MINNEAPOLIS — Right now, thousands of people are out of jobs. Students may also be looking for jobs after their summer internships have been canceled due to COVID-19.
At the same time, there are groups working tirelessly to address the ever-growing need for people who seek essential services, like homeless shelters and food shelves.
AmeriCorps says it wants to bring those two groups together.
"Normally we have a wide variety of individuals who serve with us, anyone from age 18 to 80," Lindsay Dolce said. Dolce is the Chief Advancement Officer for ServeMN, a program and team that helps run AmeriCorps services in Minnesota.
During this time of crisis, they've launched the Minnesota AmeriCorps Emergency Response Initiative. They're looking to hire 500 or so people to serve full-time from June to August in various places of need around the state during the pandemic.
"We've had a huge amount of interest from individuals who have had their internships over the summer canceled or also hearing from a lot of high school seniors thinking about potentially serving a gap year with AmeriCorps," she said. "Over the summer we're hiring 500 individuals. In the Fall, we'll hire another 1,700 individuals to serve in AmeriCorps positions around Minnesota. We think it's a great opportunity to merge those missed opportunities for graduating seniors as well as to create an opportunity to serve their community during their gap year."
Positions offered vary. Applicants will be matched with places like Open Arms MN to do work such as packaging meals and delivering them - or helping out in their urban farm. All this work comes with compensation and benefits.
"There is a living stipend that's $650 every two weeks," Dolce said. "Individuals are eligible for health insurance and they also receive an education award, which is just shy of $1,300 for serving 300 hours in the Summer. That money can be use to pay back student loans or prospectively to pay college tuition."
Dolce added that now might be a good time for people to explore something that might be outside their normal rhythm of life.
"It's really a great way for individuals to test the waters if you will," Dolce said. "to see if maybe they've been interested in supporting a homelessness initiative. This would be an opportunity to test that out."
This is one way AmeriCorps workers can receive help while giving back.
"It inspires and motivates us to continue to do what we're doing to create opportunities where we're merging what a community need is with what an individual can do right now," Dolce said.
To apply, you can find more information here. Applications are due May 20, for the term that starts on June 8.
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The state of Minnesota has set up a hotline for general questions about coronavirus at 651-201-3920 or 1-800-657-3903, available 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
There is also a data portal online at mn.gov/covid19.