AmeriCorps offers members a way to meaningfully give back to their community. It also allows them the chance to use their skills to meet the needs of the area around them while obtaining new skills.
This program is a great way for an individual looking to get into education or nonprofit work as a career to gain experience in those fields. Members can serve in Lake, LaPorte, Marshall, Porter, and Starke counties.
AmeriCorps is a national service program funded by a federal grant. The program is provided locally by United Way of Northwest Indiana in partnership with Serve Indiana, part of Indiana state government.
Service members that complete their hours receive a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award to help pay for college, graduate school, or pay back qualified student loans. They also receive a living stipend and professional development training throughout their term.
Members can serve in various capacities with a focus on nonprofits and education. The nonprofit side includes volunteer recruitment and program development/management. For individuals with a passion for education, there are tutoring and career advising roles available.
An important aspect of this program is the work done in schools. AmeriCorps members can help with tutoring and mentoring students in elementary, middle, and high schools.
According to Rebecca Weber, the AmeriCorps Program Director for United Way of NWI, “Members really focus on individual tutoring and mentoring with the students. We know our teachers are super busy, and the number of kids in their classrooms is just astronomical.”
“The AmeriCorps members provide that extra helping hand for that student to have an individualistic one-on-one kind of service where they can sit down with somebody to go over their math, reading, or something along those lines, and they really work with the students to build that connection coming back to the mentorship component,” Weber concluded.
If you are interested in becoming an AmeriCorps member there are plenty of opportunities available.
This program is very flexible in the variety of hours individuals can serve. The program is from September 9, 2022, through July 31, 2023. The hours start from full-time which is 1700 hours in total. This makes the weekly time commitment around 30-40 hours per week, and the hours go as low as 300 in total which is about 5 hours per week. All of these positions would receive a living stipend as well as an education award. The full-time position includes health benefits and, if applicable, childcare benefits as well.
To check out available positions click here.
For more information on the program click here.