OT: Ameria Corp? What exactly is this?

I saw a blurb on the Yahoo news that Congress is going to approve more of OUR money to rebuild towns and cities across the USA, like Habitat for Humanity and stuff.

Now I am not against helping others as long as these people are not wastoid druggies but...If a house is built for a person that cant afford to live there or doesnt have any real input into the building of that house then the said person is going to trash the place.....Plain and simple.

I guess the congress approved over $1 billion which pays out a small wage to a "volunteer" to help rebuilt cities.

I dont have enough info to make a good opinion yet.
Does anyone know how exactly this works.

I wouldnt mind getting paid $9/hour on Saturdays to clean up after a tornado went through MY area of Michigan or other emergency work that is needed. (bring chainsaw, and 2 cycle mix) But I couldnt see myself building low income housing in the cities for $9/hour.

NO, you need to bring your shot gun to the inner cities! and hold it sideways,,,,,,,,j

Go to www.americorp.gov and it explains what this program is all about. Congress just passed
legislation that expands it substantially.

Are you by any chance talking about AmeriCorps? It's been around for almost twenty years. I can't say I've heard much about it, good or bad.

As for Habitat for Humanity, that's a totally different organization. I'm not aware that they receive any government funding, nor have I heard of them using paid workers. As far as I know, all of their construction is done by unpaid volunteers. And they have a pretty good track record of people keeping their houses, as they make applicants go through screening and education before they get a house. Habitat for Humanity houses aren't given away; the homeowners have mortgage which they have to repay. The owners also have to put in a certain amount of sweat equity into the construction of their homes.

Contrast HFH with Extreme Makeover: As you probably know, Extreme Makeover built a house here in Michigan that ended up going into foreclosure because the owners turned around mortgaged it. I'd say Habitat for Humanity does a pretty good job.

I am very familiar with Americorps. Barbara Streisand and others are the Board of Directors. It is an organization very similiar to ACORN. They recruit college graduates to teach in inner cities for two yrs. after graduation. The interesting thing is that they do not want graduates TRAINED AS TEACHERS. They want people in pre-law, public adminstration, political science, sociology etc. It is designed to "indoctrinate" people who will then go on to law, government or college administration careers.It is eerily similiar to the "brown shirts" that Hitler used in Germany. It has been funded with billions this week to expand from 75,000 to 250,000 new recruits. Our daughter thought she wanted to join in 2004. We looked at their "operations" in three major cities...our daughter was not chosen...because she was a teacher ! She is now an excellent special ed teacher who will soon have her masters !!.....quote...."When an opponent declares, I will not come over to your side, I say, calmly, your child belongs to us already.....What are you ? You will pass on. Your descendants , however, stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing but this new community....Adolph Hitler

3 years ago or so a friend of mine that works as an engineer for Ford in Dearborn performed community service for a week. This com. service is "asked" by Ford for their salary people, My friend chose Habitat for Humanity. He went to Detroit and rebuilt a porch or something. (total joke) He says. Cause the little kids kept stealing their lunches and pop out of the cooler. He was real uncomfortable being in the city doing this. He says never again.
I couldnt and wouldnt work in Detroit building or renovating homes there, no way.

I could however do HFH in my area or Ortonville, or help a neighbor or church member build a home or barn. (a couple of Saturdays, not for weeks on end for free)

We had Ameriacorps people here during/after the ice storm of Jan. 2007. The clean up broke tree limbs, did well-being check and other thing. They were a big help. Most of the workers were kids from St.Louis.

Kent

Did some volunteer work with the local Habitat for Humanity group some years ago. They had about 10 Americorp college kids helping. One or two boys, the rest girls. Most looked like sorority girls. I figured they were going to primp and giggle a lot and avoid any real work. I was completely wrong. They got in there and worked just like any hired contractor crew. One girl tore about half of a fingernail off. Blood oozing everywhere. She cleaned it up, wrapped it, and continued working. That was a few years ago, it may have changed completely since then.