Generations United for Service
Northern Santa Barbara County United Way
Santa Barbara, California
Building an age-diverse network of volunteers and AmeriCorps members to participate in service projects benefiting homeless families
Because people experience homelessness at all ages, Generations United for Service will recruit an age-diverse network of volunteers that accurately represents the houseless families served by the Northern Santa Barbara United Way. The project will encourage volunteers to engage with national service and become AmeriCorps members. The age-diverse AmeriCorps member recruitment method developed will be shared with other nonprofits so that cogeneration can spread as an effective model for collective impact work.
Led by Lyiam Galo, Chief Program Officer
Lyiam Galo is a first-generation Honduran immigrant and lifetime volunteer. He strives to foster an equitable community with a focus on the historically underserved — specifically the unhoused, the LGBTQ community, and people of color. As chief program officer of the Northern Santa Barbara County United Way, Lyiam directs an AmeriCorps program serving people experiencing homelessness, a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program serving low-income families, and childhood financial literacy programs. Lyiam rents in downtown Santa Barbara with his partner and 23 plant children, where he enjoys road biking and frequent trips to local bookstores.