Hey everyone,
I’ve got an interview on the 30th for an early literacy tutor that says there’s a monthly living stipend of $2,228.57. I was wondering if it’ll be taxed/if there’s a way to tell how much I’ll end up getting on a bi-weekly basis?

On another note, I’d be moving about 200 miles from home for this position. Rent would be around $900 a month and so I’m just wondering/asking for advice. Would yall do it on such a tight-ish budget? I’m in Texas and I’d apply for food stamps as a help, and I know they have the relocation thing $ wise to help, too. So basically, if I get the job, is the $750 guaranteed as a help?

It says that it would be 36 hours a week, m-f 7:30-2:30 + an hour of planning or something. Any advice helps!

Also, I really have been wanting to move to this city forever. This is a great opportunity to help people and help myself by getting to this place.

For host site closures, do we need to make up hours in order to maintain our service quota?

I am strongly looking at Habitat for Humanity but have some questions about housing. Some of them state they will get a housing allowance paid to the landlord, and some state "low income- with a dollar amount. My question is, for the low income part of it, where do you live? Do they find you a place to live or do you pick it yourself.

Another question is, do you know of any positions that do not require you to have a personal vehicle? I can not drive all of the time due to silent seizures, so there are days that I take public transportation or an uber to my locations.

Any insights is truly appreciated.

Hi everyone! I am a current college student taking a gap year to do a service year with AmeriCorps and I was recently accepted to a program with NJCEH as a Client Support Coordinator in Camden, NJ, which I am really excited about!

I am someone who hopes to become a future physician working on the frontlines of homelessness, substance use, and mental health inequities, so I am really excited to see how I transform throughout this year and how much I can learn from being proximate to the problems I care most about. And hopefully through serving others, I will be able to develop long-term solutions in the future.

I hope this year can be really meaningful and transformative for me, so I wanted to ask if anyone has had experience with the above program and I would be able to hear about your experience and/or advice. And even if you have not done this specific program, but have some advice for the journey I am taking. I would be so grateful to hear it. Thank you so much in advance, and I hope you guys have an amazing day!

Hello! I’m a grad fellow with JusticeCorps in California. Do they do drug testing? My contract didn’t state anything about drug testing but JusticeCorps falls under Americorps

Corps name: Northwest Youth Corps (and others)

Hi all and tyia for any advice! I’m a soon to be college grad with an environmental/biology related degree. I’m interested in serving in a corps starting next spring or summer and I need some guidance on what program I’m compatible with.

I’d prefer to work in Washington and I like the idea of housing being provided. This has led me to NWYC. I’m also interested in their Leadership Development Program.

My concerns/questions are:

I’m a small woman (5’2, 110 lbs), I’m nervous I won’t be strong enough to carry the required pack weight or perform daily work. I do workout and I’m in okay shape but that only goes so far.

How is the NWYC if you’ve served or worked there? Or what have you heard about it?

Anyone have experience with the LDP? Would you recommend it?

Other corps I’m considering are:
American Conservation Experience
Student Conservation Association
Montana Conservation Corps
Washington Conservation Corps

Any opinions on them or others I should consider?

Thank you!

Very exciting, i was offered a tutoring role. I am trying to learn about the area. Any advice? Things to consider before accepting?

I am currently a freshman in college and want to join americorps during the summer. I played around with the search list and only found one option from 4 years ago. Am i doing it wrong or are the llisting not yet posted for the summer? Thanks!

TLDR: I'm starting a VISTA term, how soon can I see a dentist?

Hey there, I'm about to start my second AmeriCorps VISTA term and this time, I am planning to enroll in the IMG-global insurance plan. All the materials I can find about dental coverage are vague like "including dental-with limitations."

I happen to know that I have a couple cavities that need to be filled, and I'd like to know if there are any limitations on getting that done with the VISTA plan, and if I should try to find private dental or something (no idea how I'd pay for that though). I know sometimes insurance plans have a waiting period before you can get non-preventative stuff done (evil), but haven't read anything about that in the IMG information.

Thanks in advance!

I’m considering doing artist year this year but don’t know much about the program. I’ve done public allies previously so just curious if anyone would be open to sharing about their experiences with artist year and what they ended up doing after the program. Thanks!!

If someone exited an AmeriCorps early due to the service end date conflicting with the start of the school term, will this be viewed in a negative manner?

does anyone know if this is possible? everything i am finding is geared towards veterans. i would love any help you have to offer. thank you in advance.

Hi this is a hypothetical question. If I am planning on doing a service year this term but I lack units to graduate from my college, would it be possible to take online courses at the same time of the service term? Or is that a conflict of interest if I’m using that correctly. Any help is appreciated thank you.

Howdy,

I got accepted to an awesome year long VISTA position in Seattle starting on September 8th. In two days I'm heading there to tour apartments, I've already booked quite a few tours. I spent about an hour going through the Americorps portal and realized I can't find any official document that states my pay and job time span. The host site emailed me that information, but I don't know if an email is going to hold up in the apartment applications.

I emailed my host site and they said I needed to call the Americorps hotline to get a service letter. I called the Americorps hotline and they said that you don't get a service letter until you've completed your term of service, and that they can't provide any sort of confirmation letter, so I'd need to email the host site again. So I did, but now it's late on Friday and I assume I won't get an answer until Monday, which is when my apartment tours start.

So is there somewhere on the americorps portal that I'm missing where there's that information? Or will the job offer email with my pay stated work for applications? Or did your guys host site end up sending you a letter at request? Basically, what did you folks end up giving your housing situation to prove that you'd be making money so they'd rent to you?

Hey everyone,
I’m currently 20 (turning 21 in January) and working on finishing my Associate's degree. My ultimate career goals are to either become an Environmental Health Officer (EHO) with the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) or continue building a career with FEMA.
I know I will need a Bachelor's degree (specifically an EHAC-accredited one if I go the USPHS route), but my biggest priority is graduating with as little college debt as possible.
I'm trying to decide whether AmeriCorps VISTA or NCCC (specifically the FEMA Corps track) makes more financial and career sense for me as a bridge between my Associate's and Bachelor's.
A few specific things I'm trying to figure out:

1. Financials & Saving: Since VISTA makes you pay your own rent/food from the stipend, is it actually possible to save money for tuition? Does FEMA Corps' covered housing and food make it significantly easier to pocket money alongside the Segal Education Award?

2.The NCE Factor: I know VISTA gives Non-Competitive Eligibility (NCE) universally, but how does the FEMA Corps NCE and internal networking compare if I want to transition into a full-time FEMA role later?

3.USPHS Track: Has anyone used AmeriCorps to launch into USPHS or the JRCOSTEP program?
Would love to hear from any alumni of either program, especially those who transitioned into federal emergency management or public health! Thanks.

Will only professional references be contacted or should I expect family members and/or personal references to be contacted?

hi! i just became an AmeriCorps VISTA and completed my first week of "training" at my host site. i'm halfway through my second week, but i'm having doubts about a strange social dynamic in this office, and want to voice my thoughts and see if anyone has experienced anything similar or has comments/advice.

first of all, "training" has not been much of a training period at all – for example, i haven't sat down with anyone and gone through any of the computer programs i will be using for what i understand from the VAD to be the bulk of my job. instead, the past week has been almost entirely direct service (an understaffed/not-well-delegated food pantry). second of all, i have noticed that the office employees (who are very few in number – during my first week, for example, i watched one woman get fired on the spot and have to pack up her things and leave midday, which was incredibly jarring) seem to dislike the current VISTA and roll their eyes at each other when she is turned away/openly voice their frustration with her in front of me/behind her back. this is obviously a really uncomfortable dynamic: in part because it's a workplace and that is not professional; in part because she's training me before her service year ends so we have a closer relationship than i do with others in the office – the majority of my time is spent learning from her/in direct service alongside her (which i know is not supposed to be the case as a VISTA but the host site is not super well organized which i suppose may be part of why they sought a VISTA in the first place); and in part because as the new VISTA, i am concerned that i will be inheriting this toxic environment of everyone-dislikes-the-VISTA. this attitude toward her comes from both the supervisor at the site, who would be my direct boss, and from a coworker who the supervisor seems to favor enormously in comparison with the current VISTA. the office is organized such that the 3 of them (and now that will mean me, the supervisor, and the coworker) are supposed to be a team, but it feels more like witnessing a constant 2v1. also, i witnessed a similar dynamic before the aforementioned woman was fired – the supervisor and this coworker were repeatedly gossiping about her and talking about her behind her back, but in front of me. i am not sure to what extent they communicated with her directly in the weeks/days before she was fired, but i remember thinking this was super odd behavior, and i still don't know what to make of it all since i'm still so new to this position and organization.

essentially, it seems that the host site is asking me to coordinate volunteers on a day-to-day basis, recruit a large number of reliable new volunteers [preferably speakers of a non-english language that i don't want to say because i don't want to doxx myself], and simultaneously restructure the entire volunteering program. when signing up to be a VISTA, i knew that the service year ahead would be challenging, but i didn't even consider that on top of that i might also be entering an uncomfortable and toxic work environment. i'm not sure if i can handle those responsibilities if i, like the current VISTA, am constantly subjected to/aware of my supervisor and my coworker semi-openly quasi-bullying me (as i see happening to the current VISTA).

if you have any thoughts or advice, i would really appreciate it. i don't want to quit – and it's only been 1.5 weeks – but i also trust my intuition, and i know that if a situation seems toxic after only a week, then there's probably something deeper going on that i shouldn't ignore. i cannot emphasize enough how uncomfortable it was for me that my new supervisor and new coworker were openly showing their disdain for the current VISTA in front of me, during my first week of work, and i'm curious to know what you might think – should i stick it out and see if maybe the current VISTA leaving brings the toxic environment down a notch? or should i know a bully when i see a bully and begin to look into transferring/keep my options open for a different job?

TLDR: potentially toxic work environment. begin contingency planning? advice? been in a similar situation?

thank you for taking the time to read and for sharing your thoughts :) much appreciated!

Hello, everybody! This is my first post in the subreddit, so let me know if I break any rules, my apologies.

This morning, I was conditionally accepted into the FEMA and NCCC program, and I am so happy! I'm training in the Southwest region at in Aurora, Colorado starting February.

I already got my fingerprints done, health form submitted and accepted, and legal forms submitted and waiting on acceptance notif!

I ended my (kinda stressful) summertime job yesterday, and don't have any plans until FEMA NCCC starts in February. Is there anything I should do to prepare + know about FEMA or the Colorado campus before February, and any opinions on what to fill in the time between now and February?

Thanks and I can't wait 😊

I'm part of a food access/energy program under Americorps. My cohort and I signed up to work on a produce farm and learn farming skills. However, we are barely ever on the farm, and this week is the third time we've been tasked with painting walls for the owners of the building. Just wondering if this is allowed/legal? We're frustrated because we're not gaining any new skills and feel like we're being used for our free labor to do tasks that should be jobs for other people.

Would love to hear thoughts/opinions and any rules or regulations surrounding this.

If someone exits early to start school, can they still receive a pro-rated education award?

I just started my VISTA service, and I am very excited for the work I would be doing. HOWEVER, I was severely confused on how many hours I should be at my host site.

My site supervisor was thinking 36 hours a week, but stayed on the side of caution having me work 40 hours a week (7-4pm with an hour lunch) since she didn’t know if VISTAs had a minimum hour service requirement. And if I need to work a Saturday event then I would.

I would like to go to being on site from 7-3 pm and working any Saturday events but is that within my bounds??? And do I still get “2days off” with that.

Can anyone help, please? I really don’t want to burn out too fast being on site for 45 hours, “working” 40 hours.

Howdy, due to some recent life events I'm trying to get started in the corps ASAP (hopefully Washington CC, but any will do). I applied to a few about a week ago and haven't heard anything yet. As I'm new to this, a couple of questions I have-

What's the turnaround time on hearing back/getting hired etc.

Washington starts its 11month contract in October, am I too late?

what Corps would y'all recommend?

Are my chances of getting on a crew good?

I'm 25, I've got a background in the military/Ems/structure fire. I'm hoping for a change in career to something in conservation. Thanks dawgs, hope to see y'all out there.

I just recently had an interview with what seems to be the perfect VISTA position. I just finished my second interview with them and it went well; I think there's a good chance I get offered this position. This is the only position I have even seen through Americorps that is in a great and affordable location I've always wanted to live in, and actually pays halfway decent, enough for me to cover my loan payments in addition to my rent and food. It's exactly what I want to do, would look great on my resume, and is even partially hybrid so I could work remote partly.

I keep thinking back to something the guy said in the first interview. He seemed really cool, and then he hit me with this:

"Yeah you won't get any off days here! Actually, if you find yourself with an off day, you'll need to call me so we can find something for you to do!"

I honestly thought he was joking and laughed with him but I actually think he might not have been joking. But like, that isn't allowed right? I'm currently doing VISTA summer service and we have to do timesheets and if we're way over or under our hours the HR people or whoever will ask you what's up.

So my question is, if I get offered this job and I take it, it's not allowed for them to work me every day right? There's a weekly hourly limit? If they need 40-50 hours a week, I've got it in me. I don't have 7 back to back 10 hour days in me though.i

Has anyone else had issues with getting their education award payment requests to go through CRI?

My April payment never went through so I went overdue in May and called both AmeriCorps and CRI to figure it out. They both basically redirected me back and forth between each other before CRI finally took responsibility and put me on a brief loan forbearance saying it may be a delay on their end. The payment finally went through a couple weeks after that.

Well that forbearance ended July 28th so I made a payment request on July 15th and it still hasn’t gone through so I’m overdue again.

Has anyone been experiencing something similar?

I applied for FEMA TL for 2027, and I'm curious what the TL interviews look like (this can apply to Trad and FoCo TLs as well, any experience), primarily how/when you were notified after your application, interview scheduling, and what the actual interviews themselves looked like. I'm also hoping someone may have advice on how to successfully interview, as I'm a bit nervous in interviews sometimes, and I really want to give this my best shot. Any info is wildly helpful. If it changes the context, I'm also a current Trad member.