PRI Health Corps

Pamlico Rose Institute for Sustainable Communities (PRI) was awarded a Public Health Corps grant to expand our efforts to help counter the adverse impact of COVID 19 on food insecurity in under resourced people by promoting healthy living. PRI Health Corps members bring a farm to fork approach, they have built several community gardens for groups such as women Veterans, the legally blind, and college students in eastern North Carolina. Not only do the gardens feed and nourish these communities with food and nutrition education, they also allow for the growth and development of the twelve PRI Health Corps members, many who we hope will be women Veterans to expand and flourish! We are so excited to have had a successful first year with a most exciting and different approach for our second year. We are actively searching for prospective team members for our second year now! Members receive a living allowance and health care. If eligible, child care and after completing their year of service, an educational scholarship award.

Those interested in PRI Health Corps can contact Robert Greene Sands, Executive Director of Pamlico Rose Institute at robert@pamlicorose.org or can apply online through the AmeriCorps portal at https://serviceyear.org/prihealthcorps/pri-health-corps-member/
or at https://my.americorps.gov/mp/listing/viewListing.do?fromSearch=true&id=114087

Host Sites

Blind Center rural campus (Flythrough Video)
Beaufort County Community College (Sundial Gardens Flyer) (Flythrough Video)
Rose Haven Center of Healing (Flythrough Video)

Inaugural Year Accomplishments:

Blind Center:

-preparation of an old farming field for placement of a greenhouse

-constructing a dismantled 100’x22′ greenhouse

-engineering an irrigation system for the greenhouse

BCCC:

-construction of a quarter of an acre garden that will grow an array of produce and provide wellness and retreat

-creation of an online/hybrid gardening to wellness course

Rose Haven Center of Healing:

-improvement of walkways and bridges for better accessibility

-finalizing labyrinth pathways

-maintaining garden beds and adding new features

We are so proud of our first-year accomplishments, and we can’t wait to see what we can make happen in our second year! The sky is the limit, and with our roots in the ground, we can stretch as far as we need to to get our mission accomplished!

Position Listing - Public Health Corps Member

Assist PRI staff in designing, building and sustaining three community gardens. Depending on season, garden activities will vary and include construction, preparation, planting, garden maintaining and harvesting. In addition, activities include bed preparation, planting, weeding, mulching, watering, pruning and general garden cleanup. Working with PRI nutritional experts, Health Corps members will implement an integrated healthy eating nutrition program for participants at the three sites and include guest speakers, meal preparation and a field trip to a local grocery store to learn about budgets. PRI Health Members will help develop and be actively involved in a PRI Health Corps social media platform (webpage, FB page, Instagram) to advance principles and tenets of wellness and healthy eating.

Program Benefits

Professional training in support of public health career opportunities, education award upon successful completion of service, living allowance, childcare assistance. if eligible, Health Coverage, physical and recreation activity.

About AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps, the federal agency for volunteerism and national service, provides opportunities for Americans to serve their country domestically, address the nation’s most pressing challenges, improve lives and communities, and strengthen civic engagement. Each year, the agency places more than 250,000 AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in intensive service roles; and empowers millions more to serve as longterm, short-term, or onetime volunteers. Learn more at AmeriCorps.gov

About the Public Health Corps

AmeriCorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention joined forces to launch Public Health AmeriCorps and support the recruitment, training, and development of the next generation of public health leaders who will be ready to respond to the nation’s public health needs.

The first-year grants will allow Public Health AmeriCorps programs to recruit nearly 3,000 AmeriCorps members.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the urgent need to further enhance public health resources across the country. This effort starts with investing in a future workforce to help local communities respond to and recover from COVID-19. Public Health AmeriCorps has two main goals:

Address public health needs of local communities by providing support in state and local public health settings and advancing more equitable health outcomes for underserved communities.
Create pathways to good quality public health-related careers through onsite experience and training, with a focus on recruiting AmeriCorps members who reflect the communities in which they will serve.