AmeriCorps members, alums, and champions for service came out today to express their support for AmeriCorps and national service.
We came representing CalSERVES and CalSERVES VIP, programs which engages over 250 AmeriCorps members in service in each year both locally and throughout the State. The programs provide vital after school programs, tutoring services, and volunteer development to students and organizations in the highest need communities.
We brought letters from hundreds of people that the program impacts directly. Our service partners are teachers, school administrators, non-profit staff people, and community members who know how vital AmeriCorps is to the community. Direct service recipients, including children and families impacted by the program every day wrote to express what it would mean to them to lose these important services. AmeriCorps alumni wrote eloquently about the important service they engaged in and how it has impacted their lives and the lives of the community for the better.
I have had the privilege of being the director of an AmeriCorps program for over 13 years. In that time I have seen how vital the services of these dedicated individuals are to the community and to the children and families they touch. They have generated and supported over 150,000 volunteers in meaningful service to the community. They have supported the growth and development of over 10,000 students and not in an insignificant way. These AmeriCorps members are mentors and role models to students who desperately need them. They dedicate their lives for a year to our community and in so doing have changed the course for so many students, showing them what is possible and providing them the tools to get there. This program is essential to this community and to who we are as a Country.
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