The Life-Changing Impact of AmeriCorps
Last week, the latest cohort of LAYC AmeriCorps members celebrated their completion of service (gallery below). Joy filled the room as the members wrapped up a chapter of growth in which they acquired skills and knowledge to become community leaders. As our team, several of us former AmeriCorps members ourselves, proudly looked on, we reflected on the life-changing impact our various AmeriCorps programs have had on the lives of many other participants.
Keshawn Flowers, former participant in LAYC’s GED and Housing programs, has faced more than her fair share of obstacles. Despite unpredictable living arrangements, financial instability, and tragic violence that prematurely took the lives of several loved ones around her, she knew she had to forge ahead for the sake of her young son.
So, she did. After receiving her GED, her next dream was to become an AmeriCorps education program member after witnessing the impact these individuals had on the youth in their program. What was more impactful still was that she felt like she could relate to the AmeriCorps team. Keshawn applied and was accepted in 2020, quickly learning life skills and acquiring professional development tools that she couldn’t envision before. With these skills, she attained work in retail and, despite life factors temporarily interrupting her participation in AmeriCorps, she now tells former colleagues she craves a return. The same LAYC staff who made her feel integrated, the same ones in whom she saw herself reflected, inspire her to return to the program, leverage the education scholarship to pursue her bachelor's degree, and provide a similar example to the next generations.
The beauty of Keshawn’s story is that it can realistically be replicated hundreds of times over in LAYC alone. With an active AmeriCorps presence in 10 schools in DC and Prince George’s County, the AmeriCorps members have quality interactions with upwards of 300 young students per year who, in many cases, are seeking a role model to relate to. Beyond their day-to-day work, each AmeriCorps member adds 60-100 more impactful interactions through annual service projects, such as the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Since the majority of members are LAYC alumni or come from the same communities we serve, they have a unique understanding of and dedication to youth needs.
Public Health AmeriCorps is a newly created AmeriCorps program which provides another opportunity for young people to acquire skills and give back to the community. Created in 2021 “to meet the public health needs of local communities by advancing health equity, increasing access to care and creating pathways to public health careers,” Public Health AmeriCorps was similarly called “life-changing” by Valeria Salgado in an article in Nation’s Health Magazine. The article outlines Salgado’s experience alongside two other participants in other parts of the country in an inspiring one-year case-study of a program that gives youth a chance to earn valuable skills in the public health sector while bringing needed resources and information to underserved communities.
“We give them important work, and this is why they see themselves as valued. ”
Stories like Keshawn’s and Valeria’s are pulled from an LAYC-sized sample. On a national scale, 250,000 individuals serve in AmeriCorps every year, meaning approximately 1,000,000 potentially life-changing opportunities occur every four years.
Last week we had the honor of seeing dozens more join the privileged group of AmeriCorps alumni, and we can’t help but marvel at the potential impact this program can continue to have.
Photos of individual LAYC AmeriCorps members and of them working are provided by AmeriCorps.
Photos of the closing ceremony and Juneteenth event were taken by LAYC staff.
