Alaska could lose more than 100 AmeriCorps jobs
ANCHORAGE - More than 100 full-time AmeriCorps-funded jobs in Alaska could be lost next year without a $100 million infusion from Congress, supporters of the program said.
The loss has prompted some Alaska Americorps workers and former workers to head to Washington, D.C., as part of a national lobbying effort to rescue the national work service program.
The loss of funding will cost 116 full-time jobs in Alaska. Local program directors say it will undercut matching private donations and grants and will interfere with efforts to recruit new members.
"Working as much in rural communities as we do, credibility and consistency is so important," said Joe Parrish, director for the Southeast Alaska Guidance Association, a job training education program for young people.
"I'm afraid with the cuts that we're going to take here, that infrastructure and that network is going to drop out from underneath us and be really hard to (re-)establish," Parrish said. "A lot of rural communities have seen programs come and go."
AmeriCorps is a federal program created during the Clinton administration that provides stipends and scholarships to mostly young people in exchange for community service.
The programs affected in Alaska include SAGA; RuralCAP, which trains members to work in environmental and youth development; and Nine Star Enterprises, which focuses on literacy and preparing people for the work force. SAGA will lose about 50 members, while RuralCAP and Nine Star will each lose about 35.
Americorps workers in Alaska have helped on projects ranging from building trails in Seward to setting up recycling programs in rural Alaska.
The Alaska programs match the money provided through the federal grants with a combination of other grants and private donations.
Alaska usually receives about $1.5 million in grants each year and the programs generally exceed the required match, said Brian Connors, community service director for RuralCAP. Getting $1.5 million in AmeriCorps money really means about $4.5 million for the state, he said. Without the additional funding, the state commission that oversees AmeriCorps programs would get only enough money for 20 positions.