SEMO SEKS FUNDING FOR NATIONAL PROGRAM

Johnny McGaha has tapped into President Clinton's vision of a domestic Peace Corps.

McGaha, a professor of criminal justice at Southeast Missouri State University, is spearheading an effort to get a national community service program established in the region.

The university is seeking $400,000 annually for three years to operate a program that would involve as many as 20 AmeriCorps participants at any one time, plus office staff. The program would deal with public health, the environment and children who come from a background of poverty and crime and are at risk of dropping out of school.

Congress adopted a national service program last summer. The act, signed into law on Sept. 21, set up the Corporation for National and Community Service.

The National Service Trust Act combines educational incentives with community service. Workers will receive $7,400 a year in wages plus health insurance. For each year of service, the government will give a worker $4,725 to attend college or a post-secondary vocational school. Participation by any one worker is limited to two years.

The goal of the national service law is to encourage people to be involved in community service projects in the areas of education, public safety, and human and environmental needs.

McGaha said the Southeast Missouri program would involve high school graduates or those with equivalent degrees, who have the potential to pursue a college education.

Twelve of the participants would be divided into four, three-member teams. The teams would work with at-risk kids in selected schools.

"They would develop programs to reduce incidents of violence and crime," McGaha said. They could include tutoring, "Big Brother" programs, and after-school recreation.

"We are only going to start this year with four schools," he said. One of the likely candidates is May Greene Elementary School in Cape Girardeau.

The program might also target children in Pemiscot and New Madrid counties, and in Poplar Bluff in Butler County.

In addition, six AmeriCorps workers would be placed with county health departments in the region.

Two AmeriCorps participants would work with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. They would be assigned to state parks and aid in recycling and other environmental efforts.

If the program is funded an office would be set up at the university with McGaha serving as project director in addition to handling some teaching duties.

A full-time program coordinator would be hired. The office also would be staffed with a secretary and a couple of graduate assistants, he said Thursday.

A satellite office would be placed in the Bootheel Education Center in Malden.

Recruiting staff and participants would begin in September and could take most of the fall to complete. "I would imagine the program would be in full effect for the spring," McGaha said.

The local Community Caring Council, representing some 60 agencies and organizations, encouraged efforts to launch the community service program in Southeast Missouri.

"The university here has really made a strong effort to become involved in the community," said Shirley Ramsey, the council's executive coordinator.

The council's office is in the basement of a house on the university campus that also serves as home for the Center for Earthquake Studies.

Ramsey said her office may be moved to another campus site later this year and could end up sharing space with the community service program.

The Missouri Community Service Commission will meet Tuesday to decide on which program requests to fund from a little more than $1 million in federal funds allocated to the state on the basis of population.

Matt Benton, a member of the Missouri lieutenant governor's office who has helped set up the community service program in the state, said the commission likely will select four out of seven applications for funding.

Benton predicted the Southeast Missouri application will receive some funding, although the exact amount won't be known until Tuesday.

In addition to the $1 million in formula money, the national corporation has approved direct funding of $800,000 for two community service programs in St. Louis.

Another $1 million has been allocated to two programs in the Kansas City area, and "Summer of Safety" programs in St. Louis and Kansas City already are receiving funding to fight crime and drug abuse, Benton said.

In all, community service programs and projects in Missouri will receive more than $2.8 million in federal funding.