“What do I tell my 20-something children who see only a bleak future ahead for themselves?”
First, let’s acknowledge that we need both minds and hearts to get anything done on this planet of ours, and in this country of ours. We can’t be all intellect and we can’t be all heart. We need the balance of both.
Second, take the question down to the personal, 20-somethings. (And 30–90-somethings, I added.)
Here’s my answer to the question:
Start where you are. Look around. What’s breaking your heart? When you can answer that, hold still. Search deep within yourself to discover what you want to do about it. Do that. Repeat.
That’s how all futures are made, Beloved.
Yours. Mine. America’s.
One personal dream at a time.
“The most radical thing you can do is stay home,” so sayeth Gary Snyder in answer to how we address climate change.
Let that inform your dreaming, Beloved.
Stay home inside yourself.
Make a difference right where you are, with what you have right now because those are the actions that taken altogether will invite those angels to swoop in at scale and at growing-to warp speed to transform all of us — together — for the better.
Dr. Susan Corso is a spiritual teacher, the founder of iAmpersand, and the author of The Mex Mysteries, the Boots & Boas Books, and spiritual nonfiction. Her website is susancorso.com.
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them; disagree with them; glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.“
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center light pop and everybody goes “Awww!””
When we come to another year, another team, another AmeriCorps recruiting campaign, we stop in the space in-between, to look back to look forward, and ask what we call the Magic Question.
What do we know from here (NOW) that we did not know from there, (BACK THEN) that knowing and acting on, will improve our chances of getting closer to the desirable end than last time? (THERE)
What we have discovered was that operating in a recovering economy, with employers vying for strong candidates, we might have been caught up in the competitive game of jobs. We got to thinking that Project CHANGE needed to match the job scene to be viable and competitive. In some sense, that was obvious. But paying $21,500 a year versus $45000? Who were we trying to kid?
People have more options than ever. But what happened with some members was that this “job” did not pay enough for their rent or their other needs. And they realized that too late.
We needed to make it clear. This is NOT a job, nor anything like a job. Too often AmeriCorps has been seen as an employment training scheme for first time job-seekers, but if one is seriously meeting the needs of the most under-served students in our district, you can hardly pretend that unskilled and unexperienced candidates who struggle to meet their own needs or build their own futures are going to be strong assets to meet the increased needs of students at school. What were we thinking?
No, my dear friends, Project CHANGE is NOT a job. Let’s put that out there from the start. One recent candidate began her inquiry with the question “What is the benefit package?” Again, not a bad question if you were after a job but exactly the wrong question if this is a role of leadership through serving. So how are we going to be different this year? What did the Magic Question reveal to us?
What we are seeking from all our candidates, we believe, can be summed up in three words- A Servants Heart. We are not pulling religion on you. In a faith context, the term has lots of rich meanings but treating it as a secular term, what does that exactly mean? In a way, we are selling the life of virtue. A virtuous life used to be the epitome of success. Not any more.
We could parse the term but probably the best way to understand it is to explore the stories that take us inside this human experience. That might even be a question for all our candidates: Instead of the normal, what skills, what career goals, what qualifications and degrees, we start differently.
Share a story from your life that shows us that you have a Servant’s Heart- where your going the extra mile made a difference to someone other than you, where you made at significant cost to yourself, a choice or a decision that radically affected someone else’s chances in life.
Our culture already has some go-to classics.
“The Good Samaritan” that Jesus told where the despised outsider Samaritan- (today, sadly as much as 2000 years ago) assists the insider recover from a murderous assault, and where his duty of care reverses the order of power. The powerful are helped by the powerless. It is like a leper healing the sick, or the blind leading the sighted, or the poor bringing a different sort of wealth to the rich.
AmeriCorps Project CHANGE gives members a chance to create this sort of story, where, even without being a teacher, they connect to the students in ways of positive influence that most teachers do not. I think of Funa or Jakobe. Or where your own struggle as a woman or an immigrant is going to inspire a younger version of you to strive to make her contribution. I think of Pearl and Ori. You will get to see your impact for good in the world, and how good is that?
We are not in the land of experts. We are not in the land of fully paid-up professionals. We are not in the land of reports and evaluations and strategic plans. We are in the land of a good heart. As the song says, a good heart is hard to find.
There is something about generosity, about kindness, about pure and spontaneous unselfishness, that is so counter-cultural these days. It used to be called virtue. Today, we are constantly told that the only way to success is self-promotion. Get a web site. Become your own brand. The guiding star seems to be “What is in it for me? ” If we sell service that way, and if that is the way candidates approach it, we are part of the misperception of what AmeriCorps is about.
Not with AmeriCorps 2022! Not with Project CHANGE 2022! The offer we make you is actually a challenge. Do you dare test your power for good? What added value you can bring to someone you will have the privilege and duty of serving? That is a sacred responsibility and a sacred trust. Do not enter into that compact lightly.
The students you will be meeting are mostly those who have been given up on, walked out on, abused, ignored and kicked to the curb. Your students in that after school program are likely kids whose trust of care has been broken by war or poverty. Adults at crucial moments, did not show up. Imagine if one of your girls just lost her mother, and you were just feeling too tired to be there? Imagine that one of your boys got into a fight at school and you were the only one who could talk him down and you took the day off to prepare for exams? A life hangs in the balance. And it is not yours.
No, you are in this year totally or you best stay away. There cannot be any half hearted commitments. For the time you are supposed to be there for these kids, you are totally there. No question. Not showing up might mess up the Time Sheets, but who can measure what your kids lost? How could we create a Time Sheet for that?
Of course, you will be tired, and you will be worrying about that exam or your Mum who is sick, and you will be perplexed at the kid who seems totally out of sorts and provokes you. Yes, that is what you sign on for. If after a few weeks, you miss training because you are sick, or take 4 self-care days in three weeks or don’t show up to be with program, you are telling us that this is not going to work. We cannot let you continue if that means disappointing the kids who have come to rightly expect that, if you are AmeriCorps, you are 300% there for THEM, not for the school district or the YMCA or the other great programs. You are the secret ally of every kid who is in trouble, whose life is a mess, who knows no one really cares, not even you until you prove it by showing up.
No, you are their advocate and secret advisor and guardian angel and pledge and protector. If that is not how you see yourself this year, please go find a great job. We will manage with half our spots filled but with the right people rather than have a full team where half are there for the job, or there for half the time, or there for the wrong reason. You are there for them. You are not there for yourself. Self-service is what you do in Giant. It does not belong here.
What story do you have that mirrors the Servant’s Heart?
Let’s explore more of those stories, and let’s make them the hallmark or our recruiting and our selection.
MCPS High School Principals- AmeriCorps makes an offer
As we approach the end of another year, I wanted to make an offer regarding some of your amazing students who you wish could stay on for an extra year. There are always some student leaders who contribute so much by their presence and example, that you will miss them when they are gone. What we are proposing is a way that you could possibly facilitate the continuing service of these student leaders in your school for 2022-23. Let me explain.
AmeriCorps Project CHANGE is Montgomery County’s original AmeriCorps program, started by former MCPS principal Dr. Bob Anastasi and Superintendent Jerry Weast back in 2001. For 20 years, Project CHANGE has served the community and its students, and come the end of your school year, we begin our recruiting for 16 new members of our team for the coming year.
Candidates have to be 18, have a high school diploma, be American citizens or green card holders, and be able to devote an uninterrupted year to service. Selected to be Members, they will serve in MCPS schools- potentially your school- and in After School programs. A member who serves 35 hours a week, (Fridays are trainings days) receives a living allowance of $21,500 and health insurance, plus 300 hours of personal and professional development. At the completion of their 1700 hours, they receive a $6,450 Segal Education award. They are supported, trained and supervised by our AmeriCorps team of professionals.
Imagine some of your best students applying to AmeriCorps Project CHANGE, serving back in the school from which they just graduated, working as a peer mentor and classroom support to the teachers and staff. Imagine that you help us customize a role for that student that you know so well that will excite them, and bring out the best of their talents.
MCPS John Landesman leads Study Circles for the AmeriCorps team
And here is the good news. Because MCPS is our partner, all the costs are paid by the school system. All you have to do is help us recruit and select, and then provide the supervision and support throughout the year. It is a win-win for you, the student and ourselves, because we both get the best students, and MCPS harvests the gifts it has helped create among its student population. If you are interested in having a chat about this, with no obligation, Mr John Di Tomasso is serving as our High School liaison. He is Project CHANGE Chairman, and a former MCPS principal himself and he is happy to talk you through the options.
Congratulations to the class of 2022 and to you, the school team that got them through. If you wanted a chance to enlist your best for a year of giving back, please do not hesitate to contact us. Yours Sincerely
Paul Costello Executive Director Project CHANGE John Di Tomasso Project CHANGE Chairman Khadija Barkley Head of Saturday School
Graduates, consider a Gap year serving your school
HOW TO MAKE SCHOOLS SAFE AGAIN FOR LEARNING The rising incidence of violence in our schools is turning education into the opposite of what it should be. School is meant to be a place where it is safe to explore and experiment, not a place ruled by fear. Yet, after COVID19, the social safety net is frayed. Schools are struggling just to get back to normal schedules, and the youth who are troubled or feel neglected risk dropping out, or turning to destructive behaviors, just to get attention. Most of the shooters in schools are of high school age which means that peers know them. It also means their peers can help them and probably are the best equipped to see trouble brewing before it becomes lethal. That is where YOU come in.
SERVING WITH AMERICORPS You are 18+, and you have just graduated from High School. You are not quite ready for college or starting a normal job. You see the gaping need in your own school community and you want to give back. You know kids in your own circle who lost hope. You know how much it means to have someone there to listen, to encourage, and to help a fellow student get back on track. You feel that urge to serve the school community that gave you so much, but you don’t know how. You can’t afford to do it for nothing. You need health insurance perhaps, and you need some support and training. You want to do it but don’t know where to start. We have a way.
AmeriCorps Project CHANGE is offering you the unique opportunity for a gap year that will change your life because it will give you the chance to make a difference and change someone else’s life. Project CHANGE doesn’t believe in just talking about change. It believes in getting things done. You will not be acting in any official role, or expected to be a trained counsellor. You are there as peer support in the classroom with the teachers, as all AmeriCorps members do. They are part of the support team for those trained to look after the students. But that informal support role is vital. Because you are a peer, you get it. You can help bridge any generational divide.
PROJECT CHANGE Project CHANGE is the original AmeriCorps program that for 21 years, has been serving Montgomery County students. Every year, we look at the emerging needs and focus on who might be most inspired to respond to them. We believe that motivated and energetic new graduates from our local High Schools are the people best placed to serve in our schools to know who needs support, and to thereby mitigate the violence epidemic threatening education everywhere.
Project CHANGE has a unique Social Emotional Learning Approach based around stories. We focus on the story that a student is telling themselves about their value, their talents, their chances for success and their future. We use a student-friendly tool called MyScore which gets students to focus on growing in the 5Cs of Social Emotional Learning- confidence, curiosity, collaboration, courage and career-future focus. Members who serve their Gap Year in the schools will be trained to use this tool and shape interventions around the student’s own sense of self. Imagine being the difference between a student passing or failing? Imagine being the difference between a student believing in herself and a student acting out their despair and damaging everyone around them?
DO YOU QUALIFY
Requirements for AmeriCorps members in Project Change: 1. 18+ years of age 2. High School Diploma 3. Drivers license/access to a vehicle 4. Able to work in the US 5. Able to devote 35 hours a week 6. Some experience working with children/youth 7. Willing to have a criminal background check 8. Proof of full vaccination status for COVID19 9 Able to serve for a full 12 months 10. Willing to serve in a High School setting
BENEFITS
In return, AmeriCorps members receive: Professional Development through weekly training on Fridays $21,500 living stipend $6,450 educational scholarship upon completion Health benefits Professional mentoring Peer support network and connection to AmeriCorps alumni Preference in hiring for many organizations The positions offer an overall life-changing experience. Most positions are full-time (1700 hours during a 12-month term) and some positions are half-time (900 hours during a 12-month term).
BACKGROUND Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) with 160,000 Students shut down for over a year, leaving kids cut off from their peers, depriving them of normal healthy social outlets. School is back but how do we make up for their losses in Social/Emotional learning, the very skills students need most to succeed in life. This is where YOU come in. Your role in the school will be as a mentor and coach to your peers, and to model for them ways to
-Actively engage and problem-solve physical, psychological, social and disciplinary issues that affect themselves and the community. -Take responsibility for their actions. -Set themselves up for success
Project CHANGE Montgomery began in 2001 as the original Montgomery County MD program of AmeriCorps, America’s “Domestic Peace Corps.” Places are available from mid August 2022 to mid-August 2023 and AmeriCorps members serve the county’s most under-served K-12+ students.
From the Washington Post May 20th The Editorial Board
“We remember them.” Following those simple and somber words, President Biden read the names and recounted the lives of the 10 people gunned down May 14 at the Tops Friendly Market grocery store in Buffalo:
Celestine Chaney, 65, cancer survivor, churchgoer, bingo player; Roberta Drury, 32, beloved daughter and sister who moved home to help her brother fighting cancer; Andre Mackniel, 53, who stopped at Tops to buy his 3-year-old son a birthday cake; Katherine “Kat” Massey, 72, a writer and civil rights and education advocate; Margus D. Morrison, 52, school bus aide survived by his wife, three children and a stepdaughter; Heyward Patterson, 67, father and church deacon who fed the homeless and gave rides to neighbors; Aaron Salter Jr., 55, retired police officer who died trying to stop the gunman; Geraldine Talley, 62, expert baker and friend to everybody; Ruth Whitfield, 86, beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who was caretaker of her husband; Pearl Young, 77, who ran the local food pantry and loved singing, dancing and her family.
Seven years ago, we commemorated some of the many lives that have been cut short in mass shootings in the United States. Sadly, the list, which we have updated and republished, was far from comprehensive. Even sadder — no, even more maddening — is that it has grown only longer. When terrible mass shootings have occurred in other nations, governments have responded with sensible gun control measures that have helped to prevent further tragedies. The lives lost in Buffalo — and all those before them — must be a spur to action.Columbine High School students, from left, Darcy Craig, Molly Byrne and Emily Dubin, stop to pay their respects at a memorial set up in a park near the high school in Littleton, Colo., in 1999. (Eric Gay)
April 20, 1999 • At Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.: Cassie Bernall, 17; Steven Curnow, 14; Corey DePooter, 17; Kelly Fleming, 16; Matthew Kechter, 16; Daniel Mauser, 15; Daniel Rohrbough, 15; William “Dave” Sanders, 47; Rachel Scott, 17; Isaiah Shoels, 18; John Tomlin, 16; Lauren Townsend, 18; Kyle Velasquez, 16.
Dec. 26, 2000 •At Edgewater Technology in Wakefield, Mass.: Jennifer Bragg Capobianco, 29; Janice Hagerty, 46; Louis “Sandy” Javelle, 58; Rose Manfredi, 48; Paul Marceau, 36; Cheryl Troy, 50; Craig Wood, 29.Cody Thunder, right, comforts Lance Crowe before a news conference at North Country Regional Hospital on March 23, 2005, in Bemidji, Minn. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
March 21, 2005 • At Red Lake High School on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Red Lake, Minn.: Derrick Brun, 28; Dewayne Lewis, 15; Chase Lussier, 15; Daryl Lussier, 58; Neva Rogers, 62; Chanelle Rosebear, 15; Michelle Sigana, 32; Thurlene Stillday, 15; Alicia White, 15.Amish children ride in the back of a buggy as they travel to a wake at the home of two Amish school shooting victims in Nickel Mines, Pa., in 2006. Officials said a milk truck driver named Charles Carl Roberts IV entered a schoolhouse, let the boys and adults go free, tied up the girls and shot them execution-style before committing suicide. (Getty Images)
Oct. 2, 2006 • At an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pa.: Naomi Ebersol, 7; Marian Stoltzfus Fisher, 13; Lena Zook Miller, 7; Mary Liz Miller, 8; Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12.Thousands attend a candlelight vigil on the campus of Virginia Tech on April 17, 2007, in Blacksburg, Va. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
April 16, 2007 • At Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.: Ross Abdallah Alameddine, 20; Christopher James “Jamie” Bishop, 35; Brian Bluhm, 25; Ryan Clark, 22; Austin Cloyd, 18; Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, 49; Daniel Perez Cueva, 21; Kevin Granata, 46; Matthew G. Gwaltney, 24; Caitlin Hammaren, 19; Jeremy Herbstritt, 27; Rachael Elizabeth Hill, 18; Emily Hilscher, 19; Jarrett Lane, 22; Matthew J. La Porte, 20; Henry Lee, 20; Liviu Librescu, 76; G.V. Loganathan, 51; Partahi Lumbantoruan, 34; Lauren McCain, 20; Daniel O’Neil, 22; Juan Ramon Ortiz, 26; Minal Panchal, 26; Erin Peterson, 18; Michael Pohle, 23; Julia Pryde, 23; Mary Read, 19; Reema Samaha, 18; Waleed Shaalan, 32; Leslie Sherman, 20; Maxine Turner, 22; Nicole R. White, 20.
Dec. 5, 2007 •At the Westroads Mall in Omaha: Beverly Flynn, 47; Janet Jorgensen, 66; Gary Joy, 56; John McDonald, 65; Gary Scharf, 48; Angie Schuster, 36; Dianne Trent, 53; Maggie Webb, 24.Imam Kasim Kopuz, left, of the Islamic Organization of the Southern Tier in Binghamton, N.Y., leads funeral prayers for Layla Khalil, one of two Muslim victims of a mass shooting, as her husband, center, looks on, on April 5, 2009, in Johnson City, N.Y. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
April 3, 2009 • At the American Civic Association immigration services center in Binghamton, N.Y.: Parveen Nln Ali, 26; Almir O. Alves, 43; Marc Henry Bernard, 44; Maria Sonia Bernard, 46; Hai Hong Zhong, 54; Hong Xiu Mao, 35; Jiang Ling, 22; Layla Khalil, 57; Roberta King, 72; Lan Ho, 39; Li Guo, 47; Dolores Yigal, 53; Maria Zobniw, 60.Army soldiers prepare to leave a memorial service in honor of 13 victims of a shooting rampage days before, on Nov. 10, 2009, in Fort Hood, Tex. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Nov. 5, 2009 • At Fort Hood, near Killeen, Tex.: Michael Grant Cahill, 62; Libardo Eduardo Caraveo, 52; Justin Michael DeCrow, 32; John P. Gaffaney, 56; Frederick Greene, 29; Jason Dean Hunt, 22; Amy S. Krueger, 29; Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19; Michael S. Pearson, 22; Russell Seager, 51; Francheska Velez, 21; Juanita L. Warman, 55; Kham See Xiong, 23.
Jan. 8, 2011 • In the parking lot of a grocery store near Tucson: Christina Taylor Green, 9; Dorothy Morris, 76; John M. Roll, 63; Phyllis Schneck, 79; Dorwan Stoddard, 76; Gabriel Zimmerman, 30.
Feb. 27, 2012 • At Chardon High School in Chardon, Ohio: Demetrius Hewlin, 16; Russell King, Jr., 17; Daniel Parmertor, 16.
April 2, 2012 • At Oikos University in Oakland, Calif.: Tshering Rinzing Bhutia, 38; Doris Chibuko, 40; Sonam Choedon, 33; Grace Eunhea Kim, 23; Katleen Ping, 24; Judith O. Seymour, 53; Lydia Sim, 21.A popcorn box lies outside a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., where a gunman attacked moviegoers during an early-morning screening on July 20, 2012. (Thomas Cooper/Getty Images)
July 20, 2012 • At the Century Aurora 16 movie complex in Aurora, Colo.: Jonathan Blunk, 26; A.J. Boik, 18; Jesse Childress, 29; Gordon W. Cowden, 51; Jessica Ghawi, 24; John Thomas Larimer, 27; Matthew McQuinn, 27; Micayla Medek, 23; Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6; Alex Matthew Sullivan, 27; Alexander Teves, 24; Rebecca Ann Wingo, 32.Family members of those killed by a gunman at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin attend a vigil at the temple to mark the one-year anniversary of the shooting on Aug. 5, 2013, in Oak Creek, Wis. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Aug. 5, 2012 • At the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, Wis.: Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65; Suveg Singh Khattra, 84; Paramjit Kaur, 41; Prakash Singh, 39; Ranjit Singh, 49; Sita Singh, 41.People embrace on Dec. 14, 2012, in the aftermath of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Twenty-six people, including 20 first-graders, were killed. (Don Emmert)
Dec. 14, 2012 • At Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.: Charlotte Bacon, 6; Daniel Barden, 7; Rachel D’Avino, 29; Olivia Engel, 6; Josephine Gay, 7; Dylan Hockley, 6; Dawn Hochsprung, 47; Madeleine F. Hsu, 6; Catherine V. Hubbard, 6; Chase Kowalski, 7; Jesse Lewis, 6; Ana G. Marquez-Greene, 6; James Mattioli, 6; Grace McDonnell, 7; Anne Marie Murphy, 52; Emilie Parker, 6; Jack Pinto, 6; Noah Pozner, 6; Caroline Previdi, 6; Jessica Rekos, 6; Avielle Richman, 6; Lauren Russeau, 30; Mary Sherlach, 56; Victoria Soto, 27; Benjamin Wheeler, 6; Allison N. Wyatt, 6.Priscilla Daniels, wife of Arthur Daniels, one of 12 people killed in a shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard on Sept. 16, 2013, is comforted by Lynnell Humphrey, the deputy director of constituent services for D.C.’s Ward 7. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Sept. 16, 2013 • At the Washington Navy Yard in D.C.: Michael Arnold, 59; Martin Bodrog, 54; Arthur Daniels, 51; Sylvia Frasier, 53; Kathy Gaarde, 62; John Roger Johnson, 73; Mary Frances DeLorenzo Knight, 51; Frank Kohler, 51; Vishnu Bhalchandra Pandit, 61; Kenneth Bernard Proctor, 46; Gerald Read, 58; Richard Michael Ridgell, 52.Photographs of the nine victims killed at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., are held by congregants during a prayer vigil at the the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington on June 19, 2015. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
June 17, 2015 • At Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.: Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; DePayne V. Middleton Doctor, 49; Cynthia Graham Hurd, 54; Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lee Lance, 70; Clementa C. Pinckney, 41; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Daniel Simmons, 74; Myra Thompson, 59.
July 16, 2015 • At an armed services recruiting center and a Navy reserve center in Chattanooga, Tenn.: Carson A. Holmquist, 25; Randall Smith, 26; Thomas J. Sullivan, 40; Squire K. “Skip” Wells, 21; David A. Wyatt, 35.
Oct. 1, 2015 • At a community college in Roseburg, Ore.: Lucero Alcaraz, 19; Treven Taylor Anspach, 20; Rebecka Ann Carnes, 18; Quinn Glen Cooper, 18; Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, 59; Lucas Eibel, 18; Jason Dale Johnson, 33; Lawrence Levine, 67; Sarena Dawn Moore, 44.
Nov. 27, 2015 • At a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs: Jennifer Markovsky, 36; Ke’Arre M. Stewart, 29; Garrett Swasey, 44.
Dec. 2, 2015 • At an office park in San Bernardino, Calif.: Robert Adams, 40; Isaac Amanios, 60; Bennetta Betbadal, 46; Harry Bowman, 46; Sierra Clayborn, 27; Juan Espinoza, 50; Aurora Godoy, 26; Shannon Johnson, 45; Larry Daniel Kaufman, 42; Damian Meins, 58; Tin Nguyen, 31; Nicholas Thalasinos, 52; Yvette Velasco, 27; Michael Raymond Wetzel, 37.People take part in a memorial in Orlando for victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. Forty-nine people were killed in the June 12, 2016, shooting. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
June 12, 2016 • At Pulse nightclub in Orlando: Stanley Almodovar III, 23; Amanda L. Alvear, 25; Oscar A. Aracena Montero, 26; Rodolfo Ayala Ayala, 33; Antonio Davon Brown, 29; Darryl Roman Burt II, 29; Angel Candelario-Padro, 28; Juan Chavez Martinez, 25; Luis Daniel Conde, 39; Cory James Connell, 21; Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25; Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32; Simón Adrian Carrillo Fernández, 31; Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25; Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26; Peter Ommy Gonzalez Cruz, 22; Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22; Paul Terrell Henry, 41; Frank Hernandez, 27; Miguel Angel Honorato, 30; Javier Jorge Reyes, 40; Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19; Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30; Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25; Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32; Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21; Brenda Marquez McCool, 49; Gilberto R. Silva Menendez, 25; Kimberly Jean Morris, 37; Akyra Monet Murray, 18; Luis Omar Ocasio Capo, 20; Geraldo A. Ortiz Jimenez, 25; Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36; Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32; Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35; Enrique L. Rios Jr., 25; Jean Carlos Nieves Rodríguez, 27; Xavier Emmanuel Serrano-Rosado, 35; Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24; Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan, 24; Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34; Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33; Martin Benitez Torres, 33; Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, 24; Juan Pablo Rivera Velázquez, 37; Luis Sergio Vielma, 22; Franky Jimmy DeJesus Velázquez, 50; Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37; Jerald Arthur Wright, 31.
Jan. 6, 2017 • At the baggage claim of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida: Mary Louise Amzibel, 69; Terry Andres, 62; Michael Oehme, 57; Shirley Timmons, 70; Olga Woltering, 84.
June 5, 2017 • At an awning company near Orlando: Kevin Clark, 53; Kevin Lawson, 46; Brenda Montanez-Crespo, 44; Jeffrey Roberts, 57; Robert Snyder, 69.Ethan Avanzino grieves beside a white cross for his friend Cameron Robinson, one of 58 victims of the mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip on Oct. 1, 2017.
Oct. 1, 2017 • On the Las Vegas Strip: Hannah Ahlers, 34; Heather Alvarado, 35; Dorene Anderson, 49; Carrie Barnette, 34; Jack Beaton, 54; Stephen Berger, 44; Candice Bowers, 40; Denise Burditus, 50; Sandy Casey, 35; Andrea Castilla, 28; Denise Cohen, 58; Austin Davis, 29; Thomas Day Jr., 54; Christiana Duarte, 22; Stacee Rodrigues Etcheber, 50; Brian Fraser, 39; Keri Galvan, 31; Dana Gardner, 52; Angela Gomez, 20; Charleston Hartfield, 34; Christopher Hazencomb, 44; Jennifer Topaz Irvine, 42; Teresa Nicol Kimura, 38; Jessica Klymchuk, 34; Carly Kreibaum, 33; Rhonda LeRocque, 42; Victor Link, 55; Jordan McIldoon, 23; Kelsey Breanne Meadows, 28; Calla-Marie Medig, 28; Sonny Melton, 29; Patricia Mestas, 67; Austin Meyer, 24; Adrian Murfitt, 35; Rachael Parker, 33; Jennifer Parks, 36; Carolyn Parsons, 31; Lisa Patterson, 46; John Phippen, 56; Melissa Ramirez, 26; Jordyn Rivera, 21; Quinton Robbins, 20; Cameron Robinson, 28; Rocio Guillen Rocha, 40; Tara Roe, 34; Lisa Romero-Muniz, 48; Christopher Roybal, 28; Brett Schwanbeck, 61; Bailey Schweitzer, 20; Laura Shipp, 50; Erick Silva, 21; Susan Smith, 53; Brennan Stewart, 30; Derrick Taylor, 56; Neysa Tonks, 46; Michelle Vo, 32; Kurt Von Tillow, 55; Bill Wolfe Jr., 42.Derrick Bernaden visits a memorial to the 26 victims of the mass shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Tex. A gunman opened fire in the church during a Sunday service on Nov. 5, 2017. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Nov. 5, 2017 • At the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Tex.: Keith Allen Braden, 62; Robert Michael Corrigan, 51; Shani Louise Corrigan, 51; Emily Garcia, 7; Emily Rose Hill, 11; Gregory Lynn Hill, 13; Megan Gail Hill, 9; Crystal Marie Holcombe, 36; John Bryan Holcombe, 60; Karla Plain Holcombe, 58; Marc Daniel Holcombe, 36; Noah Holcombe, 1; Dennis Neil Johnson, 77; Sara Johns Johnson, 68; Haley Krueger, 16; Robert Scott Marshall, 56; Karen Sue Marshall, 56; Tara E. McNulty, 33; Annabelle Renae Pomeroy, 14; Ricardo Cardona Rodriguez, 64; Therese Sagan Rodriguez, 66; Brooke Bryanne Ward, 5; Joann Lookingbill Ward, 30; Peggy Lynn Warden, 56; Lula Woicinski White, 71.Angela Tanner rests against the fence that surrounds Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 18, 2018, where 17 people were killed in a mass shooting. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Feb. 14, 2018 • At Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.: Alyssa Alhadeff, 14; Scott Beigel, 35; Martin Duque, 14; Nicholas Dworet, 17; Aaron Feis, 37; Jaime Guttenberg, 14; Chris Hixon, 49; Luke Hoyer, 15; Cara Loughran, 14; Gina Montalto, 14; Joaquin Oliver, 17; Alaina Petty, 14; Meadow Pollack, 18; Helena Ramsay, 17; Alex Schachter, 14; Carmen Schentrup, 16; Peter Wang, 15.
May 18, 2018 • At Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Tex.: Jared Black, 17; Shana Fisher, 16; Christian Riley Garcia, 15; Aaron Kyle McLeod, 15; Glenda Ann Perkins, 64; Angelique Ramirez, 15; Sabika Sheikh, 17; Christopher Stone, 17; Cynthia Tisdale, 63; Kimberly Vaughan, 14.
June 28, 2018 • At the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis: Gerald Fischman, 61; Rob Hiaasen, 59; John McNamara, 56; Rebecca Smith, 34; Wendi Winters, 65.A visitor stops at a makeshift memorial outside the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh following a mass shooting there on Oct. 27, 2018. (Matt Rourke/AP)
Oct. 27, 2018 • At Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh: Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Rose Mallinger, 97; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Cecil Rosenthal, 59; David Rosenthal, 54; Bernice Simon, 84; Sylvan Simon, 86; Daniel Stein, 71; Melvin Wax, 87; Irving Younger, 69.
Nov. 7, 2018 • At the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sean Adler, 48; Cody Coffman, 22; Blake Dingman, 21; Jake Dunham, 21; Ron Helus, 54; Alaina Housley, 18; Dan Manrique, 33; Justin Meek, 23; Mark Meza Jr., 20; Kristina Morisette, 20; Telemachus Orfanos, 27; Noel Sparks, 21.
Jan. 23, 2019 • At the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, Fla.: Debra Cook, 54; Marisol Lopez, 55; Jessica Montague, 31; Ana Piñon-Williams, 38; Cynthia Watson, 65.
Feb. 15, 2019 • At the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, Ill.: Russell Beyer, 47; Vicente Juarez, 54; Clayton Parks, 32; Josh Pinkard, 37; Trevor Wehner, 21.On June 2, 2019, people hold hands and pray at a memorial to honor those killed in a mass shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center days earlier, in Virginia Beach. (Sarah Holm/AP)
May 31, 2019 • At the Virginia Beach Municipal Center in Virginia Beach: LaQuita C. Brown, 39; Ryan Keith Cox, 50; Tara Welch Gallagher, 39; Mary Louise Gayle, 65; Alexander Mikhail Gusev, 35; Joshua O. Hardy, 52; Michelle “Missy” Langer, 60; Richard H. Nettleton, 65; Katherine A. Nixon, 42; Christopher Kelly Rapp, 54; Herbert “Bert” Snelling, 57; Robert “Bobby” Williams, 72.
July 28, 2019 • At the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California: Trevor Deon Irby, 25; Stephen Romero, 6; Keyla Salazar, 13.A man cries beside a cross at a makeshift memorial near the scene of a mass shooting at a Walmart Supercenter in El Paso, on Aug. 6, 2019. (John Locher/AP)
Aug. 3, 2019 • At a Walmart Supercenter in El Paso: Andre Anchondo, 24; Jordan Anchondo, 25; Arturo Benavides, 60; Leo Campos, 41; Angelina Englisbee, 86; Maria Flores, 77; Raul Flores, 83; Jorge Calvillo García, 61; Adolfo Cerros Hernández, 68; Maribel Hernández, 56; Alexander Gerhard Hoffman, 66; David Johnson, 63; Luis Juarez, 90; Maria Eugenia Legarreta, 58; Ivan Filiberto Manzano, 45; Gloria Irma Márquez, 61; Elsa Mendoza, 57; Margie Reckard, 63; Sara Esther Regalado, 66; Javier Amir Rodriguez, 15; Teresa Sanchez, 82; Juan de Dios Velázquez, 77.
Aug. 4, 2019 • At the Oregon Historic District in Dayton, Ohio: Megan K. Betts, 22; Monica E. Brickhouse, 39; Nicholas P. Cumer, 25; Derrick R. Fudge, 57; Thomas J. McNichols, 25; Lois L. Oglesby, 27; Saeed Saleh, 38; Logan M. Turner, 30; Beatrice N. Warren-Curtis, 36.
Aug. 31, 2019 • On the streets of Midland and Odessa in West Texas: Rodolfo Julio Arco, 57; Kameron Karltess Brown, 30; Raul Garcia, 35; Mary Granados, 29; Joseph Griffith, 40; Leilah Hernandez, 15; Edwin Peregrino, 25.
Dec. 10, 2019 • At the Jersey City Kosher Supermarket in New Jersey: Mindy Ferencz, 33; Joseph Seals, 40; Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, 49; Moshe Deutsch, 24.
Feb. 26, 2020 • At the Molson Coors Campus in Milwaukee: Dale Hudson, 50; Gennady Levshetz, 61; Jesus Valle Jr., 33; Dana Walk, 57; Trevor Wetselaar, 33.A woman prays during a memorial in Kansas City, Mo., for the victims of the Atlanta-area spa shootings, on March 28, 2021. (Charlie Riedel/AP)
March 16, 2021 • At spas in the Atlanta area: Daoyou Feng, 44; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Soon Chung Park, 74; Xiaojie Tan, 49; Delaina Ashley Yuan, 33; Yong Ae Yue, 63.
March 22, 2021 • At King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colo.: Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; Rikki Olds, 25; Neven Stanisic, 23; Denny Stong, 20; Eric Talley, 51; Jody Waters, 65.Investigators at a FedEx facility where a mass shooting left at least eight people dead and five wounded on April 15, 2021. (Getty Images)
April 15, 2021 • At a FedEx facility in Indianapolis: Matthew Ross Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jasvinder Kaur, 50; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Amarjit Sekhon, 48; Karli Smith, 19; and John “Steve” Weisert, 74.
Nov. 30, 2021 • At Oxford High School in Oxford, Mich.: Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Justin Shilling, 17.
Thirteen people, ages 20 to 86, were shot. Eleven were Black and two were White, Buffalo police said. Authorities late Sunday identified the victims:• Roberta A. Drury, 32, of Buffalo• Margus D. Morrison, 52, of Buffalo• Andre Mackniel, 53, of Auburn, New York• Aaron Salter, 55, of Lockport, New York• Geraldine Talley, 62, of Buffalo• Celestine Chaney, 65, of Buffalo• Heyward Patterson, 67, of Buffalo• Katherine Massey, 72, of Buffalo• Pearl Young, 77, of Buffalo• Ruth Whitfield, 86, of Buffalo
May 2022 Where is Next? June 2022 Where is Next? July 2022 Where is Next? August 2022 Where is Next? September 2022 Where is Next? October 2022 Where is Next? November 2022 Where is Next? December 2022 Where is Next?
THE SITUATION Clearly, the world needs changing, but we are stuck. The old methods don’t work. Democracy used to mean people had a say and that say counted. If there was a problem, we could come together to fix it. RIght now, we seem to be going around in circles, or worse, going backwards. What can break this cycle of frustration? AmeriCorps Project CHANGE THE STORY ( APCTS) is ready to offer a new way toward change.
THE RESPONSE APCTS is unique. This innovative AmeriCorps program is the first of its type for combining a year long project of research, service and training under the guidance of some of the world’s leading narrative experts who make up the faculty of Storywise, the Center for Narrative Studies in Washington DC. Project CHANGE was once a good old fashioned AmeriCorps program, but after watching COVID19 devastate our local school system these last 2 years, we decided we had to move to meet the times, and become PROJECT CHANGE THE STORY. We as a local organization decided to change our story before asking anyone else to. But we need to train people how to spread that message and how to implement it at the grassroots.
THE BENEFITS OF THE SCHOLARSHIP
Among the benefits, members for the 2022-23 team will earn a special Certificate of Narrative Practice, be paid $21,500 as a living allowance, offered health insurance, and earn an education scholarship worth $6,500 on completion.
THE SEL TOOL MYSCORE The year will be focused on serving the most under-served students in the MCPS school system, using a special Narrative Change tool known as MyScore and through learning to apply that, facilitate a narrative method of change. Our goal is to create a measurable, positive impact on needy students and the school system overall.
SERVICE SITES Half the members are assigned as SEL coaches working directly in schools, and the other half are assigned to leading non-profits who offer after-school programs. Friday is training days, with world class faculty and Monday to Thursday is the practicum where members are working directly with kids. Each placement is customized to the needs of the particular school or after-school placement, but in each one, the goal is to help change the student story, from struggling to success, from surviving to thriving, from giving up to giving more, from hurt to hope.
RESEARCH Each member will devise and develop their own particular research project that they have determined from the assessment of the local service need and create interventions to be tested and evaluated, to add to the body of practice of narrative change so badly needed in education.
GLOBAL REACH The narrative method has been applied across the world to deal with some of the most intractable problems, ( wiprogram.org, www.newstoryleadership.org) but this is the first time that Storywise.com the Center for Narrative Studies has committed to support a school district and create a new model of change for the nation.
THE INVITATION APCTS is looking for inspired learners to become inspired leaders and after this unique year of training, to become inspired teachers of the narrative method of change for a world so badly in need of a new way to create real change, to inspire a new story.
It is recruiting time again. Anyone who has been on a selection panel from year to year knows that the losses of last year’s team shapes the way we choose next year’s winning team. If your team lacked strong defenders in the vital games, or it had a solid team but no players who could penetrate the defense, you go looking for what you lack.
The same is true for us at Project CHANGE. Year to year, the selection is testimony to where we are and where we have been, and the pool of people who, at any one time, might be open to a year of service. What about 2022-23, the year we are trying to come out of the shadows of COVID? It is not going to be a normal year, so we need a team that rises above the normal.
Stressful times test us all, but they will sorely and surely test any AmeriCorps member choosing to serve this coming year. I can say that because of how much it seemed to test many members last year. We usually can presume people have natural coping skills, but when what they are coping with is not natural or normal, you have to reassess. The needs of the students we meet every day have changed so dramatically that finding the right kind of people to respond is going to call for something more.
Have you got that extra to give? If we are subject to the same constraints as the students are, none of us can be so sure that we are up for the task. That is the clear mandate from last year, that anyone wishing to serve cannot underestimate the toll it will most likely take. That is not to discourage people but to state it bluntly and boldly, that this is not your normal service year. Something more is called for because so much more is missing. Don’t blithely presume it will be easy. You are getting a modest living allowance, not a salary, and you are serving in schools short of teachers, and with battling non-profits who improvised to get through the pandemic. Don’t expect a red carpet and a band.
Second, how emotionally agile are you? While the teachers are intent on scores and reading levels and geared up to deliver the curriculum, AmeriCorps members are there as guardians of the Social and Emotional Learning of all students, but especially the most troubled and troublesome. Let me say that again. Trouble is our friend. Our unique approach, MyScore, invites students to assess themselves, and tell us how they feel they are coping. It is not top down but bottom up. But beware. If the whole system has bent and broken under COVID, and is battered every other day with police beatings and school shootings and classroom fights and student mental meltdowns, then we are not dealing with anything that one exam or extra study is likely to fix. Schools alone cannot fix what a pandemic has wrought.
A year of service will tax our own emotional and social maturity to the max. As we have discovered this past year, MyScore showed how much the students struggled but half way through, we decided that their teachers were struggling even more. We are not going to pick anyone for the role if we fear they are going to end up a casualty. It is like the story that life savers tell their trainees, get close but not too close to the desperate drowning man in case his struggle drags you under too.
Third, will you keep showing up regardless? The intermittent pattern of schooling, where infection rates still threatened shutdowns and teacher absence reflected student absence, the whole stop and start of education has made students suspicious of time, and unable to imagine too far into a future. All during the pandemic, they have lost out and have asked, who is there for us when no one else is, who will show up, rain and snow, hot or cold, bad days and good days? Funa is serving his third year and has coached his 3 new members at Sligo to not just show up on time but to show up early, and the students have noticed. They have said that even more than some teachers, the AmeriCorps members are always there. That in itself is testimony of a human commitment that all healthy SEL growth relies on. If you fear that this kind of commitment is too much given your busy life, or how far away you live, or your own prior obligations to kids or parents, then please, reconsider. For the time you are serving, those kids are number one priority and number two and number three. If they do not see that, they read between the lines. They know we say we care but we show we don’t.
Fourth, Are are committed to open and timely communication? Things happen. Parents get sick. Cars get towed. There is always something that is going to be the challenge of the day or week, but how good are you at letting the right people know, and at the right time? This past year, we have had members who just disappear for days at a time, and we have to send out search parties. As well as feeding our own anxieties, because we want to know, are they OK, did something happen. We hear four days later that a child was sick or a relative died. There is always a good reason, but running a program is hard enough without having to be a mind reader. The program perhaps is old fashioned and relies on emails over phone or text message, but if you are the sort of person with a clogged email inbox with 300 unopened messages, then that will get in the way of being a successful Project CHANGE member.
Who will you take your frustrations out on? It will get frustrating. The students are back but mostly not to learn. They are back to play. They missed out on so much. Or the AmeriCorps rules prohibit certain political activity and its an election year and the nation is falling apart, and you expect us to just sit back and do nothing. AmeriCorps Lives matter too. Yes, be a citizen and act, protest but that is not your job at AmeriCorps. Or those pesky Time Sheets, you are one month behind, then two, then three and the Director is chasing you to get them filled in. Can’t he see how hard I am working?
Unless we know you have healthy ways to deal with anxiety and frustration, and can switch off, take the dog for a walk, play tennis, grow petunias, your stress has to be dissolved and dealt with outside the system, not disposed of with rants or unrealistic demands inside the system. We are on the same side, but tension will get to all of us and wear us all out. I have to be sure I do not take it out on you, and you do not take it out on me. I love what some call Rule Number 6 which is “Never to take yourself too f….g seriously.” There is no Rule 1 or 5, in fact there are no other rules. Just Rule Number 6. How serious is that?
Are you doing this to get somewhere beyond this? This is hardly a year you use to kill time or because you have nothing better to do. This is one year you decide to serve, and at the end of it, we want to be sure it was not wasted. You have given so much, but it must enhance you and move you one chapter forward in your book of life. Expectations are crucial. Some very qualified members begrudge that their true talents are not utilized, but that is not why we signed you on. The essential qualification that defines the work is having a servants heart. Everything else is secondary. That is the core qualification we need you to have.
The final question is- Are you going to ensure you have some fun and enjoy the whole adventure? If you are doing this to be a martyr or a saint, then perhaps its not a good fit. The needs of the students come first and if we get into that victim mind, where we feel no one understands the size of our problems, then we misread the AmeriCorps script of getting things done for others and for America. If we get righteous or holier than thou, we do no one any favors. We are there for students needs, not ours.
But more than that, the successful member commits to an adventure, like trekking the Alps or summiting Everest, to climb and find new vistas and to be exhausted and lost, and all the rest, and see all that as part of the deal. If you are not going to have fun, to savor the chance, then we would ask you why torture yourself. Do this as your gift, not your duty. Someone once said “Joy is the infallible sign of grace.” If this is not the offer of joy, don’t do it. This is not ice cream or roller coaster joy. It is no ordinary feeling. It is the grace that comes from being there for others when no one else is, for believing in the kid who does not believe in herself, for cheering the failing efforts of a student everyone has labeled a loser, or calming a refugee who is beyond frustration with learning a new language in a new country. It is about the joy you only receive from serving. Is that you?
Recruiting Season is upon us. AmeriCorps might be calling you soon.
The recent ASC AmeriCorps training conference in Burlington VT was a grand reunion of program directors, State Commissioners and national AmeriCorps leaders. Our last meeting was in 2019, so meeting in person felt extra special. We could put aside our ZOOM faces and screens. If we chose to wear a green sticker, we gave notice that we were OK to be hugged again. It was sens-ational in the truest sense.
Thinking back to our last conference, one could not help feel how much the world has changed. Last week, the New York Times and the Washington Post featured the deadly milestone of ‘One Million lost to COVID.’ We pointed to that in our session that we delivered first up Wednesday morning entitled “Our Stories Rise Up” based on our newly published book. As the three days unfolded, and we attended great sessions on Mental Health and Wellness and How to Avoid Burnout, the elephant in the room was COVID, clearly the context for everything but sadly, not mentioned or directly addressed at all. We are living through it but not wanting to talk about it. AmeriCorps is not the only one. A national conference of family Therapists met in DC in March on the Theme “Meeting the Moment” and over three days, only one training out of 300 headlined the pandemic. Kubler Ross has stages of grief that begin with denial, and perhaps that is where we are right now.
The desire to get back to normal is irresistible but what we have all been through since March 2020 makes that a bit of a pipe dream. Instead of one great forgetting, these strained times call for us to lament our losses and gently embrace the new normal. We must allow learning to emerge from our lamentation. That is why the book presents a set of 22 tools and shares stories of how our AmeriCorps members have been able to do that.
What also came out of the week long sharing with other AmeriCorps programs was the recognition that, even if we have not been in the same boat, we have all been in the same storm. Some have survived better than others, but many of our usual social systems have been battered into brokenness: Education and Health and Food Delivery, Supply Chains and wages, and the predictable patterns of work and travel. We have not been able to mourn our dead except from a safe distance or behind a screen, and we have not been able to nurse our newborn. What kind of lasting toll does that take, when warm family contact threatens the frail and aged.
We may not all be depressed but the world we live in surely is. The rise in racism, suicides and shootings, the burnout among teachers, doctors, nurses and social workers, the stress on your ordinary AmeriCorps member has been extraordinary. At times, one has felt that we needed to suspend operations of trying to meet the urgent needs of the other, and just declare a time out, to mend and heal our own.
Our determination (or is it stubbornness?) kicks in, and we tell ourselves we can lick this. We will get things done. We will go the extra mile. And when we do, we find we have done ourselves in, and the extra mile has put us into a state of collapse. For all our best energy, the world is not so malleable to our intentions anymore. We are not in a position to help or change as we once thought we were. The world moved out of our reach and we stayed where we are.
We have to recognize where we are, in the Post COVID recovery phase of a global pandemic. If history is our guide, we are already living into some changes without quite understanding their long term implications. After the Black Death, when Europe lost half its population, the feudal system died with it, because now there was more land than people to farm it. And some historians even trace the rise of the British Pub to the aftermath of the disease. Why would this pandemic be any different?
We are in the middle of changes we cannot see, but which will profoundly shape our futures. Isn’t it time we talked about that? Isn’t it urgent that if the shape of the world we serve in has changed, that we do not rush back to a normal that no longer exists? A new world to serve in, demands a new way to serve in it.
The AmeriCorps conference, as great as it was, offered a program that started where we left off. How to recruit, how to balance budgets, how to do background checks etc. All of these are important, but all of them needed the added tag line “in a post-Covid world.” Our service had to change. So AmeriCorps has to change with it. That is what Lincoln realized at the outset of the Civil War, the only national catastrophe comparable to the pandemic, when he said:
‘The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.’
We need to change our mindset towards the pandemic. Instead of seeing it only as a disaster, we could see it instead as one grand social experiment. Then we would recognize it as a much needed stress test of our most basic social systems that keep people alive and healthy. Then we would put on the hat of a researcher, eager to find out not just where the systems cracked, but where the cracks opened up space for innovation and new opportunities to serve. Whatever past we lost in the catastrophe, we gained an insight as to where the future could be heading.
What kinds of community did we create using ZOOM that were never even imagined before? What new patterns of home life emerged when home became school, and home became the office, and home became the gym, or when the car sat in the garage for months because we got used to walking, or got used to delivery to the door? Amazon and Door Dash were never more convenient.
Change never comes easy. It grows out of necessity but when we get to the other side of the emergency, we can start to see a new world emerging. That idea is wrapped inside the very word “emergency.” We will come to realize that our best efforts in a failing system are as nothing compared to our failing and faltering efforts to rebuild a more equitable a system from the ground up.
This is our chance. This is our time. This is our post-Covid wake up call. AmeriCorps should lead the way in that. We at Project CHANGE certainly hope to.
Posts by Paul Costello1
