AmeriCorps and its grantees have invested significant resources in evaluating different agency programs and supported program models designed to improve a range of outcomes for national service members and volunteers, children, families, organizations, and communities across America. AmeriCorps has commissioned an independent expert, ICF International, to conduct ROI analyses to help measure program performance and build the base of evidence for future resource allocation decisions. Each ROI study helps AmeriCorps communicate the value of its programs to relevant stakeholders.

AmeriCorps Seniors is composed of three programs: the Foster Grandparent Program (FGP), the Senior Companion Program (SCP), and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). Throughout the United States, FGP engages volunteers age 55 and over to serve in communities as role models, mentors, and friends to children. SCP engages volunteers to provide assistance and companionship primarily to elderly individuals—and also to people with disabilities—who have difficulty with daily living tasks.

College Possible is a college readiness nonprofit organization that supports and coaches low-income students in college preparation and success. College Possible has seven offices that provide services in the following metropolitan areas: Portland, OR; Philadelphia, PA; Chicago, IL; Milwaukee, WI; Omaha, NE; and Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. The College Access Program under College Possible focuses on high school juniors and seniors, offering after-school coaching sessions with AmeriCorps member coaches.

The Community Technology Empowerment Project (CTEP) helps increase work-readiness skills among new immigrants and members of low-income communities in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Area. The program provides participants with the latest technology skills to help them gain sustainable employment and improve their civic, educational, and social opportunities. AmeriCorps members provide CTEP participants one-on-one mentoring and training to improve their digital skills and technology literacy.

Minnesota Reading Corps (MRC) is the largest AmeriCorps State program in the country. The program uses research-based literacy instruction in school settings to help children learn to read, from PreK and kindergarten through third grade (K–3). The program’s host organization, Reading & Math, Inc., recruits, trains, places, and monitors AmeriCorps members who work with children one-on-one and in small groups daily, providing literacy interventions tailored to each learner’s needs.

Friends of the Children (FOTC) is a Portland, Oregon-based international nonprofit that strives to close the opportunity gap and break the cycle of intergenerational poverty for young people ages 5 - 18+. FOTC targets children facing barriers like systemic poverty, structural racism, childhood trauma, foster care, underfunded schools, and homelessness and matches them with Friends (paid professional mentors).

The AmeriCorps (formerly CNCS) Office of Research and Evaluation has built a portfolio of evidence around the agency’s mission and its programs. This State of the Evidence report synthesizes results from research and evaluation activities conducted between fiscal years 2015 and 2016. Specifically, findings from research studies conducted by university-based scholars, program evaluations conducted by independent third parties, agency performance metrics, and analyses of nationally representative statistics are summarized.

Introduction

United Way of Central Indiana (UWCI) established the Great Families 2020 (GF2020) model in 2016. The goal of GF2020 is to improve financial stability among families and educational outcomes of children in Indianapolis by using a two-generational (2Gen) approach to service delivery.

Introduction

The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), is a federal tiered evidence initiative that received funding from 2010 to 2016. The key objectives of the initiative were to invest in: