Log In


Reset Password
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

‘I Have a Dream’ program hosts 37 AmeriCorps members

Participants gain experience, cash for college

LONGMONT (AP) – Genevieve Spina was passionate about education but wasn’t sure what her next step should be after graduating from college.

The Chicago native looked into alternative programs and landed on the AmeriCorps service program.

She’s now in her second year working with students at Longmont’s Rocky Mountain Elementary School in the “I Have a “Dream” Foundation’s program – and knows she wants to go to graduate school to be a school counselor.

“A lot of the students I’m working with have a lot going on in their lives, but they’re still expected to memorize their multiplication facts,” she said. “School counselors are the advocates for students.”

The “I Have a Dream” Foundation of Boulder County, which provides long-term academic support and college scholarships to students from low-income households, hosts one of the largest local AmeriCorps programs.

Thirty-seven AmeriCorps volunteers are volunteering with “I Have a Dream” this school year through a 16-year-old partnership with the Notre Dame Mission Volunteer Program. The organization also is recruiting now for the next service year that starts in September.

Elyana Funk, the AmeriCorps director for “I Have a Dream,” was herself an AmeriCorps member 17 years ago. She said the volunteers are crucial to running the program.

“They’re building one-on-one relationships with dreamers,” she said. “They run the summer program, lead classes at schools and lead social emotional groups. They’re on the front lines. It allows a nonprofit like us to provide all the resources that we do.”

In exchange for the 11 months of full-time service, AmeriCorps members earn a $12,000 stipend for living expenses and receive $6,000 to help pay for graduate school or to pay back student loans.

Plus, Funk said, they gain experience.

“They learn about education and social justice,” she said. “A lot of times, it shifts their future career.”

While the current batch of AmeriCorps volunteers come from across the country, three of this year’s volunteers participated in Boulder County’s “I Have a Dream” program as children. One also is a parent of a child in the program.

Jonathan Sosa is one of the AmeriCorps members who went through the “I Have a Dream” program himself, graduating from Boulder Preparatory Charter School and then the University of Colorado in May.

He’s planning to spend two years in AmeriCorps, then enroll in graduate school and go into counseling or social work.

“I thought AmeriCorps would be the best first step I could take,” he said. “The experience, it’s life changing.”

He said sharing the same background has helped him in his work as a mentor and tutor with 60 freshmen at Boulder High School. One of his focuses, he said, has been working with the parents on increasing their school involvement so the students have more support.

“I understand where the families are coming from and where the kids are at,” he said. “Being at Boulder High is challenging, especially for Latino students. It’s really easy to fall into the cracks.”

Jeff Oliver, a retired teacher, is another of this year’s AmeriCorps members. Boulder County’s first group of dreamers came through his classroom at Boulder’s University Hill Elementary 27 years ago.

More recently, he worked on fundraisers with “I Have a Dream” as the community business development manager at Barnes & Noble.

Though most of the AmeriCorps members are recent college graduates in their 20s, he said, he signed up because he wanted to go back to working with kids. He works with sixth-graders at Longmont’s Timberline K-8.

“It’s challenging, but I love the work that I’m doing,” he said.

He added that the other AmeriCorps volunteers are “an amazing group of people.”

“They come up with creative and effective says to serve these populations,” he said. “It’s inspirational to be around this group of volunteers.”



Reader Comments