Serve New Mexico Awarded Funding to Build Public Health AmeriCorps

For Immediate Release
April 29, 2022

Contact: Stacy Johnston
Communications & Marketing Director
505.250.3926

Serve New Mexico Awarded Funding to Build Public Health AmeriCorps 

ALBUQUERQUE – The Serve New Mexico Commission announced today that it has received a Public Health AmeriCorps grant of $257,048 from AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism.

The grant will allow The Rio Arriba County Health and Human Services Department and Roadrunner® Food Bank of New Mexico to deploy AmeriCorps members to support COVID-19 pandemic responses by assisting in health outreach and education to families and assisting community members with resource navigation, referrals, and warm hand-offs to other providers.

After their term of service, it is expected that these Public Health AmeriCorps members will pursue careers in the public health sector.

Public Health AmeriCorps, a partnership between AmeriCorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, supports the recruitment, training, and development of a new generation of public health leaders. Supported by a five-year, $400 million investment from the American Rescue Plan Act, Public Health AmeriCorps will help meet public health needs of local communities by providing surge capacity and support while also creating pathways to public health-related careers.

Project Descriptions:

• The Rio Arriba County Health and Human Services Department (RACHHS) will recruit ten AmeriCorps members who will serve with school-based health clinics in Rio Arriba County. Corps members will be responsible for supporting the COVID-19 pandemic response through outreach to parents while providing the capacity for sites to successfully carryout vaccination clinics.
• Roadrunner® Food Bank of New Mexico will recruit two Public Health AmeriCorps members who will research and vet community resources that address social determinants of health (SDOH), and assist community members with resource navigation, referrals, and warm hand-offs to other providers across New Mexico out of Roadrunner's main location in Albuquerque. At the end of the first program year, the AmeriCorps members will be responsible for increasing access to community resources for more than nine hundred individuals, ultimately leading to increased health knowledge for food insecure New Mexicans.

The Serve New Mexico Commission, which is housed under the auspices of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, administers the state’s AmeriCorps funding. AmeriCorps members of all ages and backgrounds are helping to meet local needs, strengthen communities, and increase civic engagement through National Service in New Mexico. Information about the Commission and AmeriCorps in New Mexico is available at www.dws.state.nm.us/servenm/.

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