Playworks North Carolina is proud to announce that we have been awarded the AmeriCorps State Formula grant for the 2014-2015 school year by the North Carolina Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service! Thanks to this grant, 15 of our 21 Program Coordinators will be participating in a “year of service” with Playworks through the AmeriCorps program.
AmeriCorps is a government-funded program that has been allowing citizens to serve in their communities through local public agencies and non-profit organizations since 1994. This September the organization is celebrating its 20th Anniversary! Since its creation, AmeriCorps has had over 900,000 members who have committed to a year of service, and Playworks North Carolina is honored to have 15 of those members this year! This is the highest number of AmeriCorps slots that Playworks North Carolina has ever been granted, increasing from seven AmeriCorps members our first grant year and 11 members last grant year.
Playworks North Carolina is doing great work in the Durham and Wake County elementary schools. The North Carolina Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service is excited to partner with Playworks North Carolina for the 2014-2015 AmeriCorps program year.”
– Kyle Van Dusen, AmeriCorps Program Officer, NC Commission on Volunteerism & Community Service
AmeriCorps’ partnership with Playworks as a national program began in 2004 when it awarded the organization 35 member slots in the original grant. Since then, the partnership has grown, and in the 2014-2015 school year Playworks as a whole was awarded 262 member slots between a combination of a National Direct grant and several state grants.
Our AmeriCorps Program Coordinators’ “year of service” will include their usual Playworks programming, along with two community engagement initiatives that will involve more of the community, through projects at our partnering schools as well as through volunteer recruitment designed to get more people involved in the Playworks’ mission here in North Carolina.
Recently, the members kicked off their service year by attending the AmeriCorps 20th Anniversary Celebration and Swearing-In Ceremony. The event was held in Greensboro and was hosted by the North Carolina Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service. During the event, members were able to listen to several distinguished speakers, including the Mayor of Greensboro, Nancy Vaughn, and James Joseph, who was the founding Chair of the Corporation for National and Community Service during AmeriCorps’ inaugural year. At the end, all of the NC state-granted AmeriCorps members rose and said the AmeriCorps pledge in unison as they were sworn in together. Playworks North Carolina had nine members who were sworn in for the first time, and six returning members who were re-dedicated at the ceremony.
We are so grateful for our AmeriCorps Program Coordinators who have chosen to serve their communities through our organization and can not wait to see all of the great things they accomplish during their service years!
