AmeriCorps volunteers on cleanup mission in Youngstown

By Ashley Luthern

aluthern@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

An AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps team has been in the city for about two weeks and already is making a difference.

Americorps in Youngstown

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“They’ve been helping with trash and litter removal, building garden beds and tables in the greenhouse, and they’ll work on the solar shed, too,” at Iron Roots Urban Farm on the city’s South Side, said Curtis Moore, farm manager for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation.

For seven weeks, the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team will work with YNDC, a neighborhood development organization that aims to improve the quality of life in Youngstown.

The AmeriCorps team arrived March 12 and will stay until April 27, helping YNDC with urban gardening, boarding vacant homes and clearing vacant lots, said the team’s leader Rachel Evans, 21, of Whidbey Island, Wash.

The team is named “Maple 7” and members are Trent Nelson, 18, of Pittsburgh; Ashley Carmichael, 24, of Parkersburg, W.Va.; Santonio Washington, 19, of Charlotte, N.C.; Callie Keeney, 22, of St. Paul, Minn.; Dustyn Pleace, 23, of Arcade, N.Y.; Jaclyn DeFranco, 23, of Ramsey, N.J.; and Justin Wiles, 21, of Santa Cruz, Calif.

Although YNDC has had AmeriCorps Vista members work with it before, this is the first NCCC team.

AmeriCorps NCCC is a full-time service program that has about 1,100 young adults age 18 to 24 in it each year. During a 10-month term, NCCC teams of up to 12 members work on projects ranging from constructing and rehabilitating low-income housing to responding to natural disasters.

The reasons for joining NCCC vary.

“I graduated high school and was not ready for college” and wanted to volunteer, Nelson said.

All have an interest in service, and many are attracted by the educational benefits AmeriCorps offers, too.

For example, NCCC members receive a small living stipend, housing and $5,550 to help pay for college or to pay back student loans. The Maple 7 team is staying at Holy Apostles Parish - St. Stephen of Hungary Church on Wilson Avenue.

And even though the team volunteers all day, members always look for other opportunities to help, Evans said.

“We volunteer with any organization we can find on our day off. ...We try to reach out and find people who need help,” she said.

The crew also wants to try new things while in Youngstown.

“I’ve made the goal to be more professional and to accomplish things we haven’t before. Most of us haven’t gone kayaking or horseback riding before, and those are things we’re trying to do here,” Evans said.

For more information about AmeriCorps NCCC, visit www.americorps.gov/nccc and to connect with the local NCCC team email Evans at maple7rachel@gmail.com.