Josué, age 13, Nicaragua, draws himself celebrating Mother’s Day at home. “It is the day I get to share with my mom.” 

Katherine, age 10, Argentina, draws her family celebrating Christmas in their Habitat home. 

Pricilla, age 12, Argentina, draws the Easter bunny in honor of her favorite holiday to celebrate in her Habitat home. 

Joselyn, age 11, Guatemala, draws her family celebrating Christmas in their Habitat home. 

Juan, age 11, Mexico, draws his family decorating for Christmas in their Habitat home. “During Christmas we decorate the house with lights, and I like it because I play there all the time.” 

Fernanda, age 10, Mexico, draws how her family decorates their Habitat home for Christmas. “I like my house during Christmas very much because we get to decorate the patio with white stones. We build an altar and we make a fire at night and the whole family is together,” says Fernanda. 

Yessina, age 10, Mexico, draws her family celebrating Christmas around the tree in their Habitat home. 

Zerah, age 8, Philippines, draws her family celebrating around the Christmas tree in their Habitat home. 

Davinson, age 13, Kenya, draws his family celebrating his birthday with cake in their Habitat home. “My favorite day is my birthday,” says Davinson. 

Edward, age 5, Nicaragua, draws his Habitat home decorated to celebrate Mother’s Day. 

As a Habitat AmeriCorps member on Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region’s volunteer services team, Kailey acts as a liaison to Habitat campus chapters at nearby high schools and colleges. In any spare time, she also is eager to chip in on projects in other departments. She has helped community members build a Habitat float for the local Veterans Day parade, assisted with organizing a dinner and movie night for families who partner with Habitat Charlotte Region, and worked alongside future homeowners as they raise the walls on their new Habitat homes. 

“I’m learning more information and new skills every day. I’m meeting new people and developing roots,” she says happily. “Some days I’m in front of my computer, others I’m out doing hands-on stuff. But no matter what I’m doing, I get to see the difference it makes. It gives purpose to my work.”

Building capacity

Since 1997, Habitat Charlotte Region has hosted more than 250 AmeriCorps members, including Kailey, to help expand their programs and reach more families in the Charlotte area. “We could not do what we do without AmeriCorps members,” says Crista Ray, Habitat Charlotte Region’s young adult engagement coordinator and AmeriCorps host site manager. 

In 2021 alone, the 15-member class of AmeriCorps members working at Habitat Charlotte Region contributed more than 21,000 hours towards the mission. In addition to the tangible impact of their service, there’s also a clear intangible one. “Members come with skills and ideas and are ready to learn and grow and do whatever they can to improve the world around them. It’s infectious,” Crista says. “They bring such an energy and passion to the work. It builds trust and momentum within the community, which has a direct impact on our ability to accomplish all that we do.”

Building capabilities

The impact goes both ways. Habitat AmeriCorps provides an avenue for service and self-discovery to changemakers of all ages and backgrounds in a variety of fields, from construction and community outreach to fundraising and family services. 

“You gain soft skills, like time management and public speaking, that will benefit you in whatever career you choose,” says Crista, who started her own career at Habitat Charlotte Region in 2009 as an AmeriCorps member tasked with Habitat ReStore development. “But it also gives you a chance to be a part of something bigger than yourself, like seeing a family move into their first home or helping a senior stay in their home through critical home repairs. It’s hard to get that experience anywhere else.”

It was the pursuit of such an experience that led 65-year-old Belinda Howard to leave her home in Michigan to serve in Charlotte. “I just knew this was where I needed to be,” she says.

Belinda’s work with Habitat Charlotte Region as an AmeriCorps neighborhood revitalization specialist draws on her extensive professional experience in health and human services to help connect North Carolina families and communities to resources and opportunities. She largely focuses on life outside of the home — while drawing attention to its impact on life inside it. “Everyone deserves a decent and safe place to live, and that includes their neighborhood,” she says. 

Now nearing the end of her third 10.5-month term, Belinda remains just as confident in her decision to serve, even after traveling hundreds of miles from home and delaying retirement to do so. The work, she says, has both stretched and strengthened her. “It’s the reason why I felt called to Charlotte in the first place — to be challenged, to be a part of the change,” she says. “And with Habitat and AmeriCorps, I know I have.”

Building commitments

Twenty-three-year-old Thomas Powen shares that sense of purpose. Although his economics courses gave him an overview of the housing market crisis, he says it wasn’t until he joined Habitat Charlotte Region as a construction crew leader that he truly realized the impact that housing unaffordability has on communities and families.

“It’s been an eye-opening experience,” says the native Iowan. “Housing affects so many areas of people’s lives. This position has helped me see that.” It also has helped him recognize the ability of people to make a difference on issues like the housing crisis that might seem insurmountable. 

“Talking to the families and building with them, seeing the looks on their kids’ faces as they watch their house goes up — it makes you realize that what we’re doing matters and in a very real way,” Thomas says. “And it will matter, in terms of safety and stability, for the rest of that family’s lives, too.” 

Thomas hopes to build on his Habitat AmeriCorps experience to pursue a career in sustainable urban development and says he plans to use what he’s learned during his term to guide that upcoming work. “One of the biggest lessons for me was accountability to my team, to my community. It grounds you, but also inspires you to work harder — the realization that we’re all in it together,” he says. “I’ll carry that with me wherever I go.”

“The lessons of AmeriCorps aren’t just for this service year. They’re for life,” Crista confirms. “These members came ready to help and ready to serve, and that passion for service doesn’t end when the term does.”

A 2021 survey of more than 600 Habitat AmeriCorps alumni underscores this long-term impact of serving in the program. In it, 94% of alumni reported moderate or significant gains in leadership skills. More than 70% reported that AmeriCorps helped them improve their chances of finding a job.

And like Crista, the jobs that younger AmeriCorps members go on to seek are rooted in social good. In fact, roughly a third of Habitat Charlotte Region staff are former AmeriCorps members, either having served with Habitat or another organization. In the national alumni survey, 64% of respondents reported that their Habitat AmeriCorps experience made them more likely to work in the nonprofit sector and more than 40% reported having worked with Habitat in a paid capacity following their service year.

For members like Belinda, who are wrapping up their careers, AmeriCorps provides a framework for building on the skills they already have, developing new ones and applying both in new and impactful ways.

“A wonderful diversity of people from all different places come through AmeriCorps — and we’re all learning from each other. By the end of it all, they take what I’ve taught them and I take what they taught me and we go out make our communities better,” says Belinda.

“Because if there’s anything I’ve learned from my service, it’s that — young or old — there’s no age limit to going after your dreams and making a difference.”

“I believe in the power of solidarity of young people in solving the issues facing us,” says Phally Yan, Habitat Cambodia’s volunteer and institutional engagement manager. “Approximately 60% of the Cambodian population is under the age of 25. This young population has the potential to contribute to Cambodia’s development and take action for our common future. And through her strong commitment, Kannika has made significant contributions toward that future.”

After completing the standard Leadership Academy courses, Kannika completed two extra days of intensive lessons to become a trainer herself. She joins a cohort of certified young people — 380 in total across the five countries — qualified to bring the program and its benefits to other young people and communities.

As a trainer, Kannika has instilled in local youth groups the importance of decent housing, the qualities of a community leader and a love for service. “The best part of it is sharing what I’ve learned and watching as young people use it to come up with solutions to the concerns in their communities,” she says.

Projects devised and implemented during the trainings facilitated by Kannika and fellow trainers have included shelter repairs; water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives; disaster preparedness planning; community mapping; and neighborhood revitalization efforts like the establishment of libraries, community gardens and recycling programs.

“Young people act as catalysts for innovative solutions to social, as well as housing, issues. Every youth represents one innovative idea,” Kannika says. “It makes me positive and excited for the future.”

Sarah has invited colleagues from her real estate company to volunteer, coordinated a youth build where her 17-year-old son participated and brought together her friends from the military to help build homes. “It was just really fun to be able to do a build with my military friends, even after I’m retired,” Sarah says. “I still keep in contact with all of my buds, and so it is fun being with them in a different setting, not with our uniforms on, but building a house together.”

A few years ago, Sarah started an online group for newcomers where she regularly shares volunteer opportunities. “I have, I think, right now 5,600 people who are on that,” says Sarah, who encourages members to sign up for Habitat builds to get involved in their new community and meet new friends.

“Sarah is a vivacious volunteer who inspires all around her, and she shows her dedication to this affiliate not only by swinging a hammer and building houses, but also by taking on a key responsibility to spread the word of her passion to those from all walks of her life,” says Callie Lupica, Habitat Hillsborough County’s volunteer services director. “From posting on social media to actively planning and recruiting volunteers, she stands tall as a local leader with a huge smile on her face at all times.”

“Everyone deserves a decent place to live to create happy memories in a safe environment. It’s all about the memories to be honest,” says Sarah, who often pictures a family spending holidays and celebrating birthdays while she’s helping to build a home. One of her favorite memories of volunteering was working on a build for a fellow U.S. Air Force veteran who was the sole caregiver for his brother living with a rare form of cancer. “That was very moving. Obviously, him being military and me being military, and just seeing that he was doing it all in the name of his brother. That was amazing to me,” she says.

Picking up the pieces

Princile said the first thing she used from the ShelterBox kit was the shovel, clearing away the collapsed walls that had turned to rubble. “The items from the kit, such as this solar lamp, were incredibly helpful to us right after the quake,” she says, the glow of the lamp lighting up her home. She created makeshift walls by fastening the kit’s tarps to the wooden frame of her house. She and her children once again are protected them from the elements and have privacy again.

Princile and other program participants received a cash transfer of $150 that they could spend how they wanted through Habitat’s partnership with ShelterBox. Some families used the funds to meet immediate food needs. Others invested in improvements to their homes or are saving the funds to help cover school fees. Many have purchased livestock. Princile, for instance, opted to buy sheep. “Once you have animals,” she said, “you can breed them and improve your finances for the future.”

In addition to immediate response efforts, Habitat Haiti is leading a project where youth are paid to remove debris or assist elderly residents.

Planning for the future

As of February 2022, Habitat Haiti’s overall earthquake response had reached more than 13,000 people. “None of this would be possible without the support of the government,” Jean Frenel says. “We work with the ministries, especially government entities looking after housing. At the local level, where Habitat is working with the local authorities and the mayors, we identify the most vulnerable, particularly the elderly.”

Habitat also is offering up technical expertise in housing and seeking alliances with organizations that specialize in other areas of recovery so together we can provide holistic support to the most vulnerable communities. Habitat Haiti’s goal: build 300 new homes and repair up to 2,000 additional homes.

The plans are similar in scale to Habitat’s response to Hurricane Matthew, which devastated the same area in 2016. Then, Habitat constructed 315 homes and improved or repaired 1,500 more. The Habitat homes contain both vertical and lateral bracing that make them more resilient during hurricanes and earthquakes. And they passed a major test in the August earthquake. Assessments of Habitat homes in the weeks that followed revealed that 98% were safe to live in, incurring little to no damage.

As a result, local officials and families are eager to partner with Habitat on more of the disaster-resilient homes. “We are working with different donors and supporters to mobilize resources to continue building,” Jean Frenel says. Bringing in building supplies from the capital has been extremely difficult, however, as gangs continue to control large areas. “We have to face a lot of security challenges. But we have no choice than to continue working with the community to rebuild.”

Habitat Haiti also plans to replicate a training program for masons, technicians and carpenters in the area. That way, Jean Frenel says, disaster-resilient construction can continue long after Habitat’s earthquake response efforts come to an end.

With Habitat Haiti’s nearly four decades of experience in the country and deep connections with local officials, families and organizations, Habitat’s every action is done as part of a network. Together, we and our partners are committed to helping the people of Haiti do the incredibly hard work of rebuilding so that they are safer and more secure in their homes the next time disaster strikes.