Great opportunities for personal and professional development, passionate people - Anonymous employee CalSERVES Employee Review

Professional development and trainings are available to everyone. The other people working there are awesome and very passionate about helping youth and families. You can easily work your way up in this organization. There is a lot of thought put into appreciations and wellness activities. The mission is critical to local children and families.

Pay is low. There is always a lot going on and not enough time or funds to do it all. Many people are doing 40+ hours worth of work within their 32 hour part time position. Some managers/supervisors aren't very good with people and honestly shouldn't be in leadership positions.

Pros included working with other dedicated Americorps members who are interested in improving public education, making a difference to children and building relationships with your students, and feeling part of a community. If you are literacy tutor, the program provides great training in foundational literacy teaching. You also gain skills in behavior management and helping students develop their social and emotional learning. The scholarship that you earn by the end is helpful for future education expenses or for helping to pay off your student loans.

Being an Americorps mentor requires extremely long hours (9-11 hours per day). You are stretched very thin because you are required to help out in many different roles. You are seriously underpaid because the stipend does not even equal minimum wage. If you are at a site where there is conflict between the Americorps mentors and the regular staff or after school staff, it can make the workplace environment really tense. Unfortunately, the management is not very supportive of your concerns and complaints, and just tries to motivate you by telling you to have a growth mindset and sometimes even will blame you for having a negative attitude, even though you are constantly under stress.