Letter from President Clinton Message from Harris Wofford

The AmeriCorps Call to Service Life After AmeriCorps Tips for Staying Involved

Career Success for Former AmeriCorps Members

A

s AmeriCorps approaches its

five-year anniversary, you and

the other 100,000 Americans who

have served as AmeriCorps members have reason to be proud. A

new independent study shows that

the efforts of AmeriCorps members

have strengthened neighborhoods,

made nonprofits more productive,

and inspired others to get more

involved in their communities.

Aguirre International found that

programs have provided intensive

results-driven service and have benefited communities, nonprofits, and

members in the following ways:

■ directly assisting millions of people,

including children, seniors, and victims of natural disasters;

■ helping nonprofit organizations do

more for communities;

■ getting citizens involved in solving

problems; and

■ motivating people of all ages to take

an active role in their communities.

One of the most significant findings

is what AmeriCorps members get out

of their service experience. Aguirre

reported that serving in AmeriCorps

greatly improves participants’ skills in

the areas employees look for—communication, interpersonal skills, analytic problem-solving, understanding

of organizational systems, team skills,

and technology. Members developed

new skills and enhanced existing

skills, the study shows, particularly

those who entered with low skills and

with little employment experience.

Making No n p rofits Mo re

Pro d u c t i ve. AmeriCorps benefits

nonprofit organizations by acting as

a catalyst for change, Aguirre found.

Because of their collaboration with

AmeriCorps, many institutions have

been able to expand, improve, and

restore service to their communities.

St rengthening Communities. B e s i d e s

the benefits of direct service (such as

better schools and safer neighborhoods), AmeriCorps strengthens communities by helping them share and

expand resources and by recruiting

additional volunteers. Communities

responded favorably to AmeriCorps,

Aguirre reported, and there was little

overlap or conflict between

AmeriCorps activities and the work of

other community organizations.

Aguirre also found that AmeriCorps

“sparked community interest and participation, infused hope into depressed

communities, and raised awareness of

local problems.”

Increasing Civic Responsibility. The

AmeriCorps experience helped instill

the value of community involvement.

Nearly all AmeriCorps members (99

percent) reported plans to continue

some form of community service in

the future, although only 56 percent

of them reported involvement prior

to serving. Many members have

been motivated to pursue careers in

public service and community-oriented work.

Return on the Investment. The

direct benefits to communities and

AmeriCorps members are at least

$1.66 for every dollar spent, said

Aguirre, noting that the figure is

conservative.

As an AmeriCorps member, you

help your community every day. And

the Aguirre study shows that together

with other AmeriCorps members, you

are making a real difference in communities nationwide.

AmeriCorps is Getting 

Things Done, Study Finds

WHAT’S INSIDE...WHAT’S INSIDE... WHAT’S INSIDE... WHAT’S INSIDE... WHAT’S INSIDE...

Volume 2, No. 1, Summer 1999

A m e r i C o r p F O R A M E R I C O R P S M E M B E R S A N D F R I E N D S O F T H E N A T I O N A L S E R V I C E N EsN E W S

T W O R K
2 A M E R I C O R P S N E W S

AmeriCorps News was produced by

the Office of Public Affairs of the

Corporation for National Service.

Mark R. Miller,

Director of Publications

Siobhan Dugan, Senior Writer

Karen Levine and Carol Hardy,

Graphic Designers

Tara Murphy, Director of Public Affairs

AmeriCorps News

Corporation for National Service

1201 New York Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20525

W

elcome to A m e r i C o r p s

N e w s ! This newsletter is

designed to tell you what

AmeriCorps members are doing,

help you serve more effectively, and

help you keep in touch with other

AmeriCorps members.

This issue includes exciting new

information about AmeriCorps’

national accomplishments and

shares tips for staying involved

after your term of service is over.

I’m sure you’ll have ideas about

how we can make this newsletter

more useful, and I hope you’ll share

your suggestions with us. Send your

comments to amnews@cns.gov. or

mail them to AmeriCorps News,

Corporation for National Service,

1201 New York Avenue, N.W. ,

Washington, D.C. 20525.

AmeriCorps News is also on-line

at www.americorps.org—just click

on “Information for Members” to

keep up with the latest news and

resources.

Deb Jospin

Director of AmeriCorps

Welcome

Visit AmeriCorps News 

on-line! Go to www.ameri -

corps.org and click o n

“Information for Members.”

What do you think of

AmeriCorps News? Let us

know at amnews@cns.gov.
G E T T I N G T H I N G S D O N E 3

The Call to Se rvice: Help Re c ruit the

Next Class of AmeriCorps Me m b e r s !

A

meriCorps is in the midst of its

largest recruitment campaign ever,

and you are an important part of it.

Recruiting can take many forms, and most

of them take little time and effort. Here

are a few ways you can help:

1. Wear your AmeriCorps t-shirt. You can help raise

awareness at concerts, at festivals, and in your own

neighborhood by simply wearing your shirt or an

AmeriCorps button.

2 . Ask the program where you served what you can do to

help find new members.

3 . Talk to people you meet while doing service projects in

your community.

4 . Tell people in your office, school, church, or synagogue

about your experience as an AmeriCorps member.

5 . Return to your high school or college to tell students

there about opportunities with AmeriCorps.

6 . Offer to help the national AmeriCorps recruitment

o f f i c e by calling 1-800-942-2677.

7 . Keep up with the latest news about AmeriCorps by visiting w w w . a m e r i c o r p s . o r g—and share information with

your friends.

8 . Participate in alumni events. (For information on how to

stay involved, call AmeriCorps Alums at 202-729-8180 or

visit w w w . a m e r i c o r p s a l u m s . o r g. )

Your efforts to spread the word about AmeriCorps will support the Call to Service, a national recruitment drive launched

in February 1999 by President Clinton to help enroll more than

50,000 new AmeriCorps members over the next year. Asking “Are You Up to

the Challenge?” the campaign focuses on the impact members have on the

communities they serve and the important personal growth they experience.

Among the elements of the recruitment campaign are:

■ print ads featuring AmeriCorps members and their experiences (visit

www.americorps.org to read their stories);

■ a direct mail campaign to college seniors;

■ a television public service announcement (PSA), “I am AmeriCorps,”

which MTV produced; and

■ recruitment events at college campuses and

communities nationwide.

communities nationwide

Keep up with the 

latest news about

AmeriCorps by visiting

w w w . a m e r i c o r p s . o r g

Message from

Harris Wofford

C

an you envision a country where

every third-grade child can read?

Where every citizen has affordable

housing? Where people feel safe in

their neighborhoods? Where people

can get the support they need to live

healthy, productive, active lives?

Through AmeriCorps service,

you’ve helped to bring that vision

closer to reality. 

This year, AmeriCorps celebrated

its 100,000th member—a milestone

it took the Peace Corps more than

20 years to reach. In the past five

years, AmeriCorps members like

you have taught children to read,

made neighborhoods safer, built

affordable housing, helped communities recover from natural disasters, and more.

In achieving these results, you

and other members have reached

another goal—demonstrating for

others the importance of community

involvement. 

I hope you will carefully consider

what it meant when you pledged to

serve “this year and beyond.”

Congratulations on what you’ve

already accomplished, and best

wishes as you continue to “get

things done.”

Harris Wofford

Chief Executive Officer

Corporation for National Service
4 A M E R I C O R P S N E W S

Get involved with AmeriCorps Alums!

(w w w. a c o r p s a l u m s . o r g or 2 0 2 - 7 2 9 - 8 1 8 0)

To get a copy of Next Steps, call 

1 - 8 0 0 - 8 6 0 - 2 6 8 4. 

I

s there life after AmeriCorps?

According to the staff at

AmeriCorps Alums, your biggest

challenge may be deciding what you

want to do with your skills and

experience. “AmeriCorps alumni

have found their AmeriCorps experience helps them succeed as students, as entrepeneurs, and as professionals in the nonprofit field and

in the private sector,” says Katie

Floyd, membership coordinator.

“Employers look for the exact type

of skills and leadership that

AmeriCorps members offer.”

Before you know it, your

AmeriCorps service will come to an

end, and you may already be thinking

ahead about what you want to do,

and how and where you can do it.

AmeriCorps has prepared a handbook

that may help you sort out some of

your options, whether you’re thinking

about getting a job, going to school,

or doing another year of service.

Next Steps: Life After

AmeriCorps includes exercises to

help you evaluate your accomplishments as an AmeriCorps member

and figure out how to combine your

skills and interests.

S p e c i f i c a l l y, Next Steps gives you

tips on:

◆ writing a resume and interviewing

e f f e c t i v e l y ;

◆ identifying jobs in your areas of

i n t e r e s t ;

◆ using the web for your job search;

◆ applying for college or graduate

programs; and

◆ s t a y i n g

involved in

s e r v i c e .

Yo u r

A m e r i C o r p s

service will

a l w a y s

remain with

you in some

w a y. Your decisions about your

c a r e e r, family, community, and civic

responsibilities may be affected by

your AmeriCorps experience.

“Employers look 

for the exact type 

of skills and leadership

that AmeriCorps 

members offer.”

—Katie Floyd,

AmeriCorps Alums 

Like Peace Corps volunteers who

serve two years abroad but are then

charged with “bringing the world

back home,” you too have a responsibility once your term of service has

ended. Part of your pledge as an

AmeriCorps member is to get things

done “this year and beyond.” How

will you carry out this commitment?

Next Steps points to several

options and resources for continuing

to serve, such as:

◆ serving another term as an

AmeriCorps member or an

AmeriCorps Leader (www.ameri -

corps.org or 1-800-942-2677);

◆ getting involved with AmeriCorps

Alums, (www.acorpsalums.org or 

2 0 2 - 7 2 9 - 8 1 8 0 ) ;

◆ applying to the Peace Corps

(w w w . p e a c e c o r p s . g o v or 

1-800-254-8540); and

◆ participating in service projects

locally (try w w w . s e r v e n e t . c o m) .

If you don’t already have a copy

of Next Steps, you can order one

by calling 1-800-860-2684. The end

of your AmeriCorps term of service

is a time of great opportunity. Take

advantage of this time to make

decisions that work for you.

What are you planning to do

after you finish your AmeriCorps

term of service? 

How will you use your education

award? 

Let us know at amnews@cns.gov.

What’s Your Next Step? 

Life After AmeriCorps
G E T T I N G T H I N G S D O N E 5

W

hether they’ve served in their

hometown or on the other

side of the country, taught children

to read or organized neighborhood

safety patrols, AmeriCorps alums

seem to have one thing in common:

a desire to continue serving.

Erin Moore, who served with

City Year Columbus, now is a fulltime college student, majoring in

French at Ohio State University, and

a part-time staff member for the

G o v e r n o r ’s Community Service

Council. But that packed schedule

d o e s n ’t keep her from participating

in numerous community service projects. “Before I did AmeriCorps,”

she said, “I had never done a lick of

community service in my life. I feel a

commitment to participate whenever

I have the free time now, which definitely didn’t exist before.”

M o o r e ’s newfound commitment to

service is not unusual among

AmeriCorps members, according to a

recent independent study conducted

by Aguirre International. The survey

showed that while only 56 percent of

AmeriCorps members had performed

community service of some type

before joining AmeriCorps, a full 99

percent now say they plan to make

continued service a priority.

Like many other former

AmeriCorps members, Moore has

stayed involved with her program.

She served as a project coordinator

during a City Year serve-a-thon on

Make A Difference Day, coordinating

a team of 50 or 60 volunteers who

created a community garden on the

east side of Columbus. Since that

project was completed, she’s been

serving as a Young Heroes team

l e a d e r. She described the projects as

a “mini-City Year for middle school

kids.” On Saturdays, the students

attend morning workshops on topics

ranging from citizenship to drug and

alcohol education, before participating

in service projects in the afternoon.

AmeriCorps*NCCC alum

Gardner Humphreys had a history of community service in college.

Now the manager of Communities of

Promise and State Initiatives at

A m e r i c a ’s Promise in Virginia, he volunteers with numerous organizations

when he’s not working. He became a

team leader with DC Cares, a group

that organizes a variety of one-time

volunteer activities. He’s active with

AmeriCorps Alumni Keep on Serving

“I feel a commitment

to participate whenever

I have the free time

now, which definitely

didn’t exist before.”

—Erin Moore

“Doing AmeriCorps

showed me the 

importance of 

direct service.”

—Gardner Humphries

While only 56 percent of AmeriCorps members had performed community service of some type before joining

AmeriCorps, a full 99 percent now say they plan to make

continued service a priority.
6 A M E R I C O R P S N E W S

the local Humane Society and the

Washington chapter of AmeriCorps

Alums, which is setting up a “Second

Saturday of Service” project that will

bring alums together on a regular

basis for neighborhood cleanups and

playground improvements. 

“Doing AmeriCorps showed me

the importance of direct service,”

he said. “Even if you do go on to

work in service or the community

development field, there’s still nothing that can quite take the place of

direct service.”

Colleen Hughes also was active

in community service before her

AmeriCorps experience, but from a

very different perspective. As a

mother of four children, most of her

involvement was related to her children and their projects at school or

church. Now a student, she’s a member of several local boards focusing

on youth and neighborhood improvement in her hometown of Tulsa, Okla.

“I really didn’t get involved with

the needs of the community until I

found myself in some of those areas

with AmeriCorps working with atrisk students in communities that

didn’t have some of the things that I

took for granted,” she said. One of

the projects she works with focuses

on getting 14- to 16-year-olds

involved in community service.

“Some of these kids have nothing

to do, so I’m working with the

Community Service Council to

recruit them into community service

projects. Through community service, they can get job experience and

meet people, and learn that where

they’re going to get a good feeling

in life is from giving something back

to the community.”

Hughes, who is 50, views

AmeriCorps as a great experience

and would like to see more people

her age become members.

“AmeriCorps took me into areas of

the community that I would never

have ventured into. I was a content

suburban mom in my content suburban life. AmeriCorps really opened

up my eyes to whole areas, whole

communities and their needs that I

never would have known.” 

For Hughes, Humphreys, and

Moore, continuing their involvement

is a natural part of their postAmeriCorps life. As Moore put it, 

“I need to get out there and get my

hands dirty and participate.”

How are you planning to serve after

you finish your AmeriCorps term of

service? Let us know at

amnews@cns.gov.

“I really didn’t get

involved with the needs

of the community until

I found myself in some

of those areas with

AmeriCorps.”

—Colleen Hughes

To find out about opportunities to serve in

your area with former AmeriCorps members,

visit www.americorpsalums.org/local.html 
G E T T I N G T H I N G S D O N E 7

F

inish up that undergraduate

degree. Take the leap into the

working world. Head for grad

school. 

Armed with your education award

and the skills you’ve gained as an

AmeriCorps member, those are just

a few of the options that will be

open to you. While making the right

decision may seem overwhelming,

remember that your AmeriCorps

experience is sure to impress

employers, colleges, and others. 

Following are examples of former

AmeriCorps members who have

found that there is life after

AmeriCorps. 

Stephanie A. Beck Borden,

a former AmeriCorps*VISTA member who developed a volunteer program for a child abuse organization

in Indiana, now works for Research

America in Arlington, Va. “I coordinate grassroots advocacy campaigns for medical research advocac y,” she said. 

“ We’re trying to get the scientists

more involved in advocacy, to

explain to others what they do and

how their research affects the economy — generating jobs and

increased building. People say

they’re very interested in research

issues, but they don’t know what the

scientists are doing. We’re trying to

bring the two groups together. ”

Dan Condon, who was with

Public Allies in San Diego as an

AmeriCorps member, is now a program manager and director of education and training for Public Allies

in Milwaukee, Wisc. Since finishing

his AmeriCorps service, he has also

interned at Eagle Rock High School

in Colorado, a year-round residential

school for teenagers who have not

been successful in traditional school

settings. Condon returns to Eagle

Rock three times a year to teach

the school’s HIV/AIDS curriculum.

Before joining AmeriCorps, “I was

clueless about the nonprofit sector. I

d o n ’t think AmeriCorps helped me

realize what I want to do, but it

opened my eyes to things that I didn ’t know. My professional skills were

sharpened in that working at a nonprofit for 10 months really showed

me how a nonprofit operates.”

Hillary Creely served at the

Latin American Youth Center in

Washington, D.C., while a student

at George Washington University.

After graduating, she headed for

grad school and is now working on

a doctorate in the integrated fields

Now What?

AmeriCorps Service, Education

Awards Open Doors

of molecular biology, cell biology,

and biochemistry at Brown

University in Providence, R.I.

Creely is considering teaching at

the high school level. “I think I can

make more of a difference with students who wouldn’t otherwise get

exposure to advanced scientific

ideas,” she explained. As an

AmeriCorps member, helping

teenagers get their GEDs “made

me confident that I could work with

that age group and ability level.”

Zach Joseph serves as liaison

to colleges and universities in

California’s central coast region for

AVID (Advancement Via Individual

Determination), an organization that

matches high school and middle

school students with tutors and

mentors. 

“The transition [from AmeriCorps]

has been good because I’ve put a

lot of energy into it,” Joseph said.

“It’s been a tough transition in that

it involves further defining career

goals, finding the ideal job, and in

my case, moving.” 

Joseph’s AmeriCorps experience

spoiled him in a sense, because “I

want to be involved with programs

that are as fulfilling as my

AmeriCorps experience. It’s easier

to get into AmeriCorps than into

some jobs.”

Paula Buchanan used her education award to earn an MBA and

MPH after serving with the New

Orleans Youth Action Corps in

1995. Now she is with American

Management Systems, where she

tests software. 

“My work doesn’t tie into

AmeriCorps, except for the team

Your AmeriCorps 

experience is sure to

impress employers, 

colleges, and others.
skills I learned, but that would apply

anywhere.”

Buchanan found the transition to

the corporate world a smooth one.

“I have a unique perspective that

every work environment is the same

except for the way you dress,” she

said. “Corporate America and notfor-profits are more similar than people think.” Like many other

AmeriCorps alums, Buchanan

places a high priority on service.

She’s involved with the Make A

Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to terminally ill children.

For Borden, full-time service is not

just a part of her past — it’s also in

her future. She and her husband

plan to volunteer with the Fourth

World Movement, an international

anti-poverty organization that serves

people in developed countries such

as the United States in addition to

Third World locations. Her

AmeriCorps service has helped

make this plan possible. 

“I used the ed award to pay off

loans that probably would have taken

eight years to pay off,” she said. “I

have choices now in some things I

can do with my husband in the future

that wouldn’t have been possible if I

h a d n ’t had the ed award.”

So if you find that one door is

closed, the next one may be open,

thanks to your service as an

AmeriCorps member.

Just ask AmeriCorps alums.

How will AmeriCorps help you

achieve your goals? 

How has AmeriCorps changed 

your future plans? 

Let us know at amnews@cns.gov.

AmeriCorps News

Corporation for National Service

1201 New York Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20525

www.americorps.org

e-mail: amnews@cns.gov

AmeriCorps

Nears Five-Year

Celebration

This fall, members and

programs will mark the fiveyear anniversary of

AmeriCorps. Events are

being planned throughout

the country, and the next

issue of AmeriCorps News

will have more details.

Get ready to celebrate

and to build on AmeriCorps’

legacy of service.