AmeriCorps Members Work While Waiting

As AmeriCorps members tilled the soil and dug ditches Monday to prepare for the planting of grass, they also were waiting to see whether their program will be funded for a fourth year.

AmeriCorps members based in Anaheim probably won’t learn until July or August whether they will receive funding for the 1997-98 fiscal year that begins in October.

But that did not stop them from working under a blazing sun Monday morning on a Los Alamitos Boulevard beautification project done in conjunction with the city.

After removing weeds and other debris from a thin strip of sidewalk landscaping, AmeriCorps members were tilling soil in preparation for planting seeds and digging a trench for irrigation plumbing.

“Basically, what AmeriCorps does is a lot of hard work,” team leader Mario Zavala said, but added: “When you work hard, you learn the value of a dollar.”

AmeriCorps was launched by President Clinton during his first term, as a domestic version of the Peace Corps.

AmeriCorps members receive stipends for their community work and grants for their college educations.

Some members of Congress have criticized AmeriCorps as more of a feel-good project than a program that brings concrete results. But lawmakers did give the program $400 million in funding for the 1996-97 fiscal year.

Seven people are members of the Anaheim-based program, which is overseen by the Orange County Conservation Corps.

The members point to the Los Alamitos project as an example of what their program is about: working with the community--in this case, the city of Los Alamitos--on a job that sat begging.

Anaheim AmeriCorps members have completed other projects in the county, ranging from beach cleanups to recycling programs.

Last year, a nine-member coalition of California AmeriCorps programs, including the one in Anaheim, received the second-highest grade possible from state evaluators.

AmeriCorps members expressed a desire to keep up the hard work.

“I would like,” said AmeriCorps member Ramiro Rodriguez, 18, “for people to give us more opportunities for us to give our service.”