National Service Blog

A construction project in the shadow of the Washington Monument brought 40 AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA national service members to Washington, D.C. to assemble frames and construct accessible ramps for new Habitat for Humanity homes during the 2013 Veterans Build on the Mall June 2-5.

The seven frames – representing each branch of the U.S. military and one for national service – along with three demonstration projects will be delivered to local Habitat affiliates and provide foundations for new homes in the area. National service members were joined by other volunteers during the four-day event designed to raise awareness of the Veterans Build and Repair Corps programs. In addition to Habitat, corporate partners The Home Depot and the Masco Corporation lended their support to the project.

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has more than 550 AmeriCorps members serving with Habitat affiliates in over 175 communities across the nation, helping expand the capacity of the program. Their work also supports initiatives such as Repair Corps, which provides critical repair services to the homes of veterans and their families.

CNCS’s commitment to Habitat for Humanity will reach more than 2,500 families as our members help mobilize and manage 200,000 community volunteers and raise millions in cash and in-kind resources to support the group’s efforts around the country.

During 2012, more than 27,00 veterans served in our programs, helping CNCS connect them to service and employment opportunities while serving veterans and others in need of affordable housing solutions. (We highlighted the story of Air Force veteran and Habitat AmeriCorps member Regina Best on the blog earlier this week.)

To learn more about how CNCS is working with service members, visit our Veterans and Military Families hub and Serve.gov.