AmeriCorps in the News

The National Service website features seven tabs at the top of their website, the fourth being a drop down menu for the newsroom. The main newsroom site features stories sorted in the following categories: press releases, media advisories, proclamations, official statements, social media hub, links to their social media accounts, and outreach resources. The main media contact is featured prominently on the top right of the webpage. The Corporation for National and Community service uses their newsroom as way of communicating policy changes and updates, highlights of moments of impact of national service throughout the country, and to announce special initiatives by CNCS and/or the federal government. AmeriCorps’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts function in much the same way but focus more on storytelling. Often they will share or repost content from community partners.

Upon googling “AmeriCorps,” a web user would find similar stories of service throughout the country, mostly at the local level, in the news section of Google. The first three pages of results solely feature local news coverage of service members making an impact in their immediate communities.

In the Rohit Bhargava readings from Week 1, we read about personality and how company’s can present and communicate their individual personalities. Bhargava defines personality in this context as “the unique, authentic, and talkable soul of your brand that people can get passionate about.” I would say that through their website and social media presence, AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National and Community Service have created a unique, authentic, and talkable soul that many people are passionate about. Many people hear of AmeriCorps through word of mouth, either through their friends, families, or colleagues that are currently serving or have served through the past, or they hear about the difference AmeriCorps members are making in the community. This makes AmeriCorps highly relatable, and it presents it as something to feel good about and to passionately support because of its positive impact on both communities and the lives of service members.

I think the most important part of Lisa Bytner’s presentation in our class last week was when she explained the importance of networking and how you should always be developing and maintaining relationships with clients and others in your field. While AmeriCorps does not have “clients” in the traditional sense, I would say that they strive to build relationships with current, past, and potential new service members and community partners (often referred to as “host sites” for members).