National Service

Giving back is vital to healthy development. BACR’s national service program, one of the largest and most effective in California, enables AmeriCorps members to achieve personal benefits through engaging in community service. Communities benefit through the tutoring, mentoring, health education, and other services delivered by AmeriCorps members. 

BACR recruits, trains, and places adults each year in jobs at youth-serving agencies around the Bay Area. As part of AmeriCorps, a federally-funded national and community service program, AmeriCorps members commit to a one-year term of service in a full-time (1,700 hour) position. Our AmeriCorps programs achieve two objectives: first, Corps members gain valuable skills and experience as well as stipends to help with college; second, youth in high-risk communities receive valuable services.

Our AmeriCorps programs support and engage citizens in providing volunteer service to improve the lives of youth in at-risk communities and to cultivate leaders committed to making a positive impact in their communities. BACR manages several regional AmeriCorps programs, including

• BAYAC AmeriCorps (Bay Area Youth Agencies Consortium),
• OCASA AmeriCorps (Oakland Community After School Alliance), and
• VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America).

In these programs, we collaborate with more than 30 community-based organizations a year that serve youth and families in six Bay Area counties.

BACR also partners with Public Allies, a national AmeriCorps program serving more than 25 community-based organizations a year in the Silicon Valley. AmeriCorps members provide direct services to youth in the areas of tutoring, safe and structured after school activities, and health education and capacity building. These AmeriCorps members deliver direct services to thousands of children and youth a year.

Also last year, BACR launched two new AmeriCorps programs: a Climate and Energy Corps and a Health and Resiliency Corps. Through Climate and Energy Corps, AmeriCorps members implement sustainability initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in communities in need. Through Health and Resiliency Corps, AmeriCorps members provide school-based counseling and mental health services to children and youth.

The BACR national service programs use an intermediary model—placing AmeriCorps and VISTA members with community partners including grassroots nonprofits, school-based programs, faith-based programs, and municipalities. While these host organizations do not have the capacity to operate an AmeriCorps program on their own, they do have long-standing connections and commitment to their neighborhoods and therefore are well-positioned to use AmeriCorps and VISTA members in a way that meets community needs. 

Program Impacts

AmeriCorps members help improve the lives of youth in at-risk communities and cultivate leaders committed to making a positive impact in their communities. Highlights of recent program impacts are depicted in BACR’s Annual Report 2010/11 (Please see Program Link on this website).