I find cautious comfort in the idea that America is an ongoing experiment, with democracy’s boundaries, its weaknesses and potential, its promises and failures. And similar to life saving, disease-curing experiments in medicine, the seriousness with which we test democracy can’t be understated – nor can our belief that democracy can realize equitable outcomes for individuals, the United States, and global citizenship. My personal affinity towards democracy has evolved over time, from an unencumbered, observational notion to something more fully nuanced and critiqued. I rigorously engage with democracy daily. For me, joining AmeriCorps was an intentional choice to seek out and build a more just democracy in 2001, and continues today, as the Agency’s first Bridging & Democracy Fellow.
Immediately after college I was a Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA), where I developed my skills, perspective, and confidence. I organized after school mentoring and tutoring programs in a middle school in Wilmington, Delaware with a cross-section of Title I students from city-center and suburban neighborhoods. VISTA was a constant teacher, gifting me with the experiences, knowledge, and practice to be a role model to middle school-aged students, a community organizer, a project manager for grant-funded school programs, and a colleague to first-year and veteran educators alike.
AmeriCorps emboldened my passion for activation and participation. I found something motivating and promising when individuals, operating within and beyond the constraints of systems and structures, sought something better. AmeriCorps nurtured a values-orientation and discipline for ongoing curiosity, perseverance, and deep desire to challenge the status quo. Whether members are mentoring school-aged children, rebuilding post-disaster, strengthening public health and affordable housing access, serving hot meals, planting community gardens, or reconnecting with isolated community members, I believe AmeriCorps is a reflection of what democracy – at its best – can offer.
The AmeriCorps I knew and loved as a member has evolved through innovation, experimentation, and requisite improvement. Much like democracy, AmeriCorps is an evolving, ever improving organism. Thirty years ago, AmeriCorps started in just over 1,000 communities with 20,000 Americans who believed they could offer the best of themselves towards improving the lives of others, and by extension, strengthen their country. Currently over 200,000 people serve as AmeriCorps members or AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in 40,000 locations across all 50 states and territories. But quantity is not the measure of progress. The truest sign of progress is that AmeriCorps remains mission-focused while also reducing barriers to service and promoting equity to enhance the service year experience. Strengthening and increasing pathways to education and employment and increasing members’ living allowance demonstrate the ongoing commitment to ensure national service is a vehicle for more people to be deeply engaged in the great democratic experiment.
AmeriCorps consistently asks its members to center the lived experience of community members closest to the pain, to be solution finders, to be truth tellers, to be co-creators of the just world we all deserve in our lifetimes.
As AmeriCorps’ Bridging & Democracy Fellow, I build relationships across public, private, academic, and philanthropic partners to share and deepen our collective knowledge around civic bridge-building within national service. I look for collaborative opportunities to enhance skills, confidence, and aptitude of service members to practice intentional bridge-building in their communities. To intentionally seek out diverse perspectives, to build trust and be in relationship with individuals who live and think differently, and to ultimately uphold their humanity while building shared solutions to today’s most pressing social challenges. AmeriCorps and the vast network of community-based organizations, national nonprofits, faith-based organizations, public schools, parks, food banks, and libraries where members serve are connected to this greater calling. Surrounded by cultural and political dissonance and disillusionment, AmeriCorps members are uniquely positioned to bring people together in the name of something larger than themselves.
As I look around at the impressive cohort of current AmeriCorps members and volunteers, my faith in democracy is renewed because I see people of every age, race, religion, region, and creed decide that justice, equity, and equality come from sharing the responsibility and effort to build a better country for all. They join 1.3 million alumni who have also answered the call to serve.
For me, national and public service has been an avenue for me to hone my practice and belief in participatory democracy, to co-create community spaces and opportunities where all people can thrive. Service has been and continues to be a shared experiment alongside democracy, to get to justice and racial equity.
Jennifer O. Leshnower is an AmeriCorps VISTA Alum (2001) and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (2009). For over two decades, Jen has worked at the nexus of community development, volunteerism, and organizational capacity strengthening with a variety of local affiliates, national nonprofits, and more recently, state government. She is currently a Federal Fellow with the STEM NEXT Opportunity Fund, placed at AmeriCorps. Jen has a MSW and MPA from Columbia University and a BA in Political Science from William Smith College.