The mission of the Lower Mississippi Delta Service Corps, Inc.(DSC), a tri-state, non-profit organization, is to "create positive change across the Delta." Because the region’s pervasive poverty is multi-generational, the program devotes 80% of its resources toward needs of children, youth and their families. Service projects address education, health, and housing needs. We “get things done” by: tutoring children and youth in school; providing after-school enrichment; teaching family literacy, transitioning families from substandard housing conditions; increasing the use of computer technology in the classroom; teaching parenting skills; teaching pregnancy prevention; providing food and shelter to families; and conducting health programs for the elderly.
LMDSC HISTORY
Lower Mississippi Delta Service Corps was one of the original pilot programs. The Headquarters operation moved from Mississippi, to Louisiana, to Arkansas until a Tri-State Headquarters was established in Greenville, Mississippi in l995 and later moved to Cleveland in l998.
The Parent Organization oversees three operating sites or Grantee Organizations: The Good Neighbor Love Center in West Memphis, Arkansas; the Louisiana Delta Service Corps in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and the Mississippi Delta Service Corps which operates through the Center for Community Development at Delta State University. Each grantee organization administers an AmeriCorps program in their state and is responsible to the parent organization for implementing community-based services and programs consistent with the LMDSC mission.
STUDIES OF ECONOMIC IMPACT HAVE SHOWN:
Sixty eight percent of the Corps Members reported that they would use their educational award to further their education, 29 percent reported using their educational award to re-pay existing student loans; only 3 percent said that they did not intend to use the educational award earned.
The Tri-state AmeriCorps program produced a favorable benefit-cost ratio of 1.99, meaning that for every $1 of federal expenditure; at least $1.99 in social benefit was produced.
Separate from the social returns of the program, the infusing of about $3 million in federal spending is estimated to generate an additional $2.2 million for an annual total impact of $5.2 million in economic activity throughout communities in the tri-state Delta Region.
The long-term benefits of added productivity due to increasing education attainment will amount to $19 million over the working lives of Corps Members, the present value of which is approximately $11 million. Because some Corps Members might have furthered their education in the absence of the AmeriCorps program, the present value of additional earnings from added education was estimated to be $1.15 million.
Each member is expected to form at least one partnership in keeping with their service site. Because of these partnerships each year approximately 25,000 people volunteer a quarter of a million hours of work.
COMMUNITY EMPHASIS
Delta communities have been strengthened as a result of Delta Service Corps' efforts. Provision of services and expansion of existing services would not be possible without programs such as Delta Service Corps. Each state is similar in their implementation and administration of DSC, however, there are differences within the states concerning the type of program sites. An example of this may be Habitat for Humanity in Louisiana. Arkansas has service sites that are diligently working on housing conditions within various communities throughout the Deity region. Mississippi, through its affordable and quality housing initiatives has aided numerous Mississippi families in realizing the American dream or home ownership or rehabilitation.
