By Tom Branen and Susan Stroud

New report features case studies of innovative programs

Twenty years after the creation of AmeriCorps, more than 800,000 members have contributed countless hours of service to improve the lives of their fellow Americans and communities across the nation.

Innovations in Civic Participation (ICP) and America’s Service Commissions (ASC) recently released a special edition of Transforming Communities through Service: A Collection of the Most Innovative AmeriCorps State and Volunteer Generation Fund Programs in the United States. The 2014 edition marks the third time our organizations have partnered to feature case studies of innovative programs, and showcases 28 AmeriCorps and four Volunteer Generation Fund programs in 21 states.

The 2014 edition commemorates the 20th anniversary of AmeriCorps and state service commissions, the statewide governor-appointed agencies leading the nation’s service movement. It features AmeriCorps programs like Making Veterans a Priority, a Tennessee-based program providing veterans with tools to rejoin their community as productive citizens.

This year is also the fifth anniversary of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which reauthorized the Corporation for National and Community Service and created the Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF). VGF programs like the California Volunteers Service Enterprise Initiative use a research based model to leverage the skills of volunteers to meet community needs.

Learn more about these inspiring programs by viewing the publication at www.statecommissions.org or www.icicip.org. 

Tom Branen is Executive Director of America’s Service Commissions and Susan Stroud is Executive Director of Innovations in Civic Participation.