After this week, which saw a large percentage of AmeriCorps staff put on administrative leave and the closure of NCCC, we wanted to take a moment to update our community on Campus Compact’s ongoing AmeriCorps programs, share stories about the importance of AmeriCorps to our work and to our country, and to share ways you can take action if you’d like to help.
Campus Compact currently runs two AmeriCorps programs—our AmeriCorps VISTA program and Campus Compact EnviroCorps, which is an AmeriCorps State & National program. Through these programs, Campus Compact works to increase the capacity of colleges and community partners to engage students, recent graduates, and community members and make an impact on key issue areas like poverty and environmental stewardship. Unless we hear otherwise, our staff and the AmeriCorps members serving with Campus Compact programs on campuses and in communities across the country will remain hard at work. In fact, there are ways our members can get involved with these programs now:
- Campus Compact EnviroCorps, a program dedicated to campus-based, community-led environmental stewardship efforts, is currently seeking host sites for 2025-2026.
- You can also join Campus Compact EnviroCorps on April 23 for their Earth Day Celebration to explore how we can all take steps towards a healthier, more resilient future.
- Our AmeriCorps VISTA program, which builds capacity for campus host sites to expand and improve programs that impact low-income people on college campuses and in communities, is currently seeking AmeriCorps members to serve at campus host sites across 16 states.
- Our Higher Education AmeriCorps Sponsors Network, which offers an opportunity for higher ed-based AmeriCorps program staff to network and share resources, will meet next week on 4/23. Any program staff at higher education institutions who are sponsors of an AmeriCorps grant are welcome to attend.
These, and many other AmeriCorps programs, contribute so much to civic and community engagement work in higher education and embody our mission to address complex social issues and further equity, justice, and prosperity for all. Since 1994, more than 1.3 million Americans have contributed billions of hours of AmeriCorps service in communities nationwide. AmeriCorps truly represents the very best of America.
Campus Compact is proud to be a long-term partner with AmeriCorps and to continue our vocal support for it as it comes under threat. If you would like to contribute your voice to support AmeriCorps, our partners at Voices for National Service offer an easy tool to contact your Congressional representatives about protecting AmeriCorps.
At Campus Compact, a majority of our staff are former AmeriCorps members, AmeriCorps program supervisors, or have had experiences with AmeriCorps that have shaped their professional lives—and we know the same is true for so many in our field. We’ve shared some stories from our staff below to illustrate just a few of the many ways that AmeriCorps shapes lives, improves communities, and contributes to the public good.
During my senior year of undergrad, I decided to change direction and not apply to medical school. I decided that I needed to take some time after graduation to figure out who I was and what I wanted to do before applying to graduate school. My alma mater had just started an Americorps VISTA program, and I was encouraged to apply. I was transformed during that year, and when I was invited to apply for a graduate assistantship with Michigan State University’s Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, I jumped at the chance. Fast forward 20+ years, and I believe Americorps VISTA got me on the right track for a career in civic and community engagement.
Nicole Springer, Senior Director of Professional Development and Scholarship & Chief Equity Officer
AmeriCorps has touched every aspect of my career and shaped who I am today. Being an AmeriCorps member in Public Allies changed the trajectory of my aspirations. After that transformative experience, I continued my career in nonprofits, used my educational award to get a degree in nonprofit management, and went on to be an AmeriCorps supervisor in both the nonprofit and higher education sectors. Now, I am the Chair of the Serve Illinois Commission and have the privilege of seeing how AmeriCorps has shaped my community and my state.
Natalie Furlett, Senior Director of Member and Student Engagement
Before joining the Peace Corps in 2018, I left my office job and served a 450-hour term as a crew leader for Mile High Youth Corps, an AmeriCorps State and National program in Colorado. For three months, my crew of fellow 18-24-year-olds and I lived in the backcountry of Colorado's front range, building and maintaining beloved trails and protecting Colorado's acclaimed natural spaces. My crew and I built a re-route on America’s Mountain, Pikes Peak, to avoid a dangerously eroded section. We cleared invasive Russian Olive trees from drought-impacted towns, and we protected neighborhoods from destructive wildfires by thinning overgrown forests. We worked on national parks, in US national forests, and on BLM lands, all of which depended on our work to manage resources and keep ecosystems healthy. As an avid hiker, I now appreciate the time and labor that goes into building and maintaining the natural spaces we all enjoy—many of which depend on the inexpensive labor of AmeriCorps volunteers.
Bella McKinney, AmeriCorps VISTA Recruitment and Outreach Program Coordinator
I was wrapping up my Master’s program and finishing my graduate assistantship with the Service Learning Academy (SLA) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and was unsure what path I would be taking next. My supervisor had presented the option for me to stay at SLA in a new role as a VISTA member. I read the position description and was so intrigued by the opportunity to build capacity for my university in a new way. We wanted to expand our reach in the Omaha community and spread the positive attributes that service learning had on university and K-12 students, and community members. My VISTA experience opened the door for me to have future leadership opportunities and deeper ties to my work with higher education.
Stephanie Diaz, AmeriCorps VISTA Program Manager
I've never been around so many like-minded, hardworking, and committed people as during my AmeriCorps VISTA service year. It was a formative professional experience for me in both work and finding colleagues. Not only did I expand my existing skill set, I learned and added new skills that I hadn't previously considered. My service year helped me begin tracing a path after I changed fields and allowed me to work toward my strong belief of eliminating poverty at the same time.
Stanton Cope, AmeriCorps VISTA Leader
After graduating with my bachelor's, I knew I wanted to do good but didn’t have much direction. A friend who had been an AmeriCorps member with NCCC suggested I check out AmeriCorps, and I found VISTA. I served from 2011-2012 as an Operations & Systems VISTA member at Jumpstart in Boston, where I worked on collecting institutional knowledge and improving systems for the organization—work that ultimately helped improve language & literacy skills in preschool children. My VISTA year gave me valuable job experience, an understanding of how to scale and operationalize work in the nonprofit sector, and clear direction for a career path that brought me here.
Molly Leiper, Director of Communications
While directing the Center for Service Learning & Leadership at Purdue University North Central I had the privilege of supervising several AmeriCorps members from 2010 to 2013, including 2 AmeriCorps VISTAs and more than 20 minimum-time, 300-hour ed-award only members. I saw how transformative the VISTA program was for those two members in guiding them toward careers in higher education. It also gave them the confidence to tackle their next chapter. The 300-hour ed-award program that my Center managed provided my institution’s students with opportunities to serve with local community organizations while they were going to school. It also provided ways for them to connect what they were learning in the classroom to what was occurring in their communities while gaining valuable skills.
Laura Weaver, Special Projects Manager