PORT ANGELES — The AmeriCorps on the North Olympic Peninsula received a $196,000 boost through the federal stimulus package.
The one-year grant from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money will pay for 14 workers in various tasks throughout Clallam and Jefferson counties, who will receive training to go on to new jobs, said Jacques Livingston, AmeriCorps director, who applied for the grant March 23.
Livingston said the funds will be put to use within the next couple of months.
Matching grants
“In order to qualify, we had to have about $60,000 in local matching funds,” he said.
“The Gates Foundation really stepped up and gave us a grant for $30,000 for that.”
Other donations have narrowed the agency’s need to about $10,000.
Nine positions are for para-educators in public schools.
“I wanted to infuse the schools, which are hurting during this time in our economy, with qualified people,” Livingston said.
“And at the same time, they can get training so that when they are done with the year, they can be moving into a new job based on the training they’ve received.
“We’ll have someone in every district on the Peninsula.”
Other positions include three construction positions to weatherize houses.
The positions are in partnership with Olympic Community Action Programs.
“The purpose of these are twofold because it helps the people who cannot afford to have this work done on their home to keep them warmer in the winter and also reduce their utilities, and it will train the workers in a green field, which is sustainable, and they can go out and have these new skills,” Livingston said.
Also funded is the position of an educator to teach financial management classes and seminars and a housing resource manager for OlyCAP.
“I am hoping that each of the positions is a booster shot into the economy here,” Livingston said.
Each person hired will be paid a stipend, insurance and training.
Renewal
In addition to the new positions, the 24 positions that the Clallam AmeriCorps, which provides services in both Jefferson and Clallam counties, already supports have been renewed for three years with $302,000 from the federal government.
“The great thing is that President [Barack] Obama has begun his expansion plan for AmeriCorps — which he has said is a great way to inject funds quickly into a community,” Livingston said.
“So the plan is that after this year, we can expand from 24 members to 38 members, so a lot of those positions we create now can be sustained.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.
