Serve America Act will help nation handle next disaster

I recently completed nine months of volunteer work in the New Orleans area rebuilding after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Despite all the money and attention that initially poured into the city, it is AmeriCorps that is rebuilding the Gulf Coast.

In his first 100 days in office, President Barack Obama expanded AmeriCorps. Included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the White House allocated $200 million for AmeriCorps. Of course, that won't prevent another natural disaster, but it will make a significant difference in the clean-up and recovery.

The nation's youth programs, natural areas and needy citizens also will benefit from the dedicated AmeriCorps force. The Serve America Act triples the size of AmeriCorps over the next eight years, helping more young adults impact others' lives all over the country.

I worked in St. Bernard Parish, an area southeast of New Orleans. The parish had 67,000 residents before Hurricane Katrina's floodwater rendered every home, school and business uninhabitable. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates 33,000 residents have returned to the parish, including 204 families who are back in their homes thanks to the St. Bernard Project.

I helped hang cabinets and lead volunteers in homes with the St. Bernard Project. Residences were rebuilt with about 12 weeks of volunteer labor and $12,000 in donations for materials. A couple from Washington, D.C., started the St. Bernard Project, a non-profit agency, after seeing the destruction and the frustratingly slow recovery in St. Bernard Parish. With no construction experience, they could not rebuild 200 homes by themselves.

Volunteers slowly trickled in to rebuild a handful of homes, but an AmeriCorps partnership expanded the St. Bernard Project into a group that has been called the most effective recovery organization in the New Orleans area.

AmeriCorps National Civilian Conservation Corps members work for 10 months and serve at least one of their eight-week rotations on the Gulf Coast. Hundreds have now scraped mold out of house frames, hung drywall and wired light fixtures for the St. Bernard Project.

The 18- to 24-year-olds travel through St. Bernard Parish in grey T-shirts with the AmeriCorps sleeve logo - "flyin' the A," as they say. Just the sight of youth boosted the spirits of shell-shocked St. Bernard residents. Even families who weren't directly impacted by the St. Bernard Project regularly thanked us all "just for showing up" in their neglected, devastated parish.

Long-term AmeriCorps State and VISTA members lead the NCCC members and largely run the St. Bernard Project. Thousands of other volunteers have worked for the project for an average of one week. More than three years after the hurricane, the numbers continue to grow, but the St. Bernard Project only will accept as many volunteers as it has AmeriCorps team leaders. The waiting list for construction projects can only be cleared with more young AmeriCorps members.

Obama's Serve America Act will mean the St. Bernard Project can complete three times as much work. In addition, three times as many St. Bernard Project-type organizations can serve their communities or other underserved populations.