250 E Street, SW

Washington, D.C. 20525

202-606-5000 | 800-942-2677 | TTY 800-833-3722

CNCS Fiscal Year 2019

Annual Plan for 

Grantmaking
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Contents

AmeriCorps State and National FY 2019 Annual Plan ......................................................................................................................3

AmeriCorps VISTA FY 2019 Annual Plan...........................................................................................................................................5

AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) FY 2019 Annual Plan .......................................................................7

Senior Corps: Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) FY 2019 Annual Plan...........................................................................9

Senior Corps: Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) FY 2019 Annual Plan ....................................................................................11

Senior Corps: Senior Companion Program (SCP) FY 2019 Annual Plan .....................................................................................13

Subtitle H FY 2019 Annual Plan (Volunteer Generation Fund, Call to Service – MLK and September 11th Days of Service)

.................................................................................................................................................................................................................14

State Commission Support Grants & Commission Investment Funds FY 2019 Annual Plan....................................................16

Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) FY 2019 Annual Plan....................................................................................................17
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AmeriCorps State and National FY 2019 Annual Plan

FY Appropriation: $398,598,739 (after reduction of 179j, Subtitle J Funds, Childcare, and O Funds)

Target Member Level: 62,862

Key Milestones

 FY 2019 application deadline: January 30, 2019

 FY 2019 awards: April 1, 2019

 FY 2019 NOFO release: Summer 2019

 Grantee Meeting: August/September 2019

Funding Priorities

Consistent with the Serve America Act, AmeriCorps State and National will seek to fund programs in 

the following six focus areas that use an evidence-based approach to create community impact and 

solve community problems: 

 Disaster Services

 Education

 Environmental Stewardship

 Healthy Futures

 Economic Opportunity

 Veterans and Military Families.

CNCS is required to select at least two focus areas in making competitive AmeriCorps State and 

National Grants. For the 2019 AmeriCorps State and National competition, CNCS seeks to prioritize 

investment of national service resources in the following priority areas: 

 Economic Opportunity – increasing economic opportunities for communities by engaging 

opportunity youth to prepare them for the workforce

 Education – selection of one of the evidence-based interventions in three categories: School 

Readiness (three evidence-based interventions), K-12 Success (nine evidence-based 

interventions), and Post-Secondary Support (one evidence-based intervention)

 Healthy Futures – reducing and/or preventing prescription drug and opioid abuse

 Veterans and Military Families – positively impacting the quality of life of veterans and 

improving military family strength

 Rural Intermediaries – organizations that demonstrate measurable impact and primarily serve 

communities with limited resources and organizational infrastructure
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 Safer Communities – programs that focus on public safety and/or partnerships between law 

enforcement and the community.

 Faith-Based Organizations – organizations whose values are based on faith and/or beliefs.

Accountability

AmeriCorps State and National will continue to place a high priority on accountability and will 

devote significant effort and resources to oversight and monitoring to maximize compliance with all 

applicable rules and regulations. In FY19, ASN will devote significant financial and training support 

resources to help grantees improve implementation of the National Service Criminal History Check 

requirements.

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation

For FY 2019, AmeriCorps State and National will streamline an update of the agency’s performance 

measures and will continue to allow the use of applicant-determined performance measures. This 

will be shared with grantees.
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AmeriCorps VISTA FY 2019 Annual Plan

FY Appropriation: $92,364,000

Target Member Level: 8,500

Key Milestones 

 October 2018: Issue Program Guidance (which articulates AmeriCorps VISTA programming 

priorities) to CNCS State Offices and Field

 October 2018 – September 2019: Hold Virtual Member Orientations and Virtual Supervisor 

Orientations throughout the year, along with 5-8 in-person In-Service Trainings/Convenings 

for members and supervisors 

Programming Priorities 

Founded in 1965, Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) is a federal anti-poverty program 

designed to provide needed resources to nonprofit organizations and public agencies to increase their 

capacity to lift Americans out of poverty. AmeriCorps VISTA members build the organizational and 

financial capacity of local programs that help low-income Americans gain the skills and resources 

they need to break the poverty cycle. 

This year, AmeriCorps VISTA will prioritize rural community development, veterans, STEM, 

workforce development (e.g., apprenticeships), and projects that help prevent and treat opioid/drug 

abuse. 

Ultimately, CNCS expects to invest no less than 80 percent of AmeriCorps VISTA resources toward 

building the capacity of programs and organizations in the following focus areas:

 Economic Opportunity (Workforce Development, Employment, Financial Literacy, Housing) 

 Education (STEM, School Readiness, High School Graduation, and Post-Secondary Success) 

 Healthy Futures (Opioid Prevention/Intervention/Recovery, Food Security)

 Veterans and Military Families

AmeriCorps VISTA continues to build out its virtual training resources and is intensifying training 

and technical assistance for VISTA supervisors in FY19.

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation 
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AmeriCorps VISTA will seek to support projects that demonstrate the effectiveness of their proposed 

intervention in addressing community needs. In addition to measuring project performance in 

organizational and financial capacity building, AmeriCorps VISTA will measure the value members 

receive from their national service experience.
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AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) 

FY 2019 Annual Plan 

FY Appropriation: $32,000,000

Target Member Level (Traditional): 1,360

Target Member Level (FEMA Corps): 1,000 (FEMA Corps members are supported by FEMA funds)

Key Milestones & Campus Start Dates

 October 2018: Southwest Region (Denver, CO) and Pacific Region (Sacramento, CA) 

Traditional 

 February 2019: Southwest Region (Denver, CO), North Central Region (Vinton, IA), and

Southern Region (Vicksburg, MS) FEMA Corps 

 July 2019: Southern Region (Vicksburg, MS) Traditional 

 July 2019: Pacific Region (Sacramento, CA), North Central Region (Vinton, IA) FEMA Corps 

Funding Priorities

The Serve America Act authorizes the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) to 

operate a residential national service program that provides young people with leadership and teambuilding opportunities to meet national and community needs.

To evaluate the program’s effectiveness and efficiency, AmeriCorps NCCC measures key objectives 

and targets, including the impact of member service and the opportunities and training provided to 

its members. 

AmeriCorps NCCC Service Projects and Special Initiatives

In 2019, AmeriCorps NCCC project outreach and implementation will reflect a continued focus on 

the NCCC-specific service areas as outlined in the Serve America Act: response to natural and other 

disasters, infrastructure improvement, environmental stewardship and conservation, energy 

conservation, and urban and rural development. 

To further build upon programmatic strengths such as our residential design and intensive member 

training program, AmeriCorps NCCC will continue in its role as the agency’s lead responders in 

times of disasters as well as disaster preparation, mitigation, and recovery. 
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AmeriCorps NCCC will continue its partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency 

(FEMA) to support the goal of an additional 1,000 AmeriCorps NCCC members, who will work 

solely on FEMA-sponsored projects during their term of service. 

AmeriCorps NCCC Members 

The Serve America Act mandates that AmeriCorps NCCC engage participants from economically, 

geographically, and ethnically diverse backgrounds. Additionally, AmeriCorps NCCC was directed 

to conduct outreach to increase participation of disadvantaged youth to a target enrollment of 50 

percent by the year 2012. In 2019, we anticipate reaching more than 40 percent, accompanied by an 

aggressive strategy for keeping us moving toward this very ambitious goal. To meet this goal, 

AmeriCorps NCCC will continue to implement measures as outlined in AmeriCorps NCCC’s Annual 

Recruitment plan, including:

 Leverage new contract recruiters to target all NCCC applicant requirements

 Expand AmeriCorps NCCC recruitment efforts by conducting outreach to organizations and

institutions that support youth from disadvantaged circumstances

 Collaborate with state and local corps programs to promote second year of service

opportunities with AmeriCorps NCCC among their membership

 Promote AmeriCorps Week, Mayor’s Day and all National Days of Service as opportunities to

introduce school-aged children to service and volunteering

 Increase use of all social media outlets to recruit new members

 Expand the strategic use of the approximately 24,000 AmeriCorps NCCC alumni in recruitment

efforts to increase the applicant pool for corps members and team leaders and aggressively

promote national service

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation 

AmeriCorps NCCC will contribute to the seven applicable measures of the 16 agency-wide priority 

performance measures. 
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Senior Corps: Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) 

FY 2019 Annual Plan 

FY Appropriation: $50,355,000

Target Volunteer Level: 183,000

Key Milestones

 Total estimated grant awards in FY 2019: 550

 2019 RSVP National Competition for grants initially competitively awarded in FY 2013 and 

administratively renewed in FY 2016 (as required by statute). 

 Continuation of grants competitively awarded in FY 2014, 2015, and 2017 (as required by 

statute).

 Possible additional grant and/or non-grant activities, to be determined based on availability of 

FY 2019 funds, to include, among other things, augmentations for evidence-based 

programming and disaster response.

Funding Priorities

The 2019 RSVP Competition Notice prioritizes grantmaking in the six focus areas identified by the 

Serve America Act of 2009 and in alignment with the CNCS Strategic Plan: Disaster Services; Economic 

Opportunity; Education; Environmental Stewardship; Healthy Futures; and Veterans and Military Families. 

Within the six focus areas, Senior Corps funding priorities include:

 Evidence-Based Program Implementation

 Access to Care - Opioid Abuse

 Aging in Place - Elder Justice

 Aging in Place - Independent Living

 Economic Opportunity - Workforce Development

 Education - Intergenerational Programming

 Disaster Services

 Veterans and Military Families.

Accountability

Senior Corps continues to place a high priority on accountability and oversight. In FY19, Senior Corps 

will devote significant financial and training support resources to help grantees improve 

implementation of the National Service Criminal History Check requirements. Senior Corps, with our 

implementation partners in the CNCS Office of Field Liaison and the Field Financial Management 
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Center will continue to provide ongoing oversight and technical assistance to maximize grantee 

compliance with all applicable rules and regulations. 

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation: 

RSVP projects must use standardized National Performance Measures as part of a comprehensive 

performance measurement strategy that relies on both performance and evaluation data to learn from 

their work and make tactical and strategic adjustments to achieve their goals. All unduplicated RSVP 

volunteers must be integrated into the Performance Measure work plans included in the application. 

Work plans must meet the maximum cost per unduplicated volunteer in outcome assignments. For 

every $1,000 in annual base federal funding, at least one unduplicated RSVP volunteer must be 

placed in work plans that result in National Performance Measure Outcomes.
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Senior Corps: Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) 

FY 2019 Annual Plan

FY Appropriation: $110,899,000

Target Volunteer Level: 22,000

Key Milestones 

 Total estimated grant awards in FY 2019: 290

 FY 2019 renewal and continuation grants will be awarded non-competitively (as required by 

statute)

 Possible additional grant and/or non-grant activities, to be determined based on availability 

of FY 2019 funds

Currently, all grants and volunteer service years relinquished in any state are centralized to CNCS for 

budget contingencies. Priority uses for centralized funding will be a FGP competitive process to 

award a combination of augmentation of grants supporting evidence-based programs and 

replacement sponsor competitions. 

Funding Priorities

Competitive and continuation grants fulfill program priorities around:

 Evidence-Based Program Implementation

 Education – Intergenerational Programming.

Accountability

Senior Corps continues to place a high priority on accountability and oversight. In FY19, Senior Corps 

will devote significant financial and training support resources to help grantees improve 

implementation of the National Service Criminal History Check requirements. Senior Corps, along 

with implementation partners in the CNCS Office of Field Liaison and the Field Financial 

Management Center, will continue to provide ongoing oversight and technical assistance to 

maximize grantee compliance with all applicable rules and regulations.

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation

FGP projects must use standardized National Performance Measures as part of a comprehensive 

performance measurement strategy that relies on both performance and evaluation data to learn from 

their work and make tactical and strategic adjustments to achieve their goals. All unduplicated FGP 
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volunteers must be integrated into the Performance Measure work plans included in the application. 

Work plans must meet the maximum cost per volunteer service year in outcome assignments. For 

every $6,000 in annual base federal funding, at least one volunteer service year must be included in 

work plans that result in education-related National Performance Measure Outcomes.
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Senior Corps: Senior Companion Program (SCP) 

FY 2019 Annual Plan

FY Appropriation: $46,863,000

Target Volunteer Level: 11,000

Key Milestones 

 Total estimated grant awards in FY 2019: 190

 FY 2019 renewal and continuation grants will be awarded non-competitively (as required by 

statute) 

 Possible additional grant and/or non-grant activities, to be determined based on availability 

of FY 2019 funds 

Funding Priorities

Competitive and continuation grants fulfill program priorities around:

 Evidence-Based Program Implementation

 Aging in Place - Elder Justice

 Aging in Place - Independent Living.

Accountability

Senior Corps continues to place a high priority on accountability and oversight. In FY19, Senior Corps 

will devote significant financial and training support resources to help grantees improve 

implementation of the National Service Criminal History Check requirements. Senior Corps, with our 

implementation partners in the CNCS Office of Field Liaison and the Field Financial Management 

Center, will continue to provide ongoing oversight and technical assistance to maximize grantee 

compliance with all applicable rules and regulations.

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation

SCP projects must use standardized National Performance Measures as part of a comprehensive 

performance measurement strategy that relies on both performance and evaluation data to learn from 

their work and make tactical and strategic adjustments to achieve their goals. All unduplicated SCP 

volunteers must be integrated into the Performance Measure work plans included in the application. 

Work plans must meet the maximum cost per volunteer service year in outcome assignments. For 

every $6,000 in annual base federal funding, at least one volunteer service year must be included in 

work plans that result in National Performance Measure Outcomes related to Aging in Place.
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Subtitle H FY 2019 Annual Plan 

(Volunteer Generation Fund, Call to Service – MLK and September 

11th Days of Service)

FY Appropriation: $7,524,000 (after reduction for O Funds) 

($2,178,000 for Days of Service and $5,346,000 for Volunteer Generation Fund)

Target Member/Volunteer Level: Not Applicable

Key Milestones

• September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance and MLK Day of Service

o Competitive grants to be awarded for September 11th Day of Service

o Competitive grants to be awarded for MLK Day of Service

• Volunteer Generation Fund 

o Continuation grants to be awarded noncompetitively

Funding Priorities

• September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance: Grantees may competitively subgrant or 

work with partner agencies so that a portion of the federal funds are provided to eligible 

organizations to plan and carry out direct service activities. Grantees will plan and carry out

direct service activities that honor those lost on September 11th, 2001 and those who rose in 

service as a result of the tragedy. Activities may include ongoing service learning, ongoing 

direct service, and planning leading up to the events, but the majority of activity takes place 

on or close to September 11th. 

• MLK Day of Service: Grantees may competitively subgrant or work with partner agencies so 

that a portion of the federal funds are provided to eligible organizations to plan and carry out 

direct service activities. Activities may include ongoing service learning, ongoing direct 

service, and planning leading up to the events, but the majority of activity takes place on or 

close to the MLK holiday.

• Volunteer Generation Fund: Grantees must provide evidence that subgrantees have enhanced 

their capacity to fulfill the following requirements:
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o Engage local partner organizations that use volunteers in a collaborative process of 

planning and implementation for increasing the impact of volunteers in meeting critical 

needs 

o Provide relevant, competency-based volunteer roles and opportunities that attract and 

retain high caliber volunteers 

o Develop the internal operational and financial management systems that will provide 

organizational sustainability.

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation:

Performance measures for Subtitle H funds must include reports on the number of community 

volunteers recruited and/or managed by CNCS-supported organizations and national service 

participants. 

September 11

th Day of Service grantees will count number of events and number of community 

volunteers.

MLK Day of Service grantees will count number of events and number of community volunteers.
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State Commission Support Grants & Commission Investment Funds 

FY 2019 Annual Plan

FY Appropriation: $17,538,000 and $8,500,000

Target Member/Volunteer Level: Not Applicable

Key Milestones

• FY 2019 awards: December 2018

Funding Priorities

As required by the National and Community Service Act, funding will be awarded on a formula 

basis to support State Service Commissions as they implement service as a strategy to address local 

problems, such as: leading disaster response and readiness efforts; addressing high school dropout 

rates; increasing mentoring efforts; providing training and technical assistance; supporting persons 

with disabilities; and establishing volunteer centers, online matching platforms, and other systems to 

effectively engage citizens in service. Funds will also be used in their outreach to prospective 

AmeriCorps grantees, administration of grant competitions, and oversight and monitoring of grants 

and programs.

In addition, Commission Administrative Grants and Commission Investment Funds will be used to 

cultivate high-performing organizations by strengthening their training and technical assistance, 

accountability, and grant oversight activities.

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation

Each State Service Commission is required to report on standard metrics. 
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Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) FY 2019 Annual Plan

FY Appropriation: Not Applicable (no new awards in FY 2019)

Target Member/Volunteer Level: Not Applicable

Key Milestones

 Continuation of cooperative agreements competitively awarded in FY 2017 and FY 2018 

Funding Priorities

The Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) is not holding a new competition in FY 2019, but 

expects to award continuations to FY 2017 and FY 2018 recipients pending successful applications 

and the availability of all sources of funding as in prior years. 

Funding priorities for previous competitions are as follows:

FY 2015: 

 Economic benefits of national service, volunteering, and civic engagement 

 Innovative research methodologies applied to national service models

 Measuring and exploring relationships among civic engagement, national service, and 

volunteering. 

FY 2017: 

 How is civic infrastructure and civic engagement defined, measured, developed, and hindered? 

 How does an individual’s civic engagement change over the course of a lifetime?

 What are the impacts associated with civic engagement, volunteering, or national service?

FY 2018: 

 Communities that are already working collaboratively to tackle a locally identified issue.

 Communities that have experienced a disaster. 

 Communities in social crisis. 

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation: 

All current ORE awards are cooperative agreements, which means that CNCS/ORE has substantial 

involvement in the implementation of these projects. Given that the ORE cooperative agreements are 

to support research around the agency’s mission, these grants directly and indirectly support 13 of 
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CNCS’s 16 agency-wide performance measures. In addition, the grantees are subject to ORE 

program-specific terms and conditions to meet ORE’s scholarly requirements such as IRB approval, 

timely data collection, reports and publications, and dissemination of findings.