Rebuilding Together AmeriCorps Celebrates the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service
Washington, D.C., January 15, 2015 – Members and alumni of Rebuilding Together’s AmeriCorps program, CapacityCorps, will dedicate the week of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service to rebuilding homes and revitalizing communities in Lafayette, La.
In honor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, the 20th anniversary of AmeriCorps and the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, 65 AmeriCorps members serving with Rebuilding Together, along with program alumni and affiliate leaders, will come together from 19 different states to perform critical home repair services for veteran and senior citizen homeowners in need. These members and alumni will provide a full week of service to the Lafayette community.
The event is being hosted by Rebuilding Together's Acadiana affiliate which repairs and renovates the homes of low-income, elderly homeowners, military veterans and individuals with permanent physical disabilities. Since 1998, Rebuilding Together Acadiana has renovated and modified more than 900 Acadiana homes with a market value of over $15 million in repairs.
Rebuilding Together AmeriCorps members and alumni, serving a collective 3,000 hours, will repair eight homes. The projects will be clustered together for maximum impact to improve the homes and lives of the Monroe neighborhood residents. “This working class neighborhood has struggled with change over the last couple of decades. Many properties have become rundown rentals, drastically changing the face of the streets,” said Jodee Ware, Executive Director of Rebuilding Together Acadiana. “With recent community calls to action and developments within the area, Rebuilding Together Acadiana is proud to partner with the Monroe community to stabilize the housing conditions for the long-time residents so that they can stay safely in their homes and realize the benefits of an improving neighborhood.”
Rebuilding Together CapacityCorps is a National*Direct AmeriCorps program with 65 full-time members serving at 35 local affiliates across the country. Rebuilding Together AmeriCorps members build the capacity of grassroots Rebuilding Together programs so that they become sustainable, effective and efficient in helping additional low-income homeowners in need. As developing housing preservation leaders, these AmeriCorps members serve essential roles in building the capacity of their host sites in areas such as recruiting and managing volunteers, performing direct home repairs, building community partnerships, and creating new programs.