Gov. Sununu helps launch COVID-19 response AmeriCorps program in New Hampshire

Manchester and Nashua, NH – Sixteen founding members of NH COVID Community Care Corps were sworn in as AmeriCorps members to begin their eight-week service term on Tuesday, July 7, 2020. The members will serve in nonprofit organizations and city departments across Manchester and Nashua. They will help with New Hampshire’s COVID response.

The AmeriCorps members were joined via Zoom by Governor Chris Sununu, Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, and Barbara Stewart, CEO of the Corporation for National & Community Service, the federal agency that oversees AmeriCorps.

The NH COVID Community Care Corps was first proposed by Rep. Matt Wilhelm of Manchester, a two-term AmeriCorps alumnus who currently serves as the House appointee to the Volunteer NH board of directors and chairs the State of New Hampshire’s Service Year Workforce Commission. Last month, the Service Year Workforce Commission and 87 House members urged Governor Sununu to allocate CARES Act funds to Volunteer NH to support national service’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“Care for our neighbors is foundational to who we are as Granite Staters, and Volunteer NH has been a vital asset in connecting individuals with service opportunities in their community throughout the COVID public health crisis,” said Governor Chris Sununu. “It’s for that reason that we’ve committed $1.5 million in CARES Act funding to Volunteer NH, which will allow for the statewide expansion of the COVID Community Care Corps this fall.”

The diverse, locally recruited team of AmeriCorps members will spend the summer meeting the immediate needs of citizens struggling with the impacts of the pandemic while also strengthening the communities’ social and civic infrastructure and mobilizing volunteers. Members are responding to the complications arising from COVID-19 in myriad ways:

• At the City of Manchester’s Parks & Recreation department four members will be helping create flexible, in person, small-group programming to engage youth when most traditional summer programs have been curtailed.
• Four AmeriCorps will serve in Nashua with placements at the City’s Department of Emergency Management and Public Health Department as well as the Police Athletic League of Nashua.
• Through a collaboration led by Dartmouth-Hitchcock a member will be helping to manage and develop a website called Neighborhood Provisions. This effort will coordinate delivery of food and groceries to community members at higher risk (elderly and immunocompromised community members) that should not be going out themselves to get food.
• 12 will serve in the Queen City, including the Manchester Welfare Department, Health Department, the Mayor’s Office; and the Boys & Girls Club of Manchester.

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our community has come together to assist people in need. And the COVID Community Care Corps is the perfect example of individuals stepping forward to serve others,” said Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig. “Over the next eight weeks, AmeriCorps volunteers will work in various city departments in Manchester assisting our community as we face the impacts of COVID-19. I’d like to thank Goodwill Industries of Northern New England and AmeriCorps for helping to bring this opportunity into our city.”

“National service resources have always had a strong role in responding to disasters around the United States,” said Justin Kates, Director of Emergency Management for the City of Nashua. “The COVID Community Care Corps is the next innovative example in providing a much needed surge capacity to Granite State municipalities and non-profits responding to and recovering from this crisis.” Kates also serves as vice chair of Volunteer NH’s board of directors.

The summer pilot is being administered by Goodwill of Northern New England, which runs several other AmeriCorps programs as part of their commitment to workforce development in New Hampshire and Maine. Goodwill is now accepting inquiries from potential members and member host sites for full-time, year-round AmeriCorps service terms beginning this fall. To express interest in being a member or being a host site visit bit.ly/GoodwillAmeriCorps2020

“I’m proud that AmeriCorps can be a part of New Hampshire’s response to COVID-19 by meeting the needs of its citizens and helping communities recover,” said Barbara Stewart, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, who swore in the COVID Community Care Corps AmeriCorps members. “In moments of crisis, Americans have always come together to serve those who need help. United, there is no problem we can’t tackle.”

For more information contact Steve Niles, Senior Program Manager, Goodwill NNE. (603) 703-1811 or steve.niles@goodwillnne.org