Member Spotlight: Autumn Estridge, Outreach Coordinator

Meet Autumn Estridge. Autumn serves with the Building Communities, Bettering Lives at the YWCA in the Social Justice Department.

What motivated you to join AmeriCorps? I had met a few AmeriCorps members, specifically ones from the Building Communities, Bettering Lives

program and they all had such good things to say about AmeriCorps. I’ve also always known that I wanted to work with youth but I wasn’t sure what area I wanted to go into so I figured that AmeriCorps would be a good opportunity for me to test the waters while benefiting a community that I love at the same time.

What would you like to get out of this service opportunity? I am hoping to leave AmeriCorps with a better idea of what I want to do in life. Even more important though, I hope that at some point in my AmeriCorps year I get the opportunity to change someone’s life for the better. Even if that life is my own I’ll leave knowing that I am capable of building an inclusive community and I am worthy enough to be a part of that community too.

What will your service focus on for the 2017-18 program year? My service is mainly focused on the various youth programs that the Social Justice Department offers. I’ll get the chance to go out to schools and train students on how to combat both personal and societal issues in our Heritage Panel program, work with teenagers firsthand in inclusive and confidence building

environments, plan meetings where we can talk about issues in today’s society for Peace Birmingham, and overall make sure that our program participants are having a lot of fun while also being educated.

What are your plans after AmeriCorps? After AmeriCorps I want to continue working with teenagers and serving in my community in any way that I can. I don’t have a very straightforward plan just yet but that is something that is definitely in development for me.

Thank you for your service Autumn!