GROUP EARNS $390,000 GRANT TO COORDINATE SERVICE PROJECT

A domestic Peace Corps of sorts is on its way to eight counties in Southeast Missouri following an announcement that a $390,000 AmeriCorps grant has been awarded to the Southeast Missouri Partners for Community Service.

"We hope to be ready to roll by the end of September," said Johnny McGaha, professor of criminal justice at Southeast Missouri State University and AmeriCorps project director for the region.

A six-state kickoff of the program is planned for Sept. 12 in Kansas City.

The AmeriCorps allows people to serve their country and earn educational awards in return. The program was pioneered by President Bill Clinton who paved the way for the program after signing the National Community Service Trust Act of 1993 into law last September.

Nineteen workers will be hired to perform 1,700 hours of community service a year in return for $7,400 in annual wages plus child care and health insurance.

After each year of service, workers will receive a $4,725 educational award to attend college or a post-secondary vocational school. Participation of full-time workers is limited to two years.

"People who work full time for two years could earn educational awards to cover the cost of four years of school at Southeast Missouri State," Ramsey said.

In addition, 17 part-time workers will be hired to perform 900 hours of community service over a two-year period. In return for their service, they will receive an educational award of $2,363.

Part-time workers who are full-time students may extend their period of service to three years, McGaha said.

It was one of three AmeriCorps proposals in Missouri to receive state funding. The grant was also ranked first by the Missouri Community Service Commission which made the state awards and was the only proposal submitted by a Missouri University to receive funding, McGaha said. Two other Missouri grant proposals were funded at the federal level.

"Not only were we selected as a finalist, but we also were selected as number one in the state," said Shirley Ramsey, executive coordinator of the Community Caring Council, which is acting as a facilitator for the program. "The state was really pleased with the regional collaboration we have shown. This could really have some long-term implications."

Co-authors of the grant were McGaha; Ramsey; Jack Stokes, Southeast assistant professor of social work; and Jacqueline Nielson, a former faculty member in Southeast's Department of Social Work.

The Southeast Missouri Partners for Community Service is a joint partnership of Southeast Missouri State University and the Community Caring Council of Cape Girardeau.

The university is serving as the lead agency with the Community Caring Council as the facilitator. The Community Caring Council of Cape Girardeau was founded in 1989 and currently has more than 120 members representing more than 60 agencies and organizations in the surrounding areas.

Primary partners in Southeast Missouri Partners for Community Service are: the Harry L. Crisp Bootheel Education Center; public health departments of Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Stoddard, Scott, Mississippi, New Madrid, Dunklin and Pemiscot counties; the Department of Natural Resources; and area public schools.

County health departments and area schools will serve as program sub-sites, McGaha said.

In addition to the $390,000 state award, county health departments in the area have agreed to provide matching funds of $14,000 for the AmeriCorps program, with the University providing an $18,000 match in in-kind services and facilities.

Under the three-year plan, 36 participants from Cape Girardeau, New Madrid, Bollinger, Dunklin, Scott, Pemiscot, Stoddard and Mississippi counties will be selected to serve on three-member impact teams focused on the environment, health, families, area public schools and communities.

Two primary AmeriCorps office sites will be established in the region in the Community Caring Council office on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University and at the Bootheel Education Center in Malden.

McGaha plans to attend a workshop Aug. 17-20 in Washington, D.C., where all AmeriCorps grant recipients across the country will gather for an informational meeting. After that, the Southeast Missouri Partners for Community Service will hold a planning meeting Aug. 30.

AmeriCorps workers from the area will be recruited over the coming weeks through churches, local agencies and organizations, and print and broadcast advertisements, McGaha said.

Program sponsors plan to develop an applicant screening process, he said, and a full-time program supervisor will be hired.