OLYMPIA, Wash. – Older and wiser than many of her AmeriCorps peers, Heather Davis joined the service program for the career training, the resume entry and the employee-like fringe benefits.

The 26-year-old spends 40 hours per week working for Harvest Against Hunger, a food bank in Thurston County. In return, AmeriCorps provides a health plan with 100 percent coverage, either education assistance or a $1,200 bonus, paid child care if needed and — in some programs — paid-for housing.

After years without health insurance, Davis said, “It’s nice to know that if you’re feeling ill you can just go to the ER and not worry about how much it’s going to cost.”

Davis plans to use the education award — $4,725 paid as a student credit at the end of her one-year AmeriCorps term — to get a Master’s of Public Administration from The Evergreen State College in Washington. Evergreen charges $5,253 per year.

“Even though the education award won’t even cover a year, it’s still a wonderful thing to get you started,” Davis said.

Explosion of interest

With the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting 9.7 percent unemployment in June, positions like those at AmeriCorps are increasing in popularity for the employee-like benefits they provide. AmeriCorps applications, at nearly 150,000 so far this year, were triple that of the same time period in 2008.

“With the economy creating a bleaker job market, that’s why we’re seeing this explosion of interest,” said Sandy Scott, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that oversees AmeriCorps, SeniorCorps and other service programs. He said the most responsive are Millennials (often to pay off student loans) and Baby Boomers (often reentering the workforce or needing a way to absorb health costs).

In Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and California, AmeriCorps members have earned $321 million toward college education expenses alone. They serve with national and local nonprofits, schools, faith-based organizations and other groups, tutoring and mentoring children, coordinating after-school programs, building homes, conducting neighborhood patrols, restoring the environment, responding to disasters, building nonprofit capacity and recruiting and managing volunteers.

Building on change

Jayme Aumann is 39 and coordinates volunteers for Habitat for Humanity’s home-building projects near Seattle. The job is an AmeriCorps position she found while looking to volunteer with the organization.

An artist and non-traditional student, Aumann had just finished her Associate’s Degree from Cascadia Community College when she found the position. She said she “just didn’t have the opportunity to go to college when I was younger, and honestly didn’t feel like I had the self-confidence to accomplish a degree.” What changed, she said, was life experience.

“I’ve always wanted to go to school so I was finally doing something for myself,” Aumann said. “I’m an artist, so that’s another big factor in going back to school to learn more about painting and art, and art history.”

As for the education award that comes with the AmeriCorps position, Aumann plans to use it for art immersion. Her plans include serving as a volunteer docent at art museums and galleries up and down the East Coast, while the AmeriCorps stipend pays her basic expenses. She’ll be getting credit toward her bachelor’s degree at the same time.

“There’s a class you can take through Seattle Central Community College where you tell them what your expenses will be, write a paper detailing your experience, and the education award pays for the course and related expenses,” Aumann said. “Without the education award I would not be able to do this financially.”

Saving for education

Anne Morse commutes to her AmeriCorps post at Adelante Mujeres in Forest Grove, Ore., a nonprofit that runs the Forest Grove Farmers Market and offers training and grant programs for migrant farmers and their families.

“I signed up for the education benefit,” said Morse, a southeast Portland resident who is in the middle of a year-long AmeriCorps commitment. “The ability to save for education is really hard, even in a regular job where you may be paid more. At the end of the year, to have nearly $5,000 [toward that] is pretty good. And I have basic coverage health insurance, which is awesome.”

Many like Davis, the hunger relief worker, have found the health benefits just as important as the education benefits.

Just eight weeks into her year-long post, Davis already has used the hospital coverage for an Emergency Room visit. She also plans to use the education assistance to help her make a career switch into work for hunger relief.

“I have some pretty inexpensive housing that I’m in right now,” Davis said, “and I live pretty frugally, and I have most of the things I need already.” This means she can afford to live on the poverty-level stipend of roughly $1,250 per month, before taxes, paid to AmeriCorps members.

“It definitely requires you to be very frugal for the year that you’re doing your contract,” said Davis, readying to head out to a local farm to work a deal there to harvest excess crops. “But it’s definitely a wonderful experience, and in the end you have either your stipend or your education award to give you a push toward whatever you want to do next.”

Resource links:

AmeriCorps in Oregon and Washington

AmeriCorps elsewhere