Last year more than 4,800 Americans united to meet local needs, strengthen communities, and expand opportunity through service in Arizona. AmeriCorps alone invested more than $23.7 million in federal funding to support cost-effective community solutions, working hand in hand with local partners to empower individuals to help communities tackle their toughest challenges. AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers served at more than 500 locations across Arizona, including schools, food banks, homeless shelters, youth centers, veterans’ facilities, and other nonprofit and faith-based organizations.
Patagonia has been lucky enough to reap the benefit of AmeriCorps’ programs, hosting a string of National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) crews over the past couple of years.
NCCC is a team-based program that is geared towards 18-26 year olds and allows them to work full time with a small stipend on a variety of 3-13 week-long projects. Participants live in the community they serve in, enabling them to better understand the local culture and to build leadership skills that will serve them as adults in the workforce and as responsible community members.
Between 2023-2024 Borderlands Restoration Network and The Nature Conservancy’s Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve were awarded three different NCCC crews through competitive grant application processes. NCCC crews supported the ongoing environmental conservation work of these two local nonprofits; they reduced fuel loads, implemented fire breaks, planted native species, built erosion control structures and did trail maintenance.
The teams put in additional time towards community service projects after hours and on the weekends to support the Patagonia Community Garden, Empire Trails Association, the Patagonia Library, and Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona in Nogales.
Jordan Jaqua, a former NCCC team member who spent a hitch in town, said that her time in Patagonia gave her “the privilege to hear impactful stories of the town and feel truly accepted in a community while working towards a common goal.”
In April Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) drastically cut funding to AmeriCorps, eliminating over 1000 programs and leaving NCCC team members all over the United States less than 24 hours to abandon their service projects and go home. Locally, this news came as a shock to many, as AmeriCorps and its partners generated more than $4.7 million in outside resources from businesses, foundations, public agencies, and other sources in Arizona last year through a unique public-private partnership. This local support strengthened community impact and increased the return on taxpayer dollars. The sudden cancellation of the program in the name of efficiency has left groups who were depending on the extra help scrambling to make up for the lost support.
Francesca Claverie, Native Plant Program Director at BRN and Patagonia Town Council member, lamented the loss of the program “These are not costly programs to run and they help give opportunities to youth in our communities to travel, volunteer, and learn about our country,” she said.
Keeping programs running during the slow summer months in rural Arizona can be challenging without seasonal help, so these organizations hope to see the return of NCCC in the future.
It’s good for the rest of us too, as service learning in the beautiful landscapes and strong communities across our country helps inspire future generations to be responsible to their neighbors and give back where they can.