YASC differs from the other programs in the Mission Personnel Office in many ways.  One of these is focused discernment.  The Episcopal Church, in a rededicated commitment to young adults, wants to facilitate this discernment process as best it can. This first of all means that funding of YASC volunteers is partially underwritten by Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, making the service year a mutual enterprise, with the volunteer, his/her sending community, his/her host community, and the Missions Personnel Office all contributing.

Mentor 

The YASC program is structured to provide a mentoring presence. Every endeavor will be made to place volunteers will be placed near (within at least a day's journey) long-term American workers from the Episcopal Church (or sometimes, from another denominational mission partner). These mentors, well-established in the culture with good working relationships to their diocese, will be available for the volunteer to visit and consult with, and can act as an intermediary for the volunteer in situations in which she is uncertain. It is suggested that YASC volunteers meet with their mentors at least once a month, though more often may sometimes be appropriate.

Monthly Newsletters

Each volunteer will be expected to be in monthly written contact with the Missions Personnel Office. This communication serves not only to keep the Missions Personnel Office abreast of one's placement situation, but is an opportunity for the reflection and articulation essential to personal and cross-cultural growth. Indeed, the position of the YASC Associate Coordinator is mostly concerned with facilitating this space for reflection and accountability over a year of personal exploration.

Process

For detailed information on the application and assignment process, click here.   

Financial Details 

Monthly stipend:  Your monthly stipend comes from the funds you raise, and is provided by the Church Center; the stipend is usually $500/month, but sometimes differs based on the local cost of living.

Repatriation allowance:  Upon return to the United States you will receive a $1,000 repatriation allowance, intended to help with an apartment deposit, first loan payment, or just give you some breathing space while you look for a job. In order to receive this, request that it be transferred to your account after you have returned home.

Loans deferred:  DFMS can request loan deferment for YASC participants holding most kinds of student loans. (This usually means that you would not have to pay anything while overseas, and that you would not be assessed interest during that time period.) It is important that you request this from the MPO well in advance of your departure, so that you can plan well.

How the Church Center will support you 

Orientation:  Before leaving for your assignment, you will attend a 2-week long Missions Orientation .  All expenses are paid by the Church Center.

Staff visit:  In addition, insofar as it is possible within budget and scheduling concerns, a representative from YASC will try to visit each volunteer sometime during their year, usually between 5-10 months into their term.

Regular Communication:  YASC personnel will be in touch with you regularly, most likely via email, during your year overseas. 

Health Insurance:  The Church Center will provide you with health insurance during your year with YASC.

Debrief retreat:  Finally, upon return each volunteer will participate in a debriefing retreat, designed to help those returning to the United States make sense of their year overseas and focus on their next step in life. Since a YASC year is designed to be a discernment and transitional year, this retreat is centered both on reflection and on the practical steps into what is next. It is a space to articulate where one feels called in vocation and faith, in conversation with others who can advise on how to go on from here. For those who wish to continue in mission work in their situation, and are invited by their host bishop to do so, upon approval of the Missions Office they may continue in their placement as a Volunteer For Mission.

More on Placements

Geography:  Opportunities exist throughout the world, on 6 continents (nothing in Antarctica yet), with current placements particularly in Southern/Eastern Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Southern Europe, Latin America, and the Native American nations of North America. Assignments will be based on the interests and skills (especially language) of the applicants, and are dependent on current requests from overseas bishops. We will only assign participants in places near other long-term Episcopal workers (or possibly Lutheran, Presbyterian, or Reformed workers). There are placement opportunities in areas both urban and rural, wealthy and poor.  Applicants are encouraged to indicate in their application particular geographic areas that they feel drawn towards, and the DFMS staff will try to locate volunteers accordingly.

Language:  While longer term volunteers are requested to go through language training first, given the short period of YASC service, volunteers will usually be immediately placed in their site. Those who wish to serve in an area in which English is rarely spoken should have significant language skills already: e.g., Latin America requires near-fluency in Spanish, Japanese for Japan, Mandarin for China. Placements in Southern/Eastern Africa usually use English as their lingua franca, but those who already know KiSwahili or another African language will have further options. Placements in the Middle East and Pacific Islands also do not require a second language. Where ever one is placed it is expected that one make efforts to develop at least rudimentary skills in the local language.

Housing:  Your host diocese will usually provide housing. A YASC Volunteer, therefore, is supported by his/her local community, the Missions Office, and her host community - and that cooperative effort is intentionally designed. Requesting the support of one's local community is important, then, not just for raising money, but also for the purpose of being sent as the representative of a particular, invested locale. In this way, YASC intends to bring local parishes into the life of the overseas communities, and, indeed, this is the primary mission of every YASC Volunteer. So even if you or your family is able to contribute to your fundraising effort, it is requested that that the bulk of your funds be raised through your church and community as a part of the work of bringing disparate communities together.

Types of Placement:

• Education - Teachers are always needed for English as a Second Language, usually in high schools. Those with competency in other areas - especially theology, music, and computer science, may teach in higher institutions.
• Communications -Instructors in computer training and technology networking.
• Program Administration - Grant-writing and funded program management; research reporting and qualitative/quantitative field evaluations; micro-credit management.
• Health - Medical assistants, nurses, and doctors are needed in clinics of all sorts.
• Appropriate Technology/Environmental Health - Those with experience and/or training in various aspects of sustainable communities may work with water projects, agricultural/forestry development, environmental protection, eco-tourism; for example, water safety in East Africa or ecological planning in Japan and the Philippines.
• Children's Ministry/Youth Ministry/Education - Diocesan programs for youth and education.
• Refugee Assistance - Repatriation programs for refugees; for example, care of Sudanese expatriates in Cairo, or Latin American immigrants in Spain.

Job assignments will usually be within existing institutions/programs administered, or at least affiliated with, the local Anglican church. As such they are primarily concerned with supporting existing structures, rather than developing new ones. However, invariably missionaries find themselves requested to advise and develop new programs of all sorts, and DFMS heartily encourages them to do so, and with all the creativity they can muster. Do keep in mind, DFMS strives in all its assignments to reflect a working focus on empowering local communities to articulate and address their own issues, and then working with them in a mutual, participatory model of mission. YASC volunteers are expected to reflect and deepen this working model of mutuality, sustainability, and enfranchisement in any project in which they find themselves involved.