The national non-profit Operation REACH, Inc., has announced that its satellite office in Birmingham, Ala., will close permanently, effective August 31. The closure is the direct result of congressional budget cuts. Operation REACH was able to expand its Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps (GYAC) to rebuild youth programming in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In October 2008, ORI opened satellite offices in Atlanta and Birmingham. The Atlanta office will remain open.
In its three and half years, the Birmingham office, with its small staff of two, has made a major impact in the Greater Birmingham community. GYAC members have volunteered hundreds of hours to programs that served the very young to the most senior of our citizenry. Most recently in the aftermath of the devastating tornadoes, the Birmingham office dispatched its 15 AmeriCorps members to join with other non-profit agencies to provide services as needed, especially to that community’s youth population.
“Our downsizing is a direct result of congressional budget reductions on national service programming, the strain of a tough national economy, and the anticipation of further decrease in spending in the next fiscal year by Congress,” Operation REACH’s CEO, Kyshun Webster, Sr., Ph.D., stated.
GYAC members comprise a national network of college-age AmeriCorps volunteers who operate with a mission to engage, empower and inspire youth to be leaders in their communities. Since 2006, more than 150 GYAC members have served over 12,000 youth across the South.