A Closer Look at ‘Everyday Heroes’

Striding through the rough Richmond, Calif., neighborhood in the East Bay where he grew up, AmeriCorps volunteer Ivan Alomar was a bookworm on a mission. His destination: the local elementary school, where he would spend another afternoon talking to the kids and spreading the joys of reading.

“I’m tired,” said the strapping 23-year-old. “I’ve been reading enough books about how we ain’t had it and all that, how we’re minorities and we got it bad. I’m ready to write some new books.”

Alomar and others from the East Bay’s AmeriCorps team are the focus of “Everyday Heroes” (10 p.m., KCET), a documentary by Rick Goldsmith and Abby Ginzberg that presents a reassuring portrait of the post-Generation X crowd.

About 40,000 Americans serve in the so-called domestic Peace Corps, which was started in 1994. This film follows one ethnically diverse team over the course of the yearlong program, as the 21 volunteers work with children in Richmond, Berkeley and Oakland on projects such as public gardening, AIDS awareness, literacy and outdoor adventure, all in exchange for a modest stipend. At times this film, which is told mainly in fly-on-the-wall style and without narration, can be more confusing and frustrating than inspiring.

One of the most likable volunteers gets dumped from the program because of poor attendance vaguely attributed to troubles at home. In a tense scene, the remaining volunteers verbally gang up on team leader S.E., whose only sin appears to be shushing those who interrupt her.

Ultimately, however, “Everyday Heroes” offers a contrast to the cynical and apathetic view of young adulthood seen so often in the media. In that sense, it makes a difference.