Wednesday, March 05, 2008
CONTACT: Sandy Scott
Phone: 202-606-6724
Email: sscott@cns.gov
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First Round of ’08 AmeriCorps Funding Supports 43,000 New Members, 261 Organizations to Tackle Education and Social Challenges |
Awards Yield $280 million in Grants and Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards
Washington D.C. – The Corporation for National and Community Service today announced the winners of the first round of AmeriCorps 2008 Grant Awards, 261 national and local organizations in their second or third year of funding who will receive $151 million to support 43,228 AmeriCorps members. These members, in turn are eligible to receive more than $130 million in Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards when they complete their service.
These awards put the AmeriCorps program on track to support 75,000 members in 2008 through AmeriCorps grants programs, AmeriCorps VISTA and AmeriCorps NCCC, maintaining the high-water mark for AmeriCorps targeted by President Bush in his 2002 State of the Union message. These awards are being announced months earlier in than they have in past years, as a result of streamlining and management efficiency reforms at the Corporation.
Click here for a complete list of grantees, amounts awarded, and the numbers of AmeriCorps members to be supported.
“AmeriCorps members are helping nonprofits and communities across the country lift local high-school graduation rates, reduce illiteracy, prepare for and recover from disasters and tackle the toughest social challenges those communities face,” said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation, which administers AmeriCorps. “As the AmeriCorps portfolio gets stronger, and as the Corporation makes these grants better and earlier, our communities are becoming stronger, healthier and safer.”
AmeriCorps members teach, tutor, and mentor disadvantaged students, build homes, provide shelter and health care, assist people with disabilities, help communities respond to disasters, restore parks and trails, and mobilize volunteers to meet vital community needs. They serve through community and faith-based organizations that operate at the local level, mostly overseen by State Service Commissions.
The grants announced today will also expand the number and effectiveness of American volunteers, a key goal of the Corporation’s five-year strategic plan. AmeriCorps has put greater emphasis on volunteer mobilization in recent years, and it continues to be a highly effective “force-multiplier.” Last year more than 1.7 million community volunteers served alongside the AmeriCorps members who recruited, trained, and supervised.
The Corporation expects to announce another round of AmeriCorps grant awards in May, followed by state formula grants to be awarded by the Governor-appointed state service commissions this summer. Most of the positions will be available starting in the fall. Interested individuals can learn about available opportunities and submit an online application by visiting AmeriCorps.gov.
AmeriCorps is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which also oversees Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America. The Corporation’s mission is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.
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