Americorps funding for 2005 remains uncertain

The AmeriCorps program, which has successfully implemented a tutoring program here in the CNMI, may be in jeopardy as funds available for the program will last only up to March of next year.

AmeriCorps coordinator John Guerrero said yesterday that, unless new funding comes in, the program may be discontinued.

“This is a very successful program, according to testimonies from parents, the community, and site coordinators, but I hope President Bush would endorse it so that it may continue,” Guerrero said. “We’re still waiting for word from the federal government.”

He declined to provide more details on the financial status of the program.

The program has managed to attract a large number of youth volunteers in the last two years that it has been implemented in the Commonwealth.

This year, Guerrero said 33 of the 34 slots available through the program have been filled and members are currently active in assisting various youth centers islandwide.

“It provides these youth [members] the opportunity to develop themselves for their future career and for themselves as a person to work with other people,” he said. “They have a huge opportunity to be with youths, adults, and professionals, [and] these groups of people provide them with necessary skills. In a sense, they’re helping the youth but also themselves. It will help you when applying for jobs in the future…the experience will play some weight in your application.”

He said the program, coordinated through the Public School System, requires each volunteer to assist youth center site coordinators in dealing with clients who use the centers. Centers include the House of Manhoben, youth centers in Tanapag, San Antonio, Garapan, and Gualo Rai, as well as Kagman High School.

The members’ primary task is to assist through tutoring and helping with school projects but Guerrero said “they’re not limited to just those.”

“They also assist with activities like sports and others,” he said.

Guerrero said members of the program are required to complete 900 hours of work—about 18 hours per week. Members are also obliged to fill 20 hours with training seminars that include tutoring skills, teaching skills, first aid, infant and child CPR, development of issues on adolescence, systematic observation of children at risk, behavior modification for education tutoring, among others.

“We provide those to them so they are prepared to go out and meet the kids [and] receive them and understand how to deal with them and recognize their need in different subject areas,” he said. “We provide them those skills so they can be more effective in their volunteer work.”

Dr. Patricia Smith of the Community Guidance Center facilitated several of the trainings, and expressed the importance of a program like AmeriCorps to assist members of the community.

“After-school programs have been demonstrated by research to be effective in reducing problem behaviors in the community and/or at home,” she said. “Therefore, with an after-school program such as AmeriCorps, we have children carrying on with homework activities and improving social skills behavior, learning what we call pro-social or getting along with society, and respecting authority figures.”

Each member is compensated through stipends that are released twice a month at a rate of $4.80 per hour. In addition to the stipend, members are entitled to an Education Award after completion of the 900 hours.

“When complete, they get the education award, which is about $2,000 for them to use specifically for education,” Guerrero said. “They must complete the 900 hours and submit documentations. The award can be used to pay for tuition, or any loans accumulated by going to school. It can only be used for educational purposes.”

AmeriCrops is a federal program endorsed by former President Bill Clinton in 1994 to provide opportunity for individuals interested in assisting the community in all facets, whether a special organization helping the needy, tutoring, disaster relief, and others. Since its inception, more than 250,000 individuals have served the program nationwide.

The CNMI program chose to have tutoring programs.