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Organization Spotlight - January 2006

In 1994, 20,000 AmeriCorps members began to serve in more than 1,000 communities. The program began in 1993 with President Bill Clinton’s National and Community Service Trust Act, which brought all domestic community service under one central organization. This act built on the first National Service Act, which was signed by President H.W. Bush in 1990. AmeriCorps incorporated two existing national service programs: Volunteers in Service to America, created by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and the National Civilian Community Corps. In 2003, President George W. Bush doubled the number of AmeriCorps members with the Strengthen AmeriCorps Program Act.

AmeriCorps is a network of local, state, and national service programs that unite more than 70,000 Americans yearly to support various national needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment. AmeriCorps members serve with 3,000 organizations, including nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and faith-based community organizations.

The AmeriCorps*State program works with Governor-appointed State Service Commissions to provide grants to non-government and government organizations that sponsor service programs. These organizations use their grants to place full- or part-time AmeriCorps members directly in areas of service for up to 1 year. The AmeriCorps*State allows programs to focus their resources on expanding their organization’s mission and overall effectiveness.

To learn more about how your MRC unit can benefit from AmeriCorps, please visit the AmeriCorps Web site.

Last Updated on 5/25/2006