Service is an effective strategy for meeting community needs.
For eighteen years, RSC-AmeriCorps Members have enabled local organizations to provide essential services that they would not ordinarily have the time or resources to deliver.
RSC-AmeriCorps' full-time volunteers are called Members. As participants in our Nation Service Program, they serve at local not-for-profit, governmental, and faith-based organizations, and provide services to address issues of academic success, public safety, community mobilization and a variety of human needs.
AmeriCorps Members on our team range in age from 18 - 80. Some come to us with graduate degrees, and others with a wealth of life experience. All must be high school graduates, or have or be willing to earn a GED. Some are retired and eager to pursue a passion for giving back; others are looking for an opportunity to network, or simply improve their skills sets and knowledge of our community.
Members have served with schools, housing authorities, emergency preparedness agencies, economic development initiatives, after-school programs, senior services, food banks, youth development programs, and more! All Members go through a rigorous selection process and are required to pass a Washington State and F.B.I background check, complete with fingerprinting. As a federal program, AmeriCorps is nonpartisan and Members may not engage in lobbying, advocacy, fundraising (including grant writing), religious activities, or organizing.
Instead, members focus on providing direct services to those in need and increasing the volunteer capacity of their host sites. Members serve daily under the supervision of a site staff person and attend trainings off-site (at RSC office or other scheduled facility) twice each month. Each member also participates in a variety of one day, community service projects during his/her term of service. Their term of service is ten months, typically starting in September and ending in June.
- State and local nonprofit organizations
- Community and faith-based organizations
- State, local, and higher education institutions
- State and local governments
1. Projects must address critical needs within one of the following areas:
· Education
· Public Safety
· Health and other human needs
· The environment
Sample activities include tutoring and mentoring youth, environmental education, building homes, and assisting with emergency preparedness activities. AmeriCorps members also mobilize community volunteers and strengthen the capacity of the organizations where they serve.
2. Proposals must demonstrate that the placement will address a significant unmet need and that the member's service activities will directly benefit the communities served.
3. Members must be placed in a direct service position for the entire service term. The project may not include administrative duties that support general organizational goals such as clerical, janitorial responsibilities, lunch/recess duty or data entry . Such duties that support the service goals are allowable.
4. Sponsors may apply for an October start date. Members typically serve at sites from October through June.
5. Service activities must not duplicate routine functions of or displace paid employees.
6. The impact of service provided must be measurable.
7. The sponsoring organization must have a Drug Free Work Place Policy and a Non-Discrimination Policy.
8. Applicant must commit to providing documentation of in-kind match. In-kind donations include supervision and mentoring, conference and training opportunities, office space and materials, mileage reimbursement, bus passes, or other non-monetary support .
9. Applicant must demonstrate the ability to meet the required local, non-federal, cash match requirement.
Please contact us at 509.546.0180 or e-mail to learn more, request an application packet,or discuss how
RSC-AmeriCorps can partner with you to enhance the capacity of your organization to meet the needs of your clients.