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AmeriCorps VISTA Launches Interactive Timeline Highlighting 50 Years of Service
AmeriCorps: The Best of the American Spirit
“The young people who serve in AmeriCorps show us the best of the American spirit. They tutor our children, aid the victims of disaster, and restore our streams and parks. It is a tremendous investment in young people, a tremendous investment in the future, and I am a strong supporter of AmeriCorps.”
– General Colin L. Powell (Ret.)
View MoreImportant information for incoming AmeriCorps NCCC members∞
Dear incoming members of AmeriCorps NCCC,
Over the past few days, you may have come across news articles and social media posts regarding reductions in funding for national service, including AmeriCorps NCCC, for Fiscal Year 2016 (beginning October 1, 2015).
We understand that this budget…
Living a Dream through Service
By Rachel Folk
AmeriCorps VISTA shares her story of serving, while living her life long dream and doing what she loves most.
Mark Your Calendars: #Katrina10chat Chat on Wednesday
When Service Leads, Leaders Are Made
I didn’t know the extent I would go when I 1st said “This year and beyond.” #AmeriCorpsAlums #AmeriCorps #BEYOND pic.twitter.com/REiPqN0B4g
(Great tweet, @USAjaDev)
House Members Speak Up for AmeriCorps and National Service
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives speak in support of a budget amendment to fully fund the Corporation for National and Community Service and AmeriCorps in this video from the Appropriations Committee meeting on June 24, 2015. (Relevant video starts at the 2 hour, 10 minute and 30 second mark.)
View MoreUpdate from Congress: House Committee to Cut Thousands of AmeriCorps Positions, Defund AmeriCorps NCCC Campuses, Eliminate Social Innovation Fund
On June 17, 2015, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related
Agencies Subcommittee considered the fiscal year (FY) 2016 Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. The Administration supports
investments in health care, public health, job training, and improving educational outcomes for
students at all levels. However, we have a number of serious concerns about this legislation,
which would underfund these important investments and includes highly problematic
ideologically-motivated provisions. In advance of Full Committee consideration of the
Subcommittee bill, I would like to take this opportunity to share some of these concerns with
you.
The bill drastically underfunds the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), providing almost $500 million, or 42 percent, less than the FY 2016 Budget. The bill would fund approximately 50,000 AmeriCorps members, meaning that 40,000 fewer members than under the President’s plan would be able to serve their communities while earning money to cover college costs or repay student loans. AmeriCorps members serve in more than 25,000 locations across the country–including thousands of public schools, communities hit by disaster, organizations helping veterans, tribal nations, and faith-based groups.
Under this bill, AmeriCorps would have to drop many of these service areas and projects. The bill also defunds AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), closing campuses in California, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, and Mississippi that support 2,000 young adults each year who do critical disaster relief and other work.
The bill also eliminates funding for the Social Innovation Fund, a public-private partnership that has generated more than $500 million in non-Federal funding to replicate evidence-based programs, and drops the Pay for Success authority that ties public funding to programs that are producing clear results for taxpayers and beneficiaries. In addition, the bill’s deep cuts in CNCS’s administrative budget and elimination of State Commission support would essentially eliminate the agency’s ability to administer any of its programs.
50 Summers of Service (And Counting)
Serving More Summer Meals in Rural and Tribal Areas
By Secretary Arne Duncan and Secretary Tom Vilsack
AmeriCorps VISTAs integral part of effort to battle childhood hunger
CNCS Announces $218M in New AmeriCorps Grants to Support 44,000 Members
View MoreSen. Cory Booker, New Jersey Reflect on 50 years of AmeriCorps VISTA
AmeriCorps NCCC Team Supports Summer Learning Day
AmeriCorps NCCC Team Moose 3 is working with youth at nine sites participating in the SummerREADS program throughout Baltimore today for Summer Learning Day. The SummerREADS program activates libraries located in Baltimore City Public Schools during the summer, and each facility is expected to serve 30 children each day. The team will be responsible for developing literacy activities and instilling a love of reading and learning for budding readers throughout the city,
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United Way of King County Adds 80 AmeriCorps VISTA ‘End Summer Hunger’ Summer Associates
United Way of King County’s Community Resource Exchange (CRE) is an AmeriCorps VISTA-supported one-day event that connects individuals experiencing housing and income instability with resources, and helps them access benefits. Two of United Way’s VISTAs proposed setting up a youth employment booth at the CRE to recruit for United Way’s Summer Associate positions.
VISTA Summer Associates are responsible for managing free meal sites throughout King County, WA, over the summer, when kids who otherwise access free and reduced-price meals during the school year often go hungry. This innovative strategy ultimately helped several applicants from CRE officially join the Summer Meals team and is an excellent example of the powerful impact VISTA projects have on individuals, particularly when the projects overlap and align.
Through this
effort, United Way is engaging individuals as AmeriCorps members who truly
understand and represent the communities our projects aim to serve and will
help us build a powerful team to fight summer hunger. They will join a team of
80 “End Summer Hunger” AmeriCorps VISTA Summer Associates serving across King
County.
Learn more about AmeriCorps VISTA Summer Associates
View MoreLove, Passion, and a Drive for Service
By Shanea Phillips
AmeriCorps VISTA shares how she merged her life’s passions through program
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