Hey! Here are Some National Service Facts to Think About

Some people don't know that the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) leads 80,000 AmeriCorps members and 245,000 Senior Corps volunteers along with other service programs and initiatives -- but they should. 

To feel better, we gave ourselves a little pep talk and thought about how national service makes a difference for millions across the nation. Here are five research-based examples... 

• An independent evaluation of Reading Partners, an AmeriCorps and Social Innovation Fund grantee, found that the program: more effectively raised students’ reading proficiency than other similar reading programs in the same schools that were studied; and had a positive and statistically significant impact on students’ reading comprehension, reading fluency, and sight word efficiency.
• A third-party study of City Year's Whole School, Whole Child model found schools with teams of City Year AmeriCorps members were two to three times more likely to increase English Language Arts (ELA) and math proficiency rates compared with similar schools that did not partner with City Year. Schools that partnered with City Year also gained the equivalent of approximately one month of additional learning in math and ELA.
• A study of AmeriCorps member exit surveys found multiple benefits for national service alumni. Among the findings, 82% described AmeriCorps as a personally defining experience, and 9 out of 10 reported that AmeriCorps experience improved their ability to solve problems. Also, 8 out of 10 said AmeriCorps benefited their career path, 94% said national service broadened their understanding of society and different communities, and 94% are registered to vote.
• Our research and evaluation staff found that 48% of Senior Corps volunteers are younger than 65, and a national evaluation of RSVP volunteers revealed the average participant has served 8 years and gives 22 hours of their time to service each month. RSVP welcomes seniors age 55 and older, and many volunteers are still working while serving.
• According to a Columbia University study, "For every $1 invested in national service, there are returns to society of $3.95 in terms of higher earnings, more output, and community-wide gains. For every $1 of taxpayer spending, there are returns to the taxpayer of $2.20 in terms of higher taxes on output produced and lower spending on government programs."

We have more facts in our Evidence Exchange and on the CNCS Impact Page. 

In service,

CNCS Office of External Affairs

The Impact of National Service

Recognition Day for National Service: The Road to 4,000 The fifth-annual Mayor, County, and Tribal Recognition Day for National Service is just around the bend on April 4, 2017. In 2016, more than 3,500 state and local leaders representing more than 178 million Americans joined in this celebration of the impact AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and the Social Innovation Fund make in their communities. And we're expecting more to join us this year. Be sure that the leaders where you live, serve and work spread the word about how national service is getting things done in your area. Read more

AmeriCorps: Another Way to Serve Your Country While it’s no question that the military and AmeriCorps are vastly different, there are a few notable common threads. Like the military, AmeriCorps provides young adults in their formative years a unique opportunity to shape their careers, experience camaraderie, grow personally, find their niche, and even find a sense of purpose.  In this way, government programs like AmeriCorps are an important part of the service ecosystem in which we live. Read more

Herb Haggett: ‘A life of selfless service’  Herb Haggett has failed at retirement in the name of helping others. The 86-year-old Coeur d'Alene man and Korean War veteran's latest assignment in a long list of jobs that ranged from the health care field to the Internal Revenue Service to operating heavy equipment is the AmeriCorps member in the Idaho Department of Labor office in Post Falls. Haggett works with Robert Shoeman, local Labor veterans representative, to help find jobs for veterans. Read more

Norfolk, VA: Building Financial Security One Conversation at a Time By developing savings (for things like emergency funds), creating realistic financial plans, reducing debt, and improving credit scores, Bank On participants are more prepared in the event of a disaster. Norfolk trained two AmeriCorps VISTAs, Pam Myers and Justin Burns, as Master Financial Education Volunteers and then embedded them in the Bank On program to serve as financial coaches alongside other volunteers. While there are many coaches, the VISTAs bring something special to the program. Read more

Get Social: National Service in Your State

Each week, we will provide a social media shareable that can be used on your networks. National service has a big impact across the nation. How big? Visit the National Service in Your State page on the CNCS web site to discover how many AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers are serving in your state, as well as some other cool statistics about our programs.

National Service in the News

When volunteering is all in the family (AmeriCorps) 

Forbes

Fiftysomething Linda Meadows, a volunteer with the AmeriCorps Reading Partners program, is tutoring students at the library of Cherry Hill Elementary in south Baltimore, a low-income, mostly African-American neighborhood. “I like to encourage young people. They need to be told they can do it,” she says. For Meadows, Reading Partners is a family affair. She convinced her 31-year-old son Michael Cobb to apply for the program when he moved from Connecticut with Meadows and her husband, an Episcopal minister. Cobb is now the Reading Partners site coordinator for volunteers at the Furman L. Templeton Preparatory Academy, a charter elementary school in west Baltimore.

Read more

AmeriCorps, still doing work in flood zone 

The Charleston Gazette-Mail, West Virginia

Arron Seams was a manager for a Lewisburg bar last summer when the flood hit. Seams’ Lewisburg home was spared from damage, but others in harder-hit areas like White Sulphur Springs and Rupert were not as lucky. “Anyone that wasn’t affected personally knew someone who was,” Seams said. “And a lot of folks whose homes weren’t necessarily flooded, they still lost some income because their job or place of income was closed for a few weeks.” Seams wanted to help, but he was recovering from a knee injury and wasn’t able to crawl under houses and do some of the other clean-out work needed at the time. “I felt bad for not being able to help out more,” Seams said.

Read more

Why getting a good job is so much harder for today’s college graduates   

The Washington Post; Washington, D.C.

Nonprofit and government agencies also loom over hiring in a way they didn’t in the past. Teach for America and AmeriCorps are among the top 10 destinations for Michigan State graduates today, and several other nonprofit organizations fill spots in the top 15. In the 1980s, nonprofits occupied none of those spots. In a nationwide survey, more than 40 percent of the class of 2015 said they wanted to work for the government, at the federal, state or local level.

Read more

Foster grandparents step in WNC schools

The Citizen-Times, North Carolina

The foster grandparents at Andrews Elementary have everyone’s back in a way that only a grandparent could. Maybe it’s a snack for a child who could not bring one, or encouragement on a tough reading lesson. Maybe it’s a hug, or just someone to talk to. It is not uncommon to see a foster grandparent rummaging through the spare clothes closet, bagging up items for a child to take home, principal Melissa Godfrey said.

Read more

Oxford Park Commission hires new Volunteer Oxford director 

The Oxford Eagle, Mississippi

Teresa Faust is a people person who enjoys being out in the community. The new Volunteer Oxford Director also has a love for Oxford, and the people she has come to know since arriving in town six years ago. Faust has been employed by the city for the past year and a half, working as the volunteer recruiter with the Retired, Senior and Volunteer Program or RSVP. Faust was responsible for making contact with the non-profit organizations and assisting with their needs in relation to volunteers. The RSVP volunteers dealt with a number of events, from supply drives at the schools to working at the library or at The Pantry, and Faust was right in the middle of planning. All of the work was enjoyable because Faust likes to please so much.

Read more

13-year-old logs 1,000 volunteer hours in two years 

The Telegraph, Georgia

Most people would need decades to put in a 1,000 hours of community service, but a Houston County 13-year-old accomplished that in just two years. Kelsey Norris, a sixth-grader at Bonaire Middle School who is autistic, is Georgia’s top middle school volunteer for 2017. Every year, the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards recognizes one middle school and one high school student from each state and Washington, D.C., for their service efforts. Kelsey was presented with a medal at the Houston County Board of Education’s meeting Tuesday. She will receive $1,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., at the beginning of May, when she will find out if she is one of 10 national winners. Her community service hours also earned her a fifth President’s Volunteer Service Award.

Read more

National Service News updates 

To keep up with the latest in National Service News, read the bulletins below:

• March 15, 2017
• March 16-20, 2017