The criteria stated below were developed in light of the Amate House Mission Statement: “Amate House, the young adult volunteer program of the Archdiocese of Chicago, fosters the transformation of its Volunteers by providing experiences of full-time service to people in need, community living, and faith formation. Amate House develops future leaders for the church and world who are committed to building a more just and loving society.”

To be considered for Site Placement a site must be willing to provide or be committed to:

• Full-Time work: Amate House expects its Volunteers to be working at their sites a minimum of 35 hours a week. On average, they should be working no more than 40 hours a week. Volunteers should start work at their service sites on Aug. 13, 2012 and complete their service term on Jun. 7, 2013.
  
  
• Supervision: The site supervisor should be committed to the education, formation and development of young adults and the development of service opportunities and/or ministries for young adults; the site must be willing to provide mentorship for the Amate House Volunteer as well as ongoing support and regular supervision meetings throughout the term of service.
  
  
• Service to the poor or marginalized: The site must serve a community that would benefit from the assistance of a Volunteer in providing its service or ministry. The site must clearly demonstrate its service to people at or below the poverty level or to a defined marginalized population. The site must also be working within Chicago city limits or in the adjacent suburbs.
  
  
• Direct Service or Community Involvement: The site must offer a placement and job description involving at least 80% direct service/ministry or direct community involvement (as opposed to clerical tasks). Direct service (as defined by AmeriCorps) is activity that addresses education, health, public safety, the environment, or other human needs. Direct service means working directly with people (clients, beneficiaries, communities, etc.) to make change, or doing service that is involved in making that direct change. It can be outreach, case management, training, teaching, tutoring, mediating, cleaning, counseling, recruiting volunteers, catching up on paperwork related to clients, preparing for class, coaching, listening, cooking, serving, providing health care, food or clothing. Volunteers may also perform capacity-building activities as direct service that improve the organizational and financial capability of nonprofit organizations and communities to meet those local needs by achieving greater organizational efficiency and effectiveness, greater impact and quality of impact, stronger likelihood of successful replicability, or expanded scale. Examples of capacity-building activities include but are not limited to…

- enlisting, training, or coordinating volunteers

- conducting outreach & securing resources in support of service activities that meet specific needs in the community

- conducting research, mapping community assets, or gathering other information that will strengthen the sponsoring organization’s ability to meet community needs

- developing organizational systems to improve efficiency and effectiveness (not clerical work)

• Professional Growth/Leadership Development: The site must show an interest in providing opportunities for the personal and professional growth and leadership development of the Volunteer.
  
  
• Detailed Job Description: The site must provide a detailed job description for each available position. This job description must be prepared BEFORE the site begins to interview prospective Volunteers. We find that this makes for the most successful site placements. This is a requirement not only of Amate House but also of AmeriCorps.
  
  
• Flexibility: The site must be willing to be listed as a possible volunteer option on the Amate House Service Site list and participate in the interviewing of potential volunteers without a guarantee of having a volunteer. Due to our site placement process which demands that both the site and the volunteer agree to a placement, it is possible that a site may not receive an Amate House Volunteer every year.  Also, because we accept candidates to the Amate House program on a rolling deadline, sites may be asked to decide on a prospective Volunteer without being able to interview additional candidates. If a site has several candidates they are interviewing, we ask you to complete those interviews before you decide which Volunteer you prefer. More information about the site placement process is provided in this packet.
  
  
• A Financial Commitment: The site must be able to pay a site contribution in exchange for the services of a Volunteer. These contributions assist Amate House in providing housing and food for our Volunteers. Standard site contributions are $14,000 per Volunteer, per year. If your Volunteer has an advanced/skilled degree (i.e. R.N., Physical Therapist, etc.) the site contribution is $17,000/year.
  
  
• Transportation: Amate House provides Volunteers with transportation via Amate House vehicles, carpooling with other Amate House Volunteers, or monthly CTA passes paid for by Amate House. The site must reimburse Amate House for use of Amate House vehicles for work purposes at the current federal reimbursement rate (ex: travel within the course of the work day to a meeting or different site). This does NOT include transportation to and from work. Sites must also reimburse Amate House for a Volunteer’s regular use of Amate House CTA passes within the workday (ex: traveling via bus or el to another work site within the work day). Again, this does NOT include transportation to and from work.