FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb 05, 2007

Dear Colleagues,

Earlier today, the President released his budget request for fiscal year 2008. The Administration has requested a FY 2008 budget for the Corporation of $828.6 million.

This strong budget includes investments that will enable national service to grow volunteering in the United States, meet local needs through service, and further help nonprofits tap the enormous power of Americans to give back to their communities.

We continue, with this budget request, to strive for management excellence and to sustain our ability to meet our four strategic programming goals: expand the number of Americans who volunteer; engage college students in service; harness the experience and skills of retiring Baby Boomers; and ensure a brighter future for all of America’s youth.

The budget will support 75,000 AmeriCorps members, more than 500,000 Senior Corps participants, and 1.3 million Learn and Serve America students.

Here is an overview of the Corporation’s 2008 request:

  • For Senior Corps, the budget requests $204.4 million. This includes $65.5 million for RSVP, an increase over last year, which includes $6 million that will be used to help launch a Boomer Corps initiative; $97.5 million for the Foster Grandparent program; and $41.3 million for the Senior Companion program. Although both Foster Grandparents and Senior Companions will sustain budget decreases, they are both less than attrition and no seniors will lose their volunteer positions.
        
  • Proposed AmeriCorps funding will allow us to support our goal of 75,000 members:
    • For AmeriCorps grants, the budget requests $255.6 million to support nearly 67,000 members. The budget also requests $122.5 million for the National Service Trust.
          
    • The budget requests $89.7 million for AmeriCorps VISTA, which will support 6,900 VISTA members in their effort to fight poverty, particularly in the area of recruiting and managing more student and Boomer volunteers. VISTA remains near historical high levels of funding.
          
    • For AmeriCorps NCCC, this budget requests $11.6 million, which when coupled with $7.5 million currently available, will support 1,160 full time members and 250 summer program members. The budget includes a series of reforms that will transform NCCC into a more cost-efficient program focused on disaster relief and emergency preparedness.
          
  • For Learn and Serve America, the budget requests $32.1 million to support the engagement of 1.3 million students. This request also provides Learn and Serve America with greater flexibility in how it can use funds to achieve Corporation targets for the Students in Service strategic focus area.

The President and the Administration remains committed to national service. We are also committed to controlling spending and eliminating the federal deficit. Many agencies and programs across the government are tightening their belts. For our budget, all national service programs are funded, most at or near historical highs, and the budget will not require any current participant in any Corporation program to stop serving.

You will find a more detailed explanation of the budget on our Web site at http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/role_impact/budget.asp. Please note than when looking at the 2008 request in relation to 2007, the right comparison is with the 2007 funding bill passed by the House last week, not the 2007 estimate column in our Congressional Budget Justification chart. The Congressional Budget Justification figures are placeholders because they are based on total obligations from the previous year, not the enacted funding levels. Some time in the next couple of weeks, the actual 2007 funding level will be finalized, which will be much closer to the 2008 budget request.

The release of the President’s budget is just the first step in a long budget process.

Later this spring we will have discussions with Congressional appropriators in the House and Senate, followed by committee mark-ups, floor consideration, conference committees and more. We will continue to provide you with updates as the budget moves through Congress.

Sincerely,

David Eisner
Chief Executive Officer
Corporation for National and Community Service

AmeriCorps, a federal agency, brings people together to tackle the country's most pressing challenges through national service and volunteering. AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers serve with organizations dedicated to the improvement of communities. AmeriCorps helps make service to others a cornerstone of our national culture. Learn more at AmeriCorps.gov.