AmeriCorps Week
 

 

  
 

What Is AmeriCorps?

AmeriCorps provides opportunities for 75,000 Americans to give back in an intensive way to their communities and country each year. It consists of three main programs: AmeriCorps State and National, whose members serve with more than 2,900 national and local nonprofit and community groups; AmeriCorps VISTA, through which members serve full time fighting poverty; and AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps), a team-based residential program for young adults 18-24 who carry out projects in public safety, the environment, youth development, and disaster relief and preparedness.

What Do AmeriCorps Members Do?

AmeriCorps members do a wide range of things: They recruit, train, and supervise community volunteers, tutor and mentor youth, build affordable housing, teach computer skills, clean parks and streams, run after-school programs, help communities respond to disasters, and build the capacity of nonprofit groups to become self-sustaining, among many other activities.

What Benefits Do AmeriCorps Members Receive?

In exchange for a year of full-time service, members earn a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award of $4,725* that can be used to pay for college or graduate school, or to pay back qualified student loans. Awards are pro-rated for part-time service. Some members also receive a living allowance and health care.

* Beginning on October 1, 2009, the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award will be equal to the amount of the Pell grant, which is currently $5,350.

AmeriCorps Fast Facts

  • 574,000: Number of people who have served as AmeriCorps members since 1994.
     
  • 718 Million: Total number of hours served by AmeriCorps members.
     
  • $1.59 Billion: Total amount of Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards earned by AmeriCorps members since 1994.
     
  • 2.2 Million: Number of community volunteers managed or mobilized by AmeriCorps members in 2008.
     
  • 4,100: Number of nonprofit, faith-based, and community organizations that AmeriCorps members served with last year.
     
  • $5.7 Billion: Amount of AmeriCorps funds invested in nonprofit, community, educational, and faith-based community groups since 1994.

How Do I Join?

Go to www.americorps.gov to get started!