I can't help it! I am pretty excited about tomorrow's meeting. What meeting might you ask, well, The LISC AmeriCorps meeting of COURSE! The Riverside Avondale Development Organization is very proud to have their very own AmeriCorps member and tommorow RADO is hosting the monthly meeting.
~Wait a minute, AmeriCorps? Is that like Peace Corps?
~Well sort of, a domesticated version I guess. Let me me try to summarize it for you. It is Federally funded though, so beware of wordiness!
LISC AmeriCorps is part of the National Service Network.
~Okay ,that sounds easy.
It was established by an act of Congress in 1993 and re-authorized as the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. In 1994 LISC , which stands for Local Initiaves Support Corporation, began it's sponsorship of an AmeriCorps program. There are LISC offices all over the country with a total of over 200 hundred AmeriCorps Members for the 09/10 year! Americorps members are set-up to serve with partner organizations by promoting volunteerism and civil engagement. They do this by helping with home ownership counseling /education to prospective buyers and participating & engaging the community with events such as clean-ups and seminars. Forming crime watches and neighborhood groups are also common for an AmeriCorps member but, positions can vary. I know AmeriCorps Members who workin re-entry programs for ex-offenders.
To be quite frank, the role of a LISC AmeriCorps Member is vital to keeping Communities Sustainable.
~That wasn't too bad right? So, these 14 wonderful Jacksonville AmeriCorps will be in our office tomorrow to have lunch and their monthly meeting. So like I said , I'm pretty excited!
P.S. It is pronounced " Amer-a-Cor". There are no corpses involved!
