AmeriCorps


AmeriCorps is an independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in service through a variety of stipended volunteer work programs in many sectors. These programs include AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps Seniors, the Volunteer Generation Fund, and other national service initiatives. It was created by the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993. In September 2020, the agency rebranded itself as AmeriCorps, although its official name is unchanged.

Programs

AmeriCorps delivers several programs designed to help communities address poverty, the environment, education, and other unmet human needs. The programs include:

AmeriCorps VISTA

AmeriCorps VISTA, or Volunteers in Service to America, was founded in 1965 as a domestic version of the Peace Corps. The program was incorporated into AmeriCorps and renamed AmeriCorps VISTA to create AmeriCorps in 1993. VISTA provides full-time members to nonprofit, faith-based and other community organizations, and public agencies to create and expand programs that ultimately bring low-income individuals and communities out of poverty. There are currently over 5,000 VISTA members serving in 1,200 VISTA programs nationwide.
VISTA members take the following oath:
"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."

AmeriCorps NCCC

AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps is a full-time, residential team-based program for men and women ages 18-26. Members serve at one of four regional campuses located throughout the United States. Each campus focuses efforts on states within its region but may travel to other areas in response to national crises. Former campuses were located in Washington, DC; Charleston, South Carolina; San Diego, California; Baltimore, Maryland; and Perry Point, Maryland.

AmeriCorps State and National

AmeriCorps State and National is the largest of the AmeriCorps programs, and provides grants to local and national organizations and agencies, including faith-based and community organizations, higher education institutions, and public agencies. Public Land Corps programs and Urban Youth Corps are specifically authorized for funding. The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act authorizes Education Corps, Health Futures Corps, Clean Energy Corps, Veterans Corps, and Opportunity Corps programs as qualifying for AmeriCorps programs. Grants assist these groups in recruiting, training and placing AmeriCorps members to meet critical community needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment. AmeriCorps State operates through Service Commissions in each state, such as Volunteer Florida and the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service; South Dakota is the only state without a Service Commission. Each state's Service Commission dispenses funding from AmeriCorps to organizations in their states through annual grant competitions. Since the program's inception, thousands of organizations across the nation have been awarded AmeriCorps State and National grants.
AmeriCorps State and National members engage in direct service activities, such as after-school tutoring or homebuilding, and capacity-building activities, such as volunteer recruitment, for the organizations they serve. After successfully completing their term of service, AmeriCorps State and National members may be eligible for an Education Award of up to $6,095 or equal to the full Pell Grant for the year in which service was approved. The Education Award can pay for additional college or graduate school courses, or it can pay off existing student loans. Full-time members typically complete 1,700 hours of service over 11 months; they also receive a living allowance, health benefits, and child care assistance during their term.
AmeriCorps State and National members take the following pledge:

AmeriCorps Seniors

The AmeriCorps Seniors umbrella includes three programs that engage seniors aged 55+ in volunteerism: the Foster Grandparents program, through which volunteers teach and mentor children; Senior Companions, through which volunteers help older adults live independently in their homes; and RSVP, through which volunteers can serve in a variety of roles to meet their communities' needs.

[American Climate Corps]

Other programs

Employers of National Service

On September 12, 2014, President Barack Obama launched the Employers of National Service initiative at the 20th Anniversary of AmeriCorps event on the South Lawn of the White House. Employers participating in the initiative connect to the talent pipeline of AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, and other service year alumni, by indicating in their hiring processes that they view national service experience as a plus. The initiative is a collaboration between AmeriCorps with the Peace Corps, Service Year Alliance, AmeriCorps Alums, and the National Peace Corps Association. To date, over 500 employers have joined the initiative.

History

The Commission on National and Community Service was a new, independent federal agency created as a consequence of the National and Community Service Act of 1990, signed into law by President George H. W. Bush.
The Commission was intended to bring about a renewed focus on encouraging volunteering in the United States and was charged with supporting four streams of service:
  1. Service-learning programs for school-aged youth
  2. Higher education service programs
  3. Youth corps
  4. National service demonstration models
In 1993 the Corporation for National and Community Service was created as a government corporation, merging ACTION, and the Commission on National and Community Service, thus ending the Commission.

Timeline

1990: President George H. W. Bush signs the National and Community Service Act of 1990 into law, ushering in a renewed federal focus on encouraging volunteering in the U.S. This legislation created the new independent federal agency called the Commission on National and Community Service.
1992: Enacted as part of the 1993 National Defense Authorization Act, the National Civilian Community Corps is created as a demonstration program to explore the possibility of using post-Cold War military resources to help solve problems here at home. It is modeled on the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps and the United States military.
1993: President Bill Clinton signs into passage The National and Community Service Trust Act, formally merging the federal offices of ACTION and the Commission on National and Community Service, including Serve America and NCCC, to form the Corporation for National and Community Service, along with the addition of the new AmeriCorps program.
History Timeline: The act was passed on September 21, 1993 when it was signed by President Clinton. Prior to this it had its first hearing with the House on February 25, 1993 where the Committee on Education and Labor was there to help push the bill out there. From there it was introduced to the Senate on April 19, 1993. From February to September it was a process where it went between the senate and house floors to different committees as well as going between different committees. Then finally on August 6, 1993 the conference report passed in the house and then on September 8, 1993 the conference report passed in the Senate.
What the Act Included:
The Act itself targeted education, community welfare, and promotion of community service.
1. Those who completed the community service program received a $4,725 stipend to go towards higher education or student loan debt.
2. Targeted communities at a local level to strengthen them back together and aim to lower crime rates.
3. Youth advocacy towards getting the youth to participate in community service.
4. Advocacy for lower income civilians to join the program and gain a sense of self.
Provisions Made:
There were not many provisions that had to be made for this act. There was a pattern between funding and finding private sectors. They made provisions in the budget, but found a way to incorporate possible private sectors to this to help provide more funding as the republicans took concern to the program getting too much money to fund this act. Another provision was giving more power to the local governments as the republicans raised concerned that it will be too "big government" ideas if the federal government had full control over this act. They also raised concern that what if the idea of building and strengthening communities did not focus on what each specific community needed if it was all ran by the federal government.
2002: President George W. Bush creates the USA Freedom Corps.
2020: The agency is rebranded as "AmeriCorps".

Changes under the second Trump administration

In April 2025, about 75% of staff were put on paid leave after members of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency visited the headquarters. As a result, the agency demobilized six active AmeriCorps NCCC classes; over 700 members were sent home in mid-April 2025.
In June 2025, a federal judge ordered the restoration of funds to AmeriCorps programs in 24 plaintiff states. The injunction also called for AmeriCorps NCCC members to be reinstated to service. In July 2025, a different federal judge ordered AmeriCorps to reinstate hundreds of staff that were placed on leave in April.