Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps Gets Jumpstart on First Lady’s “Summer of Service” with Swearing-In Cer

The Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps, a program of Operation REACH, will host a swearing-in ceremony to launch its 54 new volunteer AmeriCorps members into a summer of service, engaging, empowering, and inspiring youth leadership. The event will take place from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. on the morning of Friday, May 29 at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center, 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, in Central City New Orleans.

[USPRwire, Wed Jun 10 2009] The Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps, a program of Operation REACH, will host a swearing-in ceremony to launch its 54 new volunteer AmeriCorps members into a summer of service, engaging, empowering, and inspiring youth leadership. The event will take place from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. on the morning of Friday, May 29 at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center, 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, in Central City New Orleans.

The ceremony marks the culmination of a two-week intensive pre-service orientation and training that these recent high school graduates and college students completed, preparing them to dedicate their summer to service to support youth programming in New Orleans. This ceremony inducts them into the Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps (GYAC), where they join more than 100 alumni, who have completed a term of service engaging, empowering and inspiring community-focused youth leadership in the American South. The newly-trained volunteers will work with eight day camps in the city serving, teaching, and mentoring elementary and middle school-aged youth.

Operation REACH founder and CEO, Dr. Kyshun Webster, was recently invited to a meeting called by the White House and the Corporation for National and Community Service to discuss national community service with First Lady Michelle Obama. “We are among a group of national service agencies working in partnership with the White House to increase citizen engagement in service activities,” noted Dr. Webster.

Asked how he relates Friday’s swearing-in ceremony to his recent White House visit, Dr. Webster commented, “We are doing our part as an organization through the Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps by recruiting an army of young AmeriCorps volunteers to engage, empower and inspire youth to be a part of the President’s push for community service.” Dr. Webster added that the First Lady plans to formally announce this call to service in June.

The Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps (GYAC) is a network of college-aged volunteers committed to building youth programs throughout the region. Founded in New Orleans in 2006 by Operation REACH to encourage youth involvement in the recovery of youth services following Hurricane Katrina, GYAC now operates in New Orleans, LA; Mobile, AL; Birmingham, AL; and Atlanta, GA. Since its inception, GYAC has grown to serve more than 2,000 young people each year across the American South.

The ceremony will include chants, songs and testimonials led by the Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps members as well as remarks on service, and the members taking the pledge of service. Among those invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony are GYAC members, interested community and family members, GYAC project sponsors and partners, and local media representatives. Special attendees will include Lois Nembhard, Acting Director of the Corporation for National and Community Service, from Washington, DC.

For further information on the Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps and Operation REACH, Inc., please visit www.thegyac.org, www.operationreach.org, or contact Holley Roberts at (504) 529-1922 x106, hroberts@operationreach.org.