This week, I had the opportunity to conduct a site visit with the EarthCorps program out in Seattle. The visit is part of our multi-year Workforce Development and the 4Rs project, which is evaluating the effects of federally coordinated volunteer and service corps programs that focus on building resilience and supporting disaster response and recovery. At this point, we have visited 5 states for site visits and the project is continuing to grow.
During yesterday’s focus group, we listened to members of the corps as they explained what motivated them to serve and what they planned to do when it was over. Like other corps that we have visited in the state, members spoke about their work doing restoration and the hours they each had spent removing invasive blackberry and ivy plants, which take over hillsides and contribute to erosion during storms.
During our focus group, members shared their personal stories about choosing to serve in this service program. Most explained how it helped to channel their interests in resilience and restoration into work that they felt would make a difference; they reported that it was putting them on a path to make the world a better place.
In addition, a number of corps members spoke about serving in such a program while the battles over federal funding continue (President Trump has once again submitted a budget that would zero out the main funder of this program: AmeriCorps–for more on the consequences of this budget, read my piece in Rolling Stone here). One young woman provided this explanation for why she was continuing her service in the face of such financial uncertainty: working to serve her community was her personal way of “keeping hope alive” and her service was her resistance.
I left the focus group and the site visit inspired by these young people and even more convinced of the important role that national service plays in our democracy and in our civic lives.
Dana R Fisher 