LETTERS: AMERICORPS IS BARGAIN

To the editor:

Like the fable about a blindfolded committee describing an elephant, your Oct. 18 editorial about AmeriCorps exhibited an incomplete and inaccurate picture.

You suggest that volunteers should do the job. Southeast Missouri AmeriCorps members focused where there weren't enough volunteers: tutoring at-risk youths, teaching health literacy and helping flood victims. Even Rep. Bill Emerson endorsed AmeriCorps as "what the region needs, a hand up."

You suggest that AmeriCorps encourages paychecks at the expense of volunteerism. Yet last year the Southeast Missouri AmeriCorps generated 186 volunteers and more than 1,197 hours of volunteer service. That's impressive for 19 full-time and 17 part-time AmeriCorps members.

So what is the real cost?

Total cost for a member of the Southeast Missouri AmeriCorps project, including overhead, program support and education awards, is $19,270. Subtract the $7,945 living allowance and a $4,725 education award to reveal overhead that's less than half your estimate.

A study by the IBM, Dana and Irvine foundations found that every dollar invested in AmeriCorps returned $1.60 to $2.60 in direct, measurable benefits. Conservatively, that suggests every AmeriCorps members generates at least $30,000 worth of community service. That's not bad for a $19,270 investment.

Saying that AmeriCorps is "a $27,000 boondoggle for youths trying to find themselves" is grabbing an elephant by the tail. Blindfolded.

KARLA COOPER, Member

Missouri Community Service Commission

Kennett

EDITOR'S NOTE: Using Cooper's figures, the overhead for each AmeriCorps participant is $6,600 a year. If just the bureaucrats who administer the program would volunteer their services, that's an amount taxpayers wouldn't have to pay thousands of times over throughout the nation.