AmeriCorps members touch Idahoans in many ways.

Barbara J. Cunningham

From mid-2012 to mid-2013, the Idaho Health Care For Children and Families AmeriCorps group provided health screenings and follow-up care for over 3,200 children, ran over 400 health education sessions and recruited more than 450 volunteers to assist in various service projects throughout the state.

Clearly, they invested their time so Idaho’s future will be brighter. Like the scores of other AmeriCorps members serving across Idaho every year, they made a difference in their communities.

But their service also made a difference for two AmeriCorps members. In addition to the modest stipend they received during their AmeriCorps service, both members later found full-time jobs with Idaho Health Care for Children and Families – one as an interpreter and the other as a health education specialist.

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Barbara J. Cunningham is a native of Idaho.  She is project director for the Idaho Health Care for Children and Families AmeriCorps grant. Her primary responsibilities are to conduct the day-to-day management and administrative functions of this project and to coordinate activities with participating non-profit organizations. She is finishing her doctorate in political science and writing her dissertation about the self-attitudes of AmeriCorps members in Idaho and seven other states. She hopes to graduate with her doctorate in 2015.