Impact of CNCS evident

For many years now, Vickie Schenk has worked to promote the Corporation for National and Community Service and its work.
And, when looking at all the projects, programs and more that CNCS helps to facilitate each year, it’s easy to say that the mission of improving lives, strengthening communities and fostering civic engagement through service and volunteering is being accomplished each and every day.
“I like to tell everyone we’re the warm and fuzzy part of the federal government,” said Schenk, state program director for CNCS, in her presentation to the Rotary Club of Crowley Tuesday.
For the past few years, the strategic plan for CNCS has had six priorities: economic opportunity, education, disaster services, environmental stewardship, healthy futures and veterans and military families.
At the end of last year, CNCS boasted 345,000 member volunteers and leveraged another 4.6 million volunteers over 60,000 locations across the country.
When AmeriCorps was moved under the same umbrella by the Clinton administration, the entities became CNCS and helped continue to facilitate cost-effective solutions for local communities and the nation.
AmeriCorps and its programs – AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps), AmeriCorps National and AmeriCorps State and National – along with Senior Corps and its programs – Senior Companion Program, Foster Grandparents Program and RSVP – and the Social Innovation Fund all work toward those common strategic goals to help the communities, state and nation each and every day.
And, for the most part, the volunteers associated with this program are paid either nothing at all – as is the case with the Senior Corps’ RSVP program – less the minimum wage – like AmeriCorps volunteers – or a meager $2.65 per hour – like Senior Corps volunteers in the Senior Companions and Foster Grandparents programs.
At the state level, Schenk and the state oversee AmeriCorps VISTA and Senior Corps programs, which saw Schenk explain what each program does for the community.
Senior Companion volunteers offer up their time, up to four hours per day, with seniors who typically have difficulty with daily living tasks. These volunteers provide assistance and friendship to many seniors that have become shut-ins.
Volunteers with the Foster Grandparents Program are those that become “pseudo-grandparents” – role models, mentors and friends – to children with exceptional needs, albeit Head Start children, at risk, etc. This past year actually marked the Foster Grandparents Program’s 50th anniversary.
RSVP volunteers offer their services in a variety of activities.
In Louisiana there are 100 AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers. These volunteers are provided as full-time members to community organizations and public agencies. They help create and expand programs that are designed to build capacity and ultimately bring low-income individuals and communities out of poverty.
Schenk explained that, because there are only about 100 volunteers in the state with this program that have to be spread throughout Louisiana, their time with areas is usually rather limited and the grants associated are as well with a maximum of three years.
And as for specific outreach, in the Lafayette/Lake Charles area there are seven AmeriCorps projects and three Senior Corps projects that amount to 703 participants, and over $1.5 million in CNCS plus local program support funding.
For more information on CNCS, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov/.