CAC AmeriCorps

Much of the federal government shut down at midnight last night. 🕛 🕛 🕛

While the federal AmeriCorps agency is closed, CAC AmeriCorps, a locally operated AmeriCorps program, will continue to operate under the support of the Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee and, our state partner, Volunteer Tennessee, without significant disruption to our members and partners, for the time being. 🪨

What this means for our program, in the short-term, is some temporary shifting service assignments for members with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but all of our members will continue to serve and receive their pay and benefits. ✅

Our team is tracking the news and is in contact with our community, funding, and advocacy partners to maintain awareness of credible insights and concerns that may emerge from this situation.

Thanks for everyone's flexibility, patience, and support. 🙏

Well, we didn't exactly see this coming a couple months ago, but Volunteer Tennessee has offered CAC AmeriCorps 40 spots in the State's AmeriCorps portfolio, for the 25-26 program year, which means ‼️ WE ARE BACK ‼️ and organizing an AmeriCorps program for the coming year with some flexible start-date options in August/September.

Recruitment is open to fill 14 slots, with 26 already filled.

All positions pay $17 hr. ($1,229.78 bi-weekly, pre-tax) for 1,700+ hours over 47 weeks. We also offer a health insurance subsidy, a flat $500 relocation benefit, if you are outside of the East TN region, a Member Assistance Program, and an education award of $7,395.

Our open positions include some of the following opportunities:

🏘️ Knoxville's Community Development Corporation
💛 Environmental & Outdoor Stewardship Coordinator: https://cacamericorps.org/opportunities/open-spaces-coordinator-kcdc/
💛 Food Access Coordinator:
https://cacamericorps.org/opportunities/food-access-coordinator-kcdc/

♻️ UTK Office of Sustainability
💛 Academic Engagement Coordinator: https://cacamericorps.org/opportunities/academic-engagement-coordinator-ut/
💛 Social Impact Coordinator:
https://cacamericorps.org/opportunities/social-media-coordinator-ut-sustainability/

And many more that can be viewed here: https://cacamericorps.org/job-openings/

I am thankful to be back to being able to directly offer opportunities to folks to grow in skill and purpose through service.

It is with deep sadness that I announce to our friends, and community, that, after 30+ years of continuous service to Knoxville, and the East Tennessee region, CAC AmeriCorps has had our funding abruptly discontinued for both our AmeriCorps VISTA and AmeriCorps State/National programs. 💔 💔 💔

CAC AmeriCorps received notices from the AmeriCorps agency that our grant awards were being terminated because it has been determined that our awards "no longer effectuate agency priorities." Priorities that have been supported on a bi-partisan basis since the creation of AmeriCorps in 1994.

The result? 📉
All 52 of our current, full-time, members will have their service discontinued, effective immediately, and our 30+ community partners, and the people they serve, will now cease to receive the meaningful contributions of these talented servant leaders.

While my staff, and I, work with our partners and leadership to mitigate for the adverse impacts of these actions, we will continue to be available in the coming weeks as we work to perform the administrative tasks necessary to support our members in their transitions, grant closeout and reporting, and other associated tasks.

Things we're thankful for at CAC AmeriCorps: 1) our amazing service members, 2) turkey naps, and 3) the ability to give back to our Knox County community! Thank you to everyone that has impacted our program near and far, we are grateful!