Salt Lake County's Most Vulnerable Populations Program
Are you looking to make a difference in your community? Salt Lake County's Most Vulnerable Populations AmeriCorps Program focuses on reducing systematic inequities in housing stability. AmeriCorps members are selected to provide direct service to individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
AmeriCorps is a voluntary civil society program supported by the U.S. federal government, foundations, corporations, and other donors by engaging adults in public service work, with a goal of helping others and meeting critical needs in the community. "The program is often seen as the domestic Peace Corps."
Members commit to full-time(1700 hours) or part-time (900 hours) hours during 12-month contract.
AmeriCorps members are placed in community agencies who serve individuals and families who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, fleeing or attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking. Or were recently homeless or have a high risk of housing instability. Our members help bridge the gap and reduce barriers by assisting our community to aid in the goal to make homelessness in Utah rare, brief, and non-recurring. Members assist in activities such as housing placement, job placement, system navigation, and volunteer recruitment.
Resources
Are you interested in serving your community and making a difference? Apply to join us! We are now accepting applications. Application Link
Riley Trepiner
Host-Site: The Road Home
Fun Fact: Riley is an award winning amateur playwright
AmeriCorps is founded on the idea of service. For Martin Luther King day AmeriCorps members nationwide came together to provide service to their communities. Our program focused service with the annual Point-In-Time Count. This was a place for volunteers to interact with those experiencing unsheltered homelessness, collect data, and provide basic resources.
Riley exemplified what it means to be an AmeriCorps member and impressed all those he met with his positive attitude, trauma informed approach and openness to really connect with those he interviewed. “I got to work with and learn from people with different points of view and experiences. I learned a lot from both the people I served with and the people we were serving.”
Riley fostered his connections by listening and hearing what people had to say: One of the most memorable things was being reminded how one of the ways we connect most strongly is by sharing our stories, and the best way we can do that is by listening. If someone were to come do PIT and just list off the questions, sure, they'd get demographic info and it would help the survey, but they would lose that connection with the people. Using the questions as a way to have a conversation and connect with people who are often ignored and mistreated is a basic way to extend human goodness.
Riley defines service through a quote by Lila Watson, an Aboriginal Australian activist: "If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you recognize that your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us walk together."
Please contact AmeriCorps Program Coordinator with any questions. Celeste Mickelson Cmickelson@slco.org.
Application Notice
Salt Lake County (SLCo), on behalf of its Office of Programs and Partnerships, is soliciting applications from qualified firms (hereafter referred to as host sites) for additional host sites. Proposers will provide placement opportunities for AmeriCorps members under the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) Program.
Application Submission Resources
Application Training
Salt Lake County held a training on how to complete the application on Friday, October 8th from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. MT via WebEx. You may review the slides and recording of the meeting via the links below.
Additional Resources
Contact
Nicole Bernard
AmeriCorps Program Coordinator
Phone: 385-468-7145
Email: nbernard@slco.org
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Homeless Services
2001 S State St N4-930
PO Box 144575
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4575
