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WASHINGTON, D.C β The Corporation for National and Community Service today announced grants to three organizations to support 420 AmeriCorps Professional Corps members. The grants total $225,000 and if all members complete their service, an additional $1,949,000 will go to providing them with educational awards that can be used to pay for college or pay back student loans.
AmeriCorps Professional Corps programs engage members in areas where insufficient numbers of qualified professionals exist to serve a critical need. Examples include health care providers, teachers, social workers, police officers, and other professionals. While the Corporation has funded professional corps organizations through other grant programs in the past, this is the first time a separate competition has been held. Another AmeriCorps Professional Corps grant competition will be held later this fall.
"These professionals will meet critical social needs in rural and poor communities that would otherwise not receive these critical services,β said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. βThe AmeriCorps Professional Corps program is a great way to attract talented and dedicated men and women into serving in high-need areas, and I hope more organizations will take advantage of this source of support in our next competition this fall.β
The three organizations selected are as follows:
- The New Teacher Project will recruit and train 250 college students and mid-career professionals to teach in public schools in Baltimore, Md., and Washington, D.C. The grant is $117,500, and the total AmeriCorps education award value of the positions supported by this grant is $1,181,250.
- The Alliance for Catholic Education, sponsored by the University of Notre Dame, will engage 155 full-time teachers to teach secular subjects in under-resourced elementary and secondary parochial schools across the United States. Grant funding is $100,000, and the education award value is $732,375.
- The Pocahontas Communications Cooperative in Dunmore, W.V, will use its $7,500 grant to support 15 AmeriCorps member to serve as emergency medical technicians and paramedics in three rural counties in Virginia and West Virginia. If all members complete their service, they will earn $35,438 in education awards.
For the Professional Corps competition, organizations had to propose operating in two or more states and agree to pay AmeriCorps members' salaries and benefits. The Corporation may continue funding for the grantees for an additional two years contingent upon satisfactory performance, the availability of funds, and other criteria. The grants announced today are one of several grant competitions sponsored each year by AmeriCorps. The fiscal 2004 budget signed by the President in January contained a record funding level for AmeriCorps that will support 75,000 positions, the highest number in the program's 10-year existence.
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 http://www.americorps.gov/.
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.gov.
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