AmeriCorps Volunteers at Reiman Gardens

AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) partnered with Reiman Gardens again in 2019 to update and enhance multiple garden and visitor areas. Volunteers updated drainage systems, installed gardens and pathways, and renovated garden spaces and buildings. These projects benefit the entire community, including Iowa State University students, local families, and visitors. The completion of these projects provides educational opportunities for visitors to engage with the gardens through programming, will help the maintenance of outdoor spaces and buildings, and will make areas of the outdoors gardens safer and more accessible to all visitors.

In 2018, Reiman Gardens hosted our first group of AmeriCorps NCCC volunteers. During the spring, volunteers helped horticulture staff with major projects, including the construction and planting of the new DeeAnn Drew Shade Garden, the installation of a series of new accessible pathways, and the building of several raised beds for the rose gardens.

AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) is a full-time, residential, team-based program for young adults. Members develop leadership skills and strengthen communities by completing service projects and gaining life experience. AmeriCorps NCCC and its FEMA Corps unit engages up to 2,800 young Americans in a full-time, 10-month commitment to service each year. AmeriCorps NCCC members address critical needs related to natural and other disasters, infrastructure improvement, environmental stewardship and conservation, and urban and rural development; FEMA Corps members are solely dedicated to disaster preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery work. The programs are administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). CNCS is the federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Social Innovation Fund, and Volunteer Generation Fund programs, and leads the President’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit www.nationalservice.gov.