AmeriCorps St. Louis Emergency Response Team Member
Change your world, change your life! Spend a year assisting disaster-affected communities, fighting wildfires, and conserving natural resources with a team of passionate people committed to making a real difference. Are you ready for your next adventure?
The AmeriCorps St. Louis Emergency Response Team (ERT) is a multi-functional rapid deployment group based out of St. Louis, MO, that has been called out nationally to floods, tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes, search and rescue, ice storms, and terrorist attacks. When not involved in disaster response, the ERT assists the Missouri Departments of Conservation and Natural Resources, the U.S. Forest Service, and local Saint Louis organizations with trail maintenance, habitat restoration, prescribed burns, and other natural resource projects.
Forty-two Members serve an 11-month term from mid-September 2019 to mid-August 2020. Members receive an intensive orientation including: team building and leadership skills, introduction to disaster services, chainsaw and other power equipment operations, supporting people in crisis, risk management approaches, Incident Command System, emergency communications, and basic emergency medical care. For over two decades, AmeriCorps St. Louis has a proven history of providing highly successful programs, partnerships, and trainings, making it a model to other National Service programs around the state and country.
Members must be at least 18 years old and a high school graduate. Members must be in excellent physical condition for the entirety of their service term. The baseline level of fitness includes being able to pass the wildland firefighter pack test: a 3-mile walk carrying a 45-lbs pack completed in under 45 minutes.
Members must have the ability to function as supportive and dependable teammates, even in times of extreme stress and adversity. A love for the outdoors and traveling is desired as ERT Members spend most of their service out of town, living communally in rustic conditions.
On any given day, an AmeriCorps St. Louis Emergency Response Team Member could:
1. Provide immediate and long-term relief in areas affected by natural disasters
2. Restore Missouri forests, river-ways, and recreation areas
3. Build and maintain trails, bridges, cave gates and more
4. Fight wildland fires or participate in prescribed burns in Missouri or Western States
5. Conduct disaster response and preparedness trainings for communities and other national service organizations
Members receive a monthly living stipend plus an Education Award of around $5,900 after the completion of the program which can be used toward federal student loans or future tuition costs. Health insurance reimbursement is also provided if applicable.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. A PDF version of our application can be found on our website, www.americorpsstl.org. Interested applicants can download the application, fill it out, and email it to acstl.web@gmail.com. They must also send our reference form (available on our website) to 2 references who should fill the form out and email it to the same address. Applicants can also go to my.americorps.gov and search for our program and fill out an application through the national portal.