Washington D.C. — In its first major round of AmeriCorps grants in 2004, the Corporation for National and Community Service today announced grants to 28 national and local organizations to support 17,000 new AmeriCorps positions.

The grants, totaling $2.8 million, will engage AmeriCorps members in projects across the nation to teach in low-income school districts, restore parks and trails, tutor and mentor at-risk youth, build low-income housing, and mobilize volunteers to meet other vital community needs. In addition to the grant funding, the Corporation is setting aside $33 million for the education awards of AmeriCorps members serving in these programs who complete their terms of service.

The 28 organizations include large national groups such as YouthBuild, Teach for America, and the National Association of Service and Conservation Corps, and smaller organizations such as the Minnesota Literacy Council and the Muscogee County School Board in Georgia. To see the full list of grants, click here.

“We are pleased and excited about the quality and diversity of these grantees and thrilled to take this important next step toward supporting 75,000 AmeriCorps members in 2004,” said Corporation CEO David Eisner. “In addition, after a difficult year for the AmeriCorps program, we were delighted to be in a position to make significant awards to most of the quality programs that we reviewed, thanks to the strong funding requested by the President and supported by Congress for this year.”

The grants are under the Education Award Program, an initiative launched in 1996 to provide more opportunities for Americans to serve while lowering the per member cost of AmeriCorps. Under this program, organizations have streamlined requirements and receive smaller grants, about $400 for each full-time member, and use their own or other resources to cover the member’s living allowance and other program costs. Since its inception, the Education Award Program has provided opportunities for more than 76,000 new AmeriCorps members to serve their communities, and has proven particularly valuable for college-based and teacher preparation programs.

The November grant competition which led to today’s announcement was marked by an uncharacteristically high number of applications and positions requested, due in part to the reductions in funding that occurred last year. The 2004 funding bill signed by President Bush in January provided a significant funding increase for AmeriCorps, allowing it to grow to a record 75,000 AmeriCorps members in 2004. In passing that bill, Congress urged the Corporation to provide up to 40 percent, or 30,000 positions, through the Education Award Program. In the November competition, the first of three this year, more than 26,000 positions were requested. The 17,000 positions announced today will allow for additional positions to be approved in the February and May grant cycles.

The positions announced today include a mix of full-time and part-time slots. Among the approved applications are 13 “continuation” grants made to organizations that are in the second or third year of their AmeriCorps funding. The remaining 15 are grants to new organizations or groups re-competing after already having finished a three year grant cycle. Eleven of the grants were submitted through governor-appointed state commissions on service, and the remaining applied directly to the Corporation. While most of the organizations receiving grants are nonprofits, several are public agencies, including the City of Des Moines and Colorado Department of Education.

“These grants, combined with the others we will make this summer, will provide more opportunities to serve in AmeriCorps than ever before,” said AmeriCorps director Rosie Mauk. “I can't think of a better way to mark the 10th anniversary of AmeriCorps than by engaging more Americans than ever in service to meet needs in their communities. 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, 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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