For more than 25 years, we have helped millions of Americans improve their lives and the lives of their fellow citizens through service. We work hand-in-hand with local partners to tap the ingenuity and can-do spirit of the American people to tackle our country's most pressing challenges. We are AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps Seniors, the Volunteer Generation Fund, and more.
Our Mission
To improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering.
What is AmeriCorps?
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What is AmeriCorps Seniors?
The above video may include external links to Youtube’s video platform. Youtube’s privacy and security practices and policies may differ from AmeriCorps'. AmeriCorps is not responsible for these links nor does it endorse the content of the third-party website (Read more).
We Serve Your Community
AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps Seniors serve at more than 40,000 locations across the country to meet community needs related to education, health, energy and conservation, economic development, veterans and military families, and disaster services.
We Award Grants, Funding, and Other Resources
National service is a cost-effective solution that taps the power of citizens to get things done. We multiply the impact of our investment by generating hundreds of millions of non-federal dollars, mobilizing millions of additional volunteers, and operating with a high degree of accountability and efficiency:
- Approximately 75,000 AmeriCorps members mobilize millions of community volunteers for the organizations they serve, increasing their reach and impact.
- Our AmeriCorps Seniors programs tap the skills and experience of more than 200,000 older Americans to meet pressing community needs.
We Impact Communities Across the Country
Our nation’s strength comes from our people. America has always been at its best when citizens together, joined in common purpose. We help focus this energy on local challenges to make a difference in the lives of millions of Americans every day.
- We support high-impact service to meet pressing needs, from illiteracy and homelessness to hunger and disasters. More than 1 million alumni have given more than 1.4 billion hours of service through AmeriCorps, helping millions of our most-vulnerable citizens.
- We support economic opportunity, education, environmental stewardship, disaster preparedness and response, healthy futures, and veterans and military families.
- We increase educational opportunity through Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards that have provided more than $3.3 billion to AmeriCorps alumni.
- We lead Days of Service on Martin Luther King Day and September 11th that encourage millions of citizens to volunteer in their communities.
Guiding Principles
- Strengthen the public-private partnerships that underpin all of our programs.
- Build strong and sustainable change in the communities we serve, so they are capable of mobilizing volunteers to address local needs, including disaster preparedness and response.
- Measure and continually improve our programs' benefits to service beneficiaries, participants, community organizations, and our nation's culture of service.
- Collaborate across our programs and with other federal programs.
- Help rural and economically-distressed communities obtain access to public and private resources.
- Support diverse organizations, including faith-based and other community organizations, minority colleges, and disability organizations.
- Implement service learning to enrich service experiences and stimulate life-long civic engagement.
- Support civic engagement, leadership, and public service careers for our program participants and community volunteers.
- Exhibit excellence in management and customer service.
Agency Vision
AmeriCorps as:
- a cooperative and creative force for service in America.
- a valuable resource to—and a partner with—national, state, and local organizations that encourage community service and address community needs.
- entrepreneurial, innovative, effective, and efficient in utilizing its resources, influence, and activities.
- an agency with a demonstrated history of nonpartisanship.
- a good steward of taxpayer dollars that operates programs in a cost-effective manner.
Management and Organization
The Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Chief Executive Officer oversees the agency, including more than 600 staff who serve the United States and its territories.
