AmeriCorps: Spending that pays off

I just spent two years in graduate school studying conflict—indicators to predict it, factors that influence it, ways to resolve it.  Almost all conflict literature points to a common crucial factor: unemployment, and more specifically, youth unemployment. Sure, unemployment in the United States is nowhere near that of Sudan or the Ivory Coast.  But our 9.8% unemployment rate is nothing to laugh at and neither is our youth unemployment rate measured at 19% last July.  What would my student essays have offered as a potential remedy? The obvious answer is programs that generate jobs, particularly those that provide training to young people.  This is why I was shocked to hear that the House of Representatives voted last week to eliminate the AmeriCorps program.

In 2005, I was an idealistic young graduate looking for work and I wanted to find a job that served some greater good.  I joined AmeriCorps and worked at a fledgling community center, tutoring kids and teaching English to new immigrants.  I gained teaching experience and management skills and went on to work as a full-time salaried staff member there for almost three years after my AmeriCorps service year was over.  Thanks to the institution of AmeriCorps, providing the center with energetic free staff members, it grew exponentially and was able to serve a wider community.

AmeriCorps is no free ride.  As an AmeriCorps “volunteer”, I earned a living stipend of just $10,500/year, but was provided healthcare and an education award.  My AmeriCorps training cohort was diverse: We were recent high school and college graduates, current part-time students, mothers looking to rejoin the work force and career changers seeking experience. What we had in common: each of us needed employment and wanted to contribute to American society.  We truly embodied the AmeriCorps pledge, particularly, “I will bring Americans together to strengthen our communities.”

The programs AmeriCorps members staff provide afterschool activities and safe spaces for teens, and they tutor children who would otherwise fall through the proverbial cracks in our system.  They provide job training and placement for adults and build houses for Katrina victims.  They run food banks, set up health clinics and counsel survivors of domestic violence.  These are programs that strengthen the fabric of our society.  I would suggest an AmeriCorps-like program as a conflict prevention mechanism for any of the “fragile states” I studied last year.  Is this really an institution we want to remove from our country?

In January 2011, national unemployment was at 9.8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some states have been hit much harder, with my home state of Michigan precariously perched at 11.7%, only recently down from 13%.  Factoring in the number of people not included in these statistics because they are no longer looking for work, and the many underemployed people getting by on part-time jobs, the numbers are much higher.  Only six months ago, the Joint Economic Committee reported a 19.6% unemployment rate for young people ages 16-24. It’s important to again emphasize that this only includes youth actively seeking employment. This is a dangerous number for a nation worried about crime and security.

Enter this new plan to cut all funding to AmeriCorps.

President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act on April 21, 2009, renewing and expanding the national service program that houses AmeriCorps. Among other things, the Act approved gradually expanding the 75,000 AmerCorps members then serving to 250,000.  This is 250,000 people who, like me, will find employment strengthening our country’s underserved communities.  Or this is 250,000 additional jobs that could be lost and countless people who will not benefit from the programs these members would have staffed.

I know many will argue, “But we have to make spending cuts somewhere.”  Yes, there will be cuts, but cutting one of the major American innovations that provides jobs at present and supports organizations to grow and generate future jobs is not the answer. It’s simply faulty reasoning. The positive cycle of growth will be stopped in its tracks if AmeriCorps is taken out of the equation. 

At the end of 2009, the House voted to continue funding AmeriCorps at $1,149,721,000 per year.  This cost amounts to just 0.03% of the total federal budget for 2010. In Michigan alone, there are 1,824 AmeriCorps members serving (excluding the many involved in sister programs like the Senior Corps) and the total cost is only $12,551,137.  In terms of “bang for your buck”, this is a clear success.

As the Senate prepares to vote on this issue, let us support institutions that further what we Americans pride ourselves on—The American Dream.  AmeriCorps members pledge, “I am an AmeriCorps member, and I will get things done.” Senate, let’s get things done.