AmeriCorps Updates
Office of Grant Administration
The Office of Grant Administration is quickly updating the Fiscal Year 2024 and Fiscal Year 2025 General Terms and Conditions and the Fiscal Year 2024 AmeriCorps State and National Specific Terms and Conditions to comply with the Executive Orders. Amendments are briefly being paused until the Office of Grant Administration has cleared the new versions.
The Office of Grant Administration heard that payment management system deposits for some grantees have been delayed. The Office of Grants Administration has not been told that there is a “new” turnaround time for deposits; the office suspects that the delays are associated with a short-term high volume of payment requests.
Office of the Chief Risk Officer
All federal agencies are required to comply with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019. The requirement is that we assess all programs, internal and external, for susceptibility. If a program is determined to be susceptible, the agency is required to report statistically valid estimates to Office of Management and Budget and the public. AmeriCorps reported estimates on three susceptible programs in FY 2024: AmeriCorps State and National, the Foster Grandparent Program, and the National Service Trust. The National Service Trust was recently added as a susceptible program as a result of an Office of Inspecter General audit recommendation published May 31, 2023. The process and results receive a legally mandated performance audit by the Office of Inspector General annually.
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The estimated improper payment rate for AmeriCorps State and National in FY 2024 was 8.2 percent which corresponds to an amount of $33.8M.
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Non-criminal history check related improper payments are occurring at almost three times the rate as criminal history checks related improper payments.
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Timekeeping issues and calculation errors remain the overwhelming majority of the non-National Service Criminal History Checks improper payments.
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As in prior years, National Sex Offender Public Website checks were the top driver of National Service Criminal History Checks non-compliance, related to improper payments, for FY 2024. Completing the National Sex Offender Public Website check in the incorrect name was the top issue.
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We observe a higher rate of proper payments when grantees fully use the available National Service Criminal History Check vendors.
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The top two FY 2024 Root Cause drivers are the same as last year; these are incorrect or unsupported salary allocation and National Service Criminal History Checks.
The National Service Trust’s improper payment rate was below the statutory threshold, and it is not part of the agency’s FY 2025 test plan.
Office of Research and Evaluation
Sustained Enthusiasm for National Service:
NEW REPORT: Data from the last five years of the AmeriCorps Member Exit Survey tells a story of stability in the AmeriCorps member experience. The majority of members personally and professionally valued their service experiences, felt they had grown as individuals, and viewed their service as beneficial for the common good. Though most data do not change much year to year, the proportion of members planning to attend college has increased.
Learning from Evidence and Research on National Service
AmeriCorps strives to make a lasting impact on its participants, partners, communities served, the civic health of society, and our organizational culture, as it fosters the powerful synergies between these interconnected domains. Explore the AmeriCorps LEARNS web page where we highlight and curate key briefs and reports supporting the five domains of the AmeriCorps Ecosystem of Impact.
Evidence and Impact Webinar: Addressing Homelessness and Housing Insecurity in Kentucky Through National Service
Thursday, Feb. 27, from 3–4:15 p.m. ET.
Description: One way AmeriCorps and its partners advance economic opportunity for Americans is through providing services that increase access to affordable housing and for those experiencing homelessness. Homes for All AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA, programs of the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky, do just that across the Kentucky Commonwealth. Join the AmeriCorps Office of Research and Evaluation as we highlight national service in Kentucky, then zoom in to the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky’s work to create pathways to housing and homeownership for Kentucky citizens by leveraging national service. Finally, we will highlight a Homes for All AmeriCorps return on investment study that found a positive return for every funder dollar invested in Homes for All.
Compliance Tip
Programs operating under a fixed price award can be found non-complaint if the grantee does not have a policy to manage the calculation and drawdown of fixed price awards.
The policy must incorporate these minimum elements:
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Advances of fixed amount grant funds are not permitted outside of express written approval from AmeriCorps.
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How drawdowns are determined for the type of fixed amount award selected for monitoring:
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For professional Corps and full-time awards: Earned funds are based on the actual hours served by enrolled members 26.
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For Education Award Programs awards: Earned funds are based on the number of members enrolled, adjusted by slot type.
Questions and Answer
1. The AmeriCorps Week toolkit link on the webpage takes me to the AmeriCorps 30th anniversary toolkit and asks for a password. How can I access that information?
The toolkit is currently under development and access will be live Thursday, Feb. 20.
The following enrollment and administrative review questions were posed prior to our Tuesday, Jan. 14 grantee call. Below are responses from AmeriCorps State and National, the Office of Regional Operations, and the Trust. At this time, we are not anticipating further policy updates to the enrollment and administrative review process. Grantees and commissions should work with their portfolio managers and trust officers if they have additional questions.
1.) The updated policy states that start date changes will be considered for things including unintentional program staff error. However, we have heard in recent months situations where a start change was denied by the Trust. Can you clarify on the forthcoming AmeriCorps State and National Grantee call what commissions and grantees should do in instances when a change is denied, yet they followed the policy?
In establishing the Administrative Review process, the AmeriCorps State and National Enrollment Policy offers an opportunity for corrections in certain circumstances, but it is not absolute. Every request is different. This is one of the reasons why the new policy recommends discussing unusual requests with your portfolio manager before submitting. Some requests pose novel questions and require the input of other offices. If a grantee does not understand why a request cannot be approved, it should ask for more information and the relevant offices within AmeriCorps will work together to clarify the reason for the response.
2.) The policy states that the administrative review process cannot be used to modify records unrelated to enrollment, such as member exit. We are unclear on what scenarios item 11 on pg. 3 would be relevant, except for changing an exit form. Can you provide more context on why these documents would be needed for a member start change?
These documents are required for changes to enrollment dates when that enrollment date change includes additional hours served. This may be the case when a member serves hours between their original enrollment date and the revised enrollment date.
3.) Also, in the final paragraph on page 2, it states to change a member’s record of hours or end date, to contact the Hotline. If this is the case, can you confirm that the Hotline, the Office of Regional Operations, and Trust are on the same page on this moving forward? We continue to hear differing responses including that exits should be handled by the trust officer.
Requests to the Hotline will be routed to the Trust. It is acceptable to start with either the Hotline or the Trust. The Hotline is referred to as an option in eGrants and AmeriCorps cannot update this easily. We will consider clarifying this when this policy is next revised.
4.) Can you provide a document with examples of when commissions or grantees should directly contact the trust officer, if not for exit changes?
There is no limitation of when a commission or grantee can contact the Trust related to Trust enrollments and updates to member data. As always, include your portfolio manager in communication with any other AmeriCorps units.
5.) Please elaborate on the expected timeline for changes to member start dates. Once approved by the Office of Regional Operations, when should be expect the Trust to take action? It has been taking 6+ months for resolutions – which is impacting member access to education awards and our ability to close out subgrants.
The timeframe for resolution is contingent upon the collective factor of each case. Once the Trust receives complete information the Trust should complete action within 10 business days. Time sent to IT support for resolution is not included within the Trust estimate.
Executive Order Compliance: Service Opportunity Listings Q&A
AmeriCorps is continuing to review all applicable executive orders and corresponding guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management. AmeriCorps is proactively taking action to ensure alignment with President Trump’s executive orders, related directives, and the Trump-Vance Administration priorities.
As part of this review, AmeriCorps has removed some AmeriCorps State and National and AmeriCorps VISTA service opportunity listings that appear out of compliance with executive orders.
1. When you say “appear,” do you mean in Egrants or on myAmeriCorps.gov?
The listings that have been temporarily removed are in the myAmeriCorps portal.
2. Which listings were removed?
Opportunity listings that appear out of compliance with executive orders were temporarily removed.
3. Can we be informed if our specific listing was removed?
Programs should review their listings in the myAmeriCorps portal and self-identify any missing listings.
4. Approximately how many listings were impacted?
Initially, a total of 219 active listings were removed, including 122 AmeriCorps State and National listings (including Public Health AmeriCorps). The agency is reviewing listings daily and will continue to remove listings that appear noncompliant.
5. Can you clarify if the agency intended to remove all inactive listings?
Inactive and expired listings were removed as part of the agency’s review.
6. If a program wants to re-post a listing that was inactive previously – I assume the agency is reviewing all new postings for any potential concerns with the executive orders as part of the normal process. Is that the case?
Yes, the agency is continually reviewing listings.
7. Should we expect the normal turnaround time of 2-3 days for service listings to be approved or will the typical turnaround time on this process be impacted?
The process for submitting AmeriCorps VISTA listings has not changed, although you may see slower response time as the agency engages in larger executive order compliance activities.
8. Is the agency differentiating between competitive and formula subgrantees in the review?
No. Listings for both competitive and formula grantees are being reviewed.
9. If service opportunity listings have been removed, are we to assume those activities are not in compliance and should cease? What should currently enrolled members do in the interim if their service opportunity listing has been removed?
Programs should review their activities and stop all activities that are not in compliance with the Trump-Vance Administration’s executive orders.
10. What should I do if my listing was removed, but I believe it was compliant with all applicable executive orders?
If your listing is no longer visible, please take no action until you receive further instruction.
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