Office of Research and Evaluation

AmeriCorps Member Exit 

Survey – Technical Webinar

June 14, 2023

1 Produced and published at US taxpayer expense.
Shane Dermanjian, MPP

Research Analyst, AmeriCorps
Outline

What is the MES?

• Why the MES is 

conducted

• When it started

• Ins and 

Outs/Technical 

points

• Number of survey 

takers (by 

completion rate, 

program)

Theoretical 

Background

• Member Theory of 

Change

• Cultural 

Competency

• Civic Engagement

• Life and Career Skills

• “Getting Things 

Done”

• Other domains

Analysis and Use

• Different ways to 

analyze the data

• Available/ 

forthcoming analyses

• Open Data Platform

• Who can use this 

work

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What is the AmeriCorps 

Member Exit Survey 

(MES)?

4
Background on the AmeriCorps 

MES

“the purpose of the member exit 

survey is to collect information 

about AmeriCorps members’ 

experiences for the purpose of 

monitoring progress towards the 

agency’s strategic goals around 

member development”

OMB Justification Part A

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Ins and Outs of the MES

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• Current iteration began in 2015

• 31 numbered questions

• 108 total questions including sub-questions

• MES offered on rolling basis

• Members are offered the MES for as 

many terms of service in which they 

participate

• No compensation for taking the survey

• Data analysis inclusive of members 

aged 18+ only

• Members take the survey in the 

MyAmeriCorps portal upon exiting 

service

• Exiting service is both:

• Finishing term, or

• Exiting early

• 180 days to take survey once it 

appears in portal

• Most members take survey within a 

couple months
MES Completion Rates by Program (2015-2022)

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COMPLETION COUNTS

FISCAL YEAR ASN VISTA NCCC

TOTAL COMPLETED TOTAL N Complete Total N Complete Total N Complete Total N

***2015 28283 47799 4338 5292 738 995 33359 54086

2016 40790 55451 7094 7994 1606 1813 49490 65258

2017 41139 54580 7412 8449 1622 1796 50173 64825

2018 40245 53296 7423 8477 1292 1497 48960 63270

2019 41202 53135 6802 8242 1175 1425 49179 62802

2020 39110 49173 6017 7826 953 1428 46080 58427

2021 39016 47970 6321 8219 896 1256 46233 57445

2022 34541 43692 5026 6888 970 1268 40537 51848

TOTALS 304,326 405,096 50,433 61387 9,252 11,478 364,011 477,961

COMPLETION RATES

FISCAL YEAR ASN VISTA NCCC Completion Rates 

(All programs/year)

***2015 59.2% 82.0% 74.2% 61.68%

2016 73.6% 88.7% 88.6% 75.84%

2017 75.4% 87.7% 90.3% 77.40%

2018 75.5% 87.6% 86.3% 77.38%

2019 77.5% 82.5% 82.5% 78.31%

2020 79.5% 76.9% 66.7% 78.87%

2021 81.3% 76.9% 71.3% 80.48%

2022 79.1% 73.0% 76.5% 78.2%

Total Response Rate as of FY2022 75.71%

***note: 2015 Data only spans from April 2015 – Sept 2015
MES Completion Rates by Service Completion (2017-2022)

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2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

FINISHED SERVICE

Completed survey 44672 42824 42527 26901 32162 29849

Did not complete survey 6992 6743 6025 4770 4846 5049

TOTAL FINISHED SERVICE 51664 49567 48552 31671 37008 34898

DID NOT FINISH SERVICE

Completed survey 5480 6074 6638 19158 14052 10660

Did not complete survey 7556 7333 7485 7476 6303 6135

TOTAL DID NOT FINISH SERVICE 13036 13407 14123 26634 20355 16795

FINISHED SERVICE

Completed survey 86.5% 86.4% 87.6% 84.9% 86.9% 85.5%

Did not complete survey 13.5% 13.6% 12.4% 15.1% 13.1% 14.5%

TOTAL FINISHED SERVICE 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

DID NOT FINISH SERVICE

Completed survey 42.0% 45.3% 47.0% 71.9% 69.0% 63.5%

Did not complete survey 58.0% 54.7% 53.0% 28.1% 31.0% 36.5%

TOTAL DID NOT FINISH SERVICE 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Theoretical 

Background of the MES

Pathways & Domains

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AmeriCorps 

Member 

Theory of 

Change 

(TOC)

10

• Creation of empowered and prepared 

citizens

• More civically engaged

• Will work to strengthen their 

communities

• Dedicated to improving the lives of 

those in their community

Vision: 

• Participants develop along four 

pathways essential in developing 

empowerment and preparation 

necessary to be a change-oriented, 

active community member 

Four Pathways to Achieving Vision: 
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MES

Pathways

Cultural Competency 

Civic Engagement 

Life and Career Skills 

“Getting Things Done”
Cultural Competency

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• Member ability to work with and within diverse groups

• The act of uniting different or disparate groups to achieve a common goal

• Contact hypothesis:

• During interpersonal contact between majority and minority group, given 

certain conditions are met, members can effectively overcome prejudices, 

biases, and preconceived notions of the minority group

• Intergroup contact necessitates creating “equal status”

• Requires mutually interdependent relationship (i.e., a cooperative achievement of a 

joint goal)
Civic Engagement

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• Civic engagement: the constellation of activities in which individuals engage to 

“make a difference” in their communities

• Participation within and beyond electoral politics at all geographic levels

• Volunteerism

• Activities like attending public meetings and belonging to organizations

• Neighbors doing favors for each other

• AmeriCorps provides opportunities for citizens to be agents of positive change/ 

“force multipliers”:

• Solving issues with the support of local stakeholders

• National service has potential to shape members’ long-term civic attitudes and 

behaviors
Life and Career Skills

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• Broadening or enhancing the ability to work productively and effectively, both in 

the workplace and in the community

• Hard skills, such as project management

• Soft skills, such as strategic thinking

• Members seeking employment in public serving roles may be better positioned to 

influence community change from positions of relative power

• Educational Attainment Pathway: 

• Enhancing members’ ability to obtain higher education and training 

• Education award incentive

• Creating more educated populace to tackle community issues
“Getting Things Done”

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• Instilling motivation to solve problems, and promoting the ability to take initiative in 

planning, preparing, executing, and assessing an endeavor

• Hands on experience with consequential and deliberate action, carrying much of the 

responsibility expected in the “real world”

• Members develop a change and action orientation to the world, and a positive 

self-orientation and sense of self-efficacy

• Service occurs for many members during critical period of life known as 

“emerging adulthood” 

• The member service placement offers exposure to a new ideas and experiences when 

they actively seek answers to questions of personal identity and beliefs
MES 

Domains

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Motivation to Join

Describing Experience

Satisfaction with Experience

Training

Post-Service Plans
Analyses and Use of 

the AmeriCorps MES

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How ORE Conducts Analysis

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• ORE typically analyzes data by fiscal year (Oct 1 – Sept 30)

• Members are put into a specific fiscal year by service end date

• Examples:

• If a member starts service on September 1st, 2016, serves a full-term, and leaves 

service on July 27th, 2017, they would be a part of the FY2017 dataset

• If a member starts service on March 13th, 2022, but left service early after a month on 

April 24th, 2022, they would be a part of the FY2022 dataset

• ORE uses service end date to account for any current events or seasonality 

affecting when members leave, such as a presidential election occurring during 

a given fiscal year
How ORE Conducts Analysis (cont.)

Data disaggregation:

Demographically:

• Race

• Ethnicity

• Gender

• Age Group

• Educational 

Attainment

Programmatically:

• AmeriCorps State 

and National

• AmeriCorps 

NCCC

• AmeriCorps VISTA

• Focus Area of 

service

• Term Type

By specific questions

• Did a member 

serve in a team 

setting?

• What are a 

member’s postservice plans?

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Features of ORE Analyses

ORE Analyses feature: • Full reports, onepagers, FAQ 

documents

• Use of graphics, 

graphs, appendices

• Can provide top-

level findings of 

aggregated data 

(avoiding PII issues)

Incorporation of other 

national/local level 

data from separate 

sources: • National voter 

data (ex: Tufts 

University’s voting 

data)

• US Census’ 

Current 

Population Survey 

(CPS) and Civic 

Engagement and 

Volunteering 

Supplement 

(CEV)

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Completed Analyses

• Bridging Differences (Cultural Competency) 

(2016 – 2020)

• Disaggregated by program, demographics, teamwork

• Civic Engagement (2017 – 2021)

• Disaggregated by program

(reports on AmeriCorps Evidence Exchange)

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Bridging Differences (2016-2020)

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Bridging Differences (2016-2021) (cont.)

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Question 7) Please indicate how much 

you agree or disagree with the following 

statements: 

a) I enjoy exploring differences between coworkers and/or friends from different 

cultures or background and me. 

b) I enjoy interacting with people from 

different cultures and backgrounds.

c) I respect the values of people from 

different cultures and backgrounds.

d) I feel confident when interacting with 

people from different cultures and 

backgrounds.

95.4%

80.4%

80%

90%

100%

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

7a.8 - Exploring Differences: 

Teamwork

Worked on a team

Did not work on a team

98.0%

88.1%

80%

90%

100%

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

7b.8 - Enjoy Interacting with Other 

Cultures/Background: Teamwork

Worked on a team

Did not work on a team

98.7%

91.3%

80%

90%

100%

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

7c.8 - Respect Values: 

Teamwork

Worked on a team

Did not work on a team

94.6%

80% 84.2%

90%

100%

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

7d.8 - Confidence in Interactions: 

Teamwork

Worked on a team

Did not work on a team
Civic Engagement (2017-2021)

Top level findings

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• Increased community engagement: most members across all programs reported a higher 

likelihood of participating and volunteering in their communities after having served in 

AmeriCorps, though there was a slight decrease amongst all members from 2020 to 2021.

• Increased frequency of discussing sociopolitical issues: starting in 2019, all members 

reported a decrease in how often they discussed and linked larger political, social, local, or 

national issues to their communities compared to previous years, although levels increased 

past pre-2019 levels starting in 2020.

• High levels of attachment and obligation to their community: the majority of ASN and VISTA 

members expressed a strong personal attachment to their community from 2017 through 

2021

• High levels of member confidence to adequately address community concerns: most 

members felt they could do something about a problem in their community by:

• creating plans

• getting others to care about the problem,

• organizing meetings

• expressing one’s views in front of a group

• contacting elected officials
Civic Engagement (2017-2021) (cont.)

Voting patterns

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AmeriCorps 

members aged 

18-29 vote in 

presidential 

elections more

than the 

general 

population of 

the same age
Forthcoming Analyses

• Life and Career Skills (2017 – 2022)

• Responses by Service Completion

• Motivation to Serve

• Analyses by state

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MES Data Coming to the Open Data Platform (ODP)

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• MES data will be placed onto 

AmeriCorps’ Open Data Platform 

(ODP)

• Will provide top-level findings and 

summary tables for all questions in the 

survey

• Data dictionary and FAQs to be 

included

• Denote which questions belong to 

which pathways and which domains

• https://data.americorps.gov/ to 

access AmeriCorps’ available 

datasets

7) Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

7a) I enjoy exploring differences between co-workers and/or friends from different cultures or background and me.

Strongly Agree or 

Agree 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

All 0.926387 0.929282 0.928739 0.936995 0.93678 0.930477

ASN 0.926487 0.930354 0.928199 0.937524 0.936573 0.929146

NCCC 0.899448 0.88701 0.902521 0.904713 0.899448 0.900407

VISTA 0.931703 0.930828 0.936545 0.938752 0.943326 0.945394

7b) I enjoy interacting with people from different cultures and backgrounds.

Strongly Agree or 

Agree 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

All 0.957505 0.960174 0.960208 0.965771 0.964067 0.959209

ASN 0.956629 0.959639 0.959201 0.965166 0.963109 0.957606

NCCC 0.928265 0.927748 0.942857 0.938462 0.929282 0.940041

VISTA 0.968725 0.968679 0.969291 0.974052 0.974863 0.973875

7c) I respect the values of people from different cultures and backgrounds.

Strongly Agree or 

Agree 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

All 0.970641 0.972393 0.972307 0.974969 0.973141 0.969919

ASN 0.969733 0.9717 0.97194 0.974592 0.972115 0.968605

NCCC 0.947885 0.940046 0.952941 0.949744 0.948066 0.944106

VISTA 0.98062 0.981741 0.977878 0.981442 0.982982 0.983893

7d) I feel confident when interacting with people from different cultures and backgrounds.

Strongly Agree or 

Agree 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

All 0.924202 0.927087 0.926898 0.928998 0.92631 0.921766

ASN 0.925247 0.927781 0.926314 0.928985 0.926114 0.920839

NCCC 0.87431 0.876249 0.901681 0.894359 0.879558 0.881098

VISTA 0.929297 0.93216 0.934798 0.934625 0.934114 0.935965

Example of data summary tables by program, Question 7 of MES:
MES on the ODP

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Who can use the AmeriCorps 

MES Data?

•AmeriCorps staff

• State Service Commissions

•Policymakers

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Conclusion: AmeriCorps MES is a wealth of 

information about AmeriCorps members

Large number of 

survey responses

• 350k+ responses

• Can disaggregate 

by demographics, 

program, timeframe, 

and more

• Details the member 

experience over 

time

MES gets to bottom of 

impact on members

• Is integral to 

agency’s strategic 

goal of member 

development

• Fully addresses 

AmeriCorps member 

Theory of Change

• Examines how 

members feel about 

their service 

The MES can be used 

to improve the 

service experience

• Stakeholders can use 

MES findings to 

inform future policies 

and programming

• Members get 

opportunity to be 

heard and influence 

positive changes for 

members after them

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For more information

•Please contact the AmeriCorps 

Office of Research and Evaluation’s 

email dedicated to the AmeriCorps 

Member Exit Survey:

• AmeriCorpsMES@cns.gov

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