AMERICORPS: IT'S NOT JUST A JOB VOLUNTEERS FIND NATIONAL SERVICE

In her new job, Dolores Gonzalez will contribute to society, gain experience and pay off her student loans.

She is one of about 1,000 AmeriCorps members in Washington state.

AmeriCorps is President Clinton's brainchild. He promised such a national service program during his 1992 campaign.

"I wanted to help the community. It's a really poor community," said Gonzalez, who will work with school children in Ferry County.

For Gonzalez, who graduated from Central Washington University earlier this year, the experience will be an ideal way to find work as a teacher and help society.

"It would look good on a resume," she said. "I think it is going to be very helpful in getting a job."

Gonzalez was one of about 200 Washington residents sworn into AmeriCorps during ceremonies Thursday around the state.

The 2-year-old program now is threatened. Congress recently passed a spending bill that would eliminate the AmeriCorps program.

Clinton and the new AmeriCorps director, former Sen. Harris Wofford, D-Pa., made their pitch Thursday in Washington, D.C., to save the $500 million program by arguing that AmeriCorps is all the things they say they like, a nonbureaucratic alternative to top-down government.

AmeriCorps members work in full- or part-time jobs at minimum wage in return for government help repaying school loans or for future education.

At the Spokane swearing-in ceremony, Vicki Hanks, 45, talked about beginning her second year in the AmeriCorps program.

She used to work as a custodian before injuring her back. Hanks believes AmeriCorps has given her a chance to earn money to return to school.

"I feel better about it because I could apply for disability or welfare and have them pay for it but instead I work for it," said Hanks, who will work with the Colville Confederated Tribes.

Susan Davis, 42, said she will use the money she earns through AmeriCorps to attend graduate school.

"If they're cutting back on welfare programs, social programs of this type are the only way of making a transition," Davis said.

David Miller, 19, said he was in and out of jail before a youth program intended to help the community gave him the right direction at 15.

"I can either say I'd be in jail or dead like a lot of my friends are now," Miller said.

Miller quit his job as a cook making $13 an hour two years ago to join AmeriCorps because it was more fulfilling.

For example, Miller helped renovate a crack house repossessed by the city in his first year with AmeriCorps.

"It's kind of a unique job because it goes beyond simple employment," he said.

Copyright 1995 Cowles Publishing Company
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