|
New Jersey Bonner Leaders Program
In 1999, campus and nonprofit leaders came together to discuss and strategize about how they could work together to address the most compelling needs of their local community. As a result of these discussions, campus and nonprofit leaders developed the New Jersey AmeriCorps Bonner Leader Program (NJABLP), an innovative campus-based program housed at four college campuses in central New Jersey. The program is designed to strengthen the capacity of nonprofit organizations by recruiting AmeriCorps members to serve at participating agencies and to mobilize the resources of area college campuses in an effort to provide technical assistance to community partner organizations.
Similar to other Bonner Programs, the New Jersey AmeriCorps Bonner Leader Program identifies and trains a cohesive team of students from community colleges and four year, large and small, public and private, colleges and universities who serve as minimum-time members at specific community agencies. The New Jersey AmeriCorps Bonner Leader Program is unique, however, due to the part-time and full-time members who serve at community partner agencies. These members are recruited directly from the community and serve alongside teams of student members from participating college and universities.
Given the breadth of the program and the varying needs of communities, members serve with a wide range of organizations addressing community needs related to poverty, education, the environment, citizens with disabilities, elderly populations, disaster relief, and other human needs. However, members are involved primarily in mentoring at-risk youth, hunger relief, adult education and volunteer recruitment in under-resourced communities in New Jersey.
The New Jersey AmeriCorps Bonner Leader Program Director manages our AmeriCorps grant from the New Jersey State Commission on National and Community Service and serves as the facilitator of the regional coalition of campuses and community partner agencies. Members are supported by campus directors who facilitate training and development, and the agency supervisor who directly supervises their service work and training specific to the agency. This model allows the New Jersey AmeriCorps Bonner Leader Program to provide a multi-layered support structure with special attention paid to training and reflection.
Campus directors meet weekly or bi-weekly with their corps members. To help members build the skills necessary for effective service, directors assess and reflect with each member on their progress, both personally and with their community projects. All corps events bring students and community members together for training sessions and seasons of service projects, creating synergy and increasing collegiality.
The New Jersey AmeriCorps Bonner Leader Program has three mutually-reinforcing components.
- providing service and enrichment activities for members;
- providing programs that help develop a culture of service at institutions of higher learning and infrastructures to engage the larger student body, as well as members of the campus community;
- providing a trained, skilled, and committed group of members who assist community-based agencies in their efforts to deliver services and build organizational capacity.
The New Jersey AmeriCorps Bonner Leader Program provides members with three types of living allowances and education awards based on the amount of hours served.
- 1 year - 1700 hour term: Living allowance of up to $12,500 and an educational award of $4725.00 upon completion.
- 1 year - 900 hour term: Living allowance of up to $5771.00 and an educational award of $2362.50 upon completion.
- 1 year - 300 hour term: Living allowance of up to $1900.00 and an education award of $1000.00 upon completion.
Upon successful completion of the term of service, members will receive the education award from the National Service Trust which can be used to repay student loans, pay current educational expenses and/or pay for future education at an institution of higher learning. The member will direct the National Service Trust, through an online payment system, where and how much to pay for the particular expense. The system is a paperless, fast and easy method for students to access.
|
