AmeriCorps Deploys Additional Teams to Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands; Activates in Response to California Wildfires
More than 2,200 Senior Corps and AmeriCorps members continue efforts in Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria impacted areas
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of the federal government’s ongoing recovery efforts, the Corporation for the National and Community Service (CNCS), the agency for service and volunteering, sent nearly 30 additional AmeriCorps members to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to support Hurricane Maria recovery efforts. These members of the agency’s elite disaster response team will join the more than 75 AmeriCorps members already deployed.
In California, the California Conservation Corps, an AmeriCorps program, has 75 corps members actively responding to the Tubbs fire. More than 100 AmeriCorps members in impacted areas are on standby for assignment.
CNCS has activated more than 2,200 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members to communities impacted by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Since August, AmeriCorps and Senior Corps disaster teams have been dispatched to Texas, Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The agency recently awarded more than $2.8 million in new, one-time, additional funding to Senior Corps and AmeriCorps organizations in impacted areas to support long-term recovery efforts.
In Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, AmeriCorps members representing Conservation Corps Minnesota Iowa, Habitat for Humanity of Iowa, SBP, Texas Conservation Corps, Volunteer Iowa, and Washington Conservation Corps are supporting the creation of a volunteer and donations management system, joining muck-and-gut operations, and providing blue-roof tarping and debris clearing services. AmeriCorps members serving with FEMA Corps are providing assistance with logistics, support for responders, warehouse and facilities, and survivor outreach and assistance.
To date, more than 1,000 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps volunteers have responded to Hurricane Harvey, providing volunteer and donations management, disaster survivor assistance, damage assessments, and muck and gut operations. Additional AmeriCorps members serving with AmeriCorps disaster teams from around the country will join the effort in the coming weeks.
In response to Hurricane Irma, nearly 950 Senior Corps and AmeriCorps members have provided disaster survivor assistance, support for logistics, and implemented child-friendly spaces in shelter environments across impacted areas in Florida, Georgia, and Puerto Rico. AmeriCorps disaster teams have been deployed to provide manpower for blue roof tarping, debris removal, chainsaw destruction of hazardous tress, and muck and gut operations. AmeriCorps members serving with FEMA Corps are supporting FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance efforts throughout Florida.
Following a disaster, national service acts as a force multiplier, providing key resources and significantly expanding the capacity of existing organizations on the ground. More than 40,000 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members were deployed in response to Hurricane Katrina. In the decade since, AmeriCorps teams have provided critical support after countless disasters, including Hurricane Sandy; the 2013 floods in Colorado; and tornadoes in Joplin, Mo., Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Moore, Okla.
To learn more about the agency’s work in response to Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria, visit NationalService.gov/2017Disasters.