On March 24, Gov. Chris Sununu called on Granite Staters to serve their communities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the month that followed, 1,581 new volunteers registered on Get Connected, Volunteer NH and Granite United Way’s online volunteer portal. Across the state, New Hampshire residents are sewing masks for frontline workers, grocery shopping for homebound neighbors, donating blood and more.

Nearly 75,000 AmeriCorps national service members, including hundreds here in New Hampshire, have refocused their efforts to meet this moment. They’re assisting with intake at drive-thru testing sites, organizing blood drives, setting up temporary isolation units, delivering emergency food and supplies to vulnerable populations, and supporting students in low-income communities to mitigate learning loss resulting from remote instruction.

As the Governor announced on Friday, New Hampshire’s stay-at-home orders will be lifted gradually in the coming weeks. Yet many of our neighbors, including seniors and those who are immunocompromised, will remain homebound and increasingly isolated. Others will remain at home, out of work and home from college, and searching for purpose.

That’s why I’m proposing the New Hampshire COVID Community Care Corps (NH CCCC), a new intergenerational national service program designed as an emergency response to the novel coronavirus pandemic and the highest rate of unemployment since the Great Depression. The NH CCCC is inspired by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the most popular of FDR’s New Deal programs, which mobilized three million young men to provide manual labor through conservation and natural resource development.

NH CCCC AmeriCorps members will power a public outreach campaign to address the immediate needs of New Hampshire’s homebound and vulnerable residents. Modeled after California Volunteers’ COVID-19 Neighbor Check-ins initiative, the campaign will safely mobilize volunteers to systematically connect with every household — block by block and town by town — across the state. By calling, texting, and talking through windows, NH CCCC AmeriCorps members will safely assess and address immediate needs while recruiting community volunteers to join the effort.

NH CCCC AmeriCorps members will also provide cost-effective capacity-building services for the public and nonprofit sectors’ coronavirus response and recovery efforts. Projects may include, but are not limited to public health services and contact tracing, emergency logistics, service that furthers recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), workforce and reemployment services, education support, and services that combat food and nutrition insecurity.

In meeting the needs of our neighbors, the NH CCCC will provide immediate and meaningful full-time, part-time, and seasonal service jobs for Granite Staters whose lives and livelihoods have been or will be disrupted during the impending economic recession. All AmeriCorps positions offer a living stipend, health insurance, childcare benefits, and a post-service education award that can be used for future college expenses or to pay back student loans.

Putting additional AmeriCorps boots on the ground is one of the smartest stimulus investments that government can make right now. A 2013 report by Columbia University economists detail how every dollar invested in national service generates almost $4 in returns to society in terms of higher earnings, increased output, and other community-wide benefits.

We must act quickly and decisively. Here’s how:

The Governor’s Office for Emergency Relief and Recovery should allocate at least $1 million of the state’s $1.25 billion in C.A.R.E.S. Act funds to launch the NH CCCC.

Our congressional delegation should continue fighting to include the Pandemic Response & Opportunity Through National Service Act in the next COVID-19 federal relief package to fund 750,000 national service positions over a three-year response and recovery period.

NH CCCC should launch an intensive summer pilot in our state’s largest cities, Manchester and Nashua, which have been disproportionately hit by the pandemic.

A statewide NH CCCC program should launch this fall, placing AmeriCorps members with nonprofit organizations, municipalities and counties, public agencies, healthcare providers, first responders, and schools. Partial funding should also be made available to existing AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs that have modified their service models to support communities impacted by and recovering from COVID-19.

In 2021, NH CCCC should be prepared to scale, contingent on the advice of public health officials, demand from social service providers and the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security, and the availability of additional federal resources.

In the 1930/40s, the CCC built physical infrastructure, including Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, which we continue to enjoy today. In 2020, the NH CCCC will simultaneously meet the immediate needs of their homebound neighbors while strengthening our state’s social and civic infrastructure.

At its best, national service unites Americans to tackle our most pressing challenges, expand educational and career pathways, and strengthen the social fabric of our communities. By establishing the NH COVID Community Care Corps, we can meet this moment head on through service. Let’s get through this together.

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Rep. Matt Wilhelm grew up in Nashua, served two terms as an AmeriCorps member after college. and currently represents Manchester Wards 1, 2 and 3 in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. He chairs the legislature’s Service Year Workforce Pathways Commission and serves on the board of Volunteer NH, the state’s commission on national and community service. Rep. Wilhelm was recently recognized as the 2020 Stoneman Brown National Service Advocate of the Year by Voices for National Service.

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