hey all. i was just offered (and accepted!) a full-time, county government position in my hometown, meaning it's time to officially extricate myself from VISTA service.

i've been at my host site, which happens to be my alma-mater, for just over two months now. my supervisor is a close friend and former professor who i really adore and respect. she had a LOT of faith in me regarding this role, and i am beginning to feel guilty for leaving, as i've been doing really great work. as we all know, it's just not enough to get by. it's not a career!

i guess what i'm asking here is- how should i approach giving my two weeks? how does giving two weeks differ in VISTA service than in a regular full-time job? have you ever done so, and how did the process shake out for you? they can't stop me from leaving, but i don't want to burn bridges. thanks for any advice!

I’ve been serving for a few months, and been experiencing really bad burnout. I don’t know anyone and I’ve also been working another job to make up for the low Americorps stipend. Unfortunately, my supervisors are not really understanding about how overworked I am.

Has anyone else experienced this? Would love to talk about this with others.

Hi,

I am participating in Americorps as a student teacher in a public school. On my resume, I’m not sure if I should put a bullet about Americorps under work experience as a teacher:

Student Teacher @ School

• served as an Americorps member

-provided teaching services

Or list them both separately:

Student Teacher @ School

• provided teaching services

Americorps Member @ School

• volunteered in underserved community to teach caseload of X number of students, etc.

I am currently in a state/national program and have accepted a VISTA position in another state when this term ends. I was told my new service starts the day my current term ends. Does anyone know if I will have time to move before starting my new position or had similar circumstances? Thanks in advance!

Apologies if a similar question’s been asked or if this topic veers a little too into the controversial side of things. I recently got let go from my first “real” post college job and I haven’t done enough resume building during college, so as a way to get a good resume boost, do the kind of work I want to do, and possibly pursue further education with the grant, I decided to apply to a few Americorps VISTA programs. However, a certain presidential election just happened, and even in an optimistic world where Trump doesn’t implement Project 2025 and let RFK screw over every federal agency, his previous administration wasn’t exactly the friendliest to programs like Americorps, and probably won’t be this time around. But even in the pessimistic vision of the next administration, things like budget allotment and funding take time to really move through bureaucracy. Realistically, if I were to start an Americorps program in January of 2025 that lasts a year, what’s the likelihood that program just doesn’t finish? Should I still apply to these programs?

I have been volunteering at my local park district in a small town in Ohio for 6 months now. I am there every weekday from 10am-4pm. I have helped plan all of their activities and events, helped lead their summer camp, admin their FB page and attend and contribute to meetings with the community. (Only 3 other people work there)

I LOVE IT! But the executive director will not hire me no matter how hard I try.

He recently said they should hire an americorp person to help plan events ( this was VERY disheartening for me)

I know only what I have looked up about Americorp and everyone seems to want to travel or have some bigger goal.

I love volunteering at my park district and don't plan on going anywhere. I am a stay at home mom, I have had 1 job prior and a high school education BUT I have alot of volunteer experience.

I have a major interest in nature and educating children about nature and love learning new things but I'm not able to afford any formal education.

Any tips?

After figuring out I had to choose the nelnet direct loan institution option and specifying which group to apply the award to I clicked submit and the page sort of refreshed with all the text forms still filled out.

The page says to only click submit once but I'm not sure if it even went through, is there a way to confirm my request was sent? Or do I just wait.

Hello all. I am a 19-year-old studying computer science at a generic state university in middle Tennessee. I am looking to graduate in December of 2025. With my last free summer of college, I would like to do something with conservation or outdoor work. I am new and have just started looking into this so forgive my ignorance. Any advice or suggestions about programs/jobs that I could do from this next May-August would be great. Thank you!

Hi,

Has anyone been in this situation?

I received an email from AmeriCorps about my Segal Education Award being placed on hold (with no further explanation as to why) and pending administrative action. However, it has been over a month since that email and I have not received any contact from them saying what’s going on nor have they given me access back to my money. I have not done anything to trigger this to happen as I have been using some of the funds for my college classes.

FRC (Family Resource Center)

Hello! I recently started a position with Americorps at a FRC in Sacramento. I tried asking my supervisor these questions but she wasn’t sure since she’s not an Americorp employee herself. And there aren’t any Americorp people in my department currently.

Soo I have a few questions about Americorp service days and outreach days. I heard from another employee that the last Americorp employee in my department was doing out reach every weekend and had no free time. Is that true?? I don’t want to work every weekend when I work Monday-Friday.

My other question is about service days. Do we get to pick what we do for the service day or is it already decided? How often do you have to go to service events? And what if you can’t make that mandatory service day?

Thank you in advance!!!

Hiii,

I posted here a while ago about wanting to potentially quit since I was stressed out about my transportation and just not feeling confident in role – I wanted to give a quick update to say that I decided to stay at my site, and it’s been the best decision I could’ve made 😊

I have another quick question regarding the end of service stipend (which I won’t get until August). Buttt, I know the stipend is paid out in my final two living allowance payments. Is that alongside my regular pay ($937 every two weeks)? Or would I just be paid the 1,800 in my final two payments ($900 and $900). Sorry if that question is phrased weirdly but I just wanted to ask in advance.

Does anyone know much about Trying to apply for a non-degree college courses like (art, music, etc) and use segal education award…

HOW to use the segal award to pay for required class books/equipment?? Can anyone explain in detail how they have successfully done this? I can’t afford scope supplies and I really want to attend school.

ALSO, has anyone ever used their money for an application fee to apply?

I already have one year of service under my belt (City Year) but I'm looking to get another Segal Award and would like to do a program that is more creative in nature. I remember seeing creative programs at AmeriCorps events when I was in CY, but now I'm drawing a blank. Any sugestions? Thank you in advance!

I'm three months into my position and I've realized it's not a good fit for me. My supervisor is very difficult to deal with and I'm spending my days not doing what i would like. I've spoken to my team leader etc and they will help me transfer sites. I can continue my year and still get my educational award. Win-win!

Problem is, I have to wait for another position in my org to open up before i can transfer. My site is really starting to stress me out and I'm considering outright quitting over playing a waiting game. I've moved out of state and have gotten settled in and everything. The last thing I want to do is leave, but the thought of spending 9 more months in this environment fills me with dread.

Whats your experience? Did you stay? Did you quit? How did you deal with it all?

Hi everybody! I was just curious for those starting Winter 2025 with FEMA if you have heard any updates or received any emails. I submitted my vaccines and received a confirmation, but I did not receive one for my background check/fingerprinting or mailed in paperwork. Is this silence normal? Or am I missing communication? Thanks!

Hello!

This post is for venting and possible advice. I am an Americorps National service member working with veterans as a Housing Navigator. It is my host site’s first Americorps position and I tookthe position because I just moved to a new state and can’t find employment despite having 3 years of nonprofit experience and a Masters degree. I was working at a grocery store for a while before making the pivot to this position as it will help with student loans and the stipend covers most of my expenses. I figured it would help moving forward because I would like to get acquainted in housing services and see if working in housing would be viable for me within the next few years.

Thus far I have been nothing but overwhelmed during my onboarding process. The first week I was here I had case managers call me into their offices to meet with clients I had no clearances to work with yet. They keep bringing me clients and saying “He needs assisted living, this is his income. Oh by the way he admitted to substance use so the regular programs won’t take him. (This part was only stated after I called around and found options)”.

I even had some ask me to find clients jobs and reach out to SSVF workers despite that not even being part of my position. So I explained it to the program coordinator who told me that I wasn’t supposed to take clients until I’ve been trained in the Americorps workflow and information system. I was instructed to tell them I can’t take clients yet, we even had a discussion about it in the staff meeting last week. Fast forward to this morning I get another case manager who tells me “I got a task for you” in the break room and just starts rattling off client information. I told him to fill out a form I made and I can meet with him next week to sort it out. He comes to my office with an additional request! Again… I am doing the trainings as assigned and completing them as I am supposed to but I only just got a webinar about my Americorps workflow an hour after he dropped these on me! Is this normal? It makes me anxious to think about how it will be in actual HUD counseling/ housing search & information roles.

What should I do? It doesn’t seem like the case managers care that I don’t know what I’m doing, it seems like they heard “intern” and started dogpiling on me, when I tell the program coordinator nothing gets done. I’m thinking I’ll try my best to get situated and working with clients and as my job duties

My HS senior child has been looking at Americorp but it's now considering starting college in January instead of taking a full gap year. It's there a service program that runs six months or less starting in June?

Thx

Hello everyone!

For the past year, I've been considering a Resident Teaching Artist position with ArtistYear to help kickstart my art teaching career before I go back to grad school. I'm super curious to know about the experiences of any past ArtistYear participants, and I would love to get connected! Applications just opened up and I want to know more about what I'm applying for.

Some questions I have currently:
What location did you serve? What was your mentorship like? What do you do now? Did this help you with your future plans? What was the stipend like?

I'm looking for recommendations on institutions where I can use my AmeriCorps award for a SPRAT or similar Rope Access Technician training course. Has anyone gone this route?

Hello! I'm interested in applying for the 2025-2026 cohort of the CivicSpark fellowship for my second gap year before I go back to school. Wondering if anyone has been / is involved right now with the program and would be willing to share their experience? I am currently working full time at a nonprofit doing similar work. Feel free to PM if that is preferred, thanks in advance!!

Essentially, all of the submissions I've applied to have never even reviewed my application. It never gets off of "your submission is waiting to be reviewed". I applied to about 6 throughout Washington a couple months ago, all of which have become inactive since then without ever looking at my application. Is this typical, or maybe a technical error? I'm not bothered if they don't get to me because they have so many qualified applicants, I'm afraid they just never see me haha. Thanks for the help!

Wondering if anybody has had similar issues to this when using their ed award. I had two full Segal education awards and some Federal student loans that I wanted to pay off with them. The total amount of the loans was less than the amount of my two ed awards. In October 2023 I requested the ed award to be applied to my loans in the exact amount of the loans at that time.

Basically, this request did not go through until March of 2024 at which time my loan had grown in interest and was now more than the exact amount I had requested in October. So I was left with more loan money to pay off despite trying to pay the full amount in Oct.

I called both Americorps and my loan servicer (EdFinancial) and they pointed the finger at each other and had no solutions. This makes no sense to me because basically it seems that there’s no way to pay off the full amount of a loan with an ed award because when it’s finally processed months later the loan will be larger and you’ll have to start the silly process over again.

Anybody dealt with this?

I'm currently in my first year of an Associates program for Emergency Management, and I'm split between taking a year after the completion of the 24-25 school year to serve in the FEMA Corps, and waiting until I get my degree. I would eventually like to get my BAS, but I feel the Corps may help me turn my life around in ways that education can't. Any suggestions?

I graduated from college with a history degree but have never done archiving or curating. I'm in historic preservation, this has been my first time working in my field of interest.

It's been my first two months in this position so far. I am serving at two different sites doing fairly similar things, juggling my service time at both sites can be very difficult. I am struggling. I feel like I'm not meeting both of my supervisor's standards, as they keep mentioning the former Americorps member before me who served two years and did a phenomenal job.

I feel like I'm constantly struggling to meet their expectations, I feel like this could be a reason why they release me. I keep myself busy as hard as I can but I am always met with critique and bias. I communicate with them as best as I can to make sure all ground is covered.

However, my one supervisor's supervisor is upset about how neglectful they have been with me, and is wanting me to do more before winter comes in. And my other supervisor is retiring soon, and is on the verge of quitting beforehand.

I am pretty stressed out about this at the moment, as this is all so new to me. And I'm really worried they may try to release me because I cannot meet their standards. Has anyone else dealt with this? And how can I make sure I stay on good terms with my supervisors and those above them? I am constantly being reminded of the former AmeriCorps performance over mine. How can I make sure to please them?

I’m looking at constructions postitions for state/national in multiple states. I’m on Medicaid in my current state but I’d most likely be relocating to another state (temporarily while keeping my legal address in my current state). Does americorps provide health insurance for state/ national? I can only see online that they do so for VISTA and NCCC. Also, what do most people do about the mail situation. I’m thinking of keeping a PO Box and I think I’m able to get my car inspected in a different state from my resident state. Any other information about relocating would be awesome for anyone that lives in a different state from their job.

Is it even worth going to the dismissal hearing or is it better to just quit before it? Has anyone had a dismissal hearing where they didn’t end up getting fired or do they just take what the UL says for granted and fire anyway? I feel like it might be better to just quit beforehand so it’s “quitting” instead of being “fired” and then the Public Trust clearance isn’t in jeopardy. Does anyone have insight on this?

Is anyone having issues with not being able to access the My.Americorps portal? I have not been able to access it due to a repeated "this site is not connected to server" error message despite trying various different browsers and internet connections - I submitted a report to the virtual help desk but was curious if anyone else has been having issues the last 2 weeks?

Hey NCCCers, when you all do your van/vehicle training, is it just limited to safe driving or does instruction also go into maintenance and basic repair (tire changes, oil changes, battery replacement, etc.)?

Love meeting people and running around. My team is already feeling almost like a friend group. Spike is going to be interesting. I'm going to miss my non team friends though, I wish you could pick your own teams after training.

I do feel bad for the people who are struggling to socialize who have bad teams or roommates. I'm starting to think that luck plays a big part in this experience.

I’m going to be joining FEMA Corp for winter 25 and I was wondering what it is like finding work after. Are you able to apply for jobs during the program or do you have to wait till after. I’ve heard that people get job offers during the program, is this the case for the majority or minority? Thanks (: