WHEREAS, the AmeriCorps national service program has proven to be a highly effective way to engage Americans of all ages and backgrounds in meeting a wide range of community needs and promote the ethic of service and volunteering since its creation in 1994; and

WHEREAS, each year AmeriCorps, including AmeriCorps VISTA and AmeriCorps NCCC, provides opportunities for 75,000 citizens across the nation to give back in an intensive way to our communities, our state, and our country; and

WHEREAS, AmeriCorps was designed to give a key role to states in deciding where resources should be directed to meet state and local needs through the work of Governor-appointed state service commissions, including the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives; and

WHEREAS, AmeriCorps has strengthened America’s independent sector by investing more than $5 billion dollars to support the efforts of tens of thousands of nonprofit, community, educational, and faith-based community groups nationwide; and those grants have leveraged hundreds of millions of additional funds and in-kind donations from others sources; and

WHEREAS, AmeriCorps members last year recruited and supervised more than 1.7 million community volunteers, demonstrating AmeriCorps value as a powerful catalyst and force multiplier; and

WHEREAS, since 1994, more than 540,000 men and women across the nation, including over 4,000 from Alabama, have taken the AmeriCorps pledge to “get things done for America” by becoming AmeriCorps members; and

WHEREAS, those AmeriCorps members have served a total of more than 705 million hours nationwide, including over 8 million served by residents from Alabama, helping to improve the lives of our state’s most vulnerable citizens, strengthen our educational system; protect our environment, and contribute to our public safety, and;

WHEREAS, AmeriCorps members nationwide, in return for their service, have earned more than $1.4 billion in Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards to use to further their own educational advancement at colleges and universities—including more than $10 million that has been awarded to residents of Alabama; and

WHEREAS, AmeriCorps members, after their terms of service end, remain engaged in our communities as volunteers, teachers, public servants, and nonprofit leaders in disproportionately high levels; and

WHEREAS, AmeriCorps Week is an opportune time for the people of Alabama to salute AmeriCorps members and alums for their powerful impact; thank all of AmeriCorps' community partners in Alabama who make the program possible; and bring more Americans into service;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Bob Riley, Governor of Alabama, do hereby proclaim May 11-18, 2008, as AmeriCorps Week in the State of Alabama and urge citizens to thank AmeriCorps members and alumni for their service and to find ways to give back to their communities.

Given Under My Hand and the Great Seal of the Office of the Governor at the State Capitol in the City of Montgomery on the 7th day of May 2008.

Governor Bob Riley

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