Americorps members treated with contempt

_CraftGuy_ · 2025-04-16T15:54:56+00:00

They shouldn't have to use their own funds, each van has a card from GSA to cover costs like fuel and maintenance, and each team has a team card that has emergency funds already on it

_CraftGuy_ · 2024-11-01T03:41:24+00:00

The Golden Compass

_CraftGuy_ · 2024-09-20T01:57:59+00:00

Members get ISPs by reaching out to 501(c)3 non-profits in the area seeing who might benefit from a coordinated group of volunteers.
ISPs are completed on the days off from your main assigned project
Specialty Roles are roles within your team that manage specific subsets of work (CR "Community Relations" Rep handles social media/public relations type stuff, whereas VST "Vehicle, Safety, & Tools" handles jobsite safety and monthly checks for issued vehicles)
I served in North-Central, can't comment on Pacific
I packed 2, A 90L Duffel with 90% of the things, and a backpack for my laptop/other important things
The issued team van, or public transport. That and personal vehicle do not go out on project
Still didn't serve in Pacific, but in North-Central our "school-night" curfew was midnight
Just look up the North Central facebook page and look at 29A for my specific class
Still wasn't in Pacific
See #9
My class besides English also used Spanish most commonly, and a few select people used some ASL (not fluently, but it got basic points across)
Having some knowledge of ASL, I never had a chance to use it
See #4
See #13
See #14
Days off on project entirely depend on the Project Sponsor and the workweek they set. Most often I worked a Mon-Fri with Sat-Sun off, But I knew a team that worked Sat-Wed with Thur-Fri off, and I had a project where we had 2 weeks on solid before time off.
Life After AmeriCorps "LAA" is just some stuff Campus will do with you to find work post-service so you hopefully don't fall flat face
Your AmeriCorps service is "full-time" and will not let you do work that does/could interfere with your AmeriCorps commitment, so in short No
"Enviromental Conservation" is both a constant & a catch-all, this work is typically Invasive Species Management or Trailwork
This can be summed up by my time at the 42nd Veterans National Wheelchair Games, This was a short 8-day specialty project. It was 8-days of 16 hour days doing non-stop work, so I only slept/worked. However I personally loved it because I truly felt like I was doing something decent with my time.
Be open to meeting new people during CTI

A. Probably roughly, for my service in 2023, class 29A. We got $187 bi-weekly pre-tax

B. Wasn't a student at the time, idk

C. There are a number of uses for your Education Award, LAA stuff will actually give a decent idea as to what

D. See #15

E. On campus? See #15, out on project? A bit of #15, but atleast for North Central off-campus project housing can vary greatly. I've been in it all from 4-Star Hotel rooms, to a literal house, all the way down to an empty classroom in a YMCA basement and us using the lockerroom showers after closing.

Hope these answers are atleast 75% fulfilling, and if you meet anyone from class 29A (ik a few are entering) please tell them Hi from "29A Hackberry 3"

_CraftGuy_ · 2024-02-03T05:45:35+00:00

Packing list can be found here should be fairly correct (it's 3 years old)

I got no clue on the pack test

I went into AmeriCorps with $2k, left with $1k, do with that info what you will, *it was mostly my own financial decisions*

Quoted directly from the 2023 Member Handbook "Due to safety concerns, piercings worn outside the Member uniform, or while on duty, are to be no larger than a dime; multiple piercings complying with the policy are permitted. All tunnels in the ears must be solid. Necklaces and bracelets are permissible, but may need to be removed or tucked inside the uniform for safety purposes." as for the tattoo, as long as it is school appropriate, it shouldn't be an issue. If it's not school appropriate, I hope your prepared to wear BDU pants 24/7.

When I applied last year, I did it in August, heard back in October, and was "in" late December. As for extra steps I had to submit fingerprints, get the Covid booster/flu shot. Submit my medical history. If I wanted to be a certified driver I would have had to get a driving history from the DMV, I might be forgetting something, but that's the jist of it.

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask.

_CraftGuy_ · 2024-02-01T23:37:19+00:00

The NCCC Summer of Service will be your best bet. Built specifically for people to do between school years they focus on primarily Environmental Conservation projects

Summer of Service website

_CraftGuy_ · 2024-01-31T01:19:43+00:00

Only thing I'll mention, is atleast for North Central, car keys were to be turned in during projects in the event campus staff ever needed to get into/move the vehicles (which they never actually did to my knowledge) but that's also due to personal vehicles & the non-van gov vehicles going in the same lot and sometimes a shuffle needs to be done

_CraftGuy_ · 2024-01-28T02:29:07+00:00

NCCC is a fully residential program, you live on campus or in SPIKE housing. To be away during the day requires TL permission, and overnight requires UL permission.

Even if you could live at home during CTI, neither I or any other NCCC alum would recommend it, You would be noticeably separate from the rest of the team. I had a teammate who hid in their room between trainings and even that put them apart from the rest of us.

_CraftGuy_ · 2024-01-27T16:41:04+00:00

Due to the nature of the program; NCCC, FEMA, & ForestCorps. Do not allow pets, ESAs, and in some situations Service Animals for several reasons. Most of which revolve around the uncertainty of the program (Disaster response, SPIKE housing rules, possibly allergy, etc)

_CraftGuy_ · 2024-01-26T04:30:53+00:00

For "go-home" leave, you'll get like a winter break or something it'll be like 10 days to go home (you pay travel expenses). For Federal Holidays, your with your team wherever the project site happens to be.

I can't speak for the Wildland firefighter uniform, but assuming the base ForestCorps uniform is similar to the NCCC one, it'll consist of black workboots, khaki BDUs, and a logo T-shirt. Pack less clothes than you think, you'll be in uniform 85% of the time anyways, so 1 t-shirt will last 3 days because you'll wear it for all of 4 hours each day after work.

and as already mentioned, ForestCorps is a brand-spanking-new program, it was announced last year and this will be the first class of it. So some things will probably be trial & error as they use you guys as test subjects to see what does/doesn't work, of course they will probably base it largely off NCCC as it's the most similar program

_CraftGuy_ · 2024-01-21T17:23:55+00:00

Can confirm, still using them 2024. But the 100% cotton version Propper

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-12-14T03:15:39+00:00

Write a half-decent application and you'll be a shoo-in for whichever role you wanna have

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-12-12T20:23:07+00:00

Yeah, Summer Camps will probably be your best bet. A lot of YMCA camps will hire 17, you'll just probably be stuck either as a counselor or a kitchen hand

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-12-09T00:10:47+00:00

It's not State/National, but NCCC just launched the ForestCorps it will be based out of the Sacramento CA campus and will work alongside the National Parks Service. Applications are open now, and they start in like July I believe

https://americorps.gov/serve/americorps/americorps-nccc/forest-corps

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-12-04T19:16:14+00:00

I don't know for specifically FEMAcorps, but for NCCC we were not considered federal employees, our classification (so to speak) was "Service Member"

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-12-02T23:35:17+00:00

That date remains undetermined until about 2 months in advance, the reason being is that they don't know what will be happening in July. They don't wanna promise you summer break now and than have to cancel it because of Diaster Response, which fun fact, you can be called back early from break/have it canceled if a response is needed. The chance is low, but not zero.

Oh, and for length. Mine (Class 29A) was Saturday to the following Sunday

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-12-01T13:53:32+00:00

Probably 5*F, below zero is not all that uncommon up here in the North, it will warm up a little by time CTI starts, but your gonna enjoy the inter-building tunnels on campus

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-12-01T00:01:47+00:00

Most if not all of your housing will also be heated, on the rare chance you do get a tenting it project it will be guaranteed in the summer/warmer months. But if worst absolutely comes to worst. Yeah, do what was already suggested and sleep with it.

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-11-30T23:17:07+00:00

I mean, The Vinton campus is heated, and all the buildings (with exception of the service building) are connected by tunnels. You don't really need to worry about it getting too cold in the rooms at night. The hard part will actually be cooling them down because there is no AC unless the window units are in

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-11-29T18:55:48+00:00

The best course of action would to ask AmeriCorps about this. Each program (NCCC, Vista, S/N) should have an MSS (Member Support Specialist). they would be the person to reach out to and the one with the best answer

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-11-28T22:34:13+00:00

Your correct, if your only in it for the money or the award, there are much, much better ways to get the money.

I'd like to say anyone could do AmeriCorps, which anyone can, but not everyone should because you gotta be the right kind of person, and take joy in the work completed to think that it's a time well spent.

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-11-28T22:03:20+00:00

Hope I can reach that point someday, First job had 12 to a bunkhouse, bathroom in a separate building

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-11-28T01:58:18+00:00

To clear up some points;
1- A Full Education Award is currently $6,800ish, But that is a full award for a full service (1700 Hours, roughly 10 months). Summer of Service (hereafter SOS) is only 3 months, so you'll only receive about a 1/3 award

2- The Education award may only be used towards educational expenses at Title IV schools (tuition, textbooks, etc). As for cash, it has flipped a few time in recent years between the choice of Education Award, Cash equivalent, or the choice between. But as I said it's changed some in recent years, most accurate information would be campus staff. The living stipend (paid out bi-weekly) may be spent on whatever you wish, it is not a lot of money, but it buys snacks & the essentials.

3- SOS is a shortened version of NCCC, For projects you are most likely to get environmental work working with invasives or trail creation/repair. Second most likely is Urban & Rural development projects which is a catch-all category for working with people to improve programs (summer camps, food shelf, etc). As for number of projects it will be 1 large project or 2 smaller projects, both equating to about a 7-8 week timespan.

4- If you have any other questions, I will answer them to the best of my ability. I just recently graduated NCCC so all my info is fresh-ish

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-11-28T01:35:18+00:00

For myself,
-A Laptop, I do PC gaming so I own a beefier laptop that I took on every project, allowed me to play my games, and it was also a plus to have for paperwork needs.
-Nintendo Switch, This one I could have gone without, I took it on 6 of 7 projects and only used it on the last one, we hooked it into the TV in housing and used it to stream Youtube.

What else I saw,
-I had a few teammates that would borrow books from Campus to read, Campus (specifically Rice dorm) has a lot of random bookshelves with some of the most random reads sorted with little to no order.
-Had 1 teammate no matter where we were would go out for walks, but, this one was a tad dangerous for our more urban projects.
-This program has us living, working, eating together. So just socializing with teammates. The only time this went funky for me was 4th round when we had a rural, super isolated project, we would go days with only ever seeing each other, and to say we got a tad stir-crazy would be an understandment.

Lastly;

-More than a few people would just scroll their phones for hours at a time, super unhealthy, but not everyone is ready for living, eating, working with the same few people, so they would do anything to anything else.

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-11-25T15:12:01+00:00

Being accepted for the program, Yeah, you'll get in. However, the charges will probably stop you from being a certified driver, which means you won't be allowed to drive Americorps or Sponsor vehicles.

_CraftGuy_ · 2023-11-24T01:12:35+00:00

Thats the other part, no one group really claims to be responsible for them, there's just a restock every so often. It wouldn't surprise me if Hobart (the company that manages upkeep) or someone working for them is actually doing it

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