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Building Capacity, Building Communities: How AmeriCorps Strengthens the Panhandle · Conservation Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign.
• 0:11
  Speaker B: Hello, friends, it's me again, Tillery Timmin Sims, here in the Jackalope Creative Studio once again. And today on our episode of Conservation Stories, we have with us Laura Seal. Laura has become a very important person in my life because she helps Bring me AmeriCorps people. And people are like, now, what is AmeriCorps? So, Laura, give us a little bit about you and where you are, because you're actually in Canyon at West Texas A and M. And give us a little bit about, about WT and. And your relationship with AmeriCorps.
• 0:47
  Speaker A: Sounds great. Well, I'm the assistant director with the AmeriCorps program and help run it here out of WT West Texas A&M. The AmeriCorps program is a federally funded grant that comes through the university. So our hiring is done through the university. My office is at the university, and we're kind of under that auspices. But AmeriCorps is that federal program that is. Then the money is awarded to a state commission, the one star state commission, and that's where we apply to receive money. And then our program is set up to support the Plains region. Like, we really want to build individual and community resilience in people and in non profits. We work with non profits as our partners, and our goal is to expand the scale and scope and the work that the non profits are able to do by supporting them with AmeriCorps members. The AmeriCorps members build the capacity of those non profits.
• 1:40
  Speaker B: It's actually just amazing. And one of the things that, when I'm talking to people about it, the way I like to explain it, it's like a lot of nonprofits are feeling needs that the federal government would have to step in and, and fill. And so it's. And so the federal government is paying a portion of the salaries of employees that we could never afford without that assistance. And then they are. The government is actually then saving money because organizations like ours are meeting needs that the federal government doesn't no longer have to need. Especially when you think about these people working in food banks and I mean, all kinds of places.
• 2:21
  Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. And we're our focus areas. You know, where our members are working is health and wellness and land stewardship, economic opportunity and education. So they are all places that are focused towards the common good. And so there is a portion of that federal money or the federal money that we get pays a portion of what our AmeriCorps members earn, which is a good thing to remember, too. So AmeriCorps members are doing Public service, but they're paid for it. Sometimes it's a starting job. It may be a young person and this is kind of their first foray into being involved in the community or having their first job, their first paid. Sometimes we're working with people who are ready for a career change, or it may be a retiree who wants to still be involved and engaged in their community and doing some work and things like that. Something they feel is important.
• 3:12
  Speaker B: Yeah, it really is. And so you guys pay the money that comes to you. This is what I, I love as, as a non profit is like it's extra work for me to like now I've got to do payroll, now I need to do the taxes. Now I need to do, you know, and so when you're already stretch at capacity and then you bring somebody on that you're really. And in some cases you may be training them completely. You know what I mean? So, so then is it you helpful or is it not helpful? In our, our situation, it has been 100% helpful every time.
• 3:44
  Speaker A: I'm glad to hear it. Well, and that's exactly the situation that we recognize, just knowing nonprofits are so focused in what they're trying to accomplish.
• 3:53
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 3:53
  Speaker A: And I've talked to lots of nonprofit leaders who are way too busy to think about having another person, but they're also so busy they can't do the next thing they want to do because they need another person. And so AmeriCorps member, we at least hire and do some initial training, just some kind of level setting to get them started. There is the requirement from that partner, the nonprofit, that they will do the supervision. Like, you know, you've, you have to stretch your time a little bit to then work with that new person and train them. But then we really hope the value add is a lot more. We're hoping that adding so much to the organization that the person couldn't have done alone.
• 4:28
  Speaker B: Well, and when you remove the all of the administration piece, all you're doing then is, is you're just building, building yourself a little clone or whatever. You know, you're training them to fulfill the role that you need. You're not spending your time in all the administrative process of having a new employee. And it's, it's really great. And so I know when I was there for training, I was really surprised at the like the, the amount of people of organizations that you guys are serving. So can you tell us who some of those people are?
• 4:59
  Speaker A: Sure. Right now we have 23 partners around the panhandle we're working with the Don Herring Discovery center and the Discovery Center Collective. So that includes Wildcat Bluff. That's another area where we're focused on land stewardship.
• 5:12
  Speaker B: Right.
• 5:12
  Speaker A: We're also working with storybridge. We've got some work around their. It's an education focus thing where they're doing a program around books. We're working with Panhandle Orphan Care Network. We're working with the Axe Community Group, downtown Amarillo. And the things our AmeriCorps members are doing are related to feeding programs, feeding older adults, food pantries. Like you mentioned, education. We also kind of looked back and thought we've got 23 current partners, but then there's also partners that we've done kind of one day service projects with or just had some kind of impact connected to AmeriCorps. And then we've also had partners in the past that may have had a member and then they ended up hiring that member. So they didn't need an AmeriCorps member for that task anymore. Sometimes the next year they added a different role that was AmeriCorps. Sometimes they're just on their own journey and they're doing their own thing now. But all told, We've had 80 partners through the five years we've done this. Five years, including we have now and then others that we've worked with in the past.
• 6:15
  Speaker B: So how many? How many? Because that's your partners. That that's not your members. Because we've had. We've had several partners. I mean, several members through you now.
• 6:24
  Speaker A: Yep.
• 6:25
  Speaker B: We.
• 6:26
  Speaker A: Who. On the tip of my tongue, I don't know the exact number of our total members over time. Right. About maybe 160 or 180, because some members have returned. You know, we've had members four terms. We've had members that do one term and they're done. So that number fluctuates a little bit. Currently we have 40. 40 members. And then before the year is out and our program year goes through August, so. So before our program year ends, we hope to add another 28. And we're really focusing in on a little bit of recruiting for spring partners that may start in February, but then also we'll have summer partners. We'll have members who start up with us and just serve June through August. And at that point, we really look at those young people like, how can we get what we call kind of opportunities. The young people in a community who maybe just need a place to plug in, they get. This may be their first employment, their first Time they've really engaged with their community. We think AmeriCorps is a great way to get that started. And so we're looking for summer placements for some members like that.
• 7:27
  Speaker B: I think that there's, there's one or two nonprofits here in Lubbock that have used some AmeriCorps stuff. But I would love to see us expand those opportunities to, especially to the youth in our area now. And I, the nice thing to know too about this is like we've recruited our own people. So that's been super, super helpful because it's like you kind of, you kind of get to know like, oh yeah, this is, this is a good fit.
• 7:53
  Speaker A: And those are really the most successful setups. There are times where we meet someone and we think, hey, what you're interested in and what you're offering is a great fit for what this partner needs. But then particularly when we're spread out over the entire panhandle, it's really great when a partner organization recruits their own person that is local to them, that already knows their organization, that's concerned the same things they are. Yeah, I'm glad this worked.
• 8:19
  Speaker B: Yeah. And it really is. And I see a lot of value that this can bring to small communities.
• 8:25
  Speaker A: I, I am glad we want that.
• 8:27
  Speaker B: That to me because you know, I mean these aren't like, you know, these are not your top paying jobs. Right. This is not what you want to do forever.
• 8:36
  Speaker A: Right.
• 8:37
  Speaker B: Because you're not making that kind of money. But it, the, the exposure and especially if you have um, you know, for us the intent is for our members to leave us better than that when they came to us, like they're more equipped. They, we've provided them with opportunities to get certificate certified for different things. You know, what, what, what are your goals? What can we pick for you to focus on? You know, last gal left with some Excel certifications, you know, and so how can we beef up your, your resume so when you leave here, it's not just the work that you've done, but you have other actual things to put on your resume. Yeah, I, I, to me it's, it is the, to think of it as simply a capacity for that non profit would be short sighted in my mind because I think of it as a capacity for the, for my, for me now. And I'm creating a workforce capacity for, for this person to go into next. And I can tell you like this worked perfectly. And I know we have had this discussion, but like our last member is now working for my husband. I Have a land and mineral management company. And I mean like, I identified. I was like, man, this, this gal would be so good. Like, she's such a detail oriented person, you know, and she's like, I'm not sure what I want to do. And kind of in between, you know, college graduation and I'm not sure what to do. And, and so she just went right from us, you know, from working with AmeriCorps. And as soon as she was, I mean, she just went right into working with, with us. And she's fabulous.
• 10:12
  Speaker A: That's wonderful. When really that's gold star being an AmeriCorps supervisor on that one. And that's what we want is like, I can see the supervisor is invested in the AmeriCorps members development.
• 10:24
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 10:25
  Speaker A: And what they want to do next. And again, like, and you've had people are kind of college students or kind of those young professionals, but even, you know, there may be older adults, but they still want that feedback or encouragement or how can they give to their community. Like, there's always something to build there.
• 10:39
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 10:40
  Speaker A: And, and I really appreciate that what you brought to it was looking for training and certifications. We've got another supervisor who has a corporate background. And so she really brings in that kind of long term planning. Let's have our yearly review, let's look at what we're doing. So whatever. However the nonprofit is set up, kind of how they manage and what they want to bring to that relationship, we love it. We may kind of try to tweak it and say let's add some more that builds that. But it's all very specific to each, each supervisor and each member and what they are building.
• 11:15
  Speaker B: And, and, and we've, we have members that have different job descriptions that are doing completely different things. And so, you know, we've got one right now that's doing our, all of our media marketing kind of stuff. And she's been fabulous. And one who is like now like a clone. Like, I cannot tell you, you know, just the. It is, it has doubled our capacity. Like we were at a conference last week and I'm like, you know, it's, it's so great. And I think that too, that points to like the, the, the uniqueness of this being able to like, you kind of know what you're looking for. And then that's the nice thing too about like putting that job description together, like you guys require really helps you to kind of think through what you need. And you're kind of honing that in. And then you know, then you guys are aware of what, what's going to be expected of this person. I'm always kind of like the eternal, like, I don't know, optimist on everything. I'm like, I just see like all these good things, you know, and that's.
• 12:13
  Speaker A: When I think about this.
• 12:14
  Speaker B: I'm like, this is just such a good. I mean, it's a good thing for, for nonprofits in general. So would, you know, I'm like the evangelical for this program. So I'm always like, okay, Lubbock, hello. But not even Lubbock, but I think about like, I have a friend that's down way further south. Oh my goodness. To be. This is a perfect fit for her organization, you know, and they're teaching all kinds of classes on, you know, how extension used to teach, like cooking and like they'll do like how to can meat and I mean, all of these different things along with like historical things, you know. And so I think. And this is another. A place where a lot of times those, those paying jobs with those type of hours are not always. They're just something you just don't necessarily find in a small community.
• 13:08
  Speaker A: I, I think that's definitely true. And that the ways of engaging in a community to give back or to build something that's kind of, you know, it's. It's not the company it's not doing. It's like, how do we invest in this community? I think that's where we really want to leverage that AmeriCorps program, because that seems to be where the gap is, you know, teaching people some of those skills. They might have been lost over time or they're not, you know, that kind of thing.
• 13:34
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 13:34
  Speaker A: Doesn't always happen. And there's not a lot of incentive business that may not be driving it, but we want to support those nonprofits really working in their communities.
• 13:43
  Speaker B: Yeah, well, and. And you are like we referenced while ago, I mean, when you're looking at it as a job development core, you're getting, you know, you're providing a service to your community because at the end of this time, this person is going to be more qualified and more able to help a local business that may be able to pay them a living wage.
• 14:02
  Speaker A: Exactly. Well, and that idea of like really equipping the people that are local to continue to live their lives here, if that's what they want, you know, just to keep building that life here. And, you know, there's so many people who stayed in the towns because they love where they live. They love connections they have, but sometimes it's hard to find that next step of a career or that next step of what they want to do. So this is hopefully something that really lets them dig in their roots, but still build some skill to bring back to the community.
• 14:29
  Speaker B: Yeah. So if people are interested and they think this is a program that they might be able to work. You guys are. Are you saying that you've got 28. You're hoping to have 28 slots. Slots open for next year for people that could have. Have someone start in February.
• 14:46
  Speaker A: February. Or May or June.
• 14:48
  Speaker B: February.
• 14:51
  Speaker A: And we are looking for new partners.
• 14:52
  Speaker B: Okay. Okay.
• 14:54
  Speaker A: And so the way to. Let's see. There's like a long, complicated qr. But I think what I could say is if you Google WTAMU, AmeriCorps.
• 15:04
  Speaker B: Right. We'll put it all up. We'll link it.
• 15:06
  Speaker A: All right.
• 15:07
  Speaker B: Well, yes, we'll link all of it. It'll be super easy for people to figure out.
• 15:10
  Speaker A: And there's a way to find our partner and how to. How to engage with us.
• 15:15
  Speaker B: Exactly. And then. And if they, you know, can't find that, they can always contact me and I'll, you know, put you in contact with them, because I do think it's just a super great program. So explain a little bit about, like, the. The app, because it's a little unusual, like, the way people are paid. They're not actually paid, like, a salary, but they are paid. So kind of explain all of that.
• 15:38
  Speaker A: So our AmeriCorps members are paid based on the number of hours they commit to serving. And we have real specific language, but we say they serve rather than work. And if they don't earn a salary, they're going to earn a living allowance. So we may have AmeriCorps members who are serving 900 hours over the course of the time they're with us, and that earns a certain total amount. And if they're serving with those 12 months, we divide that total amount by 12, and that is their monthly living allowance if they're completing 900 hours. But if they start in February, so they're serving eight months or six months, then we divide it by six, and they earn a different monthly amount, but they're paid based on the number of hours they're going to serve. So we have a lot of quite a range of time frames. People can serve that 300 hours, and if they're doing that over three months, that's 100 hours a month. If they're doing it over six months, that's 50 hours a month. You know, just. There's some variation there. The members earn a monthly amount while they're serving with us and it is taxed and you know, there's a gross amount and they get net out of that. Then after their service is complete, they can, they will earn an education award. And that is an amount that's held by the National Trust. It's not cash that comes to the member that it can be used for educational expenses or to pay towards federal education loans. You know, if somebody has a school loan they've been working on paying off, this can go towards paying off some of them. And that money can be dispersed to an institution that'll take fafsa. So it could be somebody coming to wt they release their money through the Trust to WT that pays their fee bill. It could also be someone going to a local community college and maybe not doing a degree. They're not degree seeking, but there's just a course they want to take. Their education award can go towards paying for that. So it could be continuing ed kind of credit, just kind of whatever somebody's interested in.
• 17:31
  Speaker B: That's really good to know. So, because we've never really gotten to this stage of it really just because of some of the disruption that's happened, you know, in the last few months. But would that be something that like, you know, say I have a member now that wants to take a certain course, audit a certain course or whatever, then they can request those funds. Now do they pay that? And then, I mean, how does that work?
• 17:56
  Speaker A: Usually it sometimes the timing's a little off, so they don't. The, the money isn't available to the member until they finish their service.
• 18:04
  Speaker B: Right.
• 18:04
  Speaker A: So if there is with us now, they'll exit in August, usually two to three weeks. After they exit, that money shows up in their AmeriCorps account.
• 18:12
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 18:13
  Speaker A: Then they just release it off out to the university that they're paying towards.
• 18:17
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 18:18
  Speaker A: So no wt. Sometimes the fee bill comes due before the money releases and so they set up a payment plan and then it.
• 18:24
  Speaker B: Oh, okay. Okay.
• 18:25
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 18:26
  Speaker B: Okay, that's interesting. Well, that's actually something that I need to make sure that our members know and they get that that educational award is based on how many hours they serve.
• 18:35
  Speaker A: Also, if they're that 900 hour member or the 450 hour member, that'll determine.
• 18:40
  Speaker B: And it's not anything to sneeze at either. I mean, that whole 900 hour, I mean that's a good, that's a cheap.
• 18:45
  Speaker A: Change so the 900 hours is a halftime member and the person is earning the equivalent of a half of a Pell grant that year. So I think the current pill is around $7,000. So that. That 900 hour member will earn around 3,500.
• 19:00
  Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's really. Is a great. It's a great opportunity. Might not fit in every situation, but certainly it is. Has. Has fit in our situation. And I can see where it would be beneficial in a lot of other situations as well.
• 19:15
  Speaker A: I think so too.
• 19:16
  Speaker B: So. Yeah, that's really cool. So. So what do you feel like is one of the most unique things one of your AmeriCorps members has done?
• 19:26
  Speaker A: We have a member right now who's on our Amarillo TV station every week with one of the Wild west wildlife rehab animals. And he goes out as an animal ambassador and talks about that animal of the week. And, you know, he's a great member. And this is kind of a whole new experience. Experience in public speaking forums has been a good development for him. And the challenge of getting up to being in a studio before 7am yeah.
• 19:52
  Speaker B: With an animal.
• 19:56
  Speaker A: Yeah. Wow. We have several members are doing things like developing marketing campaigns or outreach programs. In the past, we had a member develop a volunteer training manual because an organization, you know, nonprofit, lots of volunteers coming in, but you also stop and train the volunteers when they show up. And so, yeah, that was a good role for.
• 20:17
  Speaker B: That's. That's awesome. So I'm, I just get to give people an idea of like, what is, what is the need that you have. And I think that's been helpful to me is to be able to visit with you one on one, like, and really think through what. What is the most helpful thing, you know. And I feel like as we've kind of walked through, I'm trying to think like, I feel like we're. We. I mean, we're definitely in our second. We're on our second crew with you. So we've already gone through like a year. Maybe. Maybe you. I can't remember if we started. Yeah, I think we. We've gone through a year, but yeah. So what I think like, understanding it's helped me to clarify what I need and, and what will be the most helpful and to really then think like, specifically about how. How many hours is that really going to require, you know, and. And is as. Because that's something that you guys have. You have specific slots that have specific. So you might not have a 900, like by the time, you know, like, if I Say, hey, I want to two, two more members in February, there might not be two full time slots left or two 900 halftime slots. Those slots get full because you have a kind of a slate of different hours available.
• 21:27
  Speaker A: Right. When we apply for the grant, we write in how many of each slot we will have. Now we can convert that and we can do some behind the scenes magic, but we can't change our overall numbers. So sometimes that limits us on what kind of conversions we can do. And I, and I like that you point out, like, because our online partner application, you know, asks an organization, tell us, what is your mission? What do you envision this AmeriCorps member doing? How would having an AmeriCorps member help what you're trying to accomplish? And we use that to try to hone in on what will the AmeriCorps member do. And then a lot of times I'll come back, you know, if we've interviewed somebody and they say, well, I can only work Thursdays and Fridays, then I have to make sure that that gives them enough hours to complete their total hours. You know, there's some back and forth trying to make sure everybody's needs are met, the organization.
• 22:15
  Speaker B: And, you know, I think another, another beneficial thing for the nonprofit is, you know, so, so often, like we at nonprofits are new to this realm of managing employees or we've never had, we've always been doing it all of ourselves and we've never had anybody. So to have that, that backup of having you guys who've interviewed hundreds of people, you know, and then to be able to give, you know, because I've always appreciated the feedback, like, hey, I had this interview and this is a good candidate, you know, and that I think is, is helpful too, because that is helping that nonprofit leader also with training.
• 22:53
  Speaker A: I appreciate that we had, I had a nonprofit, a supervisor recently, tell me, and I appreciate this because I always feel like maybe we're requiring too much or we're pushing our supervisors out of their comfort zone. But we ask that our supervisors meet with their member 30 minutes a week just about. And that's to kind of direct their time and then to have that check in and to check on their goals and all that kind of thing. She told me that by doing that, it really had benefited their organization and kind of got her more in the mindset also of we're not just checking boxes and getting things done. I'm involved in the development of this person. And, and also that contributes to what they are bringing to our organization as a Whole, like she just really talks through the impact of what that did in their organization. It was good to hear that all that works together. You know, we're requiring you the 30 minutes, but it's building into what you're doing with the member and helping. And we've got, I mean, a real basic kind of checklist or reminder of here's what you could talk about with your member during those 30 minutes. But I know sometimes our supervisors may not have ever had people managing experience before, so we just try to give a real basic. Yeah, here's what you can do with that member and here's how to talk through problems or those kind of things.
• 24:07
  Speaker B: Yeah, so it's, it's, you're, you're training the non profits to build their own capacity and then you're providing them with capacity building. It's a, it's a great program and I just, I appreciate you giving us your time to talk about it and encourage everyone to follow the links and information that we'll provide for them to be able to get ahold of you or just reach out to us@contactarah-conservation.com and I mean, I, I think that the ability to expand this more in our region, that's kind of a goal for me is to see that happen.
• 24:48
  Speaker A: We would love that. Yeah. And definitely available to talk with someone if they want to get into this. But it's daunting to find the links or start on application. They can always call and discuss it.
• 24:59
  Speaker B: Yep. And you guys, I mean, to me, you just make it, it, it's not, it does not add a burden to me, in my opinion. I mean it, it does not in any way. So I highly recommend it. But thanks again for giving us your time, Laura. And, and thanks, friends, for joining us again for another episode of Conservation Stories. And I hope that if you are a nonprofit or you know, someone that's in a nonprofit, reach out. Let's, let's get some, some more people involved in this program and we'll visit with you again on another episode.
• 25:33
  Speaker A: Sam.