Compiled by Work-Study/CBL Student Leader Molly McKitrick
Looking for post-grad service opportunities can be an overwhelming and daunting task, especially if you don’t know where to start looking! Here are some popular service programs with diverse opportunities to help you get started on your search!
AmeriCorps –www.americorps.gov/
VISTA: AmeriCorps VISTA, or Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), was founded in 1965 as a domestic version of the Peace Corps. The program was incorporated into AmeriCorps and renamed AmeriCorps Vista with the creation of AmeriCorps in 1993.[8] VISTA provides full-time members to nonprofit, faith-based and other community organizations, and public agencies to create and expand programs that ultimately bring low-income individuals and communities out of poverty. There are currently over 5,000 VISTA members serving in 1,200 VISTA programs nationwide.
NCCC: AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) is a full-time, residential team-based program for men and women ages 18–24. Members serve at one of five regional campuses located throughout the United States (Perry Point, MD; Vicksburg, MS; Vinton, IA; Denver, CO; and Sacramento, CA). Each campus focuses efforts on states within its region but may travel to other areas in response to national crises. Former campuses were located in Washington, DC; Charleston, SC; and San Diego, CA.
SN: AmeriCorps State and National is the largest of the AmeriCorps programs, and provides grants to local and national organizations and agencies, including faith-based and community organizations, higher education institutions, and public agencies. Grants assist these groups in recruiting, training and placing AmeriCorps members to meet critical community needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment.
City Year– www.cityyear.org/
–a nonprofit AmeriCorps organization whose primary goal is to build democracy through citizen service, civic engagement, leadership development, and social entrepreneurship. The program offers 17- to 24-year-olds the opportunity to engage in 10 months of full-time community service. These young leaders come from diverse backgrounds tutoring and mentoring school children, reclaiming public spaces, and organizing after-school programs, school vacation camps, and youth corps such as the Starfish Corps, Young Heroes, and City Heroes.
Gap Year– http://www.gapyear.com/volunteering/
Comprehensive database that allows you to search for your own international volunteer opportunities.
Jesuit Volunteer Corps–www.jesuitvolunteers.org
–an organization of lay volunteers who dedicate one year or more to voluntary community service working with people in need–the homeless, abused women and children, immigrants and refugees, the mentally ill, people with HIV/AIDS and other illnesses, the elderly, children, and other marginalized groups.
Lutheran Service Corps—http://www.lscomaha.org/index.php?
Lutheran Service Corps volunteers have the opportunity to serve for eleven months as
a full-time, non-paid employee in one of several social service agencies. Each individual makes a commitment to work for social justice, live in community, live simply, and develop
spiritually. Expenses paid.
Peace Corps–www.peacecorps.gov/
–an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand U.S. culture, and helping Americans understand the cultures of other countries. Generally, the work is related to social and economic development. Each program participant, (aka Peace Corps Volunteer), is an American citizen, typically with a college degree, who works abroad for a period of 24 months after three months of training. Volunteers work with governments, schools, non-profit organizations, non-government organizations, and entrepreneurs in education, hunger, business, information technology, agriculture, and the environment.
Teach for America—www.teachforamerica.org
– provides a critical source of well-trained teachers who are helping
break the cycle of educational inequity. These teachers, called corps members, commit to
teach for two years in one of 39 urban and rural regions across the country, going above
and beyond traditional expectations to hel
