Corporation for National and Community Service: 2017 AmeriCorps State and National Grants – Targeted Priority

The mission of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic participation through service and volunteering. AmeriCorps grants are awarded to organizations proposing to engage AmeriCorps members in evidence-based or evidence-informed interventions to strengthen communities. An AmeriCorps member is an individual who engages in community service through an approved national service position. Members may receive a living allowance and other benefits while serving. Upon successful completion of their service, members earn a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award from the National Service Trust that members can use to pay for higher education expenses or apply to qualified student loans.

The Target Priorities that CNCS is seeking to support through this competition are detailed below:

• Healthy Futures: CNCS is interested in any program models that seek to address the prescription drug and opioid abuse crisis in America.
• Safer Communities: CNCS is looking for program models that create, support, and initiate activities that provide opportunities for law enforcement and community members to become constructively engaged in building or re building public spaces and opportunities for constructive dialogue via sports and community team building such as block watch organizations. Interests include supporting activities that focus on public safety, preventing and mitigating civil unrest, and/or partnerships between police and community. Some examples are summer programming or engaging communities that are part of the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention and programs that are developed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) (http://www.iacp.org/Police-Foundations-Section) and programs that engage youth between the ages of 14-21 living in high crime areas of the city who have been identified as “leaders” in good and/or bad way. The youth are paired with School Resource Officers who meet with them several times during the week to engage them in a variety of leadership building exercises i.e., camping, rafting, community clean-up and much more.

Amount: Grant awards have two components: operating funds and AmeriCorps member positions. Grant award amounts vary both in the level of operating funds and in the type and amount of AmeriCorps member positions, as determined by the scope of the projects. The general practice is to award no more than 50 member slots and at least 20 member slots to organizations receiving an AmeriCorps grant for the first time.

The Maximum Costs per (one) AmeriCorps Member Service Year (MSY) is as follows:

• Cost reimbursement: $13,830 maximum
• Fixed amount grant: $13,430 maximum

Match requirements:

• Fixed amount grants: There are no specific match requirements, however, CNCS does not provide all the funds needed to operate the program.
• Cost reimbursement grants: A first-time awardee is required to match at 24 percent for the first three-year funding period. Starting with year four, the match gradually increases every year to 50 percent by year ten.

Eligibility: Indian tribes; institutions of higher education; local governments; nonprofit organizations; and states. Applicants must operate in more than one state or territory, except for states and territories that have not established a Commission, including South Dakota, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Link: http://bit.ly/2l4oybl

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