FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jun 30, 2016

Funding will support a record number of AmeriCorps members in the state

DETROIT – The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency that administers AmeriCorps, announced that Michigan will receive $12.7 million in AmeriCorps funding to support nonprofit organizations across the state.

“AmeriCorps members make a powerful impact on the toughest challenges facing our nation,” said Wendy Spencer, CEO of CNCS, who made the announcement in Detroit earlier this week during a luncheon honoring the humanitarian legacy of Muhammad Ali at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service.

“Building on Michigan’s strong tradition of neighbor helping neighbor, AmeriCorps members will improve lives and strengthen communities across the Great Lakes state. While they serve others, AmeriCorps members will also expand opportunity for themselves - gaining skills and experience to jumpstart their careers.  I salute AmeriCorps members for their dedication, and thank our outstanding partners who make their service possible,” said Spencer.  

The federal investment includes 31 grants totaling $8.07 million, which will support 1,045 AmeriCorps members in Michigan. Through these grants, AmeriCorps members will support youth development and education programs, improve public safety, increase access to healthy and affordable foods, and more.

The Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC), the Governor-appointed state service commission, will administer all but one of the grants. MCSC receives funding from CNCS and in turn makes grant awards to nonprofit organizations, universities, and public agencies in Michigan.

“These grants will allow AmeriCorps members to tackle critical issues around Michigan and increase the host organization’s reach and impact to meet local needs,” said Ginna Holmes, executive director of the MCSC. “We are proud to oversee these programs which provide civic and leadership skills for the AmeriCorps members that will last them a lifetime.”

“I join in congratulating the Michigan organizations – all steered by dedicated and determined community leaders – that have been selected in the AmeriCorps State and National grant competition,” said Senator Gary Peters. “From improving access to quality, affordable education to increasing health care and working to combat poverty, these organizations are expanding opportunity for Michiganders across our state. I thank them for their passion and leadership.”

“Congratulations to all of the organizations who were successful in this year’s highly competitive AmeriCorps State and National grant competition,” Rep. Brenda Lawrence said. “As the Representative for Michigan’s 14th Congressional District, I am excited to share that these grants provide funding for programs spanning education, public safety, and workforce development initiatives. As a life-long public servant, I am passionate about community service and commend the awardees on earning the resources and support necessary to serve the people in my District and throughout Michigan.”

CNCS will also provide up to $4.5 million in education scholarships for the AmeriCorps members funded by these grants to help pay for college, vocational training, or pay back student loans. The federal investment is projected to generate an additional $17 million in local support from businesses, foundations, and other sources to increase community impact and stretch the federal investment.

Below is a listing of 14 AmeriCorps competitive grants for Michigan for 2016:

  • Huron Pines AmeriCorps: AmeriCorps members will support conservation projects on public land such as trail building, road and stream crossing improvements, and wildlife habitat enhancement.  (30 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • B-H-K Child Develop Board: AmeriCorps members will provide education services to students at risk of reading failure in 9 schools and 5 pre-kindergarten sites. (20 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Teach For America Detroit: AmeriCorps members will teach in nearly 50 high-need schools in Detroit, working to improve educational outcomes for students and expand educational opportunity for low-income students.  (78 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Public Allies Metro Detroit Leadership Academy: AmeriCorps members will develop community outreach and engagement strategies to increase the number of Detroit residents participating in Metro Detroit financial literacy, foreclosure abatement, and workforce development programs. (40 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • City Year Detroit: AmeriCorps members will improve academic skills in English and math, attendance rates, and social-emotional skills for students in 11 public schools in Detroit. (71 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Wayne State University’s Detroit Urban Safety Corps: AmeriCorps members will improve public safety throughout the City of Detroit and leverage additional volunteers who will be engaged in neighborhood block clubs, community patrols and promoting Safe Routes to Schools.  (157 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Ingham County Health Department: AmeriCorps members with the Power of We Consortium AmeriCorps Project will teach youth the importance of eating healthy foods and strategies to adopt better diets and increase access to healthy foods through gardening, food distributions, and referrals in Ingham County. (22 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Michigan Financial Opportunity Corps: AmeriCorps members will provide financial literacy trainings and leverage additional volunteers who will be engaged in providing free income tax services, providing pro-bono expert services, and assisting at financial literacy classes. (20 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Michigan College Access Network – Advise MI:  AmeriCorps members will serve as college advisers, providing college access services to more than 30,000 students and their families in more than 80 high schools across the state. (80 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • American Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapids: Together We Prepare AmeriCorps members will improve the capacity of communities to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters and will provide direct assistance to individuals experiencing disaster in locations across Michigan with six main sites in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, Kalamazoo, and Traverse City. (33 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Michigan Campaign to End Homelessness AmeriCorps Program: Working with the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness, AmeriCorps members will serve economically disadvantaged individuals at homeless service agencies across the state. (23 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Goodwill Grand Rapids AmeriCorps Partnership: AmeriCorps members will provide employment training and skills development services along with job preparation and placement services to increase economic opportunities across eight counties.  (20 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Marquette-Alger Regional Educational Service Agency/MARESA AmeriCorps: AmeriCorps members will provide one-to-one or small-group tutoring to improve literacy achievement in elementary schools across the Central Upper Peninsula including: Alger, Delta, Marquette, Menominee and Schoolcraft counties. (13 AmeriCorps members)

In addition to the competitive grants, the Michigan Community Service Commission will administer the following 17 grants through formula funding provided by CNCS:

  • The Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District: AmeriCorps members will provide one-on-one and small-group literacy coaching to 150 students in Char-Em ISD Elementary Schools who are reading below grade level.  (10 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Cherry Health: The Cherry Health program will utilize AmeriCorps members to serve as health outreach coordinators in Kent, Barry, Eaton, and Montcalm counties. They will support nutrition and health insurance enrollment assistance, and help increase access to care support services for medically underserved populations. (30 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Good Samaritan Ministries: AmeriCorps members will mentor at-risk middle and high-school aged youth in West Michigan, particularly the greater Holland area in Ottawa County and the greater Muskegon area in Muskegon County. (12 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Habitat for Humanity of Michigan: Across the state of Michigan, AmeriCorps members will assist Habitat for Humanity affiliates with partner family recruitment, home construction, neighborhood revitalization, volunteer recruitment, and financial coaching initiatives. (31 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Heart of West Michigan United Way: In partnership with the Literacy Center of West Michigan, this program will utilize AmeriCorps members to interrupt the intergenerational cycle of low literacy found in families throughout the greater Grand Rapids area. (10 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Michigan Education Corps: Following training by literacy experts, AmeriCorps members will become an extension of the instructional capacity of K-3 classrooms in 15 cities across Michigan. (10 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Michigan Association of United Ways, Evidence Based Literacy Instruction Corps: This program will place AmeriCorps members in schools in Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Detroit and greater Genesee County to provide tutoring to students in grades K-12. Using the practice of Evidence Based Literacy Instruction, AmeriCorps members will provide one-on-one, small group, and whole class opportunities and support. (10 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Michigan 2-1-1: Through the Michigan Association of United Ways, AmeriCorps members will connect veterans and military families with health, human, and other community-based services through 2-1-1 information centers across the state of Michigan. (10 AmeriCorps members)
  • Peckham: AmeriCorps members will provide economic opportunity coaching services to low-income individuals, primarily individuals with disabilities, as well as refugees, in Ingham, Eaton, Clinton, Kent, and Calhoun counties. (17 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Playworks Michigan: Using an evidence-based program model, AmeriCorps members will utilize play to create supportive environments with reduced bullying where all students feel safe, supported, and fully engaged in low-income schools in Michigan. (11 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • SEEDS: AmeriCorps members with SEEDS Youth Conservation Corps in Northwest Michigan will be responsible for conserving threatened and damaged habitats and parklands, all while gaining workforce and life skills. (39 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • United Way of Genesee County: AmeriCorps members will work in collaboration with the University of Michigan-Flint to reduce crime, build community, and eliminate blight among Flint’s University Avenue Corridor. (10 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • United Way of Saginaw County: AmeriCorps members will support STEM-focused after-school programs within elementary schools and community centers in Saginaw, Saginaw Township, and Carrolton Township. (40 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • EcoWorks: AmeriCorps members will serve as Green School Coordinators, providing environmental sustainability education and coordinating service-learning projects in K-12 schools and their surrounding communities throughout the Detroit metro area. (58 AmeriCorps members)
     
  • Youth Development Commission: AmeriCorps members will support mentoring programs in seven high schools in Wayne County, with the goal of increasing mentees school and career readiness. (19 AmeriCorps members)

The Michigan Community Service Commission also awarded two AmeriCorps planning grants to Muskegon Land Bank Authority and Reformed Christian Church of America to build the capacity to manage an AmeriCorps program and apply for a future AmeriCorps grant. These future grants would be based on the replication of successful education and urban safety models.

In addition, Trinity Health Community Health Coordinators, which is headquartered in Michigan, will receive a national AmeriCorps grant to support 50 AmeriCorps members serving in 17 states served by Trinity Health-affiliated hospitals and clinics. AmeriCorps members will engage in health transformation activities and support the application of a Pathways model for community care coordination.

AmeriCorps engages more than 75,000 members in intensive service annually to serve through nonprofit, faith-based, and community organizations at more than 21,000 locations across the country. These members help communities tackle pressing problems while mobilizing millions of volunteers for the organizations they serve.

Since 1994, 980,000 AmeriCorps members have given more than 1.3 billion hours of service to their country, earning more than $3 billion in education scholarships. Later this year, the one millionth AmeriCorps member will take the AmeriCorps pledge, committing to "get things done" for America.  More than 28,000 Michigan residents have served more than 41 million hours and have qualified for education awards totaling more than $92,590,000.

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.