CIVIC CORPS

About NYC Civic Corps

NYC Civic Corps, an AmeriCorps program launched in 2009 by NYC Service, recruits and places AmeriCorps members to serve full-time from September 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 at select nonprofit organizations. NYC Civic Corps members build, develop, and grow volunteer programs by recruiting, managing, and engaging volunteers to address impact areas that are priorities of New York City such as:

  • Disaster Services
  • Economic Opportunity
  • Education & Youth Development
  • Environmental Stewardship
  • Public

ESN and Civic Corps Program

Laura Bentley served as ESN’s Civic Corps member from September 1st, 2022, through June 30th, 2023.

Laura is a native New Yorker, born and raised in Jamaica, Queens. In addition to her NYC City Corps work, Laura is the lead teacher, mentor and board member of Complete Girlz Inc, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating, motivating, and empowering at-risk girls in Southeast Queens.

During Laura’s service year, most ESN sites were still shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The sites on Staten Island, as part of Project Hospitality remained open in addition to the Ascension School on the Upper West Side. Some respite sites converted to food pantries (Crossroads, Xavier, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, and St. Luke and St. Matthew) to help alleviate food insecurities brought on by the pandemic.

Laura spent a lot of time getting to know the respite bed site managers, organized zoom meetings along with email communications to address the needs and questions and assisted with the reopening planning by sharing resources and brain storming solutions to several common problems such as site capacity, and future volunteer trainings and communications.

On Saturday, March 5th, 2022, Laura organized the inaugural ESN pet clinic to address the needs of the homeless and their pet companions. The event was sponsored by Pet Smart Charities, Positive Tails, the ASPCA, NYDIS, New York City Animal Care Centers, Animal Haven, New York City Department of Health and Judson Memorial Church

PPE Distribution

During the first half of the Civic Corps term, Mary focused on distributing PPE to all ESN respite bed sites, as well as many other nonprofit organizations and congregations throughout the five boroughs of New York City.

In all, NYDIS was able to distribute $4.5 million in PPE since the start of the pandemic.  This includes over 1.5 million masks, 4.5 million gallons of hand sanitizer, 6000 gowns, and 18,000 pairs of gloves that went to over 300 organizations.