AmeriCorps has awarded an additional $1.04 million to SIS professor and Director of the Center for Environment, Community & Equity Dana Fisher to expand her research project: “Addressing Climate Change Through Our Nation’s Service Corps.” We sat down with Fisher to ask a few questions about the scope of her project.

This project builds on your existing grant with AmeriCorps. What is that work, and what have you accomplished there so far?

The “Addressing Climate Change Through Our Nation’s Service Corps” project evaluates nationally coordinated service corps programs as they expand their work to care for the environment and diversify their workforces. The grant from AmeriCorps aims to develop research strategies for evaluating the growing climate work being coordinated by this governmental agency. The first year of the project mapped out the climate work currently underway at AmeriCorps (see our whitepaper).

How does this additional funding from AmeriCorps change the scope of your research?

This project will expand our work to evaluate the engagement and activism of older adults around the issue of climate. The funding will make it possible to achieve three goals:

1. Conduct research with AmeriCorps Seniors (ACS) following the pilot model we are using with Climate Corps through the AmeriCorps State and National (ASN) program (including expanding our development of indicators of the effects of the work and piloting this work), as well as comparing data collected across various AmeriCorps programs.

2. Study older adults engaging in climate activism and the effects of the work on political outcomes and the individuals who participate.

3. Build out a DataCorps program that will be coordinated out of American University to train students to evaluate climate activism and engagement.

What is the DataCorps program?

Over the next two summers, DataCorps fellows will be deployed across the US to evaluate climate programs that are being supported by AmeriCorps. Fellows will write up their findings to share as deliverables with the specific programs they are studying and then present the findings to AmeriCorps (and beyond). Through this new program, we will be doing both the research, but also training students to do this research, which is really exciting. Our hope is that the DataCorps program can serve as a model for a broader program in the future.

Why the focus on older adults?

My previous research has found that older adults are particularly engaged in climate activism right now, and I’m excited to do more intensive research into this component of the population. This new program is a great complement to the work we’re already doing with AmeriCorps with younger adults and the various climate corps emerging around the country. So now, with this expanded funding, we’re not only looking at people starting their lives and careers but also older Americans who are increasingly focused on climate. We’re interested in looking at the environmental engagement of all sorts of people to understand the environmental effects but also the effects on justice, equity, and inclusion. We need to look at all demographics and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to assess intergenerational connections between young and older adults.

President Alger recently announced his Civic Life university initiative to “empower the AU community by enhancing civic education and fostering active participation in civic life.” How does your work relate to this program?

It doesn’t just relate to this initiative; it is all about it! This AmeriCorps project builds on my previous research for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Review (IPCC AR6) where I wrote about citizen engagement and civic activism. I have been doing this work for many years now as part of my longer-term research, and this expanded project with AmeriCorps builds on my previous work by adding more empirical research that will benefit the US government and the American people.