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AmeriCorps State and National FY 2016 Annual Plan

FY Appropriation: $335,430,000

Target Member Level: 56,469

Key Milestones:

 FY 2016 application deadline – January 20, 2016

 FY 2016 awards – May 11, 2016

 FY 2017 NOFO release – Summer 2016

 Grantee Meeting – July/August 2016

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 2016 AmeriCorps State and National 

competition, CNCS seeks to prioritize investment of national service resources in the 

following priority areas: 

 Disaster Services - improving community resiliency through disaster 

preparation, response, recovery, and mitigation

 Education - improving student academic performance in Science, Technology, 

Engineering, and/or Mathematics (STEM) or addressing student and school 

needs through School Turnaround AmeriCorps programming 

 Economic Opportunity - increasing economic opportunities for communities, 

specifically opportunity youth, both as the population served and as AmeriCorps 

members 

 Environmental Stewardship - 21st Century Service Corps 

 Veterans and Military Families - positively impacting the quality of life of 

veterans and improving military family strength

 Governor and Mayor Initiatives 

 Programming that supports My Brother’s Keeper 
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 Multi-focus intermediaries that demonstrate measureable impact and primarily 

serve communities with limited resources and organizational infrastructure, i.e. 

rural and other underserved communities 

 Safer communities - activities that focus on public safety and preventing and 

mitigating civil unrest e.g., summer programming or engaging communities that 

are part of The National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention

 Elder Justice AmeriCorps

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. 

Special efforts will be made to help partners and grantees implement performance 

measurement and comply with all administrative and financial reporting 

requirements.

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation: For FY 2016, AmeriCorps 

State and National will continue to make available to its grantees all of the agency’s 

16 Priority Performance Measures and will continue to allow the use of 

Complementary Program Measures and applicant determined Performance

Measures. Agency priority performance measures can be found here: 

http://www.nationalservice.gov/sites/default/files/resource/ny-08-cncs-goalspriority-measures.pdf
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AmeriCorps VISTA FY 2016 Annual Plan 

FY Appropriation: $92,364,000

Target Member Level: 7,370 

Key Milestones: 

 August 2015: Issued Program Guidance (which articulates AmeriCorps 

VISTA programming priorities) to CNCS State Offices and Field

 October 2015: Publish new AmeriCorps VISTA Rule (anticipated)

 November 2015 – August 2016: Hold 35-40 Pre-Service Orientations to train 

and assign new AmeriCorps VISTA members

 December 2015: Hold AmeriCorps VISTA 50th Anniversary – National 

Solutions Showcase in Austin, TX

Programming Priorities:

AmeriCorps VISTA was created with the purpose of reducing poverty and building 

economic opportunity. AmeriCorps VISTA members build the organizational and 

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

resources they need to break the cycle of poverty. 

This year, AmeriCorps VISTA will prioritize the expansion of programming in 

support of National Guard members and their families and those programs that spur 

student interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.

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 (Housing, Employment, Financial Education, 

Community Resilience, My Brother’s Keeper initiative) 

 Education (School Readiness, Academic Engagement and Performance, High 

School Graduation, My Brother’s Keeper initiative, and Post-secondary 

Education)

 Healthy Futures (Intergenerational Food Security, Access to Health Care)

 New Americans

 Veterans and Military Families

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation: 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 additionally measure the value members receive from their national service 

experience. 
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AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC)

FY 2016 Annual Plan 

FY Appropriation: $30,000,000

Target Member Level (Traditional): 1,200

Target Member Level (FEMA Corps): 1,000 (FEMA Corps members are largely 

supported by FEMA funds)

Key Milestones & Campus Start Dates:

 Renegotiation of Interagency Agreement with FEMA to continue FEMA Corps 

past February 2017

 October 2016: Southwest Region (Denver, CO) and Pacific Region

(Sacramento, CA) Traditional 

 February 2016: North Central Region (Vinton, IA) and Atlantic Region

(Baltimore, MD) Traditional

 February 2016: Pacific Region (Sacramento, CA) FEMA Corps 

 July 2016: Southern Region (Vicksburg, MS) Traditional

 July 2016: Southern Region (Vicksburg, MS) and Atlantic Region (Baltimore, 

MD) 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 team-building 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 2016, 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 2016, 

we anticipate reaching more than 40 percent, accompanied by an aggressive 

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

AmeriCorps NCCC will continue to implement measures as outlined in AmeriCorps 

NCCC’s Annual Recruitment plan, including:

 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 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; and

 Expand the strategic use of the approximately 17,000 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 seven of the 16 agency-wide priority 

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

FY 2016 Annual Plan 

FY Appropriation: $48,902,000

Target Volunteer Level: 232,384

Key Milestones:

 Total estimated grant awards in FY 2016: 563

 Continuation of grants competitively awarded in FY 2014 and 2015

 Administrative renewal of grants competitively awarded in FY 2013 (as 

required by statute), to also including

- Performance measures linking federal funding to outcomes

- Increased funding for grantees proposing evidence-based programing

- Increased funding to small grantees of up to $50K

 Competitive awards under the RSVP FY 2016 Competition. Award grants 

beginning in March 2016. Awards will be made for RSVP incumbents 

unsuccessful in the 2015 competition, in compliance with the authorizing 

legislation. Estimated total number of competitive grant awards in FY 2016: 21

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

on availability of FY 2016 funds, to include disaster services

Funding Priorities:

 Competitive and continuation grants fulfilling program priorities

 Supplemental funding for evidence based programing 

 Technical assistance and training for grantees’ criminal history check 

compliance and financial management

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation: 

All RSVP grants have been competed, and all successful applicants will have 

adopted the National Performance Measures. In FY 2016, 21 additional at-cost 

extensions will be recompeted under the new performance measures. In addition, 

all renewed grants will compete under a refinement of the previous performance 

measures. Previously, 10% of all volunteers need to be placed in outcome based 

performance measures. Now, in accordance with OMB’s Uniform Guidance for 

grants, we are linking federal funding to outcomes. For every $1,000 in annual 

federal funding, grantees are now required to place one volunteer in a service 

activity that either leads to an outcome, or supports an evidence-based health 

promotion activity. 
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Senior Corps: Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) FY 2016 Annual Plan 

FY Appropriation: $107,702,000

Target Volunteer Level: 25,190 

Key Milestones: 

 Total estimated grant awards in FY 2016: 313

 FY 2016 renewal and continuation grants will be administratively renewed (as 

required by statute)

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

on availability of FY 2016 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 new grants in response to tribal 

applications. 

Funding Priorities:

 Competitive and continuation grants that fulfill program priorities

 Supplemental funding for evidence-based programing 

 Technical assistance and training for grantees’ criminal history check 

compliance and financial management 

 Compete and award tribal grants and grant augmentations

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation: 

FGP performance measures are aligned with Strategic Plan Focus Areas, and the 

majority of FGP measures are subsets of CNCS agency-wide measures. The emphasis 

on education aligns with the Strategic Plan, as well as the purpose of the FGP 

program. In addition, all renewed grants will compete under a refinement of the 

previous performance measures. Previously, 75% of all FGP volunteers need to be 

placed in outcome based performance measures. Now, in accordance with OMB’s 

Uniform Guidance for grants, we are linking federal funding to outcomes. For 

every $6,000 in annual federal funding, FGP grantees are now required to place 

one Volunteer Service Year in a service activity that either leads to an outcome, or 

supports specific legacy programing associated with serving individuals with 

disabilities. As a result, this will mean that all FGP grantees will have adopted the 

national performance measures. 
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Senior Corps: Senior Companion Program (SCP) FY 2016 Annual Plan 

FY Appropriation: $45,512,000

Target Volunteer Level: 12,190 

Key Milestones: 

 Total estimated grant awards in FY 2016: 180

 FY 2016 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 2016 funds 

Funding Priorities:

 Competitive and continuation grants that fulfill program priorities

 Supplemental funding for evidence-based programing 

 Technical assistance and training for grantees’ criminal history check 

compliance and financial management 

 Compete and award tribal grants and grant augmentations

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation: 

SCP performance measures are aligned with Strategic Plan Focus Areas, and the 

majority of SCP measures are subsets of CNCS agency-wide measures. The emphasis 

on education aligns with the Strategic Plan, as well as the purpose of the SCP 

program. In addition, all renewed grants will compete under a refinement of the 

previous performance measures. Previously, 90% of all volunteers need to be 

placed in outcome based performance measured. Now, in accordance with OMB’s 

uniform guidance, we are linking federal funding to outcomes. For every $6000 in 

annual federal funding, SCP grantees are now required to place one Volunteer 

Service Year in a service activity that either leads to an outcome, or supports 

specific legacy programing associated with serving individuals with disabilities. 

As a result, all SCP grantees will have adopted the national performance measures. 
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Social Innovation Fund (SIF) FY 2016 Annual Plan

FY 2016 Appropriation: $70,000,000

Key Milestones:

The SIF has not yet begun the planning process for its upcoming competitions, so dates 

are tentative and details are not yet available. Updates will be provided.

 FY 2015 Competition for Pay for Success (PFS) 

(The SIF has two-year budget authority for PFS funding)

- Notice of Funding Availability Release: November 2015 (tentative)

- Application deadline: December 2015 (tentative)

- Notification of funding decisions: April 2016 (tentative)

 FY 2016 Competition for SIF Classic

- Notice of Funding Availability Release: February 2016 (tentative)

- Application deadline: March 2016 (tentative)

- Notification of funding decisions: July 2016 (tentative)

 FY 2016 Competition for Pay for Success

- Timing TBD

 Pay for Success New Grantee Orientation: Late Winter/Spring 2016

 Annual Grantee Convening: September 2016

Funding Priorities:

 FY 2015 Pay for Success Competition

- Social issues, geographic areas and populations that have not typically 

been the focus of PFS projects

- Traditionally underserved and underrepresented geographic areas and 

populations, which include rural and economically depressed 

communities, tribal communities, disabled populations, and veterans.

 FY 2016 Competitions

- Priorities for the FY 16 competitions have not yet been determined. 

Focus Areas:

The following are the broad areas in which the SIF focuses its funding:

 Youth Development – Preparing America’s youth for success in school, active 

citizenship, productive work, and healthy and safe lives;

 Economic Opportunity – Increasing economic opportunities for economically 

disadvantaged individuals; and/or

 Healthy Futures – Promoting healthy lifestyles and reducing the risk factors 

that can lead to illness.

Performance Measure Adoption and Implementation: 

For FY 2016, SIF will continue its use of pilot performance measures, requiring 

grantees to select and report on those most relevant for their programs.
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Subtitle H FY 2016 Annual Plan

(Volunteer Generation Fund, Call to Service – MLK and 9-11 Days of Service)

FY Appropriation: $6,900,000

Key Milestones: 

• 9-11 Day of Service

- Current grantees will apply for continuation funding

- Applications due Spring 2016

• MLK Day of Service 

- Current grantees will apply for continuation funding

- Applications due summer 2016

• Volunteer Generation Fund

- NOFA released May 2016

- Applications due July 2016

- Grants will be awarded competitively-September 2016

Funding Priorities:

• 9-11 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. 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 that tragedy. Activities in the 

portfolio may be part of a continuum of year-round service and contribute to 

advancing overall programmatic impact and organizational capacity. 

• 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 in their

portfolio may be part of a continuum of year-round service and contribute to 

advancing overall programmatic impact and organizational capacity. 

• Volunteer Generation Fund: Grantees must provide evidence that subgrantees 

have enhanced their capacity to fulfill the following requirements:

- 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 

- Provide relevant, competency-based volunteer roles and opportunities 

that attract and retain high caliber volunteers 

- Develop the internal operational and financial management systems that 

will provide organizational sustainability
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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. 

9-11 Day of Service grantees were required to begin using National Performance 

Measures in FY 2015. Grantees use Performance Measures in the Focus Areas of 

Disaster Services and Veterans and Military Families as well as the key goal of 

Capacity Building. Grantees will continue to use Performance Measures in FY 2016.

MLK Day of Service grantees were required to begin using National Performance 

Measures in FY 2015. Grantees can use Performance Measures in all six CNCS Focus 

Areas as well as the key goal of Capacity Building. Grantees will continue to use 

Performance Measures in FY 2016.
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State Commission Support Grants FY 2016 Annual Plan

FY Appropriation: $15,038,000

Target Member/Volunteer Level: Not Applicable

Key Milestones:

• FY 2016 partial awards – December 2015

• FY 2016 balance of award– April/May 2016

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, 

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, oversight and monitoring of grants and 

programs.

In addition, Commission Administrative Grants will be used to cultivate highperforming 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 a standard performance 

measure that is selected by CNCS as well select any additional performance 

measures it determines based on individual state service plan.