Congress is looking to eliminate funding for AmeriCorps programs.  Such a bad idea – especially in these tough economic times when the demand placed on nonprofits has never been higher.  I am amazed that after my 16 years of working with the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), state service commissions and AmeriCorps State and National programs throughout the country, how many people are still unaware of AmeriCorps and the MANY benefits the program brings to local communities.  When I mention to people that I train and consult with AmeriCorps, I often still have to say, “you know…it is the domestic Peace Corps.”  Then people get it.

AmeriCorps has never received the widespread recognition that it deserves and that is a true shame.  One of the topics I have done extensive work on with AmeriCorps programs nationally is performance measurement and evaluation – a key requirement of all AmeriCorps programs.  The bar is high to show real impact – and CNCS is enforcing even tougher standards through Agency-Wide priority measures tied to their strategic plan.  So what I know to be true is that these programs are providing fabulous service to their communities and making a significant measurable impact - because I have helped them figure out how to measure it!

What is AmeriCorps?

For those of you that don’t know, AmeriCorps is a National Service program that places members (aka volunteers) at nonprofits and state/local government agencies, often in teams, to provide volunteer service addressing specific local social and environmental needs. One of the things I really like about AmeriCorps is that it is great example of a federal/state/local partnership.  The federal portion of the dollars provided by CNCS for the program is matched locally via cash and in kind resources – basically dollar for dollar. AmeriCorps resources are focused on evidence-based programming in seven key areas (education, veterans and military families, disaster services, economic opportunity, healthy futures, environmental stewardship, and nonprofit capacity building) to leverage the greatest impact nationally. Each hosting organization tailors their program to provide locally relevant services

Full-time members give 1700 hours of their time, receive a tiny monthly living stipend, and at the end of their service commitment an educational award to pay for additional schooling or past educational debt.  While the majority of members are in the 20′s, there is no upper age limit and it is not uncommon to see 20 somethings working alongside people in their 40′s, 50s, and 60s from a wide range of backgrounds!  The monthly stipend is great, in my opinion, as it levels the playing field allowing people of any financial background to participate – not just those whose parents can afford to support them while they serve!

AmeriCorps members work directly with the beneficiaries of their hosting organization doing such things as tutoring students having trouble in school, running afterschool programs, cleaning up neighborhoods, developing neighborhood watch programs, assisting communities hit by disasters, running food pantries, and building homes – just to name a few.  All AmeriCorps programs are required to provide direct service to meet a documented community need, provide the necessary training for members to effectively provide high quality service and become more civically engaged, develop/strengthen partnerships among community organizations, and recruit other community members to get involved in giving back as volunteers.

Why should you care?

AmeriCorps truly expands the capacity of local nonprofits to meet local needs and allows them to offer services to the needy that would not be possible otherwise due to stretched resources due to diminishing charitable donations, hiring freezes and staff shortages.  Do a little research of your own and you’ll quickly see – AmeriCorps is no loosey goosey – pork barrel program.  AmeriCorps is a powerful investment in our country’s future.   Tell your Congresspeople to Save AmeriCorps!  Go to Voices for National Service or AmeriCorps Alums to learn how you can have your voice heard.

The past couple weeks I facilitated (as a consultant with JBS International) small group discussions in four cities designed to gather stakeholder input – part of a series of 15 Community Dialogues being hosted around the country by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) as part of their 5 year strategic planning process.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act outlines 6 priority areas in which the service and volunteerism programs funded by CNCS (AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps VISTA, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America) will be focused moving forward – Education, Healthy Futures, (Economic) Opportunity, Veterans, Disaster Preparedness, and Clean Energy.  In each area, CNCS has identified draft key objectives that are felt to be areas in which targeted service and volunteerism can truly move the needle and make a significant contribution.

(Chart from CNCS Strategic Plan Fact Sheet.)

The small group discussion processes I have been facilitating seek input on whether the key objectives for success in 5 years seem sound, if there are other key objectives that should also be considered, and what stakeholders view as the challenges and opportunities available for programming in these areas.

Stakeholders invited to participate include a broad range of organizations – representatives of state service commissions, CNCS state offices, National Service programs, corporations, foundations, local and state government officials, community-based organizations, and faith-based organizations.  It has been very interesting to me to hear the differences in need and perspective based on regional differences and local needs as groups engage in the dialogue and I am processing the collected data.

I have been impressed with the quality of input the invited stakeholders have offered, the openness in which Patrick Corvington – CNCS CEO, Board members, and senior staff have received the input, and the real time revisions of the preliminary key objectives the agency is doing based on the input they are receiving.  Well done all around!

If you would like to provide input on any of these focus areas, CNCS has set up a website to collect public feedback.  Click here to go to that site.  CNCS is also hosting a series of webinars also designed to collect stakeholder input.  The dates of the webinars are:

• Education: Tuesday, July 13 at 2:30pm EDT
• Opportunity: Wednesday, July 14 at 1:30pm EDT
• Clean Energy: Thursday, July 22 at 2:00pm EDT
• Healthy Futures: Tuesday, July 27 at 1:30pm EDT
• Veterans: Thursday, July 29 at 1:30pm EDT
• Disaster Preparedness: Wednesday, August 4th at 1pm EDT

For information about how to access the webinars, click here.

Next week, I travel to Indianapolis to facilitate another Community Dialogue.  Later in August, I will also be in Detroit, Flint, and New Orleans for their Community Dialogues.  Makes for a busy summer…and I love doing this work!

Check out this video with Bon Jovi – I loved it!!  I heard Bon Jovi speak a couple years ago at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service and he did a great job talking about giving back and honoring those people who do so.  I have worked as a trainer and consultant through JBS International’s Aguirre Division with the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and the National Service programs it funds – AmeriCorps, VISTA, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America – for 15 years.  Much of my work has involved training programs how to evaluate their services to identify clearly the impact they are making so they are able to tweak their program models as well as demonstrate to their communities the value they offer.  I have been so inspired by the dedication, commitment, and true impact these National Service programs are making and the ways they have helped strengthen nonprofit capacity and service delivery.  I am a BIG fan!

National Service programs go through extensive vetting…so when you support one of them, you know your resources are going to be well used.  They are a great investment in making a difference.  To find out what National Service programs are in your area, go to the CNCS website or Serve.gov.

Because of my work with AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National and Community Service, a colleague from JBS International – Aguirre Division sent me an email link today to a very interesting article in the Washington Post on Friday, November 28th (page A27) by Paul C. Light, Obama Must Mobilize Supporters to Help Nonprofits. 

In the article, Light says that Generation “O” – for Obama – “is ready to do its part in putting the country on a more hopeful path.”  He makes the case that President-Elect Obama could mobilize “Generation O to help the nation’s struggling nonprofit sector” as the nation’s 1 million other charitable organizations and their 11 million employees are not flourishing.

He states, “there is already plenty of evidence that the sector is suffering. It is often the first to experience recession as households cut back on discretionary contributions and the last to recover. Of the nearly 1 million nonprofits up and running, as many as 100,000 will fail over the coming six months.”  He makes the case that “what the nation needs is an emergency program to rescue failing nonprofits while protecting healthy nonprofits from further job freezes and cuts.”

He talks about two possible initiatives which could help the sector.  “The first would be a loan fund for distressed nonprofits. This program would be administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which has shown its ability to work with states and nonprofit intermediaries to funnel money into needed activities, including the recruiting, training and deployment of volunteers. With an interest-bearing payback provision, the loan fund would carry minimal taxpayer risk and would be directed to distressed nonprofits that can prove their ability to spend the money to increase effectiveness.

The second initiative would be a call for Generation O to volunteer. This volunteerism cannot be the run-of-the-mill, episodic engagement that increasingly characterizes volunteering in America — the kind of come-and-go volunteering that rarely helps nonprofits fill vacancies in front-line service jobs. Rather, Obama should call upon his supporters to make durable, year-long commitments to specific high-impact jobs.”

Lots of things brewing!  What is true is that the Governors’ Commissions on National and Community Service (aka state service commissions) – the state level organizations that administer AmeriCorps and promote service and volunteerism as a strategy to address local issues – have more than 14 years experience with what it takes to run effective nonprofit programs to maximize the impact of scarce resources.  The AmeriCorps and other programs they administer and support are well-known for being great stewards of dollars and leveraging big impact from a minimal investment.  They also have huge networks within their state with nonprofits, government agencies and the private sector.  Hopefully they will be at the table to help figure out how to best mobilize citizens to make a difference and counteract the impact of tough economic times.

Read Light’s full article- it’s great food for thought!  Go National Service – your time to “explode” and show your true value may be near!!

I have had the privilege of consulting and training nationally with the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency responsible for funding nonprofits to run national service programs (AmeriCorps, VISTA, NCCC, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America) for 14 years with the Aguirre Division of JBS International.  I added it up last week and I have done trainings in 48 of 50 states, Guam and American Samoa -training over 10,000 people!

As I have said before, I am a true believer in the role nonprofits, service and volunteerism can play in local communities to make a real difference because of the great work I have seen first hand all across the country.  When the Bush Administration came in, those of us working in National Service were nervous about the potential impact of the new administration.  As it turned out, George Bush did end up being supportive of national service so AmeriCorps and the other programs continued forward much as before though funding has been cut back each year.

During this political season, both candidates for President spoke positively about national service and volunteerism which was very exciting.  Now that Obama is President-elect, it appears AmeriCorps and national service will be a featured initiative under the new incoming administration which is GREAT!  Check out the transition website to get a sense of the tone!

It seems the Obama Administration will make some important positive changes which I find exciting!  The San Francisco Chronicle reported, “Obama has pledged to create a Social Entrepreneurship Agency within the Corporation for National and Community Service, to generate more venture capital for socially conscious startups. The new agency would make it easier for small nonprofits to get federal grants, plus come up with a results-driven accountability system so government officials could make better decisions about which charities to fund.”  Check out the full article by Meredith May.

Michelle Obama has firsthand experience with AmeriCorps and seems very supportive.  A recent Newsweek article by Richard Wolffe reporting on his interview with her included the following two questions and answers.

“You want to continue what you did with Public Allies [ which trains young people to become leaders of community groups and nonprofits] as First Lady. What‘ s your thinking on how to go about that?
Barack is talking about a deeper investment in national service; that’s been part of his platform. He’s been meeting with some of the leadership of the AmeriCorps national-service movements—the Public Allies, the Teach for Americas, the City Years of the World—and figuring out how do we use that model, expand upon it, and help use that as a more creative way to defray the costs of college for young people and get all Americans really engaged. What AmeriCorps showed me, during the time that I worked on it, is that all these resources of young people, and not-so-young people, as I call them—because AmeriCorps is not just for young adults but people of all ages—you can fill a lot of gaps with the help of community-service hours. The young people in my program worked as program directors. They worked with kids and they worked in parks and they worked with nonprofit organizations that didn’t have the resources to bring people in full time. So this is one of those clear win-wins. You can help kids pay for school, you can get needed man-hours into really critical things like the environment, senior care, Head Start—a whole range of things. And you get the country more focused on giving back.

There are elements of this already in place at the national level. Is it just a lack of resources, or insufficient focus and organization?
Fortunately, [President] Bush kept AmeriCorps, but it was significantly defunded. I haven’t worked on AmeriCorps in a while, so I don’t know how the funding cuts have really affected them … When I was with Public Allies, and AmeriCorps was at its height, there were resources for expansion. So you had the new program in Chicago that I started. Then there was something going on in Milwaukee, and they were looking at West Coast offices. But I think with those funds reduced, people had to stop that kind of growth. So you’re just limited in the number of slots that you can have for young people or seniors or what-have-you.”

The only downside is that the budgets for such programs are decided over a year in advance so any potential reversal of recent cut backs and austerity measures may take a while to come into being.  In the meantime, these programs and the nonprofits that sponsor them continue to offer great opportunities for your company to get involved locally and make a real difference.  Check the AmeriCorps website to find information about programs you can partner with located in your state.

Last week I was in DC helping run the State Service Commissioner Institute presented by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), Project TASC of JBS International, and the America’s Service Commissions.  As I sit here, back in Denver I am amazed that after my 14 years of working with state service commissions and AmeriCorps, how many people are still unaware of them.  When I mention that I train and consult with AmeriCorps, I often still have to say, “you know…it is the domestic Peace Corps.”  It is still a bit of a well kept secret and that is a shame.  One of the topics I have done extensive work on with AmeriCorps programs nationally is performance measurement and evaluation.  So what I know to be true is that the vast majority of these programs are providing fabulous service to their communities and making a significant impact - because I have helped them figure out how to measure it!

What is AmeriCorps? 

For those of you that don’t know, AmeriCorps is a National Service program that places members (aka volunteers) at nonprofits and state/local government agencies, often in teams, to provide volunteer service addressing identified community needs.  Full-time members give 1700 hours of their time, receive a tiny monthly living stipend, and at the end of their service commitment an educational award of $4725 to pay for additional schooling or past educational debt.  While the majority of members are in the 20′s, there is no upper age limit and it is not uncommon to see 20 somethings working alongside people in their 40′s, 50s, and 60s from a wide range of backgrounds!  The monthly stipend is great, in my opinion, as it levels the playing field allowing people of any financial background to participate – not just those whose parents can afford to support them while they serve!

AmeriCorps programs are designed by community agencies to meet specific local needs in the areas of education, environment, public safety, human needs, and disaster services.  Members provide direct service working with the beneficiaries of their hosting organization doing such things as tutoring students having trouble in school, running afterschool programs, cleaning up neighborhoods, developing neighborhood watch programs, assisting communities hit by disasters, running food pantries, and building homes – just to name a few.  All AmeriCorps programs are required to provide direct service to the community, provide the necessary training for members to effectively provide their service and become more civically engaged, develop partnerships among community organizations, and recruit other community members to get involved as volunteers. 

AmeriCorps is one of the National Service/volunteer programs funded by the federal government.  However, it is interesting to note that AmeriCorps programs are required to match the federal funds they receive with resources generated locally – basically dollar for dollar.  State-based AmeriCorps programs are designed locally and state commissions are able to tailor the allocation of their AmeriCorps resources to insure they meet that state’s most pressing needs.

What is a State Commission? 

There is a bipartisan State Service Commission in every state in the country except South Dakota, as well as Guam and American Samoa.  In 1993, Congress passed the National and Community Service Trust Act that created the Corporation for National and Community Service to administer and oversee National Service. CNCS is the umbrella agency for the old ACTION Agency programs – VISTA and Senior Corps (RSVP, Foster Grandparents, and Senior Companions) – plus the newer AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America programs.  As part of the Act, any state that wanted to receive federal AmeriCorps funds based on a population-based formula needed to establish a state service commission.  Commissioners are appointed by the Governor and commissions are run by a small administrative staff.  State Commissions basically have two main mandates.  The first is to administer the AmeriCorps program in the state to insure it meets critical local needs and second is to promote service and volunteerism as a way to address local issues.  Commissions are usually housed within state government (often in the Governor or Lt. Governor’s offices) or can be stand alone 501(C)(3)s.

Why should you care?

If your company is looking to get more involved locally or at the state-level with well run nonprofits and their programs, the executive director of your state’s service commission is a great person with whom to talk.  S/he will know about opportunities to volunteer in your community, regionally, and/or at the state level.  S/he can also point you to specific programs that could use your business savvy and resources to build their capacity to do even more good in the community.  Also the reach of commissions is wide – if you support their efforts, it is a great way to get your company’s name out there in a positive way!

AmeriCorps programs go through an extensive review and training process so you know when you choose to support one of them, they have been VERY carefully vetted!

The enthusiasm AmeriCorps members have about what they are doing in local communities is absolutely infectious.  It always reminds me that I need to get out and do more volunteer work myself.  Interviewing members for various evaluations I have conducted, I am constantly amazed at how much they have learned about local issues and how to be part of the solution, not just sit around and complain. 

Get involved!  To find your state’s commission, go to: http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/contact/statecommission.asp.  From there you can click to go to your state commission’s home page which lists all the local AmeriCorps programs.  Be sure to call the commission’s executive director if you have questions or want to know more about how to get involved.  I know them all – and there is no finer group of people on the planet in my view.  And…feel free to tell them I recommended you call!