AmeriCorps Outreach
Sessions
September 6, 2012
Sacramento, CA
&
September 13, 2012
Ontario, CA
Overview
• Introductions
• Housekeeping items
• Purpose of Outreach Sessions
• Clarify Expectations
• Understand your interests
What is CaliforniaVolunteers
(CV)?
• The Governor-appointed State Service Commission in
California
• Charged with increasing number & impact of
Californians engaged in service and volunteering
• Leads the organization in consultation with a 25-member
Commission appointed by the Governor
• The role of the AmeriCorps Department
• Funded by the Corporation for National and Community
Service (CNCS) to provide support to AmeriCorps
programs
About CNCS
• Federal agency that engages more than five million
Americans in service through:
– 80,000 AmeriCorps members
– 337,000 Senior Corps volunteers
– 900,000 Learn and Serve America students
• Additional programs:
–
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Volunteer Generation Fund
Social Innovation Fund
Nonprofit Capacity Building Program
King Day of Service
Types of AmeriCorps Programs
• AmeriCorps State
– State commissions
– Single-state placement
• AmeriCorps National
– National programs
– Multi-state placements
• AmerICorps VISTA
– Increase capacity
– Communities of poverty
• AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps)
– Full-time, team-based 18-24 year olds
– Live on campus
– Provide direct team-based community service
What is AmeriCorps?
• A National service program
• Provides opportunities for Americans each year to
provide intensive results-driven service.
• AmeriCorps grants support the efforts of nonprofits and
public agencies to recruit, select, and supervise
individuals enrolled in an intensive term of service and
the volunteers with whom they serve to tackle unmet
community needs.
• Grants are awarded to eligible organizations that
engaged in evidence-based interventions
• An AmeriCorps project must enhance what an
organization was able to do before the grant, and
cannot duplicate or supplant pre-existing activities, staff
or volunteers
• What AmeriCorps isn’t…
AmeriCorps State Funding
• CV receives AmeriCorps State funding from CNCS
through two streams:
1) Competitive Funds support programs that have competed
successfully at both the state and national levels.
2) Formula Funds are awarded to CV through a population-based
allocation to support programs that compete successfully at the
state level.
• CV subgrants these funds to applicants based on a
rank-order
• Grants are awarded to organizations that will operate
solely in California
CV seeks to invest
AmeriCorps resources
in programs that…
Specifically Target Solving a
Critical Challenge Facing
California
• CaliforniaVolunteers values program models that clearly
address an identified critical community issue, not
merely the expansion of a single organization’s mission.
• AmeriCorps programs are required to perform activities
that are designed, implemented, and evaluated with
extensive and broad-based local input.
• This input is provided in consultation with
representatives from the community served and
agencies with a demonstrated record of experience in
providing services.
Focus on Measurable Outcomes
• CaliforniaVolunteers values strong program designs built
to address the community need by logically connecting
all performance measure components back to the need.
• The program design is built to deliver the services that
will achieve the desired result, and
• Can quantifiably measure and report on that impact
annually.
Use National Service as an
Appropriate Strategy
• CaliforniaVolunteers is committed to demonstrating that
service is a powerful strategy to address community
challenges.
• Successful program designs clearly identify direct
beneficiaries of the stated community need,
• Identify an evidence-based intervention proven to
address the need, and
• Clearly articulate why the efforts of an AmeriCorps
member is an appropriate strategy to deliver the
intervention.
Dedicated to Quality
• CaliforniaVolunteers seeks to invest in programs that
are committed to making a difference and incorporate
quality management practices to oversee the program
and ensure appropriate investment of public funds.
• CaliforniaVolunteers values programs which can
successfully implement the program design by assuring
that the systems and processes necessary for managing
and assessing the effectiveness of the program model
are in place prior to operation.
• This includes adequate oversight in the management of
each component to assure that the program design and
systems are implemented and assessed, and that
stakeholder feedback leads to continuous improvement.
What can
AmeriCorps Programs Do?
Address community needs in a variety of ways.
Examples include:
• Connecting the homeless with supportive services
• Providing access to health care services
• Building affordable housing
• Recruiting and managing volunteers
• Responding to natural disasters
• Cleaning parklands and managing natural resources
• Tutoring and mentoring youth
• Training the unemployed
Benefits of an AmeriCorps Grant
•
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•
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•
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•
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Professional development and job training for members
Education Award to further education or repay student loans
Service opportunities for those with disabilities
Underperforming students in hard-pressed schools are
reaching academic achievement
Veterans are receiving support services as they transition from
military service to civilian life
Services and resources are extended to disadvantaged youth
and families
Pathways to greater opportunities for foster youth
Enable organizations to leverage human capital through
Allows organizations to recruit individuals from the community
to serve as AmeriCorps members
Enables community parternships to deliver results-driven
services to address pressing local, regional and statewide
needs.
Video Example
Who is an AmeriCorps Member?
• An individual enrolled for an intensive term of service
(300-1700 hours per year) in an AmeriCorps program
• U.S. citizen, U.S. national or lawful permanent resident
alien of the United States
• At least 17 years of age (no upper age limit)
• Not a volunteer or a staff person
• AmeriCorps members can earn an Eli Segal Education
Award for successful completion of a term of service
• Full-time AmeriCorps members receive a living allowance
stipend and are eligible for health and childcare benefits
• Must clear required Criminal History Checks
About AmeriCorps Grants
• Grants provide partial funding to support AmeriCorps
projects/programs; funds are not for general
organizational expenses
• Grantees contribute match funding to support the project
• Grants include an allotment of AmeriCorps member
positions
• Funds are directly tied to a specific number of members
and are solely for program expenses (e.g. member living
allowance and benefits, member and staff training, supervision,
supplies, and evaluation)
AmeriCorps Grant Flow
CNCS
CV
Community
Collaborative
Legal Applicant
Placement
Sites
Beneficiaries
Served
Legal Applicant Responsibilities
• Partnering agencies have shared vision and mission of
program design
• Program has management and administrative systems in
place
• Program maintains strong fiscal controls
• Program looks to the future and has a financial strategy
that moves it toward long-term sustainability
• Program has clearly identified direct beneficiaries of the
stated community need
• Intervention is appropriate and will lead to desired results
• National service is an appropriate strategy to deliver the
intervention
Legal Applicant Responsibilities
(cont)
•
Host sites are appropriate and well managed
•
Program has developed an inclusive recruitment plan, including
a timeline
•
Program has a clearly defined selection process to assure
compliance with AmeriCorps regulations
•
Program has developed an orientation plan designed to prepare
members for term of service
•
Program has a training plan, covering the program year, which
uses service experiences to help members achieve the skills
and education needed for productive active citizenship
•
Effective program has an “initial review” process that quickly
checks assumptions of what needs to be in place for the
program design to work
How to Apply for
AmeriCorps Funding
• Respond to CaliforniaVolunteers’ Request for
Applications (RFA)
• Visit www.CaliforniaVolunteers.org for RFA notice
• Follow RFA, Instructions, Forms and Guidance and
meet required deadlines
2013-14 Grantmaking Calendar
CV Request for Applications
(RFA) Website Release
Early October
RFA Overview Sessions
October
Notice of Intent to Apply
October
Applications Due
October
Peer Review
October/November
Staff Review
November/December
Clarification Period
December
eGrants Deadline
(Competitive)
January 2013
eGrants Deadline (Formula)
June 2013
Funding Announcements
July 2013
Resources and Tools
• www.CaliforniaVolunteers.org
• California AmeriCorps Program Guide
http://www.californiavolunteers.org/documents/AmeriCorps/CA_Pro
gram_Guide.pdf
- Standards and Pre-Contract Assessment
• www.AmeriCorps.gov
•
www.CNS.gov
• Become a Peer Reviewer!
Questions?
For More Information
Funding@CaliforniaVolunteers.ca.gov
Getting Things Done for America