people to address community needs, while developing skills for a lifetime of active citizenship.

The past few decades have certainly reminded us of the tendency of unforeseen crises to come along in addition to the ongoing societal issues. I continue to believe that developing active citizens that can address the challenges of our time is one of the most important things we can be doing. So with that in mind, I’m proud to continue to be part of the AmeriCorps national service movement 30 years later!

I am publishing monthly articles here on LinkedIn. Check out this other recent article on the link between youth mental health & social media, and work SCI is doing on the topic.