This is a friendly reminder to dial-in at least 5 minutes early for Wednesday’s call. We are expecting a high volume of call participants.

From: Nembhard, Lois
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 11:10 PM
To: _AmeriCorps*State & National
Subject: AmeriCorps State and National Budget Call - Wednesday, April 27

Colleagues -

We have obviously had an “exciting” couple of weeks in Washington.  The dust from the debate over the final FY 2011 budget is beginning to settle, and the consequences of the decisions are becoming clearer. 

As you no doubt know, Congress reduced the budget for AmeriCorps State and National by approximately $23 million.  That is a significant cut, representing roughly 6 percent reduction in the amount of grant funds that were available under the FY 2010 budget.  As Patrick said earlier this week, the cuts are particularly painful because they come at a time of surging interest in AmeriCorps. 

Last year, grantees reported the highest number of people applying to AmeriCorps in history.  According to the December 2010 progress reports (the most up-to-date data we have), AmeriCorps programs received more than 535,000 applications for member positions.  The previous year’s progress reports reported just over 360,000 applications.  So in one year we saw an almost 50 percent increase in applications to serve as AmeriCorps members.

And the interest in being an AmeriCorps grantee is similarly high.  This year the Corporation received over 600 applications for almost exactly $400 million in AmeriCorps funding.

The number and size of requests alone would have created an enormously competitive year for AmeriCorps.  And then factor in the large number of continuations this year and a $23 million cut in funds, and you can see clearly that this will be the tightest funding and most competitive process in AmeriCorps’ history.

We know that many people have questions about the competition and the reduction in funding.  We would like to hold a call next Wednesday specifically for AmeriCorps grantees and sub-grantees to talk more about these issues and to answer as many questions as we can.  We don’t promise that we will have all the answers yet, but we want to hear your questions and to share as much information as we have. 

The conference call information follows:

Call date: Wednesday, APR-27-2011 

Call time: 04:00 PM EASTERN TIME

Dial in number: 888-323-2715

Participant passcode: 99665

Note: Restrictions may exist when accessing freephone/toll free numbers using a mobile telephone.

_________________________________________________________________________ 

Instant Replay Information:

Replays are generally available one hour after a call ends.

End date: MAY-27-11 10:59 PM (CT)

Instant replay number: 866-375-1053

Thanks. 

John

Director, AmeriCorps