1. What is a State Service Plan?

A State Service Plan, formerly known as the Unified State Plan, is a state commission’s 3-year strategy for coordinating national service and volunteer service activities across all streams of service in the state. Our statute requires a state service plan in order to ensure that all national service and volunteer service entities within a state—state commissions; State Offices; AmeriCorps National programs and other Corporation grantees and stakeholders; State Education Agencies; state networks of volunteer centers; Campus Compacts; and/or other volunteer service organizations within the state—are aware of each other and are coordinating activities. We encourage you to provide enough detail in your plan so that your partners in national service and volunteer service across the nation can learn from your experience.

Our intent in streamlining the State Service Plan procedure is to reduce burden. We appreciate you letting us know how you are communicating, coordinating, and collaborating across streams of service. We look forward to sharing best practices and lessons learned with the assistance of our Office of Leadership Development and Training and through the Corporation’s Resource Center (www.cns.gov/resources).

We are particularly interested in any cross-stream activities centered on our four strategic initiatives: mobilizing more volunteers; serving at risk youth and connecting them with service opportunities; engaging students in communities; and using baby boomers’ experience.

2. What are the components of the State Service Plan?

The State Service Plan should address the following questions:

a. What are the specific programmatic areas upon which your state is focusing?

b. Please describe ongoing efforts or special initiatives that involve convening of and/or collaborating with the state commissions; State Offices; AmeriCorps National programs and other Corporation grantees and stakeholders; State Education Agencies; state networks of volunteer centers; Campus Compacts; and/or other volunteer service organizations within the state.

c. What non-monetary support, such as training and technical assistance, might the Corporation (headquarters and/or your State Office) provide to ensure the success of your state service plan?

Your State Service Plan is not limited to responses to the three questions above, and may also include other elements that you and your service partners find useful.

3. Will I receive funding to support the development of the State Service Plan?

No. The Corporation is no longer able to provide separate, targeted funding to support meetings or other expenses incurred in developing the State Service Plan. You can use funds from your Administrative Grant to support the activities described in your State Service Plan.

4. When is the State Service Plan due to the Corporation?

The submission deadline is 90 working days after the release of this document, September 18, 2006.

5. How do I submit our State Service Plan?

In 2006, you will submit your State Service Plan via e-mail addressed to your Program Officer, who will share it with appropriate Corporation staff. Simply address the required questions, and any other elements that you and your service partners find useful, in a narrative of five pages or less.

Starting in 2009, you will submit your State Service Plan as part of your Administrative Grant application or update in November. You will report upon and update your State Service Plan on an annual basis when you update your Administrative grant application.

6. How will the Corporation review the State Service Plan?

The Office of Field Liaison will coordinate the review of your State Service Plan. While a number of Corporation staff may be assigned to participate on review teams, no State Office staff member will review a Plan from a state with which they work directly.

The review team will review the plan to ensure it adequately addresses the questions.

§ Does the plan include specific areas of activity for national service and volunteer entities in the state (state commissions; State Offices; AmeriCorps National programs and other Corporation grantees and stakeholders; State Education Agencies; state networks of volunteer centers; Campus Compacts; and/or other volunteer service organizations within the state)?

§ Does the plan reflect communication, coordination, and/or collaboration among these entities?

§ Is a request for non-monetary support included?

Your Program Officer will also share your State Service Plan with the Office of Leadership Development and Training, and the Office of Grants Management, in order to integrate support for and monitoring of plan elements.

7. What response can I expect from the Corporation?

You will receive official notification when the Corporation receives your State Service Plan. If the Corporation’s review determines that your State Service Plan fulfills statutory requirements, you will receive a final feedback letter notifying you of this determination. This letter will include a brief summary of strengths, challenges, and areas/activities you might want to revisit. This letter will also include information following up on any requests for non-monetary support included in your State Service Plan. Finally, the review team and other Corporation staff will prepare and distribute a brief report from information aggregated from all of the plans in order to provide context for your cross stream activities, and to highlight opportunities for learning and collaboration across state lines.

8. Does the quality of this plan affect future funding, monitoring, risk-based assessment or State Standards process evaluation?

No. The quality of the State Service Plan has no bearing on future funding, monitoring, risk-based assessment or State Standards process evaluation.

9. How long will it take the Corporation to review our plan?

You will receive notification that the Corporation has received your state service plan within three business days of receipt. You will receive a final response from the review team within 45 calendar days of the September 21 deadline, by November 2, 2006. Within the 45 day timeframe you may be asked for additional information or to clarify some aspects of your plan.

10. Will there be non-monetary support for carrying out activities projected in the State Service Plan?

There may be non-monetary support for carrying out activities projected in your plan. Although funds are not available to support these activities, the Corporation is committed to assisting and supporting communication, coordination and/or collaboration with non-monetary resources such as training and technical assistance, and to facilitate access to other resources. Your AmeriCorps Program Officer will discuss your needs in detail, coordinate the Corporation’s delivery of non-monetary support with the Corporation’s Office of Leadership Development and Training, and assist with any additional follow-up.

11. Does the State Service Plan replace the Unified State Plan that was required in the past?

Yes. The State Service Plan replaces the Unified State Plan that was required in the past.

12. How often must I submit a State Service Plan?

You must submit a State Service Plan every three years, beginning in 2006.

13. How is the State Service Plan described in the Statute?

SEC. 178. [42 U.S.C. 12638] State Commissions on National and Community Service

The State Commission or alternative administrative entity for a State shall be responsible for the following duties:

(1) Preparation of a national service plan for the State that‑‑

(A) is developed through an open and public process (such as through regional forums, hearings, and other means) that provides for maximum participation and input from national service programs within the State and other interested members of the public;

(B) covers a 3‑year period;

(C) is updated annually;

(D) ensures outreach to diverse community‑based agencies that serve underrepresented populations, by‑‑

(i) using established networks, and registries, at the State level; or

(ii) establishing such networks and registries; and

(E) contains such information as the State Commission considers to be appropriate or as the Corporation may require.

14. What are some examples of communication, coordination and collaboration among national service and national volunteer service organizations?

Coordination and collaboration among service organizations takes place in many states. In one state, State Office staff, the SEA and commission staff participated in a year long strategic planning process which was cited as a best practice during their Administrative Standards visit. In other states, training sessions and workshops are hosted by and open to AmeriCorps State, National, VISTA, and Learn and Serve programs. Some State Office staff members participate in quarterly AmeriCorps State Program Directors training. Other states conduct joint staff retreats and multi-day cross- training conferences, share interns, post central directories, and use a shared web site to post all Requests for Proposals.

Some states have coordinated SEA subgranting activities under Learn and Serve America (LSA) with other subgranting activities, such as their AmeriCorps or LSA Commission subgranting bidder's conferences, technical assistance meetings or trainings.

Many states have planned and run subgrantee meetings that bring AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve subgrantees together for orientation, training and evaluation gatherings.

Some states have also developed opportunities for State Office staff to serve, as non-voting members, on commission committees, and vice versa. In some states, programs are encouraged to coordinate their service projects on National Days of Service, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service or National Youth Service Day bringing Learn and Serve students together with boomers, AmeriCorps members and others from the community. Many Commissions, SEAs, Learn and Serve programs, AmeriCorps National programs, and State Offices have found that sharing ideas across streams of service leads to better use of limited resources and increased sustainability.

15. Where can I find more information?

If you have immediate questions concerning the information in this document, please contact Amy Borgstrom, Associate Director for Policy aborgstrom@cns.gov. Please contact your State Office for more information concerning the submission and review process, or for updates during the review. Contact your Program Officer if you have questions about the content of your State Service Plan. Your Program Officer will work with you on any request for non-monetary support. You also may want to contact neighboring state commissions to discuss your respective plans. Best practices will be shared as they develop in The Resource Center section of the Corporation’s web site http://www.nationalservice.org/resources.

OMB NO.: 3045-0118
EXPIRATION DATE: 04/30/2009