Q: What are some of the best ways to create opportunities for passing along wisdom from one group of members to the next?

A: The oldest publicly-funded statewide service program in the nation — the Washington Service Corps (WSC) — engages the talent, energy, and enthusiasm of young adults in addressing critical needs in communities across Washington state. Examples of ways this organization “passes the torch” from one member to the next include:

• One group made a series of posters with words of encouragement to hang in their program office.
• Another created a videotape with parting messages from graduating members that was shown to new recruits during orientation.
• Each WSC program has a "sustainability binder." In it are personal letters from former members to current members, telling them how the year went and offering advice. Some programs ask members to write the letters on their own time while others incorporate it into an end-of-year reflection exercise.

Q: What are some strategies to offer members as they deal with stress during their service year and beyond?

A: The National Service Stress Survival Guide, developed by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, suggests seven steps for stress management to share with your members:

• Adjust your attitude
• Make your job work for you
• Thrive on challenge
• Eat for performance
• Exercise
• Manage time and finances
• Get your feelings out

Q: What tips can you offer for planning a member training on Life After AmeriCorps?

A: There are various ways to offer trainings. One model that has proven effective is provided by nonprofits in Oregon. Each year, several large and small organizations in metropolitan Portland convene to present a day-long conference that helps transitioning members answer the question, "What next”? Programs from across Oregon and Washington are able to take advantage of the training.

Seven people who meet about four or five times a year serve on the planning committee. Once they decide on the topics for conference sessions — based on pre-surveys of members and evaluations from the previous conference — they divide up the work and take responsibility for recruiting speakers. Typically, speakers are people they know in the community with whom they have a working relationship. They also try to recruit some former AmeriCorps members as presenters. All speakers volunteer their time and are not paid.

More than 200 people attended the June 2006 conference in Portland, where they chose from among 15 different presentations. The five most popular sessions were “International Work and Service,” “Making Plans for Your Ed Award,” “Networking and Informational Interviewing,” “Traveling and Living Abroad on a Budget” and “Applying to Graduate School.”

For more information on this training, see the EnCorps Collection.

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