Serve New Mexico: New Mexico State AmeriCorps Grant (Formula Pool)

Note: Interested applicants must submit a Notification of Intent to Apply and Readiness Checklist form as well as the Agency-Specific W-9 by Thursday, February 20, 2020.

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. Through AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and the Volunteer Generation Fund, CNCS has helped to engage millions of citizens in meeting community and national challenges through service and volunteer action.

AmeriCorps grants are awarded to eligible organizations proposing to engage AmeriCorps members in evidence-based or evidence-informed interventions/practices 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 an Eli Segal Education Award from the National Service Trust that members can use to pay for higher education expenses or apply to qualified student loans.

Serve New Mexico Commission (previously the New Mexico Commission for Community Volunteerism) administers funding awarded by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) to support New Mexico AmeriCorps programs. In order to maximize the impact of public investment in national service, the Commission seeks to fund programs that can demonstrate community impact and solve community problems using an evidence-based or evidence-informed approach. The Commission “Formula” competition will target AmeriCorps grant making on the six national focus areas identified in the Serve America Act and the agency’s five-year Strategic Plan:

• Disaster Services: Grant activities will provide support to increase the preparedness of individuals for disasters, improve individuals’ readiness to respond to disasters, help individuals recover from disasters, and/or help individuals mitigate disasters.
• Economic Opportunity: Grants will provide support and/or facilitate access to services and resources that contribute to the improved economic well-being and security of economically disadvantaged people, including to help economically disadvantaged people to – have improved access to services that enhance financial literacy; transition into or remain in safe, healthy, affordable housing; and/or have improved employability leading to increased success in becoming employed.
• Education: Grants will provide support and/or facilitate access to services and resources that contribute to improved educational outcomes for economically disadvantaged children; improved school readiness for economically disadvantaged young children; improved educational and behavioral outcomes of students in low-achieving elementary, middle, and high schools; and/or support economically disadvantaged students’ preparation for success in post-secondary educational institutions.
• Environmental Stewardship: Grants will support responsible stewardship of the environment, while preparing communities for challenging circumstances and helping Americans respond to and recover from disruptive life events: programs that conserve natural habitats; protect clean air and water; maintain public lands; support wildland fire mitigation; cultivate individual and community self-sufficiency; and provide reforestation services after floods or fires.
• Healthy Futures: Grants will provide support for activities that will address the opioid crisis; increase seniors’ ability to remain in their own homes with the same or improved quality of life for as long as possible; and/or increase physical activity and improve nutrition with the purpose of reducing obesity.
• Veterans and Military Families: Grants will positively impact the quality of life of veterans and improve military family strength; increase the number of veterans, wounded warriors, military service members, and their families served by CNCS programs; and/or increase the number of veterans and military family members engaged in service through CNCS programs.

The Commission seeks to prioritize the investment of national service resources in the following areas:

• Economic Opportunity: Increasing economic opportunities for communities by engaging opportunity youth to prepare them for the workforce.
• Education: Strategies that help students learn, including extended-day and school-year programs, tutoring, mentoring, family involvement, and teacher support. This also involves service-learning opportunities that give students the chance to experience meaningful lessons that teach them about their world inside and outside the school’s classrooms or campus.
• Healthy Futures: Reducing and/or preventing prescription drug and opioid abuse.
• Veterans and Military Families: Positively impacting the quality of life of veterans and improving military family strength.
• Rural Intermediaries: Organizations that demonstrate measurable impact and primarily serve rural communities with limited resources and organizational infrastructure.
• Safer Communities: Programs that focus on public safety, and/or partnerships between law enforcement and the community.
• Faith-based organizations

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.

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

• Cost reimbursement: $15,479 maximum
• Fixed Amount Grant: $15,479 maximum

All applicants are required to request at least 10 member slots and/or five MSYs. The general practice is to award no more than 35 member positions (slots) to organizations receiving an AmeriCorps grant for the first time.

Eligibility: Indian Tribes; Institutions of higher education; Local governments; Nonprofit organizations; and States.

Link: https://www.dws.state.nm.us/nmccv/Funding-Opportunities/Current-Opportunities

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