The Disaster Services Unit of AmeriCorps has requested the Utah Conservation Corps deploy from July 27 to August 19 to assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency in distributing information materials about the COVID vaccination in Clark County, Nevada.
This is a first for the UCC. The organization responds to disasters on a regular basis, but it’s uncommon for the UCC to respond to a disaster that does not include flooding or storm cleanup. This year, the UCC is assisting with outreach and canvassing for the first time.
Jake Deslauriers is the projects and partnerships coordinator for the UCC. He said the crews are getting up before dawn and going to homes and businesses to leave flyers to inform the community about the COVID-19 vaccination.
“It’s been 110 degree weather for a long time," he said. "But luckily, the crews we sent down were actually based out of our Moab office, so they’re pretty accustomed to heat.”
Deslauriers said FEMA is currently targeting the area which includes the metropolitan Las Vegas area, due to a recent increase in both COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
“We’re hoping to flatten that curve a little bit with information and facts of where they can get vaccinated," he said, "and helping reach those folks that might not have the resources to obtain that information.”
According to Deslauriers, the UCC members are hard at work and the AmeriCorps disaster relief team is able to visit between 600 to 800 homes a day.
The UCC, formed in 2001, is based out of USU’s Center for Community Engagement with a mission to develop the conservation leaders of tomorrow. Since 2001, AmeriCorps members have served over 1.7 million hours, restoring 55,973 acres of public land and reaching 435,606 students with environmental education, among other achievements.
