AmeriCorps Introduces Rule to Boost Grant Flexibility, Empower National Service Programs
AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism, announced a final rule for the AmeriCorps State and National program. This rule, which goes into effect Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, will reduce barriers to service, expand access to workforce development opportunities, and provide critical programmatic flexibilities, delivering on the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to make service more accessible to underserved individuals and communities.
“AmeriCorps continues to reduce barriers for grantees to ensure communities across the country can benefit from AmeriCorps members and federal funding,” said Michael D. Smith, CEO, AmeriCorps. “Our new rule makes match waivers easier and reduces grantee share of program costs, making running an AmeriCorps program more affordable for organizations seeing increased demand in communities with the greatest need.”
The final regulation includes the following:
- Modifies grantee match requirements: The final rule limits AmeriCorps State and National grantees’ required share of program costs, known as “match” or “cost share,” to a scale that starts at 24 percent for the first three-year grant cycle and increases incrementally with each successive three-year grant cycle, until it reaches 30 percent in the tenth year of the grant cycle and beyond.
- Clarifies match waiver requirement: The rule simplifies the match waiver criteria to align with the criteria used by AmeriCorps Seniors, creating greater parity across national service programs. It aims to help organizations focus on their missions without being overly burdened by funding requirements, allowing organizations that meet one of the four listed criteria to qualify for a match waiver including: difficulty securing funding in the first three years of operations; economic downturn or disaster restricting local funding; unexpected discontinuation of local support; or organizational revenue less than $500,000.
- Support job readiness waiver flexibilities: Under the current rule, there is a 20 percent limit to the aggregate total of hours in a program that AmeriCorps members may spend in education and training activities. The new rule allows AmeriCorps to grant waivers of education hour limitations for apprenticeship programs, job training and readiness programs, activities to support attainment of GEDs and other credentialing or primarily enrolls economically disadvantaged members.
- Removes term limit barriers: The rule also removes the four-term limit regardless of the length of term, allowing individuals to serve the number of terms needed to equal the value of two full-time education awards.
AmeriCorps is dedicated to reducing barriers and improving transparency to ensure organizations can benefit from AmeriCorps funding and increase the diversity of members serving with AmeriCorps.
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