FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
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Corporation for National and Community Service
CONTACT: Sandy Scott
202-606-5000 x255
sscott@cns.gov |
Corporation for National and Community Service Announces Grants to Support 17,000 AmeriCorps Members |
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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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