Research and Evaluation/Spring 2017

AmeriCorps sent this bulletin at 02/28/2017 08:51 AM EST

AmeriCorps Alumni Outcomes Study

AmeriCorps by the numbers

Since its founding in 1994, over 1 million AmeriCorps members have contributed more than 1.4 billion hours of service. While the impact AmeriCorps members have made on the communities in which they serve is evident and well documented, researchers wanted to know how service impacted the members themselves. The Office of Research and Evaluation commissioned a survey of AmeriCorps alumni which was released in January, 2017.

Nearly 4,000 alumni, from the 2005, 2010 and 2013 cohorts responded to the survey. Questions were based on the AmeriCorps member exit survey and focused on long-term civic participation, career pathways, education outcomes, and skill acquisition of AmeriCorps alumni. Results are positive and indicate that serving in AmeriCorps is a personally and professionally defining experience for alumni.

AMERICORPS WEEK IS MARCH 4-10

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SIF Reporting Guidance Released

SIF Guidance

In celebration of SIF Week (February 20-24), we’re highlighting a new SIF resource that’s useful for all organizations conducting evaluations!

The evaluation reports the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) intermediaries and subgrantees produce are a key component of SIF’s efforts to disseminate findings regarding rigorously documented program impacts and sharing lessons learned about effective programming and building evidence.

The Reporting Guidance  document is intended to promote a shared understanding among CNCS, SIF grantees, SIF subgrantees, and evaluators about how evaluation reporting can support these purposes. However, it has a wider application and can be used as an evaluation resource by others engaged in evidence building and reporting.

In an effort to improve the document, we invite you to send your comments, suggested edits and feedback to evaluation@cns.gov by April 1, 2017.

How are we doing?

Please take our quick survey here.

Evidence of CNCS and Grantee Impact Continues to Grow

As CNCS targets its investments toward building evidence of effectiveness, a body of research that supports the role of national service and social innovation in advancing critical national goals is emerging ( see the recent National Service Synthesis, SIF Meta-Analysis, and Evidence Exchange to access research).  CNCS-funded programs have:

New grantee program evaluations are regularly being released. Be sure to keep checking back as the agency’s and our grantees’ evidence base grows. 

2016 Summit logo

Summit Size and Diversity Grew

In the spirit of using research for better outcomes, the results of the attendee survey from the 2016 Research Summit are in.

Attendance grew from 236 in 2015 to 273 in 2016. With 45% Summit attendees responding to the feedback survey, 79% indicated that they found the event worthwhile.

Thank you to all who participated in the 2016 Research Summit. Check out materials and video from the Summit here.

  • In-person attendance grew from 236 in 2015 to 273 in 2016 (livestream viewership grew from 104 to 216).
  • Attendees from academia and research firms grew from 43 (18%) in 2015 to 102 (37%) in 2016.
  • Overall we had a far more even mix of attendee types this year. 44% of in-person attendees said they were or are a CNCS grantee. Livestream viewership showed a good geographic spread across the country (and one in Argentina!)