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AmeriCorps Seniors
Jan. 14, 2025
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Notes From the Director's Desk:
January Edition
 Atalaya Sergi, national director of AmeriCorps Seniors, will be departing the agency this month. Leave her a farewell message here.
Featured this month:
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Message From the Director
Dear colleagues,
With a new year upon us, we are presented with a chance to embrace change, use it as an opportunity to reset, and welcome new possibilities with open minds and hearts. As I prepare to step down as the national director of AmeriCorps Seniors on Monday, Jan. 20, the time has come for me to say goodbye, and it’s certainly a moment filled with many emotions. While I will deeply miss all of you—the incredible volunteers and the AmeriCorps Seniors team—I’m also incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved together.
Your unwavering dedication and tireless efforts have ensured that older adults remain active, engaged, and connected within their communities. To our remarkable volunteers: thank you for making such a profound difference. From helping children thrive academically; offering companionship to older adults, so they can stay in their homes and communities; providing caregivers with much needed respite; or stepping up to address the diverse needs of your communities; you have shown that older adults are an invaluable resource.
Together, we’ve also made great strides in challenging ageism by highlighting the stories of our volunteers and demonstrating the extraordinary impact older adults bring to every setting they touch. None of this would have been possible without your passion and hard work. I’m pleased to let you know we have brand new Public Service Announcements ("More Than You Give", “Your Impact”, “Be Useful”, “Seize the Moment”, and “Our Community”) for you to use that tell the story of our volunteers and shows the energy with which they serve their communities. We will also have new veteran lapel pins for you to order to show your support for our veterans and those who serve veterans. Look for a link to order the veteran pins in the next Notes From the Director's Desk email.
Soon, a new director will be tapped to join AmeriCorps Seniors, and I ask that you invite them to visit your programs, meet your volunteers, and share with them your dedication to serving older adults and your communities. I know a lot of you will be commemorating the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Day of Service next week with service-related events and activities, and this would be a great opportunity to share with us (and document for the new director) the many impacts your programs make.
I am immensely grateful for the privilege of serving as your director, and I will always be your biggest champion. Be well, do good work, and continue to show the nation and the world the power of older adults in service.
In service,
Atalaya Sergi, Director
AmeriCorps Seniors
AmeriCorps Seniors 2024 Wrapped
Celebrate the incredible accomplishments of AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers with AmeriCorps Seniors 2024 Wrapped. Across the nation, our dedicated volunteers have brought compassion, expertise, and service to communities in need. From mentoring youth, supporting older adults, providing disaster relief, and fostering civic engagement, your impact has been profound. This wrap-up highlights the hours served, lives touched, and transformative projects completed; showcasing the power service has to create stronger communities. Thank you to our volunteers for making 2024 a year of extraordinary impact.
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Training Corner
Upcoming Trainings
Join the following upcoming trainings to gain valuable insight into managing your AmeriCorps Seniors grant. These sessions will provide essential tools and strategies to support successful program management and implementation.
AmeriCorps Seniors Grantee Essentials TTA:
Fiscal Year 2025 Quarter Four Continuation and Renewal Training:
Centralized Recruitment Unit:
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Hyper-local Recruitment Efforts: Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2 p.m. ET
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Cross Program and Collaborative Recruitment Efforts: Wednesday, Feb. 19,
2 p.m. ET
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Rural and Native Recruitment: Wednesday, March 19, 2 p.m. ET
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Recruitment Policies, Procedures, and Supporting Agency Resources:
Wednesday, April 16, 2 p.m. ET
National Service Criminal History Check:
Missed a training or want to explore the full schedule? Check out the FY 2025 AmeriCorps Seniors Events Schedule. The schedule provides a complete list of trainings, registration links, recordings, presentations, and other materials.
Monthly Spotlight on Training Resources
This month, we are highlighting Collecting and Reporting High Quality Data from the December 2024 Grantee Essentials Training and Technical Assistance call.
During this call, we highlighted the benefits of collecting high-quality data on your AmeriCorps Seniors program outcomes and shared six key steps you can use to implement data within your projects. This resource also includes various real-world scenarios to help you best select outcome measurements and address common challenges you may encounter.
Note: If you are using the direct link, you must first log in to Litmos, then click the link to the course.
For technical support, to request access, or if you need assistance accessing these pages using assistive technology, email: serviceresources@americorps.gov.
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Program Updates and Requirements
Reporting Requirements
For reporting deadlines, review your grant's program-specific terms and conditions (see the section titled “Reporting Requirements”):
Reports will be made available in eGrants 90 days before the due date. If the option to enter report data is not available in eGrants, please reach out to your portfolio manager.
Current Reports Due: AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent, Senior Companion, and Senior Demonstration Program Quarter Four Grants:
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Federal Financial Report Due: Thursday, Jan. 30.
For instructions on the project progress report and federal financial report, visit your program's grantee resources section, select “submit a progress report” or “submit a Federal Financial Report” as the action, then click “apply” to show the resources.
AmeriCorps Seniors Operations Handbooks
Litmos Trainings for Reporting
Data in Action
AmeriCorps Seniors is currently conducting a COVID-19 Effects Study to gather information on how our programs adapted to serve through the pandemic, better understand what worked and what can be improved. We thank those directors and grantees that are actively engaging in collecting data, but we still need more participation to make this study a success.
 JBS International has been reaching out to select programs to collect information for the study. Program participation is essential to complete this study! We thank you in advance for your time and engagement in helping us complete this important research. Please let JBS know if you have any questions or need any assistance, they are here to help.
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Elder Justice Corner
From our colleagues at the Federal Trade Commission
Tips to Avoid Hospice Fraud
Scammers are targeting older adults by offering free in-home services like cooking and cleaning in exchange for their Medicare number. This is a scheme to commit hospice fraud, where scammers sign victims up for Medicare-funded hospice care, even if they don’t need it, to bill Medicare fraudulently.
Hospice care is a specialized service for people with a terminal illness and a life expectancy of six months or less, requiring a doctor's certification. Being signed up for unnecessary hospice care can affect future Medicare coverage.
To avoid hospice scams:
- Never share your Medicare number in exchange for free services.
- Don’t agree to hospice care in exchange for perks or gifts.
- Medicare representatives don’t visit homes to sign people up for services.
Report suspected hospice fraud to 1-800-MEDICARE or your local Senior Medicare Patrol.
For more information, visit the Federal Trade Commission.
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Martin Luther King, Jr., National Day of Service
The Martin Luther King, Jr., National Day of Service will be observed on Monday, Jan. 20. This day is a defining moment each year when Americans across the country step up to make communities more equitable and take action to create the Beloved Community of Dr. King’s dream.
This year, we celebrate 30 years of MLK Day of Service and its impact as more Americans embrace the idea that citizenship involves taking an active role in improving communities.
Looking for a way to participate? Check out he MLK Day of Service 2025 Toolkit. AmeriCorps works to elevate and amplify the impact of the day by sharing stories and projects. Share your story with AmeriCorps by filling out this short form.
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