Will budget cuts lead to the death of AMERICORPSe?

A Congressional vote to eliminate all $435 million for President Clinton's National Service Program, Americorps, has sparked a debate among some Harvard students about the role of federal funding in community service.

Student-participants also say that program organizers will now have to scramble for new sources of funding in order to maintain the quality and scope of their programming if the National Service Program is in fact cut.

Though President Clinton has threatened to veto the proposed funding cuts, Harvard Americorps participants are preparing for the worst. For them, federal cutbacks may mean the end to some service opportunities and stipends.

United in Praise

Harvard Americorps participants are united in their praise for the National Service Program. Specifically, they cite the way in which Americorps provides opportunities for students to serve local communities while still making money for college.

Hahrie C. Han '97, who works with an Americorps-funded afterschool program in Cambridge called Summerbridge, said that the main benefit of Americorps is that it makes community service attractive and feasible for students.

"What is important about Americorps," Han said, "is the incentive it offers young people to enter into community service."

She said that the "high profile name, the propaganda and the paraphernalia are all important ways of getting people psyched to do service they might not otherwise do."

Han said that if her program lost its federal funds community service in Cambridge would take a direct hit. Students "might need to use their time to find other sources of income or it might not seem as attractive without all the hype," Han said.

Hurlbut resident Gretchen A. Brion-Meisels '99, another Summerbridge participant, also praised the program.

"It's the closest the administration has come to what needs to happen, which is to give people money to pay off college in exchange for community service work," Brion-Meisels said.

Ethan G. Drogin '98, however, said that Summerbridge is "good for students without real financial needs, but for students with significant needs, it is not really a viable option."

History of the Program

Largely based on the City Year program in Boston, a bill funding Americorps was the first piece of major legislation Clinton got passed by Congress.

Clinton recently hailed the program as the way to "make the connection between ideas and the real world of need out there beyond the ivory towers of academia, to make a connection between earning an education and advancing the quality of life for others who may not have it."

And despite the enthusiasm with which the legislation was initially hailed, the Senate, by a vote of 52 to 47, last month rejected a Democratic amendment to restore $435 million in funding for Americorps.

Americorps is not the only program aimed at the poor that has been cut in the Republican-controlled Congress. The Senate has also proposed axing $1.6 billion in capital spending for public housing and $340 million in homeless assistance grants.

For Harvard Students, Mixed Feelings

Though participants in Americorps-funded programs criticized the Congressional cuts, not all Harvard students disapprove of the Republican-controlled Congress' efforts to change the role that the federal government plays in community service.

Jay Dickerson '98, President of the Harvard Republican Club, said that the real issue at stake in the wrangling over funding is not community service, but the role of the federal government in local issues.

"I don't think it's an attack on community service at all," Dickerson said. "It's about government. It's Clinton trying to put the government back into the people's pocket."

Dickerson said that most of the community service programs funded by Americorps ought to exist, but that federal funding of them is inappropriate.

"If they're trying to keep the government out, that's a good thing," Dickerson said.

Cost-Effective or Costly Pork?

According to the federal accounting department, the government spends $17,000 per full-time participant in the City Year and other Americorps programs. Other governmental and private agencies contribute another $9,000 in funding for a total cost of approximately $26,000 per participant. (According to Drogin, Summerbridge participants receive $2,400 for 900 hours of service.)

But even those figures have struck some in Congress as excessively high. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), for instance, has called the program an example of "costly big government."

Virginia A. Gold, the Program Coordinator for Americorps-funded "Academics for Changing Times" (ACT) disagrees with Grassley's assessment of the President's National Service Program.

Gold said that Americorps' structure contained "practically no bureaucracy," and that there were only six staff coordinators for an 800 person organization that contains 27 different organizations.

She said that the Americorps requires that programs funded under its auspices find at least 15 percent of their funding from non-federal sources. These sources often come from within the communities themselves and were resources that otherwise would not have been leveraged, Gold said.

"The debate really gets bogged down in the money question and the real question is what are the needs and what are the really creative ways that we can address those needs," Gold said.

The Americorps model focuses on putting people to work, and it succeeds in leveraging other community members to get involved in solving local problems, Gold said.

Prospects for Securing Other Funding

Opinions also differ on the possibilities for the survival of local programs if national funds are taken away.

Dickerson, of the Republican club, said that taking away national funding would not irreparably damage the programs or the communities they serve.

"[The funding is] not needed. It's not necessary," Dickerson said. "A lot of these community service programs can look other places for funding such as churches, the state, and big corporate donors."

Other Harvard students were less optimistic about the ability of community service programs to continue to offer the same level of programming.

Jeanifer L. Oser '97, an Americorps A.C.T. participant, said that the effect on Cambridge is potentially quite significant.

"The ACT program was developed in response to a perceived community need to help support middle school children in school, and this support will no longer exist," Oser said.

She added that many service programs that "have just tested out their legs and learned good lessons from their successes and failures...will no longer exist."

Han says she shares Oser's belief that the federal funding has improved local programming, and that the quality of services would decrease if federal funding were stopped.

"With the ability to pay people instead of relying on volunteer commitment, the non-profits can extend their commitments to the communities and provide better services," Han said.

What is important, she said, is that it allows existing programs to increase the quality of their services, and create incentives for students to get involved in community programs.

Summerbridge, for example, would not be able to employ a year-round afterschool program coordinator without the Americorps money, Han said.

"Our afterschool program has improved in leaps and bounds and is greatly strengthened by the people who staff it," Han said.

Some Harvard Americorps participants said that the greatest potential loss to the communities might be the students workers themselves.

"There are six teaching positions [in Summerbridge] that will no longer exist," Drogin said. "We form the core of the Summerbridge program in terms of curriculum and teaching."

Han said that because there are so many colleges in the area, Boston and Cambridge would feel the effects of a possible loss of funding more severely than other areas.

Hope in a Veto?

But community service leaders have not given up hope that a Presidential veto could lead to a compromise that would reinstate funding for the President's National Service Program.

"It is important to realize that Americorps has not been defunded yet," said Gold, the Program Coordinator for ACT "It's highly likely that there will continue to be funding for next year."

If the program were shut off from federal funding, Gold said that ACT would look into locating funding for a single year, and then try to "spin off" the program into another agency or a school. Cambridge Community Services, a program of which AC. is a part, has previously employed this strategy with some success. "Some of them do die," Gold said. "But some of them flourish."

The other possibility that Gold cited involved state support. "Massachusetts has a strong state network, and Americorps has received a lot of support from Governor Weld," Gold said.

Effects at Harvard

Regardless of what happen in Washington, the immediate effect on Harvard will be minimal.

Drogin said that even if Americorps is stripped of its funding, the legislation is not going to affect the students currently involved in the program this year.

Furthermore, Vincent Pan '95-'96, the President of Phillips Brooks House, said that since the PBH's application for Americorps funding was rejected this year, federal budget cuts would not directly affect its programming.

Oser said that "the effect on Harvard will be minimal because there is basically no linkage except for a pretty small group of students who have been involved with projects like ACT, Summerbridge, and City Year."

Nevertheless, Oser added that "the Senate vote to defund Americorps will reduce the opportunities of Harvard students to work in grassroots service projects and receive financial support for their work."

A Plea for Service

Mary Carol Stevens '95, the public service tutor in Lowell House, said she hopes students will continue to volunteer, whatever the outcome of the debate over federal funding of Americorps.

"Harvard students have a lot to give, even if the government doesn't," Stevens said. "Those who are willing to offer what they have, however little that may be, to someone who has even less will always be able to serve their communities--with or without the support of Congress."

Said Stevens, the Lowell House tutor: "In my experience it is not money that changes lives, but people who freely offer their time, genuine concern, energy and knowledge."