AmeriCorps Announces Grants to Support 4,350
Members
Washington D.C. — The Corporation for National and Community
Service today announced grants to support more than 4,350 new AmeriCorps
member, who could potentially earn nearly $8 million in scholarships
in exchange for their service.
Twenty national and local organizations will receive grants
totaling $676,610 to engage these AmeriCorps members
in projects across the nation that meet a variety of vital community
needs, including tutoring and mentoring at-risk youth, building
low-income housing, providing assistance to victims of domestic
abuse, improving hospital health care services, assisting youth
involved in the juvenile justice system, and mobilizing community
volunteers.
"We are excited about the quality and diversity of this latest
grouping of grantees,” said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for
National and Community Service, which administers the AmeriCorps
program. “With these grants, we have taken another important next step
toward supporting a record 75,000 AmeriCorps members in 2004."
The 20 organizations include large national groups such as Boys and
Girls Clubs of America, multi-state groups, and a variety of smaller organizations such as the
Partnership for Youth in St. Louis, Mo., the Bank Street College of
Education in New York, the Colorado Youth Corps Association, and the
Rural Alaska Community Action Program. See the
full list of grantees for additional information.
The grants announced today are part of the Education Award Program,
one of several grant competitions sponsored each year by AmeriCorps.
(The other main competitions are National Direct grants, State Formula
grants, and State Competitive grants.) Under the Education Award
Program, organizations receive relatively small grants for program
administration – about $400 for each full-time equivalent member – and
use their own (or other) resources to cover members’ living allowances
and other program costs. After completing their term of service,
members are eligible to receive an education award, pro-rated to the
amount of time they served, that they can use to pay for college or
graduate school.
Today’s grants are the results of the third and final Education
Award Program competition to be held in fiscal year 2004. When added
together, grants from the three Education Award Program grant
competitions will support approximately 30,000 AmeriCorps members.
The positions announced today include a mix of full-time and part-time
slots. Among the approved applications are five “continuation" grants
made to organizations that are in the second or third year of their
AmeriCorps funding. The remaining 15 grants are to new organizations
or groups that had to re-compete for funds after already having
completed a three-year grant cycle.
“I can't think of a better way to mark the 10th anniversary of
AmeriCorps than by providing this historically high level of
AmeriCorps service opportunities to meet community needs," said
AmeriCorps director Rosie Mauk. "Whether you are graduating, taking
time off from school, or changing careers, AmeriCorps is a great way
to get skills and college aid while making a difference for your
community."
AmeriCorps members serve full or part time with hundreds of
national and local organizations. Full-time members who complete their
service earn an education award of $4,725 to pay for college, graduate
school, or to pay back student loans. Members who serve part time
receive a partial education award. In addition to the AmeriCorps State
and National grant programs (of which the Education Award Program is a
part), AmeriCorps also includes AmeriCorps*NCCC, a 10-month, full-time
residential program for men and women between the ages of 18 and 24
who carry out projects in public safety, public health, and disaster
relief, and AmeriCorps*VISTA, whose members help bring individuals and
communities out of poverty by serving full-time to fight illiteracy,
improve health services, create businesses, increase housing
opportunities, or bridge the digital divide. Information on joining
AmeriCorps is available at
www.americorps.org.
AmeriCorps is administered by the Corporation for National and
Community Service, which also oversees Senior Corps and Learn and
Serve America. The programs of the Corporation engage more than two
million Americans each year in meeting critical needs in education,
the environment, public safety, homeland security, and other areas.
Together with the USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation is working to
build a culture of service, citizenship, and responsibility in
America. For more information, visit
www.nationalservice.org.
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