With an induction ceremony behind them, 160 members of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps will start fanning out across 11 Southern states to perform good works.

Members of the team-based residential program of young men and women 18 to 24 will spend about nine months completing 1,700 community service hours each. At the end, each will be eligible for a $4,725 Segal Education Award, said Sandy Scott, media relations director. If members serve a second year, they will receive almost $10,000 to pay for college or pay back student loans that are deferred during their service with NCCC, Scott said.

Tuesday’s induction ceremony at the Vicksburg Convention Center followed a welcoming ceremony Monday for the initial NCCC enrollees, who have been working and training in Vicksburg. Their base is the former All Saints’ Episcopal School on Confederate Avenue, now Southern Region headquarters and one of five operational bases for AmeriCorps NCCC nationwide.

While in the corps, the young people receive stipends of $100 per week for incidentals, and each team is given a food allowance, which averages about $4.50 per person per day “to teach them to work together as a group,” said Acting National Director Mikel Herrington.

Corps members will begin their first round of projects on Sept. 11 with the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service staff to build an 8,000-square-foot volunteer housing center sponsored by Recover, Restore, Rebuild Southeast Mississippi, Erika Roberts, AmeriCorps public relations specialist.

All but one of 14 first-round projects will be completed in Mississippi.

Team leader Donald Bernat, 22, Danielson, Conn., said the corps will paint house numbers on residential street curbs to aid the Vicksburg Fire Department. They will conduct research and create an online resource directory for individuals with disabilities to aid O’Keefe Educational Media and widen Al Scheller trail and install water bars at the Vicksburg National Military Park, he said.

NCCC will respond to the flooding aftermath in Louisville, Ky., later this week, Southern Region Director Gary Turner said.

During Tuesday’s ceremony, Herrington issued the corps’ call to service.

“Think of today, not as a new call to service, but a recommitment,” he said.

He compared corps member service to that of firefighters, teachers and the U.S. armed forces.

NCCC members also aid in public safety and urban and rural development as well as mentoring children, Roberts said.

During their orientation, corps members have cleared debris at the Sisters of Mercy Convent on Clay Street, dug a trench for a future pavilion to serve the children of Redwood Elementary and revitalized the Southern Region campus on Confederate Avenue by clearing pathways and extending roads for vans, corps member Danny Chianakas, 24, Crystal Lake, Ill., said.

Since Hurricane Katrina, the disaster that brought AmeriCorps NCCC to the Mississippi gulf coast, 4,000 NCCC members have recruited and supported more than 253,000 volunteers, said Nicola Goren acting CEO of Corporation for National & Community Service.

They also have distributed nearly 5,000 tons of food and 400 tons of clothing, refurbished more than 10,000 homes, built more than 1,900 new homes, completed almost 55,000 damage assessments, supported about 870 emergency response centers, served 1.6 million meals, and renovated 450 school rooms, she said.

In addition to Mississippi, states in the region served from Vicksburg are Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, Roberts said.

Other regional headquarters are in Sacramento, Calif.; Denver; Vinton, Iowa; and Perry Point, Md.

The NCCC dates to 1993 as an initiative of former President Bill Clinton to encourage volunteer service. Funding has been steady at $22 million to $26 million per year, but is expected to increase.

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Contact Tish Butts at tbutts@vicksburgpost.com