Jukai Payne, Cape Henlopen High School Graduate

Children’s Beach House has announced a new partnership with Cape Henlopen High School to offer up to 10 graduating seniors AmeriCorps roles within the nonprofit’s Youth Development Program (YDP), which offers support and community to Delaware children ages 7–18 who live with speech and language delays and disabilities. The new AmeriCorps roles will be available by application to Cape High seniors who are interested in a gap year spent making a meaningful difference in the lives of children.

“Children’s Beach House has benefitted from AmeriCorps service members from all over the country for several years now,” says YDP Director Jacqueline Donaldson. “Now we’re focusing on making this opportunity available to the young people right here in Cape Henlopen School District.”

Applicants who are accepted as AmeriCorps service members will be working with children in various branches of CBH’s Youth Development Program, including summer and weekend camps at CBH’s bayfront facility in Lewes, as well as activities in CBH’s new afterschool programs at Milton Elementary School and H.O. Brittingham Elementary School. “We’re a strengths-based organization,” says Donaldson. “Just as services to our YDP kids are individualized to their own growth and development, so our staffing assignments reflect the strengths and professional goals of each service member.” The new AmeriCorps opportunities, she explains, are a natural extension of CBH’s mission to create paths to success for children and youth. While YDP participants have historically aged out of the program upon high school graduation, this opportunity provides a firm foundation for young adults.

In addition to an AmeriCorps semimonthly living allowance of $979, service members will be eligible for an education award up to $7,396 upon program completion, which can be applied to future schooling or existing student loans. They will also benefit from professional development opportunities with CBH staff involved in all aspects of the organization’s operations. Most importantly, says Donaldson, “They will get to see the impact they have on young people’s lives and have the chance to be role models to the kids they work with.”