Small Project Reaps Big Rewards : L.A. Volunteers in ‘Summer of Service’ Help to Launch Clinton’s Program

By government standards, the tiny community service project ending today in Los Angeles is certainly a professional triumph.

For one thing, it was launched in record time: President Clinton proposed it in March, and it was under way by June.

For another, its accomplishments are actually measurable: nearly 200 illiterate adults are learning to read and hundreds of inner-city children are being taught such practical skills as cooking, gardening and sewing.

But by human standards, the federal Summer of Service program will be remembered by Brenda McDuffy and Vladimir Cerna as personal triumphs.

“This was my first job. Ever,” said McDuffy, 27. “It is something I’ve prayed for.”

“A lot was accomplished,” said Cerna, 20. “It’s just sad it’s over now.”

McDuffy is a single mother of three from Long Beach. Cerna is a Cal State Northridge student who came here seven years ago from El Salvador. Both were hired two months ago by the federal anti-poverty agency VISTA to help inaugurate Clinton’s ambitious new national service program.

Starting a $1.2-million volunteer program from scratch turned out to be more ambitious than anyone expected.

For 29 years, VISTA officials have selected and trained “domestic Peace Corps” volunteers and then assigned them to work for a year at a time at nonprofit organizations throughout the United States. The volunteers have earned $625 a month, plus a $95-per-month bonus turned over at the end of the year.

This time, officials in Washington asked nonprofit groups nationwide to quickly find 600 workers who would be willing to drop what they were doing, attend a one-day training session and immediately start working at a job that was guaranteed to last only two months.

Two local groups, the Los Angeles County 4-H Development Fund and San Gabriel-based California Literacy Inc., scrambled to recruit 37 VISTA “summer associates.”

The 4-H asked for help from resident councils at various county housing projects where the organization has staged children’s activities in the past. The resident councils turned up seven workers.

California Literacy strained to find 29 tutors and put them to work. “We just don’t have the staff to process so many people through, especially just for eight weeks of work,” said administrator Karen Kaye.

It seems to have been worth the effort, however.

College students hired by the literacy program discovered that the eight-week job fit in nicely with their schools’ summer vacation break.

Low-income residents hired to teach sewing and gardening for the 4-H were happy to learn the two-month assignments had the potential to open doors for future one-year VISTA placements.

“It’s working. You see the proof in there,” said Chuck Helfer, a Washington analyst for the federal agency that oversees VISTA, as he stood outside McDuffy’s 4-H classroom this week. He was visiting the Carmelita housing project in Long Beach to evaluate the summer program. He predicted that it will be funded again next year.

That is good news to 4-H officials, known for their “heart, head, hands and health” motto and for their efforts to teach practical skills to inner-city children and teen-agers. John Pusey, a 4-H adviser, said his group will try to raise money on its own to continue this summer’s programs until more federal dollars are available.

It may have been less exciting to literacy leaders. Kaye said California Literacy is braced to lose 29 tutors at once. “We haven’t decided whether we want to do it next year or not,” she said.

For their part, some VISTA volunteers said they will work to make the program’s closure go smoothly.

McDuffy said she plans to continue working--without pay--with the Carmelita 4-H program. Cerna said he and other literacy tutors have lined up unpaid volunteers to take their place when they leave. Some also plan to return to be volunteer tutors on Saturdays during the school year.

“We’re also looking for funding and asking for help from local stores for teaching materials,” said Cerna, an East Los Angeles resident.

“This has turned into a community effort.”