CECE Whitepaper No. 4: Understanding Community Response to Disaster: Results from Three AmeriCorps Programs
AmeriCorps members and volunteers engage in community response to disaster across the United States. How do they explain the skills they use, the motivations that urge them to respond, and their experiences with disaster? Across the three programs that we visited, participants reported drawing from their prior life experiences, whether personal or professional,
to increase their communities’ resilience in preparation for the onset of disaster. AmeriCorps funding has also allowed participants to gain new skills they apply to their service. Although the specifics in skills, motivations, and experiences varied by stage of life and location, respondents reported a similar commitment to their communities’ wellbeing. This whitepaper presents an analysis of data collected from focus groups at three sites during the summer of 2025: in California, Louisiana, and Utah. Older members of the Retired Seniors Volunteers Program in Louisiana and Utah were more motivated to participate by abstract values such as “obligation” and “self-sufficiency,” while younger members of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps were motivated by both a desire to serve their community and to develop professionally. Personal experience with disasters also shaped the way that respondents approach disaster in their service work. Their commitment to their communities’ wellbeing motivated participants’ disaster response despite uncertainty in the future driven by social, economic, and political change.
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For more information and updates on the project, please go to the project’s research page.
