Washington D.C. - The Corporation for National and Community Service today announced grants to support more than 4,350 new AmeriCorps member, who could potentially earn nearly $8 million in scholarships in exchange for their service.

Twenty national and local organizations will receive grants totaling $676,610 to engage these AmeriCorps members in projects across the nation that meet a variety of vital community needs, including tutoring and mentoring at-risk youth, building low-income housing, providing assistance to victims of domestic abuse, improving hospital health care services, assisting youth involved in the juvenile justice system, and mobilizing community volunteers.

"We are excited about the quality and diversity of this latest grouping of grantees,” said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the AmeriCorps program. “With these grants, we have taken another important next step toward supporting a record 75,000 AmeriCorps members in 2004."

The 20 organizations include large national groups such as Boys and Girls Clubs of America, multi-state groups, and a variety of smaller organizations such as the Partnership for Youth in St. Louis, Mo., the Bank Street College of Education in New York, the Colorado Youth Corps Association, and the Rural Alaska Community Action Program. See the full list of grantees for additional information.

The grants announced today are part of the Education Award Program, one of several grant competitions sponsored each year by AmeriCorps. (The other main competitions are National Direct grants, State Formula grants, and State Competitive grants.) Under the Education Award Program, organizations receive relatively small grants for program administration - about $400 for each full-time equivalent member - and use their own (or other) resources to cover members’ living allowances and other program costs. After completing their term of service, members are eligible to receive an education award, pro-rated to the amount of time they served, that they can use to pay for college or graduate school.

Today’s grants are the results of the third and final Education Award Program competition to be held in fiscal year 2004. When added together, grants from the three Education Award Program grant competitions will support approximately 30,000 AmeriCorps members.

The positions announced today include a mix of full-time and part-time slots. Among the approved applications are five “continuation" grants made to organizations that are in the second or third year of their AmeriCorps funding. The remaining 15 grants are to new organizations or groups that had to re-compete for funds after already having completed a three-year grant cycle.

“I can't think of a better way to mark the 10th anniversary of AmeriCorps than by providing this historically high level of AmeriCorps service opportunities to meet community needs," said AmeriCorps director Rosie Mauk. "Whether you are graduating, taking time off from school, or changing careers, AmeriCorps is a great way to get skills and college aid while making a difference for your community."

AmeriCorps members serve full or part time with hundreds of national and local organizations. Full-time members who complete their service earn an education award of $4,725 to pay for college, graduate school, or to pay back student loans. Members who serve part time receive a partial education award. In addition to the AmeriCorps State and National grant programs (of which the Education Award Program is a part), AmeriCorps also includes AmeriCorps*NCCC, a 10-month, full-time residential program for men and women between the ages of 18 and 24 who carry out projects in public safety, public health, and disaster relief, and AmeriCorps*VISTA, whose members help bring individuals and communities out of poverty by serving full-time to fight illiteracy, improve health services, create businesses, increase housing opportunities, or bridge the digital divide. Information on joining AmeriCorps is available at www.americorps.org.

AmeriCorps is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which also oversees Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America. The programs of the Corporation engage more than two million Americans each year in meeting critical needs in education, the environment, public safety, homeland security, and other areas. Together with the USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation is working to build a culture of service, citizenship, and responsibility in America. For more information, visit www.nationalservice.org.

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