Workforce Development & the 4Rs Kicks Off Summer 2025 Site Visits with DataCorps
Author: Michael Culbert
The New Orleans area is racked with a variety of environmental challenges. Much of the area is below sea level, its position on the Gulf Coast is prone to intense hurricanes, and the combination of high humidity and high temperatures leads to substantial heat-related threats. The CECE research team kicked off our DataCorps fellows program with a site visit and focus group in New Orleans and the surrounding area to understand how local communities are making themselves more resilient and capable of responding to disasters before they hit. During our visit to Louisiana, we visited two organizations and held a focus group with members of the Jefferson Parish program supported by the AmeriCorps Retired and Senior Volunteers Program (RSVP).
One of the vital community resources that helps stave off some of the consequences of these circumstances is the Church of St. Joseph the Worker in Marrero, Jefferson Parish. This program is one of the recipients of support from the AmeriCorps RSVP program. They run a food pantry, which acts as an important support system for at-risk people in their community.
The church is also participating in the new Community Lighthouse Project in the area, which is installing solar panels and battery storage in community centers to provide community members, regardless of their religious affiliation, with air conditioning and electricity to charge phones after disaster hits. Hurricanes can leave these communities without power for weeks, which means they have no access to air conditioning during intense summer heat.
The team conducted a focus group that consisted of volunteers who work with organizations supported by the AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP program. Volunteers included representatives of 13 different civic groups (including members of the church of St. Joseph the Worker) who are working to build community resilience throughout Jefferson Parish. They were quick to express how their involvement in this work strengthened their communities and provided valuable support systems. Many of the volunteers expressed that their work was essential and necessary for the people they help. Volunteers across organizations also spoke proudly about how important volunteer work was for their own wellbeing.
Friendships after retirement were a leading motivation that the volunteers mentioned. Many cited preexisting connections to volunteers as a common reason for joining. The environment of the focus group itself was full of lively banter. Groups from the same organizations were quick to laugh with each other and by the end of our 2 hours, study participants across groups had developed a friendly rapport and were even sharing valuable resources.
In addition to the focus groups, everyone who participated filled out an anonymous survey, which helped us understand what motivates volunteers to participate, what other civic engagement participants are involved with, and their perspectives on environmental decision-making in their own lives. What is it about these volunteers that made them pursue increased engagement with their communities through the AmeriCorps Seniors program? These are some of the questions that we are hoping to be able to answer through our work in Jefferson Parish.
During our time in Louisiana, we also had a chance to talk with a representative from the SBP Disaster Corps. SBP is a nonprofit funded in part by AmeriCorps and staffed by some AmeriCorps service members. Their work looks substantially different; they provide the vital resource of rebuilding homes after hurricanes. The scope of their work includes both attracting volunteer workers to assist in rebuilding efforts as well as preparing communities by training people how to repair flood and hurricane damage.
Through these activities, our research was able to get a sense of some of the disaster response, recovery, and resilience work ongoing in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish. Overall, we learned to talk to many people participating in the AmeriCorps Seniors program and understand better the benefits that program is providing to communities.
Michael Culbert is a master’s student at American University and a DataCorps Fellow associated with the Workforce Development & the 4Rs research project.
