Kanawha Institute for Social Research and Action, Inc.

Skip to content

You are here: Home

AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps is the national service program that engages Americans of all ages and backgrounds in results-driven service in the five priority areas of education, public safety, environment, homeland security, and other human needs. AmeriCorps programs provide full and part-time opportunities for members to provide service to their communities through community organizations and agencies. AmeriCorps has four main goals:

Getting Things Done;
Strengthening Communities;
Encouraging Responsibility; and
Expanding Opportunity.

How are these goals achieved?

AmeriCorps members help communities solve problems in the areas of education, public safety, the environment, and other human needs (like health and housing) by serving directly and by getting other people to serve as volunteers.
AmeriCorps members help unite individuals from all different backgrounds—and organizations of all kinds—in a common effort to improve communities.
AmeriCorps members explore and exercise their responsibilities to their communities, their families, and themselves—during their service experience and throughout their lives.
AmeriCorps helps those who help America.
AmeriCorps members receive awards to further their education or to pay back student loans.
They also gain valuable job experience, specialized training, and other skills.

The KISRA AmeriCorps Program addresses the socialization and community integration needs of persons who are recovering from mental illnesses and the financial fitness needs of economically vulnerable persons in Kanawha County. Full-time and half-time members are engaged in two primary activities - Compeer friends and financial fitness instructors to adult and youth residents of homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, public housing properties, etc..

Member Activities

Compeer volunteer-based programs and services, which serve as a complement to therapy, provide supportive friendships for people in mental-health care – helping them on their recovery journey. Compeer is recognized as a best-practices model by the American Psychological Association (APA). The National Institute of Mental Health chose Compeer as a model program in 1982 and funded the development of similar programs throughout the nation.

The Compeer Model has the following key elements:

All consumers must be referred to the program by a mental health professional
The consumer must be at a point in their recovery that they can participate in a friendship relationship
The consumer must choose to participate in the program
The consumer must be in mental health therapy during the length of the match
Volunteers are friends/mentors. They do not provide any mental health advice. All mental health questions are referred to the consumer’s mental health professional or Compeer staff.

AmeriCorps members are engaged in mentoring, calling and facilitating learning opportunities for at least 50 individuals with mental illnesses in the Compeer of Kanawha Valley program operated by KISRA in Dunbar. Members also recruit volunteers from the community to engage in various activities with program participants. Through these efforts, AmeriCorps members get things done and strengthen families dealing with mental illness, as well as strengthen communities throughout Kanawha County.

One-on-One Mentoring: This component is designed to help program participants become more integrated into the community, to develop positive coping strategies and to reach greater independence. Each AmeriCorps member is a friend to up to five adults. Friends meet at mutually convenient times to share activities, such as movies, plays, sporting events, trips to area parks or simply to enjoy conversation over coffee.

Calling: AmeriCorps members serve as telephone friends to program participants who could use companionship and emotional support. Communicating by phone is a great way to connect with someone in need of friendship. Members will call participants at least once per week just to check in. Participants are advised of the WV Mental Health Consumers Association warm line for additional support.

Learning Opportunities: AmeriCorps members facilitate learning opportunities for Compeer program participants. Sessions will include arts and crafts, computer basics, various life skills and recreational activities in group settings. Program participants give input into the classes/activities that they would like to attend. Members, KISRA staff and other community volunteers teach the classes.

The KISRA AmeriCorps Program includes the teaching of financial fitness as an activity area. Members are trained as financial fitness instructors and they teach others to be more financially fit. Target audiences include adult and youth residents of homeless shelters, residents of domestic violence shelters, and residents of public housing properties.

FDIC Money Smart is the core curriculum and it is supplemented by information from America Saves, Office of Comptroller of Currency and many other reputable sources. Money Smart is a comprehensive financial education curriculum designed to help low- and moderate-income individuals outside the financial mainstream enhance their financial skills and create positive banking relationships. Financial education fosters financial stability for individuals, families, and entire communities. The more people know about credit and banking services, the more likely they are to increase savings, buy homes, and improve their financial health and well being.

Financial fitness classes will be held on-site daily at various partner locations. Participants are also able to schedule individual sessions with AmeriCorps members. Each financial fitness module averages two hours in length and the core curriculum has 11 modules. The 11 Money Smart Training Modules are : Bank on It - An introduction to bank services; Borrowing Basics -An introduction to credit; Check It Out - How to choose and keep a checking account; Money Matters - How to keep track of your money; Pay Yourself First - Why you should save, save, save; Financial Recovery - How to recover financially and rebuild your credit after a financial-setback; Keep It Safe - Your rights as a consumer; To Your Credit - How your credit history will affect your credit future; Charge It Right - How to make a credit card work for you; Loan To Own - Know what you're borrowing before you buy; Your Own Home - What home ownership is all about.

For more information about the KISRA AmeriCorps Program, contact Season Lewis at 304.768.8924 x202 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .