National Service Agency Announces Availability of Funding to Support Service-Learning

Washington, DC—The Corporation for National and Community Service announces the availability of $650,070 for new Learn and Serve America School-Based grants to Indian Tribes and U.S. Territories to involve school-age youth in service-learning projects that simultaneously support student development and meet community needs.

“These grants will help put students on a path to a lifetime of service and civic engagement,” said Nicola Goren, Acting CEO of the Corporation. “Service-learning is a teaching method that offers students the opportunity to have an immediate impact on challenges facing their communities.”

The Corporation anticipates that grants will be awarded to an estimated three to five Indian Tribes and U.S. Territories with awards ranging from approximately $45,000 to $120,000 annually for a project period of up to three years.

The grants will specifically fund programs that focus on the following priorities:

• Supporting high-quality service-learning sponsored by Indian Tribes and U.S. Territories and enhancing the infrastructure in schools and communities to support on-going service-learning programming;
• Supporting Indian Tribes and U.S. Territories working with schools to expand service-learning into more tribal communities that will involve students in service-learning projects;
• Increasing student civic, academic and leadership skills and providing youth with service-learning experiences that motivate them to become more civically engaged and committed to lifelong service; and
• Promoting healthy communities and healthy youth by having students engage in service-learning projects that address one or more of the following issue areas:
  • Health and Wellness
  • Environment
  • Retention of Tribal Language, History, and Culture
  • Community Development/Economic Development
  • Crime Prevention/Violence Prevention

Applications are due by 5 p.m. Eastern Time, March 9, 2010. 

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service each year through its core programs, Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America, and leads President Obama's national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information about the Corporation, visit NationalService.gov.