Earlier this year, the CNCS Office of Research & Evaluation (ORE) introduced recipients of the 2017 AmeriCorps State and National Evidence-based Intervention Planning Grants from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). At the start of the summer, we checked in with the grantees to get the latest scoop on their program planning and see what lessons they learned along the way.  

By now, most of the grantees’ planning periods have come to a close. For some, program development will carry on through continued efforts, while others have compiled their findings, which provide valuable guidance for other organizations seeking similar types of grants. With that, we conducted a final follow up with the grantees to hear about their latest program development updates, overall experience with their grants, and what’s next. 

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Discover the Value of America’s ‘Super Citizens’

By Barbara L. Stewart, CEO, Corporation for National and Community Service

The fabric of our nation is strengthened by the service of its volunteers. We see this over and over again whenever ordinary Americans step up to support their fellow citizens for needs both great and small. This idea stands out in the latest results from our Volunteering in America study — a report that examines how Americans of all ages are serving together to keep our nation strong.

We are excited to announce that the nation’s volunteer rate has jumped six points to break through the 30 percent-level as Americans are volunteering at higher rates than ever. However, that is only part of the story.

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More than 6.7 million low‐income youth between the ages of 16 and 24 are either homeless, in foster care, involved in the juvenile justice system, unemployed, or not enrolled in or at risk of dropping out of an educational institution. Through programs such as AmeriCorps, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) recruits opportunity youth to engage in national service projects, and in return, these young adults receive mentoring, coaching, and skills development that position them for success after their service ends.

CNCS’s Office of Research & Evaluation (ORE) recently completed a study of opportunity youth who were engaged in service as AmeriCorps members. The study faced challenges measuring the impact of these national service programs due to small sample sizes and limited program capacity. To address these challenges and support a more efficient use of evaluation resources, ORE worked with its grantees to implement a “bundled approach,” which groups several smaller AmeriCorps programs together into a single evaluation.

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