My daughter is thinking of doing Americorps after graduation for a year before starting college. She filled out the application but the website doesn’t list the starting and ending dates for the program, other than saying it is 10 to 11 months. Does anyone have experience with doing Americorps after high school? Can the applicant choose the region or state? She is interested in community service or environmental work which seems to require travel.
Good luck to her! I hope she gets accepted into the Americorps program! Please let us all know.
They don’t all start on the same date. Some programs have training before the start date (and that counts as part of the 10-11 months) that may not be full time or all in one week.
I do think she’ll be able to pick which program she wants to be in (within limits). Because of her age, she might be limited to programs that take 18 year olds. The program I worked in long (long long) after high school (tutoring) did have some hs grad but I don’t think they could teach in a high school (but plenty of jobs from prek to 8th grade). I think there are other programs that require one to be 21.
My kid is doing this right now! She applied in the normal college cycle last year and requested (and was granted) a deferment from her school to spend a year in Americorps. She’s in the Americorps NCCC FEMAcorps branch and is enjoying her gap year. For the NCCC, they form teams with of people ages 18 - 26, though the team leader might be older. For 10 months, they live and work together, travel around the country to 3 or 4 different sites, and work on projects together. FEMACorps is more admin work, but the Traditional (aka Trad) and Forest Corps are more outdoorsy or physical projects. Her latest assignment was helping Helene hurricane survivors in impacted regions. Your home base for NCCC is determined by the session you enroll, e.g. July starts are in vicksburg, MS. There are also campuses in Denver and Sacramento I believe. But the assignments could be anywhere, and the team usually drives to the location in the government provided van (not Puerto Rico assignments obviously) These programs are 10 months.
Americorps Vista opportunities are not as structured and are often single or small group positions offered by sponsoring organizations. Start times can vary as can the length of the assignment. Housing may or may not be included. For those positions, she needs to look through the Americorps database and see if it fits her interests.
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I’ve worked with non-profits which had/hired Vista participants, and one thing to keep in mind is that the quality of mentorship (and the types of assignments and projects) varies tremendously. It’s up to the sponsoring organization to use the volunteer appropriately, and some do a better job of this than others. So if there’s a Vista opportunity that looks interesting, it’s worth tracking down a few recent participants (kids are able to find each other very easily these days) to hear about their experience.
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thanks so much for all this info. I think she would like the Traditional or Forest Corps but the application didn’t give any sense of when those would start. Did the application take a very long time to process?
The application process is a bit slow, but it’s rare to get rejected as a Traditional Corps member. I think my kid applied in February and heard back in April? ForestCorps is a bit more competitive, and there’s a fitness test that’s administered when you come for training. My understanding is if you aren’t selected for ForestCorps, you will be offered a slot in Traditional Corps.
Applications are open now until end of March for a July start for both traditional and forestcorps. You can also do a fall start for traditional only, starting in September (applications open in March). Best of luck to your daughter!
During the pandemic two of my D’s friends took work through AmeriCorp. They had good experiences, even though they were mostly online. I don’t know anything about the logistics of their programs, but both had just graduated from college into a world of uncertainty. It helped them both feel anchored to something. Once of them was sent to Montana (from NY) and still lives there. She made great friends during her time working for AmeriCorp. I recommend it for the experience alone, and it will be a great way to decompress after high school.
thanks for this! The application had no details about when programs start or where the assignments would be, so this is helpful
thanks!
Ugh, yes the Americorps database is not exactly… modern. She’s looking to apply for:
Forest Corps 2025 - AmeriCorps NCCC and Traditional AmeriCorps NCCC - Summer 2025 based on what you’re saying. Both of those should start in Vicksburg, MS, and if accepted, she’ll be sent an airline ticket or ground transportation ticket to get to the Vicksburg campus for the appropriate date. She’ll also be given a ticket to return home at the end of the program. They have a 2 week christmas break - for that she’s responsible for covering her own transportation costs. Otherwise all housing, food, and transportation costs are covered during the program, and they receive a small stipend every other week during the program and an educational award at the end if they complete the program.
Feel free to message me if you have more specific questions. It is very confusing.
ETA: Just looked at the ForestCorps page, and it looks like that program actually starts with training in Sacramento. Not sure if that’s a new thing or I’m just confused. Could be either!
I did Americorps for just 6 weeks over the summer between my junior and senior year in college ( late 90s) We did not get hourly pay, but a small stipend. The experience working a summer reading program and sharing meals with the children, along with volunteer work in the community in the afternoon was great real world experience for me.
You should check on the Segal grant. For me it was based on how many hours I completed (could get 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 for full, and it is based on the Pell grant for that year). She might be eligible even if she doesn’t complete the whole year but just a portion. And just because there is no free lunch, it’s taxable!
Hi all, my son is interested in a possible gap year with Americorps as well. However, I’m worried it might not be around next year with all the federal budget cuts.
Does anyone know if it will still be funded for the summer/fall 2025-spring 2026 period, or any related news? Thank you
There haven’t been any announcements of cuts yet, and the applications seem to be out, but the uncertainty has made my daughter not want to take a gap year at all.