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Requirements for Service Opportunity Listings 

Two Line Summary 

 Include one or two lines that summarize your program’s mission and vision.

Member Duties and Service Description 

 Please provide a basic description of what the member(s) will be doing as a part of service,

including day-to-day duties and specific responsibilities that the AmeriCorps member performs.

 CNCS staff are screening for prohibited activities in these sections. Please refer to the list of

prohibited activities to avoid any compliance issues.

 Avoid using specific words that may lead to a disapproved service opportunity listing due to

their similarities to prohibited activities.

o For example, if members will support clients, do not use the word “Advocacy” unless

there is context as to what type of advocacy.

o Similarly, if members will provide health referrals, include language such as “AmeriCorps

members do not provide health services related to prohibited items” in the description.

 Avoid vague language such as, “other duties as assigned” and “etc.” If it is difficult to determine

what members will be doing during their term of service, the listing will not be approved.

Program Benefits and Work Schedules 

For Full Time (1700 hour) Work Schedules: 

 Program Benefits must include at least health coverage, living allowance (or stipend), childcare

assistance if eligible, and education award upon successful completion of service.

 If the program is an Education Award Only program, Program Benefits do not need to include

living allowance or health coverage.

 If the program is a Professional Corps program, Program Benefits do not need to include living

allowance, health coverage, or childcare assistance.

For Part Time or Summer (anything other than 1700 hour) Work Schedules: 

 Program Benefits must include an education award upon completion of service.

For less than Full Time serving in a Full Time capacity Work Schedules: 

 Choose “Full Time” in the Work Schedule section and indicate the exact type or types of

member position(s) in at least one of the following fields: Position Title; Two Line Summary;

Modification Comments; Service Description.

 Program Benefits must include an education award upon completion of service.

For all Work Schedules: 

 Do not include “Choice of Education Award or End of Service Stipend” as one of the Program

Benefits. This benefit only applies to VISTA.

Title: Requirements for Service Opportunity Listings Date issued: 2018

Date posted: February 28, 2020 Unique identifier: ASN 002

Topic: Components of a high quality service opportunity listing

Summary: This is a training tool designed to help new AmeriCorps program staff create a service 

opportunity listing.

The contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any 

way. This document is intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law 

or agency policies.
 

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Program Start/End Dates and Accepting Applications Dates 

 The Program Start/End Date should cover the time of service for the listing. To avoid confusing 

potential applicants, the dates should not cover multiple years of a 3-year grant. Additionally, 

the End Date must be in the future to be approved and open for recruitment. 

 The Accepting Applications end date must be in the future to be approved and open for 

recruitment. The listing will not be searchable in the Portal if the Accepting Applications end 

date has passed. 

 If the listing is being closed, the Program Start/End Date and Accepting Applications dates may 

be expired. Please add a modification comment to confirm the listing closure and expired dates. 

Please click “No” when asked “Do you want to make this listing to be available now?”. 

Program Location 

 Please only list the Program Locations where the member’s service is occurring. It should not be 

used to increase the program’s visibility to potential applicants. 

 National Directs may list multiple program locations in the same service opportunity. 

Age Requirement 

 Generally, the age range must be a minimum of 17 and a maximum of 99 (or none). 

 The minimum can be lower than 17, if a program is engaging members who are opportunity 

youth and were already out of school at age 16. These members mustn’t have left school in 

order to serve in AmeriCorps. 

 The maximum age can be lower than 99 for CNCS-approved youth corps programs. 

Modification Comments and Removing a Listing 

 Modification Comments can help CNCS staff understand the intent behind modifying a service 

opportunity listing, which will result in a speedier approval process. 

 Listings cannot be deleted from the Portal, but they can be hidden. Please click “No” when 

asked “Do you want to make this listing to be available now?” and indicate in the modification 

comments that you want to remove the listing. 

Service Opportunity Listings Tips and Tricks 

 Draft your service opportunity listing: It is advisable to write the narrative in Word before 

creating a service opportunity listing. 

o Word checks for spelling and grammar errors whereas eGrants does not. 

o There is no Save option in eGrants, only Submit. Please do not submit incomplete 

listings to CNCS. 

 Longer recruitment periods are ideal: Every time the Accepting Application date passes, the 

listing needs to be resubmitted and reapproved, taking time away from members who want to 

apply to a program but cannot. The Accepting Applications end date can be longer than the 

program’s ideal Accepting Applications end date and closed when recruitment is complete. We 

recommend positions recruit for at least 1-2 months. 

 Submit service opportunity listings early: Submit a listing well in advance of when recruitment 

should begin to avoid delays. Therefore, if there are any issues with the listing, they will be 
 

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resolved at a time that is not during the program’s peak recruitment. An approved listing will 

automatically be published during the Accepting Applications date range. 

 Edit versus view: If a program re-opens a listing by selecting “Edit” in the Recruitment 

Workbasket, the submission date/time will be updated, even if no changes are made or saved. 

As listings are approved in chronological order, once a program does this, its listing will be 

moved to the end of the queue which delays the approval of the listing. Selecting “View” will not 

change the timestamp. 

 Multiple versus individual listings: Grantees have the option to either create multiple service 

opportunity listings for different program locations, service sites, and/or member duties or 

create a single universal service opportunity listing. Please note the universal service opportunity 

listings should still be comprehensive and detailed in order to be approved. Grantees with

different member slots (i.e. work schedules) are encouraged to create multiple service 

opportunity listings due to differences in member benefits. 

 Approval timeline: Please allow 3-5 business days for the approval of a service opportunity 

listing. The approval process can be longer depending on if corrections are needed. 

For additional information, please contact your CNCS Program Officer or the CNCS hotline. 
 

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