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Steve Niles is director of AmeriCorps Programs for Goodwill Northern New England.
When Mainers see people in need, we roll up our sleeves and help each other out. We have a unique sense of self-reliance in our state: local people solve local problems. It should be no surprise that thousands of community groups do this every day, pulling people together to offer neighbors a hand.
At GoodwillNNE we utilize AmeriCorps service members to catalyze and amplify the work being done here in Maine. For this vital work to continue, it’s essential that Congress prioritize AmeriCorps funding. But right now, Congress is debating the fiscal year 2024 budget, and has drafted spending bills that would cut funding for AmeriCorps. We must fight to keep these community resources in Maine – from the County to the southern coast, GoodwillNNE connects AmeriCorps service members with organizations across the state to alleviate poverty, fight the opioid epidemic, and support seniors.
Federal investments in AmeriCorps enable Sharon Berz to serve with the Center for the Advancement of Rural Living (CARL) in Caribou, where she helps recruit volunteers to drive seniors and people with accessibility issues to the doctor’s office, grocery store, and pharmacy. Sharon also runs a food pantry and soup kitchen that will provide emergency food to this same population. Maine has the oldest population in the nation, and we need people like Sharon – who is herself retired – giving back to the community by forging connections, reducing isolation and improving health outcomes for aging people in rural areas.
Besides supporting seniors, AmeriCorps members are fighting the opioid epidemic in Maine. Goodwill Public Health AmeriCorps member Missy Dewitt serves in Caribou supporting local men and women successfully combatting their addictions. Missy keeps the Caribou Recovery Houses safe and supportive for residents on their journey of recovery from opiates. Amy Veilliux is an AmeriCorps member serving at An Angels Wing, a sober living, recovery program in Winthrop that supports residents and their community in the critical battle to address substance misuse and opiate addiction.
AmeriCorps members are quite simply the backbone of community service in Maine. GoodwillNNE has placed over 310 AmeriCorps members in community organizations over the past three years, who have recruited or managed over 1,900 volunteers, who in turn contributed over 29,000 hours of service in their communities. They’ve mentored over 1,600 youth identified by guidance counselors or staff as needing help, and they’ve successfully raised over $375,500 for local service projects.
The U.S. House of Representatives has recommended eliminating all funding for AmeriCorps Education Awards and reducing the agency’s total budget by 50 percent to the lowest levels in nearly three decades, resulting in a loss of 61,760 positions across the country, which would dramatically decrease our service footprint in Maine. The Senate proposal also falls short of what is needed to maintain AmeriCorps’ footprint across the country and adequately fund service member stipends amid rising costs of living.
Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Angus King have both been longtime champions of AmeriCorps. Sen. Collins has emphasized that “National service should not be a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. It’s an American issue,” and noted that she is committed to securing the annual funding needed to enable success. Sen. King has also praised AmeriCorps programming in Maine, and stated, “Their work has been essential to our communities, and we should be taking every possible opportunity to expand these national service programs so they can continue to play a major role during our recovery.”
We are grateful for the support of our elected officials in Maine and are hopeful that others in Congress follow their lead. GoodwillNNE, and many others like us, rely on AmeriCorps members to serve our communities every day through people like Sharon, Missy and Amy who are helping to solve some of our state’s biggest challenges by pairing local problems with local solutions here in Maine and across the United States.
