skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

AmeriCorps Week Celebrates Young Volunteers

play audio
Play

Monday, March 7, 2016   

SEATTLE - It's national AmeriCorps week, a time when the community service organization founded in 1993 by President Bill Clinton celebrates its volunteers and alumni.

This year, Congress gave the organization's budget a $51 million increase. In the state of Washington, there are more than 1,800 young volunteers, working in the conservation corps, with veterans, and as teachers.

Debbie Schuffenhauer executive director of Serve Washington, the state's branch of AmeriCorps, says the people who participate feel the impact of service in their own lives.

"Through their service they're becoming more engaged in their community," says Schuffenhauer. "We hope they will become long-term engaged citizens in the community and in Washington state."

AmeriCorps partners with local nonprofits for many of its projects.

Some of AmeriCorps' young volunteers work in the program to pay back school debt as part of their loan forgiveness program.

Shelby Vander Molen, who went to college for theater and writing, is in her second year volunteering with the Washington Conservation Corps and says her experience has put her on a new path.

"AmeriCorps kind of changed what I will be doing at least for a chunk of my life, because before I wouldn't have had any of these connections or skills," says Vander Molen. "I grew up on a farm so I'd done a little bit of outdoor work, but I wasn't certified in wilderness medicine or anything like that."

In addition to conservation work, Vander Molen was part of a disaster-relief team that traveled to Missouri to help flood victims last month.

She made her way back home from the Mississippi floodplains this weekend with a wealth of new experiences.

"You have to be resourceful," she says. "You have to be ready for anything, be flexible, and I think the disaster response teams, of all AmeriCorps types of work, are especially ready to be that way just because the nature of disasters."


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021