Notes From the Director's Desk: Special Edition 

Thank you for attending the AmeriCorps Seniors 2023 Convening," Growing Together: Uniting America Through Service"

Message From the Director

Dear colleagues,

I'm so appreciative of all who could join the 2023 AmeriCorps Seniors Annual Convening in person (and via live stream). In the midst of the many learning opportunities, I hope you were able to see how much you contribute to the lifting up of older Americans through national service, as well as expanding the AmeriCorps Seniors network. 

I want to again thank the directors who led the sessions. I have received so many follow-up emails and comments from AmeriCorps staff and external speakers sharing how much they enjoyed connecting with all of you. They were blown away by your enthusiasm and engagement in sessions, and everyone is looking forward to staying connected and working with you.

We will continue to share more learning and service opportunities as a follow-up to the convening. Recordings will be posted to Litmos soon. 

If you have photos or stories from your local events or the convening, feel free to share them with us by sending them to scinnovations@cns.gov. We are already looking forward to seeing you again next year, in the Washington, DC area, for the 2024 AmeriCorps Seniors Convening.

Let's continue to grow together! 

Best, 

Atalaya Sergi, Director
AmeriCorps Seniors

AmeriCorps Seniors Convening 2023 Excellence Awardees

Impactful Service Award

Zaida Martinez, New Opportunities, Inc of Waterbury, Conn., project director 

"I am humbled to be recognized by AmeriCorps Seniors for the work I do with this amazing population. I absolutely love the work I do. I thank everyone from the AmeriCorps Senior Companion Program, its volunteers, and from New Opportunities Inc who allows me to continue to serve."

Life of Service Award

Tami DiCostanzo, Community Service Society of New York, project director

"When I started working with the AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP program in 1992, I didn't know that it would be the start of the most wonderful journey! I express my sincere gratitude to AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith, AmeriCorps Seniors Director Atalaya Sergi, and the entire AmeriCorps Seniors staff. I would also like to thank my team at Community Service Society of New York, especially David Jones, Alina Molina, and Deirdre Ryan, for their incredible dedication to our work."

Innovative Service Award

Laura Kinder, Spark the Change Colorado, project director

 "I am extremely honored to received the Innovation Service Award. I share this recognition with my Spark the Change Colorado Empowering Aging team who are often at the head of innovation and the Mountain Region staff who support our many newest activities. I am continually inspired by our volunteers who serve their clients with their hearts and "can do" attitudes." 

Inclusive Service Award

Puerto Rico Commission for Volunteerism and Community Service

• Lucy Medina—Esperanza Para La Vejez                     
• Irizarry, Josefina Lopez, and Charissa Crispin Torres—Oficinia del Procurador de las Personas de Edad Avanzada
• Junta Central Para Asuntos De La Vejez 
• Municipio De San Juan 

AmeriCorps Seniors in Puerto Rico have a combined 144 years of AmeriCorps program implementation experience and represent some of the first AmeriCorps Seniors programs in the U.S. Last year more than 1,200 Americans of all ages and backgrounds united to meet local needs, strengthen communities, and expand opportunity through national service in Puerto Rico,reaching 21 municipalities on the main island.

AmeriCorps Recruitment Resources Update

For the past year, the centralized recruitment unit has partnered with the communications and marketing team to:                                                                                                 

• Develop materials for use in your local recruitment efforts.
• Generate and cultivate a national pool of “leads and prospective" volunteers.           

To note: prospective volunteers use the Pathfinder to locate opportunities. Pathfinder data is pulled from updates to eGrants.

For pathfinder or other  technical assistance, refer to "Appendix A. 22: Review and Update Project Information" in your program handbook located on the Foster Grandparent, RSVP, Senior Companion, and Senior Demonstration program grantee pages.

In March 2023, we launched the Choose AmeriCorps campaign, which includes a combination of paid ad placements, owned social media content, and other elements to raise awareness about AmeriCorps programs nationally. Since the end of April, the campaign has garnered more than 22 million impressions and more than 200,000 clicks to our website.

Choose AmeriCorps toolkit 

In addition to the national campaign, our communications vendor has developed a suite of AmeriCorps Seniors videos, photos, postcards, and brochures for promotional use.

RSVP trifold

 Foster Grandparent Program trifold 

 Senior Companion Program trifold 

Training Corner

Grantee Essentials Training and Technical Assistance

Join AmeriCorps Seniors each month to dive into specific technical assistance topics to help you build your skills while managing your AmeriCorps Seniors grant. 

AmeriCorps 101 Webinars

AmeriCorps Seniors 101 webinars aim to educate prospective volunteers about their options and inspire them to get involved. Check out the recording of our last event. 

Next session
Tuesday, June 13, 3-4 p.m. ET

Register 

AmeriCorps Seniors 2023 Post Convening 

National Partnership for Student Success

The National Partnership for Student Success is a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Education, AmeriCorps, the Johns Hopkins University Everyone Graduates Center, and leading national education and youth-serving organizations designed to answer the President’s call to action for an additional 250,000 caring adults to support students across the nation.

There are several ways to get involved in this effort including:

• Share information with the National Partnership for Student Success Support Hub for your progress to be counted towards this nationwide goal.
• Join the National Partnership for Student Success Support Hub’s Engaging Older Adults in Student Success Learning Community. Sign up for our kick-off call on Tuesday, June 20, 3-4:45 p.m. ET.

• Schools, districts, and nonprofits can apply to become National Partnerships for Student Success Supporting Champions. 
• Request technical assistance for your college/university, school, district, or nonprofit to find partners in your region, or guidance on implementing, expanding, or improving programs.

Join the National Partnership for Student Success

Convening Spotlight

"Wasn’t that one fabulous convening?  It was such an honor and pleasure to spend time with so many dedicated AmeriCorps Seniors folks. Here is an excerpt from my poem that I read at the convening to thank the tutors and teachers at the National Digital Equity Center for all the help they gave our Foster Grandparents and Senior Companions," said AmeriCorps Seniors volunteer Fran.                                                                                                                      

Reconnected and it feels so good

by Grammy Fran
...
Armed with abundant knowledge and boundless patience
Teach me that a mouse doesn’t need legs;
Windows don’t just let in light
Operating systems are not for surgery;
Clicking is not made with one’s tongue;
Google has nothing to do with eyes;
The Cloud is not in the skies;
Bytes are not for eating; a Mac is not a burger!
...

Elder Justice Corner

How to Avoid a Scam by the Social Security Administration

Scammers frequently change their approach to trick people.

Social Security will never:

• Threaten with arrest because you don’t agree to pay money immediately.
• Suspend your Social Security number.
• Claim to need personal information or payment to activate a cost-of-living adjustment or other benefit increase.
• Ask you to pay with gift cards, prepaid debit cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, or by mailing cash.
• Threaten to seize your bank account or offer to move your money to a “protected” bank account.

Be skeptical. Look for red flags. 

Scammers have been known to:

• Use legitimate names of Office of Inspector General or Social Security Administration employees.
• “Spoof” official government phone numbers, or even numbers for local police departments.
• Send official-looking documents by U.S. mail or attachments through email, text, or social media message.

Report Fraud

System Updates

Payment Integrity Updates

1. The first round of data collection and testing for the FY 2023 payment integrity assessment is nearing completion.
2. The second round of grantees selected for testing will be completed by Thursday, August 30. to allow for the extrapolation and reporting. 
3. Grantees will be notified of the results of the entire year’s testing in September.
4. In November, the Office of Management and Budget  will publish results on paymentaccuracy.gov                                                                                               

Alongside the second round of data collection, AmeriCorps will pilot a new payment integrity methodology using Payment Management System draw data beginning in June. 

• For the pilot, grantees will be required to support selected PMS draws and engage in a data collection process to identify individual transactions. 
• Once individual transactions are identified, we will request documentation to support those payments.

AmeriCorps expects the pilot to:

• Reduce the number of requests necessary to identify individual transactions, as draws generally occur more frequently
• Allow data to be pulled more frequently and closer to when transactions occurred, which may allow for ease in providing files and the ability to realize the  impact of corrective actions more timely.
• Provide visibility into draws after the removal of the Federal Cash Transaction Report requirement.
• Remove long-standing audit issues around Federal Financial Report and General Ledger reconciliation issues, which would allow the agency to remove programs from reporting if rates are under $10M.

Once grantees are selected for the pilot, the agency will have dedicated staff for additional support.