logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Nonprofit Newswire | National Service Grads Face Dismal Job Market

Rick Cohen
May 12, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

May 10, 2010; Source: USA Today | What happens to AmeriCorps participants who want apply the skills they’ve learned in their two years of community service? With national unemployment rising to 9.9 percent in April (after hovering around 9.7 percent for the first three months of the calendar year), the job market doesn’t offer AmeriCorps graduates the prospects they might have hoped for.

According to USA Today, unemployment is 26 percent for teenagers and 16 percent for persons aged 20 to 24. The problem is not just overall employment challenges in the economy; it is the troubled financial condition of many of the nonprofits that have provided jobs for AmeriCorps participants. Because of reduced charitable and foundation giving and cutbacks in local and state government grants and contracts, many nonprofits do not have access to the money they need to keep these AmeriCorps participants, even at their below-minimum-wage salary levels, on staff.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Solutions anyone? Here are a few: Compelled by the reality of the recession, we might think about “re-purposing” AmeriCorps to be more like a New Deal-era emergency employment program for young people who need the jobs, incomes, health benefits, and educational benefits, and come up with more stimulus money to extend the AmeriCorps terms for current participants. We might also think about the nation’s need to invest in strengthening nonprofits as beneficiaries of new jobs programs, so that they are in a position to offer AmeriCorps graduates real, above-minimum-wage jobs to AmeriCorps participants upon the completion of their terms.

The nonprofit sector increasingly proves itself to be a solid provider of jobs—to more than 15,000,000 Americans now and counting—if it is given the resources. For all of the bailouts offered to the Goldman Sachs, American International Group (AIG), and General Motors, we think a dollar devoted to creating or preserving full-time jobs with decent salaries, benefits, and pensions in the nonprofit sector is well worth the investment. That would give public service-minded AmeriCorps graduates something to look forward to as a result of their experience—careers in nonprofit organizations.—Rick Cohen

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Cohen

Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Before that he played various roles as a community worker and advisor to others doing community work. He also worked in government. Cohen pursued investigative and analytical articles, advocated for increased philanthropic giving and access for disenfranchised constituencies, and promoted increased philanthropic and nonprofit accountability.

More about: Nonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

NPQ_Winter_2022Subscribe Today
You might also like
Rebuilding a Cultural Economy: A Story from the Nipmuc Nation
Andre Strongbearheart and Carlos Uriona
“There’s No Such Thing as a Single-Issue Struggle”: A Conversation with Kitana Ananda, Naa Amissah-Hammond, and Quanita Toffie
Kitana Ananda, Naa Amissah-Hammond and Quanita Toffie
Writing New Narratives for Health
Sonia Sarkar
Solidarity on Campus: A Faculty Union’s Learnings from COVID-19
Todd Wolfson
Participatory Grantmaking: What Practitioners Have to Say
Kelley Buhles
Remaking the Economy: Black Food Sovereignty, Community Stories
Pastor Keith Davis, Steve Dubb, Demetrius Hunter, Julian D. Miller, LeeAnn C. Morrissette and Brielle Wright

Upcoming Webinars

Group Created with Sketch.
February 23rd, 2 pm ET

Worker Power in the Social Sector

Register Now
Group Created with Sketch.
March 15th, 2 pm ET

Remaking the Economy

Caring for the Care Economy

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.