Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 2, 1994 TAG: 9411040035
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CRYSTAL CHAPPELL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Grass, of Blacksburg, is volunteering with the Blue Ridge Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, helping people who have a disease that has affected her own friends and family. In return, she will receive $2,363 for her education.
Five Southwest Virginians are enlisted in AmeriCorps, part of the Clinton administration's national service initiative aimed primarily at the nation's young people. About 15,000 people nationwide have been working in 330 programs since the national kickoff Sept. 12.
In Virginia, 132 members ranging in age from 17 to 36 are tutoring, rebuilding public housing, working with runaway and homeless youth and coordinating projects. Virginia has seven state-operated grants and is involved in at least three national direct grant programs.
Organizers in Virginia say the "domestic peace corps" is long overdue and they're pleased that the president and Congress are emphasizing community service.
"We have to find our communities, whether the community is the state, city or local, and do everything we can to make the community the way we want," said B.J. Northington, national and community services manager of the Office of Volunteerism in Richmond. "The only way to do that is like the governor says, 'Roll up our sleeves and get busy.'"
Virginia members were motivated to "get things done," the AmeriCorps motto, after being sworn in by President Clinton at the White House.
"Obviously these kids are excited about getting out and helping and that's a real positive, exciting thing. The communities are going to benefit tremendously from all this positive energy," said Cathy Howard, director of Virginia Commonwealth University's AmeriCorps Program.
The program should be equal in credibility to the Peace Corps, said Debbie Brown-Anderson, director of programs at the Northern Virginia Urban League.
"They will be able to proudly say they were participants of AmeriCorps," Brown-Anderson said. "It will open more doors than imaginable right now."
The program is opening educational doors by awarding full-time members $4,725 and part-time members $2,363 for completing their service. Virginia members will be working part time or full time, serving from 900 hours in two years to 1,800 hours in a year. The money can be applied toward their education anytime within seven years of their service. Virginia members also will receive living stipends ranging from $3,820 to $12,000.
But people are joining AmeriCorps because of a "true concern for strengthening communities" instead of financial gain, said Karen Hudson, director of the Southwest Virginia AmeriCorps Tutoring Program.
"I'm doing something good, which makes me feel good," Grass said.
Recruiting volunteers as a project coordinator, Grass said her work in the Roanoke branch office will free up money for research on multiple sclerosis. A cousin and a close friend's mother have MS.
"It's coming full circle. Somebody in my family has it and now someone is coming around to help out," said Grass, 21, a Radford University graduate student and part-time AmeriCorps member.
Misty Brewer is tutoring Lebanon Middle School children through a program out of Southwest Virginia Community College in Richlands.
"This hands-on experience with these children will be so, so helpful for my career because I will know how their little minds work," said Brewer, 18, who wants to work with children who have gone through traumas. Her mother died in January, and Brewer could not find a support group to meet her needs. She plans to apply her AmeriCorps award toward graduate work in clinical psychology.
AmeriCorps also is helping four college graduates begin their careers at the New River-Highlands Resource, Conservation and Development Council.
Mindy Clark is working as a landscape architect, helping to manage the development of a 3.2-mile river walk in Marion. Clark, 34, could not afford college after high school. She went to college part time for six years, then thought, "This is crazy," and went to school full time, completing her bachelor's degree in horticulture last year from Montana State University. The AmeriCorps grant will help pay off her loan.
Delton Alderman, 36, had been a private forestry consultant for 10 years and needed a change. Working out of Wytheville, Alderman is designing and constructing low-cost timber bridges.
After receiving a bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech and a master's degree from Radford University, Audrey Biggs of Blacksburg is working in the first job that is predominantly in her career, communications. Biggs, 30, is working with 11 counties as a councils outreach coordinator. She will also help create a promotional video for the Jefferson National Forest with forest economics specialist Adrienne Perkins.
Also a Virginia Tech graduate, Perkins, 25, is using her bachelor's degree in communications for her AmeriCorps work. Perkins is working with 17 counties in the New River-Highlands area and the Black Diamonds District of Montgomery County to Lee County.
With the programs under way, Northington says she's sure of AmeriCorps' success. Though students may be discouraged and "burnt out" by the end of the year, that would be part of the learning process, Howard said.
Clark was unsure how successful the program would be but said AmeriCorps has a lot of potential.
"It has been very good for me and will be for people like me," Clark said.
AMERICORPS PROGRAM
AmeriCorps programs in Virginia are in different stages of operation. Some have received grants and are up and running. Others have received planning grants. The programs:
OPERATING GRANTS: the Southwest Virginia AmeriCorps Tutoring program out of the Southwest Virginia Community College, the Northern Virginia Urban League "Service to Alexandria" program for 20 public housing residents to rebuild more than 200 public housing units, the Virginia Commonwealth University AmeriCorps Program for public housing, tutoring and health initiative programs, and Project Lead out of George Mason University in Fairfax, for leadership empowerment and development.
PLANNING GRANTS: the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services for a victim/witness program throughout the state, the Monticello Community Action Agency in Charlottesville for a program targeting college or college-bound students who cannot afford to continue their education, and the Rappahannock AmeriCorps Project in Fredericksburg for an academic enrichment program.
NATIONAL DIRECT GRANTS: the Mid-Atlantic Network of Youth & Family Services MANY-corps for a runaway and homeless youth service in Loudoun County, Va., the Blue Ridge Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and the New River-Highlands Resource, Conservation and Development Council through the United States Department of Agriculture.
by CNB