Senior Corps Coronavirus (COVID-19) Volunteer Guidelines
Dear Grantees,
Senior Corps has been closely monitoring the latest developments related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is the lead government agency on the management of the outbreak. They have created resource guides on preventing the spread of COVID-19 specific to communities. This includes explicit guidance for childcare centers, schools, colleges, universities, community events, healthcare settings, and many others. These guides, along with additional resources and up-to-date information from the CDC, can be found at the following links:
Additionally, CNCS knows that there are concerns specific to our programs. To help address these concerns, CNCS has provided these FAQs which will be continually updated when necessary.
Senior Corps recognizes that in these exceptional circumstances an FGP and SCP volunteer may be unable to serve due to the impact of the COVID-19. Senior Corps is authorizing FGP and SCP grantees to pay volunteers a temporary allowance and has outlined the process below. Senior Corps authorizes this allowance to help preserve the volunteer workforce and to minimize potential service disruptions. Rather than risk the eventual loss of valuable Senior Corps volunteers because of their inability to serve during a potential brief shutdown period of a program sponsor or volunteer station, Senior Corps determined that it is advantageous to the respective Senior Corps programs, as well as to the individual program sponsors and volunteer stations, to provide a temporary pay allowance.
Below are the steps for obtaining Program Officer/Portfolio Manager approval for, and to implement a temporary allowance to FGP and SCP volunteers who are unable to serve. Guidance will also be posted to the CNCS website, Managing Senior Corps Grants.
The temporary pay allowance may be paid only to FGP and SCP volunteers who are not able to serve. Grantees shall calculate each individual volunteer temporary allowance amount at $3 an hour and multiple this amount with the average weekly service hours for the individual volunteer. For instance, if a volunteer averages 20 hours of service per week, at $3 an hour, their temporary allowance would be $60 per week. The temporary allowance may be paid at this rate for up to 10 weeks, and must be approved by the grantee’s Program Officer/Portfolio Manager. The temporary allowance may be funded through the Volunteer Expense funds within the grant budget, and the stipend funds may be used for this purpose.
Step 1: Write your Program Officer/Portfolio Manager providing the following information:
- The date your service project was first affected by COVID-19
- A general description of how the COVID-19 affected your service area
- The number of volunteers for whom you are seeking approval to pay a temporary allowance to, the amount of their temporary allowance, and the specific reasons they are unable to serve
- For each volunteer, the proposed start and end dates for payment of the temporary allowance.
Step 2: Your Program Officer/Portfolio Manager shall provide to you a written response approving or disapproving your request. If the request is not approved, you will receive an explanation of the reason, and may provide additional information if you believe further information may be helpful to support your initial the request.
Step 3: When you receive your Program Officer/Portfolio Manager’s approval to pay a temporary allowance, you may begin paying the volunteers as of the approved date. You must keep accurate records to document that these payments correspond to the temporary allowance to specifically address COVID-19. Please use the following disclaimer on volunteer timesheets: “Hours reflect those accrued as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and approved by CNCS.”
Step 4: Send a written update to your Program Officer/Portfolio Manager every 14 days with an update and notify them if the temporary payment allowance is still needed.
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