AmeriCorps CEO Michael Smith with Abe Rivers, one of two AmeriCorps members recruited from within the community of Scammon Bay for the Resilient Alaska Youth program. Rivers leads after school activities, from playing basketball to honing subsistence skills like hunting and fishing.
An example is the elder mentor program, which just received a $1 million grant from AmeriCorps. The program’s aim is to provide intergenerational support in schools, and AmeriCorps pays seniors a small stipend for their volunteer service. AmeriCorps has funded the program through Rural Alaska Community Action Program Inc. since 2013. It is active in nine Alaska communities.
Sandra Kozevnikoff is an elder mentor in Russian Mission. She just turned 76 and estimated she’s been volunteering with the program for about a decade. She grew up speaking Yup’ik and later learned English in school. She said she helps teach the Yup’ik language, culture and traditional values at school because Yup’ik words carry meaning that cannot always be translated, and she wants youth to grow up with that knowledge.