Foothills AmeriCorps serves the northwestern section of Spartanburg County. The program’s 100 members are high school seniors in District One. The Foothills AmeriCorps Members serve the needs of the school district’s communities through the following activities.

·         Tutoring fellow District One students who are struggling academically in the middle and elementary schools.

·         Planning and implementing disaster preparedness programs and activities, which help expand citizens’ knowledge in emergency preparedness and safety and lead to strengthening of homeland security in communities.

·         Sponsoring and/or participating in community capacity-building service projects that address unmet human needs throughout the county.

Students are selected for membership in the AmeriCorps program based on their application, essay, three teacher recommendation, standardized test scores, and willingness and true desire to help their community. In exchange for their service throughout the year, members receive a monthly stipend. Upon completion of at least 300 service hours by the end of the school year, they also receive a $1000.00 scholarship to the college or university of their choice.

The Foothills AmeriCorps Members have become synonymous with service. They volunteer at local soup kitchens, March of Dimes, Relay for Life, and the United Way’s Gift in Kind warehouse just to name a few. These high school seniors have approached the service projects with a sincere desire to help.

Since the program’s inception in 2004, Foothills AmeriCorps has successfully demonstrated its effectiveness by meeting or exceeding outputs and outcomes. On average 80 high school seniors tutor 125 Kindergarten through 8^th grade students in eight schools for 16,000 hours during the course of the program year. Further, AmeriCorps members perform 8,000 hours of community service and 80 members receive disaster preparedness/response training (and certification, if appropriate). Finally, 80 members typically recruit 400 community volunteers during the course of the program year. If you would like more information on the Foothills AmeriCorps Program, please contact Program Director, Matt Holmes at (864) 472-2846 Extension 5244.