All About Summer AmeriCorps

Serving as a Summer AmeriCorps member for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity has a variety of benefits that you might not be aware of. Much like the full year members, their summer counterparts still receive a living allowance, so these are not volunteer positions. 

Upon the completion of your service term, you will receive the Segal Education Award. Just like you would if you served for the full year. This award amounts to $1,459 for summer members, which can be applied to existing or future student loans. Your existing student loans can also be placed in forbearance during your service. 

The first introduction that summer AmeriCorps members attend is their orientation. This is where they learn more about the program and the various benefits they receive during their service.  For example, the clothing, tool, and cellphone allowances, and free health insurance. More recently members also gained access to Linkedin Learning, this resource provides endless opportunities for professional development is available to all members during their terms of service.  

After their orientation, members undergo a tool training, which is led by current Site Supervisors and full year AmeriCorps Members.  Onsite AmeriCorps members are not required to have previous experience and the tool training is meant to offer a crash course in construction. A current Summer Member Corinna, had limited experience working in construction, but still she stated that "I wasn't nervous for the tool training, I was eager to learn."  Part of what makes this experience so valuable is that all of the skills you learn throughout your service will be useful to you later in life. And you don't need a great wealth of experience to pull from to be a successful AmeriCorps member, you just have to be eager to learn.  Several other summer members talked about how much they appreciated the flexibility of the summer term and how this allowed them to still pursue their other interests during their service.  

Once they're all trained in, summer members are each placed on a build site to help with leading volunteers and doing various tasks in order to keep their build on track. Every site includes a Site Supervisor, a full-time Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity employee that is in charge of the site and is a resource for any questions that come up onsite as well. 

Additionally, if you're interested in serving with AmeriCorps for a summer but you are concerned about fitting a full-time role into your schedule, don't worry. We offer full-time, three quarter-time, and half-time positions.  

We're currently recruiting for full year AmeriCorps Positions. Most positions involve facilitating volunteers in the field. Visit our AmeriCorps page for more info, or email AmeriCorpsProgram@tchabitat.org with any questions.