New Castle, DE – New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer announced today that the county continues to accept applications for paid service opportunities in National Health Corps Delaware. To apply, prospective applicants need only be New Castle County residents, be 18 years of age and have completed their G.E.D. or hold a high school diploma. To learn more about open positions, please visit application.nationalhealthcorps.org.
National Health Corps Delaware is a pilot AmeriCorps program AmeriCorps National Direct program whose mission is to increase access to health care and promote health to underserved communities, while addressing systemic oppression through community-based public health professionals. Founded in 1994, and administered by the Health Federation of Philadelphia, the NHC has 119 members serving at sites in Central California, Chicago, Delaware, Florida, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco and Scranton.
“We are eager to continue to build momentum off the 2021 Delaware Health Corps program and to bring it into the 2022-2023 season,” said County Executive Meyer. “NHC has truly made an impact with community health nonprofits right here in New Castle County, and we can’t wait to further expand on the positive outcomes.”
New Castle County operates this second cohort as an AmeriCorps program using federal ARPA Act funds. Member service activities focus on increasing access to health care to underserved communities, promote health, reduce health care costs and develop new healthcare professionals. The program offers Members $15/hour living stipend for a 675 hour service term, and offers health insurance, assistance with childcare and transportation if needed during service, and an Education Award at the completion of the service term.
National Health Corps Delaware will continue to be led by program director Tonya Richardson. Richardson is a New Castle County native who has served in organizational leadership roles with the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, Girls Inc. of Delaware and Winterthur Museum and Country Estate. Most recently, she served under Mayor Mike Purzycki and Wilmington City Council. She is also an AmeriCorps alumna, graduating from the charter class of Public Allies Delaware and has since managed several AmeriCorps programs in Delaware and Connecticut including the Redding Junior Scholars Program at the University of Delaware and LEAP for Kids of Connecticut.
Current CorpsMembers are placed at Christiana Care, Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI), Lutheran Community Services and The Food Bank of Delaware, and recruitment is ongoing for Members to serve at Westside Family Healthcare. All opportunities include capacity-building and direct service work in roles such as Care Coordinators, Health Educators, Case Managers, Patient Navigators and Outreach Coordinators. Ongoing partnerships are being solidified at some of the state’s most well-known and innovative nonprofit organizations, who are already meeting the needs of Delawareans in the wake of the pandemic.
Unlike many AmeriCorps programs around the country and even among the other sites in the National NHC Network, the Delaware program will only accept applications from those who are residents of New Castle County. County Executive Meyer believes that this key difference in application requirements exponentially improves the program’s ability to become a workforce development and career exploration opportunity for New Castle County residents. The other requirements to apply are simply that applicants have earned their High School Diploma or GED and are at least 18 years old. Once vetted, successful applicants must also clear criminal history checks and meet citizenship requirements.
Any New Castle County resident who is interested in career exploration, continuing their career in community health, is looking for meaningful gap year experiences , would like to experience a profound opportunity in grass-roots and community-based nonprofits, or is interested in being a part of the movement to help eradicate public health disparities Delaware is invited to visit the launch of the National Health Corps national website. Learn more about existing openings at Westside Family Healthcare and apply here: NHC-DE Current AmeriCorps Position Openings. New opportunities to join future cohorts of NHC-DE will be announced later this spring.
###