CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 1

Congressional 

Budget Justification

FISCAL YEAR 2017
2 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is the federal agency dedicated to community-driven civilian service 

for the purpose of improving lives, strengthening communities, and fortifying the civic health of our nation.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 3

Table of Contents

Part I. Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Part II. FY 2017 Budget Bill Language and Analysis ............................................. 11

Part III. FY 2017 Budget Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Budget Activity 1: AmeriCorps State and National ....................................................... 14

Budget Activity 2: AmeriCorps VISTA .................................................................21

Budget Activity 3: AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Budget Activity 4: State Service Commission Support Grants .............................................. 31

Budget Activity 5: National Service Trust ..............................................................33

Budget Activity 6: Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) ............................................35

Budget Activity 7: Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) ....................................................39

Budget Activity 8: Senior Companion Program (SCP) .....................................................43

Budget Activity 9: Social Innovation Fund ............................................................. 47

Budget Activity 10: Volunteer Generation Fund ..........................................................50

Budget Activity 11: Innovation, Demonstration, and Other Activities .........................................52

Budget Activity 12: Evaluation ......................................................................55

Budget Activity 13: Salaries and Expenses (S&E) ........................................................57

Disability Inclusion Strategy ........................................................................ 61

Disaster Response, Recovery, and Mitigation Strategy ....................................................63

Part IV. Office of Inspector General .......................................................... 66

Part V. Appendix ......................................................................... 70
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CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 5

Part I: Overview

Message from the CEO

For more than two decades, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has tapped our 

nation’s greatest resource—the American people—to get things done. 

Working hand in hand with thousands of local partners, our programs empower citizens to solve problems. 

They bolster the institutions of civil society. They expand opportunity through hard work and personal 

responsibility. And they unite us as a nation. 

The Fiscal Year 2017 Budget continues this smart approach by engaging millions of Americans in meeting 

critical needs with higher levels of impact, evidence, and accountability. Through targeted investments, 

our AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Social Innovation Fund programs will tackle our most pressing 

challenges —helping students stay in school and graduate, supporting veterans and military families, 

rebuilding communities after disasters, increasing opportunity, preserving the environment, and creating 

healthy futures.

Expanding Partnerships 

National service is a model of public-private partnership. CNCS leverages more than one dollar in outside resources for every dollar it invests to 

strengthen community impact and increase return on taxpayer dollars.

Advancing the goals outlined by the President’s Task Force on Expanding National Service, we will continue to partner with other federal agencies, 

the private sector, and nonprofits to expand national service opportunities, tackle national priorities, and create pathways to opportunity for those 

who serve.

The Budget also provides key resources to strengthen the nation’s volunteer sector, support the vital work of governor-supported State Service 

Commissions, and build the capacity of organizations to recruit and retain volunteers to address critical community needs.

Evidence and Results

We are committed to investing in what works and maximizing the return on the federal investment. With the resources in this Budget, we will target 

resources on a core set of critical problems, use performance measures to assess progress, conduct program evaluations, and use evidence in our 

budget, management, and grantmaking decisions. 

Through the Social Innovation Fund, we are expanding the knowledge base of proven program models that can be replicated in communities across the 

country. The Social Innovation Fund will also leverage substantial private sector support for the growth of evidence-based programs that improve the 

lives of low-income individuals. The Budget continues the Pay for Success pilot to leverage private funds to finance services, with government paying 

only after results occur.

Economic Opportunity

The Budget will expand individual opportunity, strengthen family stability, and create more sustainable, resilient communities. Through AmeriCorps, 

Senior Corps, and other programs, our investments will engage Americans in strengthening education, supporting disconnected youth, helping seniors 

live independently, connecting returning veterans to employment, and more.

In addition, our programs offer a ladder of opportunity for those who serve—by helping them graduate, gain career skills, pursue higher education, 

and find work. 
6 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Efficiency and Accountability

CNCS will continue to foster a culture of integrity, accountability, and transparency. The Budget makes investments to strengthen management, 

enhance competition, increase efficiency, and reduce burdens - helping our network of grantees focus on meeting mission goals. By modernizing 

information technology systems, enhancing internal controls, strengthening grantee monitoring, and other steps, the Budget will allow us to better 

support the members, grantees, and the public we serve. 

National Service Works for America 

Service and social innovation have always been a vital part of the American character. For decades, successive Administrations of both parties have 

invested in national service to tap the ingenuity and can-do spirit of the American people.

The Budget continues this smart investment in the American people—an investment that solves problems, expands opportunity, strengthens 

communities, connects us with our neighbors, and unites our nation.

In Service,

Wendy Spencer

Chief Executive Officer
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 1

Part I: Overview

OVERVIEW | PART I

Service and social innovation have always been a vital part of the 

American character. From the earliest days of our nation, Americans have 

stepped forward to help their neighbors, working together in creative ways 

to solve problems and strengthen communities. 

As citizens, we recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights. 

One of the ways Americans express their citizenship is by serving their 

communities. National service, volunteerism, and social innovation 

demonstrate the best of the American spirit—people turning toward 

problems instead of away and working together to find community solutions. 

Since its creation more than two decades ago, the Corporation for National 

and Community Service (CNCS) has led the nation’s efforts to engage 

citizens in solving problems in their communities. Working hand in hand 

with thousands of local partners, CNCS improves lives, expands economic 

opportunity, bolsters civic and faith-based organizations, fosters 

innovation, and engages millions of Americans in service. 

CNCS focuses its resources on the most pressing challenges facing our 

nation: 

• Educating students for the jobs of the 21st century 

• Supporting individuals, families, and neighborhoods on the road to 

economic recovery

• Addressing the needs of military families and a new generation of 

veterans returning from war 

• Helping communities rebuild after natural disasters 

• Promoting health and wellbeing

• Preserving the nation’s parks and public lands.

Through its national service programs, AmeriCorps and Senior Corps, 

CNCS engages millions of Americans in service and volunteerism each 

year at more than 50,000 locations across the country, from large cities to 

small towns to rural areas. 

In addition to CNCS’s national service programs, the CNCS Social 

Innovation Fund (SIF) improves the lives of people in low-income 

communities by mobilizing public and private resources to replicate and 

scale promising and evidence-based solutions in three priority areas of 

need: economic opportunity, youth development, and healthy futures.

At a time when public, private, and nonprofit organizations are struggling 

to meet the nation’s most pressing challenges, and when tough choices 

are being made at every level to maximize limited resources, the SIF 

represents a new way of doing business for the federal government. 

Evidence and Results

CNCS has made it a priority to develop a knowledge and evidence base 

to support the agency’s mission, programs, and strategic goals through 

rigorous program evaluation and research initiatives. CNCS’s emphasis 

on evaluation is aligned with federal guidance on the importance of 

using evidence and rigorous evaluation in budget, management, and 

policy decisions. CNCS believes that implementing a robust research 

and evaluation agenda is critical to the agency’s ability to achieve and 

communicate the value that national service and social innovation bring 

to communities across the country. A more detailed discussion of the 

agency’s evidence agenda can be found later in this Budget’s Fiscal Year 

(FY) 2017 Performance Plan. 

Partnerships 

National service is a public-private partnership that recognizes no one 

sector can meet our challenges alone, and that we make progress best 

by working together. Nearly everything CNCS does is accomplished by 

working with and through others—including nonprofit and faith-based 

organizations, schools and higher education institutions, government at all 

levels, businesses—and ultimately individual citizens. 

As the nation’s largest grant-maker for community transformation through 

service, volunteering and social innovation, CNCS supports thousands of 

organizations, including schools, food banks, homeless shelters, health 

clinics, youth centers, veteran’s service facilities, hospitals, and other 

groups. CNCS’s programs help these organizations expand their reach 

and impact by providing an infusion of human capital — trained and 

passionate AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers who can 

provide sustained service and mobilize other volunteers to strengthen 

community impact. Through the SIF, CNCS provides financial capital to 

grow programs that work.

Another benefit for CNCS grantees is the significant amount of cash and 

in-kind resources leveraged by the modest federal investment. Each year, 
2 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

CNCS, its grantees, and project sponsors generate more than $1.2 billion 

in outside resources from businesses, foundations, and other sources. 

Some of the nation’s largest companies provide matching support, along 

with thousands of small businesses, community foundations, and local 

agencies. This local investment strengthens community impact and 

increases the return on taxpayer dollars.

In addition to collaborating with nonprofit organizations across the 

country, CNCS also works with federal, state, and local government to 

engage citizens to meet important community needs. Congress created 

national service as a shared federal-state partnership, providing a central 

role for governors in designing and implementing national service through 

governor-supported State Service Commissions. CNCS works closely with 

mayors, county officials, and tribal leaders across the country to support 

local efforts to engage citizens in addressing community challenges.

On the federal level, CNCS in recent years has developed innovative 

partnerships with other agencies to meet critical challenges and expand 

opportunities for those who serve. FEMA Corps, a unit of the AmeriCorps 

National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), strengthens disaster capacity, 

prepares young people for emergency management careers, and saves 

significant taxpayer dollars. School Turnaround AmeriCorps, a partnership 

between the U.S. Department of Education and AmeriCorps, brings 

hundreds of new AmeriCorps members into some of the nation’s lowestperforming schools to boost student academic achievement, attendance, 

high school graduation rates, and college and career readiness. 

CNCS has worked with a number of federal and private sector partners 

to launch new AmeriCorps service opportunities that address critical 

challenges, including: 

• Justice AmeriCorps, a partnership between CNCS and the 

Department of Justice, engages approximately 100 lawyers and 

paralegals annually as AmeriCorps members to provide legal services 

to unaccompanied immigrant children. 

• Resilience AmeriCorps, a partnership with the National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration, The Rockefeller Foundation, and 

Cities of Service to engage AmeriCorps VISTA members in helping 

communities plan and implement efforts to become more resilient to 

the impacts of extreme weather, disasters, and climate effects. 

• ServiceWorks is a three-year project to help low-income youth 

develop the skills they need to prepare for college and careers. 

Through this collaboration between AmeriCorps, Points of Light, and 

the Citi Foundation, up to 225 AmeriCorps members engage youth 

age 16-24 in a volunteer response effort in 10 cities.

• Through Youth Opportunity AmeriCorps, CNCS and the Department of 

Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention enroll 

disconnected youth in national service programs.

• The Financial Opportunity Corps, a partnership with Bank of America 

and Points of Light, engages AmeriCorps VISTAs in bringing financial 

coaching to 10 communities around the nation. 

• The U.S. Forest Service and AmeriCorps have joined in a new 21st 

Century Conservation Service Corps partnership that engages 

approximately 300 AmeriCorps members and other youth in gaining 

valuable career skills and experience while restoring the nation’s 

forests and grasslands.

CNCS is continuing to work with other federal agencies and the private 

sector to develop service corps to meet the nation’s most important 

challenges while providing pathways to opportunity for those who serve. 

Economic Opportunity

In all its programs, CNCS seeks to expand economic opportunity— 

helping disconnected youth, new Americans, veterans, military families, 

seniors, people with disabilities, and others acquire the skills, education, 

and training they need for productive employment. 

National service and the SIF grantees support the beneficiaries of our 

programs by expanding individual opportunity, building family stability, 

and creating more sustainable, resilient communities. When programs 

help seniors live independently in their homes, or provide tutoring to help 

students graduate, or work alongside a low-income family to build a new 

home, they are supporting economic independence. 

National service is also a pathway to education and employment for those 

who serve. AmeriCorps provides members with valuable skills, leadership 

abilities, and experience to jumpstart their careers. In addition to gaining 

valuable experience to help them find employment, AmeriCorps alumni 

have earned more than $3 billion in Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards 

to help them pay for college or repay student loans since CNCS was 

established in 1993.

CNCS research reinforces the positive connection between volunteering 

and employment. As shown in its seminal study, Volunteering as a 

Pathway to Employment, CNCS found that volunteers have a 27 percent 

higher likelihood of finding a job after being out of work than nonvolunteers. This link was stable across socioeconomic variables such 

as gender, age, ethnicity, geographical area, or job market conditions. 

Volunteering can increase a person’s social connections, professional 

contacts, skills, and experience — all factors that are positively related 

to finding work. Thus the millions of volunteers engaged through CNCS 

programs each year not only help their communities, they may improve 

their own employment future.

By helping more Americans graduate, pursue higher education, and 

find work, national service can provide immediate benefits to the 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 3

Part I: Overview

community and significant long-term benefits to service recipients and 

those who serve.

Efficiency and Accountability

CNCS is committed to increasing efficiency in its program and financial 

operations, streamlining processes, reducing burdens, and supporting 

grantees and project sponsors in achieving their objectives. Among other 

activities, CNCS is strengthening IT systems to enhance efficiencies, 

enable program effectiveness, improve accountability, and provide 

effective system security. Another priority is ensuring that financial 

and grant management systems and policies support CNCS’s business 

infrastructure so that the agency can meet its goals and objectives.

FY 2017 AGENCY BUDGET REQUEST AND 

PERFORMANCE PLAN

The FY 2017 Budget request of $1.097 billion will support CNCS and 

its thousands of state and local partners in activities to improve lives, 

strengthen communities, foster civic engagement, and engage millions of 

Americans in national service and volunteerism. 

CNCS harnesses America’s most powerful resource—the energy and 

talents of its citizens—to solve problems and strengthen communities. 

By supporting local organizations and leveraging outside resources, CNCS 

provides critical services to individuals and communities and puts more 

Americans on the pathway to economic and educational opportunity.

The Budget request will support CNCS efforts to develop partnerships, 

strengthen competition, align resources, and leverage investments. It will 

help CNCS and the network it supports to meet community needs with 

higher levels of impact, accountability, and efficiency. 

The CNCS FY 2017 Budget request will:

• Support approximately 87,400 AmeriCorps service opportunities, 

plus an additional 1,000 FEMA Corps positions, for a total of 88,400 

opportunities. This level represents a projected increase of about 

13,600 more AmeriCorps positions than in FY 2015. AmeriCorps 

members will serve in programs that address the critical challenges 

identified in the Serve America Act: disaster services, economic 

opportunity, education, environmental stewardship, healthy futures, 

and veterans and military families. 

• Continue the goals of the President’s Task Force on Expanding 

National Service by partnering with federal agencies, the private 

sector, State Service Commissions, higher education institutions, 

and nonprofits to expand national service opportunities and 

tackle national priorities. In FY 2017, CNCS will continue federal 

partnerships including FEMA Corps, Resilience AmeriCorps, STEM 

AmeriCorps, Affordable Housing AmeriCorps, and others, and seek 

investments from the corporate and philanthropic communities to 

expand opportunities for Americans to serve. 

• Continue to invest in the growth of evidence-based programs that 

improve the lives of low-income individuals by increasing the use of 

evidence-based approaches in AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, the Social 

Innovation Fund and its Pay for Success initiative to spur fresh social 

sector investment in results.

• Create opportunities for approximately 270,000 older Americans to 

serve in Senior Corps programs such as Foster Grandparents, Senior 

Companions, and RSVP volunteers. The Budget also advances the 

adoption of evidence-based models that demonstrate effectiveness 

and introduces competition into the Foster Grandparent Program and 

Senior Companion Program.

• Strengthen the nation’s infrastructure for national service and 

volunteering by increasing investments in 52 Governor-supported 

State Service Commissions and the Volunteer Generation Fund.

• Bolster CNCS’s use of evidence and evaluation to drive programmatic 

and funding decisions.

• Continue to build a culture of transparency and put practices in 

place to manage risk, ensure accountability, and increase efficiency, 

while responsibly using taxpayer dollars.

The FY 2017 Budget supports critical investments in programs and 

activities that will continue to address the social and economic challenges 

facing our communities. Specifically, this Budget proposes the following: 

AmeriCorps State and National: The request of $386 million will support 

approximately 77,500 AmeriCorps members who will provide direct 

service to communities across the country. This represents an increase 

of approximately 1,300 AmeriCorps members above the FY 2016 level. 

With this funding, AmeriCorps State and National will continue to invest in 

evidence-informed and evidence-based community solutions, providing a 

critical source of human capital to meet pressing community needs across 

the country and a pathway to economic and educational opportunities for 

Americans who serve. 

AmeriCorps VISTA: The request of $95.9 million, an increase of $3.5 

million over FY 2016, will support an estimated 8,800 full-time and 

summer AmeriCorps VISTA members focused on capacity building for 

anti-poverty projects, including up to 175 new Resilience AmeriCorps 

members. Resilience AmeriCorps is a partnership with the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help tribal, state, city, county, 

and community leaders as they plan for and address the impacts of 

extreme weather. AmeriCorps VISTA will continue to promote evidenceinformed activities, and direct resources to projects that demonstrate 
4 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

promise in pre-K readiness and K-12 success. Additionally, AmeriCorps 

VISTA projects will focus on helping the needy obtain safe and affordable 

housing, improving American’s access to food and health care, 

supporting veterans and their families and supporting communities as 

they become more resilient to the impacts of extreme weather, disasters, 

and climate effects. 

AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (AmeriCorps NCCC):

The request of $30 million will support an estimated 1,200 members 

in direct, team-based national service. AmeriCorps NCCC members 

gain skills, opportunity, and leadership abilities while meeting pressing 

community needs in the areas of disaster response, infrastructure 

improvement, environmental stewardship and conservation, urban and 

rural development, and energy conservation.

National Service Trust: The request of $206.8 million—in addition to 

$25.3 million in carryover funds—will fund Segal AmeriCorps Education 

Awards for approximately 87,400 eligible AmeriCorps members who 

complete their terms of service. The FY 2017 maximum award for full-time 

service is $5,935.1

State Service Commissions: The request of $17 million, an increase of 

approximately $1 million over FY 2016, will fund Governor-supported State 

Service Commissions in performing their critical oversight and strategic 

functions. State Commissions administer approximately three-fourths 

of AmeriCorps grant funds and play a key role in identifying local needs, 

monitoring subgrantees, and leading citizen service efforts in their states. 

Senior Corps: The request of $202.1 million for Senior Corps (RSVP, 

Foster Grandparent Program, and Senior Companion Program) will support 

an approximately 267,000 Americans, age 55 and older. CNCS will also 

strengthen Senior Corps by introducing competition into these programs, 

providing robust support to help grantees implement evidence-based 

models, and providing a path for Senior Corps programs to expand their 

evidence-based models to deliver their mentoring, supportive services, 

and other activities. Senior Corps volunteers improve educational 

outcomes for at-risk and special needs youth, connect veterans and 

military families to needed services, respond to disasters, and help lowincome seniors stay in their homes and avoid costly institutional care.

Social Innovation Fund: The request of $50 million invests in the Social 

Innovation Fund to test promising new approaches to major challenges, 

leverage private and philanthropic capital to meet these needs, and 

expand evidence-based programs that demonstrate measurable 

outcomes. The 2017 Budget continues to propose that up to 20 percent of 

funds be available for Pay for Success projects. Pay for Success models 

leverage philanthropic and private dollars to fund services up front, with 

government paying only after results occur.

Volunteer Generation Fund: The request of $4 million, an increase of 

$200,000 over FY 2016, will help nonprofit and voluntary organizations 

across the country broaden their volunteer base, more effectively 

recruit and retain volunteers, expand opportunities for those who serve, 

and increase their impact on community challenges. CNCS will focus 

investments on volunteer management practices that increase volunteer 

recruitment and retention, key steps to increasing the stability of nonprofit 

operations and helping organizations increase their impact.

Innovation, Demonstration, and Other: The request of $3.6 million for 

Call to Service initiatives will help nonprofit and voluntary organizations 

broaden their volunteer base and increase their impact through the Martin 

Luther King Jr. Day of Service and the September 11th Day of Service and 

Remembrance by providing opportunities for volunteers to participate in 

short-term volunteer projects in communities across the country.. 

Evaluation: The request of $6 million, an increase of $2 million over FY 

2016, will support the design and execution of research and evaluation 

studies and will facilitate the use of evidence and evaluation by CNCS 

and national service organizations. This funding level supports research 

to increase the evidence and knowledge base for CNCS programs. These 

efforts will strengthen CNCS’s efforts to promote a culture of evidence 

and evaluation within the agency and among grantees by facilitating 

evidence-based and evidence-informed grantmaking, leading to 

increasingly relevant technical assistance.

Training and Technical Assistance: In the Consolidated Appropriations 

Act of 2016, Congress provided authority and direction for CNCS to 

provide additional resources to State Commissions to provide training and 

technical assistance to AmeriCorps and other national service programs. 

CNCS recognizes the important role of State Commissions in developing, 

managing, and training AmeriCorps grantees. This newly-available 

authority will allow Commissions to expand the training and technical 

assistance they currently provide to AmeriCorps grantees and offer support 

to other national service programs operating in their states. CNCS will 

use this authority to strengthen the capacity of State Commissions to 

support high quality programming by providing training and technical 

assistance in areas such as performance measurement, monitoring, 

evaluation, compliance, or other elements. CNCS is currently determining 

the amount, purposes, allocation process, and reporting requirements for 

1 The Segal AmeriCorps Education Award level may be adjusted for increases in the FY 2016 Federal Pell Grant to which it is tied.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 5

Part I: Overview

using this authority in FY 2016. CNCS will monitor the implementation of operations, modernization, and staffing levels needed to ensure 

this authority and training as well as the technical assistance needs of efficient agency operations and program delivery. 

Commissions and programs to determine how it will exercise the authority Office of Inspector General: The request of $6.1 million will support in FY 2017.

Office of Inspector General activities to conduct audits, evaluations, and 

Salaries and Expenses: The request of $89.3 million, an increase of investigations to enhance the management and overall performance of 

$7.6 million over FY 2016, supports Information Technology CNCS and its grantees and promote economy and efficiency.

TABLE 1. FY 2017 CNCS Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY 2015 

Enacted Level

FY 2016 

Enacted Level

FY 2017 

President’s 

Budget

$ Difference 

(FY16-FY17)

% Difference 

(FY16-FY17)

Operating Expenses $758,349 $787,929 $794,608*** $6,679 1%

AmeriCorps

 AmeriCorps State and National $335,430 $386,010 $386,010 $0 0%

 AmeriCorps VISTA $92,364 $92,364 $95,880 $3,516 4%

 AmeriCorps NCCC $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $0 0%

State Service Commission Support Grants $16,038 $16,038 $17,000 $962 6%

Senior Corps $202,117 $202,117 $202,117 $0 0%

 Foster Grandparent Program $107,702 $107,702 $107,702 $0 0%

 Senior Companion Program $45,512 $45,512 $45,512 $0 0%

 Retired Senior Volunteer Program $48,903 $48,903 $48,903 $0 0%

Social Innovation Fund $70,000 $50,000 $50,000 $0 0%

Volunteer Generation Fund $3,800 $3,800 $4,000 $200 5%

Innovation, Demonstration and Other $3,600 $3,600 $3,601 $1 0%

Evaluation $5,000 $4,000 $6,000 $2,000 50%

National Service Trust** $209,618 $220,000 $206,842 ($13,158) (6%)

Salaries and Expenses $81,737 $81,737 $89,330 $7,593 9%

Office of the Inspector General $6,000 $5,250 $6,100 $850 16%

TOTAL* $1,054,954 $1,094,916 $1,096,880 $1,964 0%

*May not equal the sum of individual budget accounts due to rounding.

**In FY 2017, approximately $25.3 million in carryover funds in the National Service Trust will be used to meet the anticipated Trust obligation need.

*** Public Law 114-113 includes authority and guidance for CNCS to provide additional resources to State Commissions to provide training and technical 

assistance to AmeriCorps and other national service programs. CNCS is determining the amount and uses of these set-aside funds, which come from 

Operating Expenses.

Research and Evaluation Agenda

CNCS’s research agenda is focused on the following core stakeholders:

• Program beneficiaries (community impact, or those in the community 

that benefit from a CNCS supported service)

• National service participants (members and leveraged volunteers)

• CNCS-funded organizations (awardees, state commissions, state 

offices)

To meet its strategic objectives across these groups, CNCS is broadening 

its use of survey data and increasing the utility of administrative data by 

exploring opportunities to compare CNCS data with information from other 
6 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

agencies such as national education statistics. CNCS continues to focus 

program evaluations on the agency’s most important strategic initiatives 

in AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and the Social Innovation Fund which 

provide a more comprehensive picture of community impact and volunteer 

experience. Taken together these strategies help CNCS understand where 

resources are best targeted to achieve mission goals.

Additionally, CNCS continues to help build its grantees’ capacity 

to understand and implement what works. This effort empowers 

awardees to conduct quality program evaluations capable of generating 

credible evidence of effectiveness. In turn, CNCS continues to use this 

information to inform its own organizational learning strategy and 

contribute to the broader knowledge base of effective national service 

approaches. 

To further increase its partners’ evidence-building capacity, CNCS will 

further embed evidence and evaluation components into our current 

Regional Training Conference structure. For example, an Evaluation 

Institute (e.g., a comprehensive series of workshops) was added to the 

AmeriCorps State and National annual grantee symposium in 2015 and 

this model could be built into the Regional Training Conferences. 

Over time, CNCS plans to facilitate a network of local evaluation experts 

so that State Commissions, State Offices, and grantees have access to 

more local evidence expertise. These regional clusters of experts would 

work closely with State Commissions and State Offices to collect and 

disseminate information on the most effective service strategies. As 

initially envisioned, these regional clusters of evidence and evaluation 

experts will coordinate with the CNCS Office of Research and Evaluation, 

State Offices, State Commissions, and voluntary organizations to 

promote:

• Best practices, including volunteer engagement and retention

• Sound data management and reporting strategies

• Credible evaluation practices 

They will also be well positioned to provide regional partners with 

technical assistance based on issues common to practitioners in a 

particular geographic area. 

Performance

As part of the agency’s effort to learn and improve continuously, CNCS 

will assess its mission performance management and measurement 

practices on an ongoing basis. These practices include the collection, 

use, and reporting of performance information. Additionally, CNCS will 

use evidence to inform the development of new or refined measures to 

track agency progress toward its mission. 

CNCS is also developing a unit to lead and coordinate data analysis 

across programs. Key data of interest include member information (e.g., 

demographics), geographic location of important strategic services, 

Segal AmeriCorps Education Award use, and number of awardees 

implementing evidence-based or evidence-informed initiatives. 

Through its analysis of this data, the unit will help CNCS ask the right 

questions and find answers to inform business decisions. This work 

will also advance the agency’s research agenda by facilitating better 

administrative data matches (e.g., in the employment and higher 

education sectors) with other agencies as appropriate.

Over the coming years, in addition to measuring performance in priority 

areas, CNCS will use performance data to:

• Inform performance goals and objectives looking forward to the 

agency’s next strategic plan

• Inform resource allocation decisions (e.g., budget planning)

• G auge ongoing progress in areas where evidence demonstrates 

CNCS can have an impact

• Ensure that the agency is measuring the right things accurately

• Manage risk

• D evelop and target technical assistance to staff and awardees on 

how to collect, manage, report on, and use performance information

FY 2015 AGENCY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In FY 2015, CNCS continued to provide targeted, critical support through 

its national network of State Service Commissions, grantees, and 

partners, to deliver services to communities throughout the country. 

Accomplishments for Fiscal Year 2015 are described in further detail 

in the program chapters. A partial sample of these accomplishments is 

listed below, grouped by goals set out in the agency’s Strategic Plan:

Goal 1: Increase the impact of national service 

on local needs in communities served by CNCSsupported programs

• Engaged approximately 73,800 AmeriCorps members and nearly 

270,000 Senior Corps volunteers in results-driven service to 

strengthen education, support veterans and military families, help 

communities recover from disasters, expand economic opportunity, 

preserve the environment, provide health services, and more. 

• Created new public-private and interagency partnerships such 

as Resilience AmeriCorps through the President’s Task Force on 

Expanding National Service to engage more Americans in meeting 

national priorities and expanding educational and economic 

opportunity for those who serve.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 7

Part I: Overview

• A warded the sixth year of funding for the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) 

to experienced grant-makers with strong track records of success in 

expanding the impact of high-performing organizations and improving 

the lives of people in low-income communities. And continued funding 

for Pay for Success grants, which provide assistance to projects that 

seek to further align public funding with outcomes. 

• Provided critical support to Americans affected by natural and 

man-made disasters, including direct assistance to homeowners in 

the cleanup and gutting of their homes, volunteer coordination, and 

documentation match that may be used for the state’s cost share 

for FEMA grants. 

• Awarded 10 Operation AmeriCorps grants to help tribal and local 

leaders address their community’s most pressing local challenges. 

In this new program, which was initiated in the summer of 2014, 

tribal and local leaders identified a high-priority local challenge 

for AmeriCorps members to address in a relatively short period of 

time. Unlike other CNCS programs, applicants were able to request 

AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps VISTA, and AmeriCorps 

NCCC resources in a single application.

• Continued partnerships to support community solutions including 

the Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) initiative to improve 

the economy and quality of life in rural Eastern Kentucky and the 

AmeriCorps Urban Public Safety Corps to reduce crime and blight 

in Detroit.

Goal 2: Strengthen national service so that 

participants engaged in CNCS-supported 

programs consistently find opportunity, 

satisfaction, and meaning

• Continued support for Employers of National Service, an initiative to 

recognize the valuable skills and experience gained by AmeriCorps 

and Peace Corps alumni and provide additional opportunities for 

them to apply their skills in the workplace. Employers of National 

Service connects national service alumni with leading employers to 

create recruitment, hiring, and advancement opportunities. More 

than 300 companies, nonprofits, and public agencies have signed 

on as Employers of National Service since the initiative launched 

in September 2014 including Disney, Comcast, CSX, Miami-Dade 

County Public Schools, and the cities of Philadelphia and Nashville, 

and the states of Montana and Virginia.

• R ecognized the 50th anniversary of AmeriCorps VISTA and its 

efforts to mitigate poverty over four decades.

• Continued national Call to Service initiatives which engaged 

hundreds of thousands of Americans in projects on the Dr. Martin 

Luther King Jr. Day of Service and the September 11th National Day 

of Service and Remembrance, with many focused on supporting 

veterans, soldiers, and military families. 

• Created the National Veteran Corps to honor and recognize 

AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers who are 

veterans or who serve veterans and military families. In 2013, 

national service members served more than 780,000 veterans 

and military members in VA clinics and hospitals, veteran service 

organizations, and at nonprofits and public agencies. In addition, 

more than 23,000 veterans served in AmeriCorps and Senior 

Corps, applying their skills and leadership abilities to solving 

local problems. 

Goal 3: Maximize the value we add to grantees, 

partners, and participants

• Through the funding of AmeriCorps programs across the nation, 

established an infrastructure that recruited and managed millions 

of community volunteers through AmeriCorps to multiply the impact 

of national service participants and strengthen nonprofit and faithbased organizations across the country. AmeriCorps VISTA members 

raised more than $200 million in cash and in-kind resources in 

support of anti-poverty programs. 

• Expanded the use of competition to increase quality and impact, 

including a new competition for Justice AmeriCorps and continued 

implementation of competition for regional training events, School 

Turnaround AmeriCorps, and RSVP. 

• S trengthened relationships with governors, mayors, county, and 

tribal elected officials across the country. These officials are 

important partners in identifying local needs and ensuring national 

service resources are effectively meeting those needs. More 

than 2,780 mayors and county leaders representing 150 million 

Americans participated in the 2015 Mayor and County Recognition 

Day for National Service. 

• Strengthened volunteer recruitment and management practices in 

17 states through the Volunteer Generation Fund, which supported 

the recruitment of more than 266,000 volunteers in 2013.

• Supported five regional training events led by governor-supported 

State Service Commissions that engaged 2,000 staff from 

AmeriCorps and Senior Corps grantees, State Service Commissions, 

and other partners. These trainings focused on performance 

measures, compliance with grant requirements, evaluation 

strategies, best practices, and used a peer-to-peer approach that 

leveraged the knowledge and skills of the field to advance the 

mission of national service.
8 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

TABLE 2. FY 2015 CNCS Priority Goals, Measures, and Contributing Programs

Goal Focus Area Measure ID & Name ACSN VISTA NCCC SC SIF

Goal 1 - 

Increase the impact 

of national service 

on local needs in 

communities served 

by CNCS-supported 

programs

Disaster 

Services

Number of individuals that received assistance from 

CNCS-supported programs in disaster preparedness, 

mitigation, response, and/or recovery.

• • •

Economic 

Opportunity

Percent of economically disadvantaged people that 

received housing-related assistance from CNCSsupported members, participants and volunteers who 

showed improvement in their housing situation.

• * • *

Education Percent of children that demonstrated gains in school 

readiness.

• * • *

Education Percent of students served by or serving in CNCSsupported programs that demonstrated improved 

academic performance (including the percent meeting 

state proficiency levels in literacy and/or math, or whose 

scores on state standardized tests improved).

• * • *

Education Percent of students served by CNCS-supported programs, 

or engaged in CNCS-supported service-learning, that 

demonstrated improved academic engagement.

• * • *

Environmental 

Stewardship

Number of at-risk acres (land and/or water) improved by 

CNCS-supported members, participants and volunteers.

• • •

Healthy 

Futures

Percent of homebound OR older adults and individuals 

with disabilities that received CNCS-supported services 

who reported having increased social ties/perceived 

social support.

• •

Healthy 

Futures

Number of individuals that gained access to food 

resources provided with the assistance of CNCSsupported members, participants or volunteers.

• * • *

Veterans 

and Military 

Families

Number of each of the four categories of service 

recipients (veterans, veterans' family members, family 

members of active duty military, and military service 

members) that received CNCS-supported assistance.

• * • •

Goal 2 - 

Strengthen national 

service so that 

participants engaged 

in CNCS-supported 

programs consistently 

find opportunity, 

satisfaction, and 

meaning

Veterans 

and Military 

Families

Number of veterans and military family members 

engaged in providing services through CNCS-supported 

programs.

• • • •

Member 

Experience

Percent of service participants engaged in CNCSsupported programs who report gaining skills they 

can apply to future educational, professional or civic 

endeavors.

• • • •
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 9

Part I: Overview

TABLE 2. FY 2015 CNCS Priority Goals, Measures, and Contributing Programs (dollars in thousands) (continued) 

Goal Focus Area Measure ID & Name ACSN VISTA NCCC SC SIF

Goal 3 - 

Maximize the value 

we add to grantees, 

partners and 

participants

Capacity 

Building

Percent of organizations that implement evaluations that 

demonstrate stronger evidence of program effectiveness 

than prior to receiving CNCS national service participants 

or funding.

•

Capacity 

Building

Number of community volunteers recruited and/or 

managed by CNCS-supported organizations or National 

Service Participants.

• • • •

Goal 4 - 

Fortify management 

operations and 

sustain a capable, 

responsive, and 

accountable 

organization

IT Complete modernization of IT infrastructure. CNCS Office of the COO

Financial 

Management

Ensure that no material internal control or compliance 

issues are identified in annual financial statement audit.

CNCS Office of the COO

Grants 

Management

Award and close grants and contracts within prescribed 

timeframes.

CNCS Office of the COO

*Related projects and/or grants align - but do not necessarily contribute - to respective priority measures.

Goal 4: Fortify management operations and 

sustain a capable, responsive, and accountable 

organization

• Continued to foster a culture of integrity, accountability and 

transparency by fortifying its internal controls, oversight, and 

monitoring. CNCS’s Office of Accountability and Oversight (OAO) led 

these enhancement efforts by beginning the development of a more 

robust and integrated Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program in 

FY 2015.

• Created and began staffing the new Office of the Chief Risk Officer, 

which includes positions for a Chief Risk Officer, Internal Controls 

Program Manager, Enterprise Risk Management and Monitoring 

Program Manager, and IPERA Program Manager. 

• Drafted, cleared, and promulgated Enterprise Rick Management 

Policy

• Began to plan and implement Internal Controls focuses on monitoring 

and Information Technology assessment.

For measures reflected in the preceding table, many CNCS grantees 

and projects began collecting data in FY 2013 and the agency began to 

analyze this information in FY 2014. Based on this ongoing analysis, CNCS 

has started to identify possible areas to focus resources, including: 

• Targeted technical assistance for grantees on how to capture and 

enter high quality data

• Targeted technical assistance for staff on how to assess data accuracy 

• Potential performance measure adjustments that will better align 

measures with what awardees are doing to meet agency priorities 

through addressing community needs

As CNCS continues to examine and learn from data reported by awardees, 

the agency will develop strategies to address areas of need and share 

effective practices with voluntary sector partners.
10 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

K. Allman

Government Relations 

M.Hyde

Research & Evaluation

T. Miller

External Affairs

Board of Directors

W. Basl

AmeriCorps State & Nat’l

K. Mansaray

Chief of Program Operations

A. Mishra

Chief of Staff

Wendy Spencer

Chief Executive Officer

Vacant

AmeriCorps NCCC

M. Finberg

AmeriCorps VISTA

Deborah Jeffrey

Inspector General

M. Herrington

Office of Field Liasion

M. Herrington (Acting Director) 

Senior Corps

J. Joseph 

General Counsel

J. Page

Chief Operating Officer 

Chief Financial Officer

D. Thorman

Social Innovation Fund

S. Bradberry

Human Capital

*T. Hanley

Information Technology

Vacant

Chief Risk Officer 

FIGURE 1. CNCS Organizational Chart 

* Denotes staff that also have reporting line to the CEO
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 11

Part II: Budget Bill Language and Analysis

FY 2017 BUDGET BILL LANGUAGE AND ANALYSIS | PART II

Operating Expenses

For necessary expenses for the Corporation for National and Community 

Service (referred to in this title as “CNCS”) to carry out the Domestic 

Volunteer Service Act of 1973 (referred to in this title as “1973 Act”) 

and the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (referred to in this 

title as “1990 Act”), [$787,926,000] $794,608,000, notwithstanding 

sections 198B(b)(3), 198S(g), 501(a)(4)(C), and 501(a)(4)(F) of the 1990 

Act: Provided, That of the amounts provided under this heading: (1) up 

to 1 percent of program grant funds may be used to defray the costs of 

conducting grant application reviews, including the use of outside peer 

reviewers and electronic management of the grants cycle; (2) $50,000,000 

shall be available for expenses to carry out section 198K of the 1990 Act; 

(3) [$16,038,000] $17,000,000 shall be available to provide assistance 

to State commissions on national and community service, under section 

126(a) of the 1990 Act and notwithstanding section 501(a)(5)(B) of the 

1990 Act; (4) $30,000,000 shall be available until September 30, 2018

to carry out subtitle E of the 1990 Act; and (5) [$3,800,000] $4,000,000

shall be available for expenses authorized under section 501(a)(4)(F) of 

the 1990 Act, which, notwithstanding the provisions of section 198P shall 

be awarded by CNCS on a competitive basis: Provided further, That for 

the purposes of carrying out the 1990 Act, satisfying the requirements 

in section 122(c)(1)(D) may include a determination of need by the local 

community: Provided further, That not to exceed 20 percent of funds made 

available to carry out section 198K of the 1990 Act may be used for Social 

Innovation Fund Pilot Program-related performance-based awards for 

Pay for Success projects and shall remain available through September 

30, [2017] 2018: Provided further, That, with respect to the previous 

proviso, any funds obligated for such projects shall remain available for 

disbursement until expended, notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 1552(a): Provided 

further, That any funds deobligated from projects under section [501(a)

(4)(E)] 198K of the 1990 Act shall immediately be available for activities 

authorized under section 198K of such Act. (Departments of Labor, Health 

and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations 

Act, 2016.)

National Service Trust

(including transfers of funds)

For payment to the National Service Trust established under subtitle 

D of title I of the 1990 Act, [$220,000,000] $206,842,000, to remain 

available until expended: Provided, That CNCS may transfer additional 

funds from the amount provided within “Operating Expenses” allocated 

to grants under subtitle C of title I of the 1990 Act to the National Service 

Trust upon determination that such transfer is necessary to support the 

activities of national service participants and after notice is transmitted 

to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and 

the Senate: Provided further, That amounts appropriated for or transferred 

to the National Service Trust may be invested under section 145(b) of the 

1990 Act without regard to the requirement to apportion funds under 31 

U.S.C. 1513(b). (Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and 

Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016.)

Salaries and Expenses

For necessary expenses of administration as provided under section 501(a) 

(5) of the 1990 Act and under section 504(a) of the 1973 Act, including 

payment of salaries, authorized travel, hire of passenger motor vehicles, the 

rental of conference rooms in the District of Columbia, the employment of 

experts and consultants authorized under 5 U.S.C. 3109, and not to exceed 

$2,500 for official reception and representation expenses, [$81,737,000] 

$89,330,000. (Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and 

Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016.)

Office of Inspector General

For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General in carrying 

out the Inspector General Act of 1978, [$5,250,000] $6,100,000. 

(Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and 

Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016.)

Administative Provisions

SEC. [403] 401. CNCS shall make any significant changes to program 

requirements, service delivery or policy only through public notice and 

comment rulemaking. For fiscal year [2015] 2017, during any grant 

selection process, an officer or employee of CNCS shall not knowingly 

disclose any covered grant selection information regarding such selection, 

directly or indirectly, to any person other than an officer or employee of 

CNCS that is authorized by CNCS to receive such information.

SEC. [404] 402. AmeriCorps programs receiving grants under the National 

Service Trust program shall meet an overall minimum share requirement 

of 24 percent for the first three years that they receive AmeriCorps 

funding, and thereafter shall meet the overall minimum share requirement 

as provided in section 2521.60 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, 
12 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

without regard to the operating costs match requirement in section 121(e) 

or the member support Federal share limitations in section 140 of the 

1990 Act, and subject to partial waiver consistent with section 2521.70 

of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations. Notwithstanding section 198(i)(4), 

these minimum share requirements shall apply to Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Service Day grants under Section 198(i).

SEC. [405] 403. Donations made to CNCS under section 196 of the 1990 

Act for the purposes of financing programs and operations under titles I 

and II of the 1973 Act or subtitle B, C, D, or E of title I of the 1990 Act shall 

be used to supplement and not supplant current programs and operations.

SEC. [406] 404. In addition to the requirements in section 146(a) of 

the 1990 Act, use of an educational award for the purpose described 

in section 148(a)(4) shall be limited to individuals who are veterans as 

defined under section 101 of the Act.

SEC. [407] 405. For the purpose of carrying out section 189D of the 

1990 Act: 

(1) Entities described in paragraph (a) of such section shall be 

considered “qualified entities” under section 3 of the National Child 

Protection Act of 1993 (“NCPA”); and

(2) I ndividuals described in such section shall be considered 

“volunteers” under section 3 of NCPA; and

(3) S tate Commissions on National and Community Service established 

pursuant to section 178 of the 1990 Act, are authorized to receive 

criminal history record information, consistent with Public Law 

92–544.

SEC. 406. Notwithstanding sections 137(a) (3) and (4) of the 1990 Act, 

national service programs carried out under section 121 of the Act may 

select disadvantaged youth who are age 14 or older at the time the 

individual begins the term of service to serve in less than full time positions 

for disadvantaged youths during the months of May through September. 

For purposes of section 146(d) of the Act, any disadvantaged youth who is 

under age 17 at the time the individual begins the term of service shall be 

treated as an individual eligible to receive a summer of service educational 

award under section 146(d)(1). 

SEC. 407. Notwithstanding sections 139(b), 146 and 147 of the 1990 Act, 

an individual who successfully completes a term of service of not less 

than 1,200 hours during a period of not more than one year may receive a 

national service education award having a value of 70 percent of the value 

of a national service education award determined under section 147(a) of 

the Act.

SEC. 408. Section 148 of the 1990 Act is amended by striking subsection 

(f) (2)(A)(i) and redesignating subsection “(A)(ii)” as “(A)”.

SEC. 409. The 1973 Act is amended—

(a)(1) by striking section 412,

(2) in subparagraph 201(f)(1) by striking “Notwithstanding section 

412, and effective” and inserting “Effective”,

(3) in subparagraph 201(g)(3) by striking “in accordance with 

section 412”,

(4) in subparagraph 201(i)(1) by striking “or section 412”, and

(b) In section 1(b)striking “Sec. 412 Notice and hearing procedures for 

suspension and termination of financial assistance.’, and

(c) In subparagraph 227(a) by, striking paragraph (2), removing the 

designation of paragraph (1) and striking “paragraph (2) and”.

Sec. 410. Notwithstanding Section 198K(m)(1) and 198K(m)(2)(D), of 

the funds appropriated for the Social Innovation Fund, not more than 

7.5 percent may be used to carry out section 198K(m). (Departments of 

Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies 

Appropriations Act, 2016.)
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 13

Part II: Budget Bill Language and Analysis

TABLE 3. Appropriations Language Analysis 

Language Provision/Change Explanation

Sec. 402. Conforming match requirements for MLK Day of Service

Add:

Notwithstanding section 198(i)(4), these minimum share requirements shall apply to Martin 

Luther King, Jr. Service Day grants under Section 198(i).” to existing appropriations language 

Sec. 402 

This language lowers the statutorily required 70 

percent match requirement for the MLK Day Grant 

Competition to align with related CNCS grant 

programs (AmeriCorps, Senior Corps RSVP, and the 

September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance). 

Current law sets the match for MLK grantees at 70 

percent, which limits the competition’s applicant pool 

and flexibility. 

Sec. 406. Youth Summer Programming 

Add:

Notwithstanding sections 137(a) (3) and (4) of the 1990 Act, national service programs 

carried out under section 121 of the Act may select disadvantaged youth who are age 14 

or older at the time the individual begins the term of service to serve in less than full time 

positions for disadvantaged youths during the months of May through September. For 

purposes of section 146(d) of the Act, any disadvantaged youth who is under age 17 at the 

time the individual begins the term of service shall be treated as an individual eligible to 

receive a summer of service educational award under section 146(d)(1). 

This language provides the opportunity for 

disadvantaged youth to serve in AmeriCorps during the 

summer months (those who are 14, 15 and 16 to serve 

less than full-time during May through September). 

AmeriCorps members under 17 would receive a 

summer of service educational award.

Sec. 407. Aligning Member’s Service Year with the Academic Year

Add: 

Notwithstanding sections 139(b), 146 and 147 of the 1990 Act, an individual who 

successfully completes a term of service of not less than 1,200 hours during a period of not 

more than one year may receive a national service education award having a value of 70 

percent of the value of a national service education award determined under section 147(a) 

of the Act.

This language allows for the creation of a 1,200 hour 

AmeriCorps member position called “Reduced Fulltime” with a proportional MSY value and education 

award. This will help recruiting because it will allow 

a better match of the service term with the academic 

year with proportional hour requirements and 

proportional rewards.

Sec. 408. Education Award Transfer

Add: 

Section 148 of the Act is amended by striking subsection (f)(2)(A)(i) and redesignating 

subsection “(A)(ii)” as “(A)”. 

This language extends the opportunity to transfer 

a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award earned by 

individuals 55 and older to those who earned the 

Award through AmeriCorps VISTA and other programs.

Sec 409. DVSA Grant Competition

Add: 

The 1973 Act is amended—

 (a) (1) by striking section 412, 

 (2) in subparagraph 201(f)(1) by striking “Notwithstanding section 412, and 

effective” and inserting “Effective”,

 (3) in subparagraph 201(g)(3) by striking “in accordance with section 412”,

 (4) in subparagraph 201(i)(1) by striking “or section 412”, and

(b) In section 1(b)striking “Sec. 412 Notice and hearing procedures for suspension and 

termination of financial assistance.’, and

(c) In subparagraph 227(a) by, striking paragraph (2), removing the designation of 

paragraph (1) and striking “paragraph (2) and”.

This language allows CNCS to conduct competitions 

for its 1973 Act (DVSA) program grants by 

eliminating the provision that mandates continuous, 

non-competitive grant renewal. Competitive 

grantmaking increases the impact of federal 

appropriations, drives innovation and accountability 

for outcomes, and encourages the use of evidencebased models.

Sec. 410. SIF Research and Evaluation Funding

Add: 

Notwithstanding Section 198K(m)(1) and 198K(m)(2)(D), of the funds appropriated for the 

Social Innovation Fund, not more than 7.5 percent may be used to carry out section 198K(m). 

This language increases the research and evaluation 

reservation of funds from 5 percent to 7.5 percent for 

FY2016. This would allow the Social Innovation Fund 

to put more money towards research and evaluation 

contracts.
14 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

TABLE 4. AmeriCorps State and National Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY 2015 

Enacted Level

FY 2016 

Enacted 

Level

FY 2017 

President’s 

Budget

Increase/ 

Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Formula Grants to States $115,729 $131,312 $133,933 $2,621

Competitive Grants $202,308 $227,917 $232,593 $4,676

Set-asides for U.S. Territories $3,278 $3,719 $3,794 $75

Set-asides for Indian Tribes $3,278 $3,719 $3,794 $75

Education Award Program $3,250 $4,350 $4,350 $0

Childcare $4,232 $2,800 $2,800 $0

Grantmaking Support $3,354 $4,670 $4,744 $74

Total Budget Authority* $335,430 $378,510 $386,010 $7,500

*

 Budget account items may not sum to total budget authority due to rounding.

FY 2017 BUDGET ACTIVITIES | PART III

BUDGET ACTIVITY 1:

AmeriCorps State and National

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, Subtitle C)

TABLE 5. AmeriCorps State and National Vital Statistics (in whole numbers)

Statistic

FY 2015 

Enacted Level

FY 2016 

Enacted 

Level

FY 2017 

President’s 

Budget

Increase/ 

Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Total Members (est.) 64,804 76,198** 77,489 1,291

Cost Per MSY* $7,813 $8,187 $8,205 $18

* The Cost per Member Service Year (MSY) includes no grant cost member slots (such as professional corps) that will receive only the education awards and loan 

forbearance benefits but no programmatic funding (except in unique instances where programs can demonstrate limited resources and require additional program 

dollars to operate). 

** Public Law 114-113 includes authority and guidance for CNCS to provide additional resources to State Commissions to provide training and technical assistance to 

AmeriCorps and other national service programs.  CNCS is determining the amount and uses of these set-aside funds, which come from Operating Expenses.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 15

Part III: Budget Activities

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN 

For more than two decades, AmeriCorps State and National has engaged 

hundreds of thousands of members in intense impact-oriented service 

in every state and territory. These AmeriCorps members have dedicated 

millions of hours of service in communities across the nation helping to 

expand economic opportunities for all Americans through activities such 

as: tutoring, disaster response, helping veterans reintegrate into civilian 

life, and many others.

Investing Federal Funds in Outcomes and 

Evaluation

With the requested FY 2017 funding, AmeriCorps State and National will 

continue to invest in community-based organizations and programs that 

implement evidence-informed and evidence-based solutions. 

Embedding Evidence in Grant Reviews

AmeriCorps State and National will continue to place emphasis on 

evidence in the application review and selection process. AmeriCorps 

State and National will continue to promote effective and efficient 

solutions to social challenges by using a grant-making process that will 

select the strongest service models, taking into account the level of 

evidence for each intervention. This focus aligns with and reinforces the 

agency’s goal of providing the most effective service to the American 

people. Also, AmeriCorps State and National will not award $500,000 

or more to any applicant that does not demonstrate at least preliminary 

evidence. Below is a profile of the program’s current and projected 

grantees’ evidence levels. 

Building Grantee Capacity to Conduct Quality Evaluations 

and Use Findings for Organizational Learning

In keeping with CNCS’s strategic objective to improve organizational 

capacity to conduct rigorous evaluations of its programming, AmeriCorps 

State and National is also developing strategies with the agency’s 

Office of Research and Evaluation to help all grantees build evidence. 

Recognizing that there is value in funding programs along a continuum 

from evidence-informed to evidence-based interventions, AmeriCorps 

State and National is working to ensure that every grantee develops a plan 

to advance along the continuum. 

For the past two years, the program has provided one-on-one technical 

assistance to help grantees that receive $500,000 or more in CNCS 

funds to design and carry out quasi-experimental of experimental impact 

evaluations. The first cohort of grantees that received this assistance will 

submit their evaluation results during the FY 2016 grant competition. As 

shown in the chart above, the percentage of awardees that have achieved 

at least a preliminary level of evidence in FY 2015 increased by nearly 25 

percent over FY 2014. By FY 2017, AmeriCorps State and National projects 

that 82 percent (vs. 57 percent in FY 2014) of its awardees will achieve at 

least a preliminary level of evidence.4

 

Due to the high cost of quality research, CNCS is examining other ways 

to support the capacity of grantees to conduct an external evaluation to 

increase the number of high-quality evaluations that include randomized 

controlled trials and quasi-experimental design. Grantees with moderate 

evidence who responded to a survey reported spending an average of 

$135,976 on evaluation and the median cost was $77,943. Since cost 

TABLE 6. Level of Grantees’ Evidence2

Evidence Level

FY 2014 Percent 

of Awardees

FY 2015 Percent 

of Awardees3 

FY 2016 Projected 

Percent of Awardees

FY 2017 Projected 

Percent of Awardees

Strong 7 7 8 9

Moderate 22 12 22 25

Preliminary 28 52 48 48

Pre-Preliminary 42 29 22 18

Total percent for each column may not add to 100 due to rounding

2

 AmeriCorps State and National introduced its current use of evidence in grant-making decisions in FY 2014. Fiscal year percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding.

3

 The 2015 awardees with strong and moderate levels of evidence accounts for 14 percent, or $11,422,060, of funds awarded to new applicants and applicants who re-competed for funding.

4

 This data is based on a portfolio average since grantees only submit evidence at the beginning of their three-year grant cycle. More detail on the program portfolio’s evidence can be found in the 

Accomplishments section.
16 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

per MSY is a competitive factor in grant-making, there is concern that 

it may be leading applicants to under-budget for evaluations. Therefore, 

it is important to seek other ways to support the cost of high quality 

evaluations.

CNCS also seeks to build the evaluation capacity of small grantees that 

often lack the fiscal and human resources to conduct impact evaluations. 

The AmeriCorps Opportunity Youth Evaluation Bundling Project is a 

pilot project that tests a new and innovative way for small programs 

to participate in evaluations employing designs that rigorously assess 

program impacts. Evaluation bundling engages AmeriCorps State and 

National grantees in a collaborative relationship with each other and 

an evaluation contractor to design and implement a multi-site impact 

evaluation based on their common service interventions and outcomes. 

While each of these programs might not have the sample size and 

evaluation resources required to conduct a valid impact evaluation on 

their own, joining with similar programs will boost the sample size and 

evaluation resources available to a satisfactory level. A final evaluation 

report for the AmeriCorps Opportunity Youth Evaluation Bundling Project 

will be available in the fall of 2016.

Member Experiences and Outcomes

AmeriCorps State and National routinely coordinates with CNCS’s Office 

of Research and Evaluation to review and assess ways to improve its 

participants’ experience. CNCS revised the content and administration 

of its Member Exit Survey in FY 2015 in order to collect more relevant 

information and improve response rates. In addition, the agency piloted 

an alumni survey. Both surveys represent efforts to collect quality 

information about members’ experiences as well as the outcomes of those 

experiences — particularly in continued civic engagement and career 

pathways later in life. 

Key findings5 in recent years (data aggregated from fiscal years 2011, 

2012, 2013) have included:

• Members believed their service had an impact on communities and 

on themselves.

o Ninety-one percent of State and National members agreed that 

they made a contribution to the community.

o Seventy-seven percent of State and National members reexamined their beliefs and attitudes about themselves.

o Seventy-five percent of State and National members reported that 

they did things they never thought they could do.

• Members believed their service experience was “defining.”

o Seventy-eight percent of State and National members believed 

their participation in AmeriCorps was a defining personal or 

professional experience.

o Eighty-eight percent of State and National members felt their 

future educational, professional, or civic endeavors will benefit as 

a result of their AmeriCorps service.

o Eighty-seven percent of State and National members felt their 

AmeriCorps experience will affect their future participation in 

community service/civic engagement.

o Seventy-four percent of State and National members reported that 

during AmeriCorps they figured out next steps in terms of school 

or career goals.

AmeriCorps State and National will coordinate with the agency’s new 

data analysis unit discussed earlier to improve the quality and usefulness 

of administrative data such as member demographic characteristics. 

This effort will include ensuring that CNCS’s information systems 

are capturing the right data at the right time to inform key business 

decisions. Some of this work has already begun and is highlighted later 

in the agency grant and member management system modernization 

discussion (Salaries and Expenses). 

Member Activities and Recipient Outcomes

AmeriCorps State and National tracks awardees’ performance measure 

outputs and outcomes. CNCS uses strategic objectives to assess its 

progress across initiatives that have related measures and align with 

the agency goals mentioned earlier. The following chart reflects a limited 

number of the agency’s priority strategic objectives and measures, 

including projections for FY 2017. 

Areas of anticipated priority in FY 2017 include the following:

• Disaster Services – improving community resiliency through 

disaster preparation, response, recovery, and mitigation

• Economic Opportunity – increasing economic opportunities 

for communities, specifically opportunity youth, both as the 

population served and as AmeriCorps members.6 This includes 

programming that supports My Brother’s Keeper—initiatives that 

address opportunity gaps to ensure that all young people can 

reach their full potential

• Education – improving student academic performance in Science, 

5

 The figures reported here are statistically adjusted to account for non-response bias.

6

 Opportunity Youth - people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither in school nor working.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 17

Part III: Budget Activities

Technology, Engineering, and/or Mathematics (STEM) and addressing 

student and school needs through School Turnaround AmeriCorps 

programming 

• Environment – involving youth and veterans in protecting and 

restoring America’s great outdoors, including providing training and 

building stewardship while enhancing public lands through the 21st 

Century Conservation Service Corps. 

• Veterans and Military Families – positively impacting the quality of 

life of veterans and improving military family strength

• Governor and Mayor Initiatives – addressing a pressing challenge 

that a governor wishes to solve through partnership with a mayor 

and at least two nonprofits that effectively deploy AmeriCorps 

members for a collective impact.

• Multi-focus intermediaries – demonstrating measureable impact and 

primarily serve communities with limited resources and organizational 

infrastructure (e.g., rural and other underserved communities). 

• Safer communities – focusing on public safety and preventing and 

mitigating civil unrest, including summer programming or engaging 

communities that are part of The National Forum on Youth Violence 

Prevention.

The request includes an Opportunity Youth initiative that would enable up 

to 8,000 disconnected youth to serve as AmeriCorps members during the 

summer, giving them a chance to help their communities while exploring 

potential career paths, developing skills, and earning an education award 

they can use for college. CNCS is interested in expanding funding for 

summer service programs that expand opportunity for youth.

TABLE 7. CNCS Strategic Objectives and Priority Performance Measures

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Estimated7 

FY 2016 

Projected

FY 2017 

Projected8

CNCS Strategic Objective 1: Help improve school readiness for economicallydisadvantaged young children

Number of students showing improved academic performance 311,015 333,000 350,000 400,000

Number of students demonstrating improved academic engagement 49,273 151,000 180,000 190,000

CNCS Strategic Objective 2: Help increase the number of veterans served by CNCS 

programs

Number of veterans, veterans' family members, family members of active-duty 

military, and military service members served

39,709 44,500 50,000 55,000

CNCS Strategic Objective 3: Help individuals and communities prepare, respond, 

recover, and mitigate disasters and increase community resiliency.

Number of individuals receiving disaster preparedness services N/A 665,000 750,000 800,000

CNCS Strategic Objective 4: Help improve at-risk ecosystems

Number of at-risk acres and miles of public land improved 1,239,973 874,0009 1,000,000 1,100,000

CNCS Strategic Objective 5: Help increase the number of economically-disadvantaged 

people transitioning into or remaining in safe, healthy, affordable housing

Number of economically disadvantaged people receiving housing assistance 35,055 31,000 39,500 40,000

CNCS Strategic Objective 6: Reducing childhood obesity and increasing access to 

nutritious food 

Number of individuals that gained access to food resources 116,132 75,000 95,000 95,000

7

 Estimate is based on performance measures in applications that will report results fall 2015.

8

 Based on applying the ration of FY 2017 grant funds to FY 2015 grant funds (1.268:1) to the FY 2015 performance measure estimates.

9

 The distribution of measures used across the portfolio is dependent on which programs are funded and which performance measures they believe best capture the outcomes of their program model. 

As grantees change and/or they change what they are measuring, the total targets vary from year to year, as can actual results as illustrated between FY 2014 and FY 2015 for the second measure 

of objective 1 and the first measure of objective 6. Both of these measures show large differences in the number of reported results between past fiscal years due to changes in AmeriCorps’ grant 

portfolio and which measures grantees are selecting. 
18 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

The Detroit Youth Service Corps is one example. A joint endeavor of 

AmeriCorps, Detroit Public Schools, the Michigan Community Service 

Commission, the Skillman Foundation, and Wayne State University, the 

program engages 40 Detroit youth who have risks associated with criminal 

behavior for a 10-week summer AmeriCorps service term. AmeriCorps 

members work to increase neighborhood safety and quality of life by 

completing beautification and board-up projects, surveying neighborhoods 

with the Healthy Home Screening Tool Assessment, and providing information 

to residents. Members also participate in weekly learning seminars to develop 

academic and professional skills to help them be ready for college and career.

This is one of many examples that show why AmeriCorps is an effective 

strategy for addressing the challenges of disconnected youth and 

distressed communities. AmeriCorps benefits the recipients of service, 

the people who serve, and the larger community. CNCS notes the Senate 

Appropriations Committee FY 2016 report language recognizing that 

AmeriCorps programs are uniquely situated to support communities that 

have recently experienced civil unrest and the challenges underlying 

them. Since its creation, AmeriCorps has had a strong focus on 

expanding economic and education opportunities for those who need 

it most. While the service activities vary widely from tutoring and 

mentoring to improving public safety or weatherization, AmeriCorps 

programs share a common goal of improving communities while 

expanding opportunities for those that serve. CNCS will continue and 

look to expand its focus on public safety and preventing and mitigating 

civil unrest, including summer and opportunity youth programming.

AmeriCorps State and National’s budget request will also provide funding 

to cover the growing cost of implementing high-quality AmeriCorps 

programming. These costs include an increase in the cost per member to 

account for statutorily-required increases in the member living allowance; 

support for new activities that focus on member experience and 

community impact; and increased costs associated with evaluation. 

While CNCS has encouraged its grantees to do more with less over the 

past several years while the cost of doing business continues to rise, the 

agency is considering a new approach. The agency is looking at the value 

of ending the trend of pushing for a lower cost per MSY for all grantees, 

allowing grantees to be awarded at a level or some at a higher cost per 

MSY if they can demonstrate the need. CNCS is sensitive to the quality of 

applicants and the ability of grantees to administer high quality programs. 

For example, several quality programs have removed their grants from 

competitive consideration with CNCS this year after not receiving funding 

at the cost per member they requested and believe is necessary to run a 

high quality AmeriCorps program. 

In recent years AmeriCorps State and National has made strategic 

decisions to be able to fund all of the high quality grant applications 

it has received. For example, in FY 2015, CNCS did not consider any 

programmatic expansions of continuation applicants and reduced its new 

and recompeting applicants’ cost per MSY by at least three percent to 

ensure that all high-quality applications could be funded. 

Evidence and Results 

A body of evidence is emerging that supports the role of national service 

in advancing the nation’s education goals. A recent report10 (2014) 

published by America’s Promise Alliance summarized research that 

demonstrates the impact of national service programs on the following 

educational outcomes:

• Ensuring young children are ready for kindergarten

• Boosting early reading success

• Supporting regular attendance, good behavior and strong course 

performance

• Providing social and emotional support

• Extending learning beyond the school walls and the school day

• Fostering college and career aspirations

• Reconnecting young people to education employment pathways.

The FY 2017 budget will grow the use of evidence-based models in 

communities across the country by prioritizing funding for program models 

with evidence that they effectively address the outcomes listed above. In 

addition, the results of the School Turnaround AmeriCorps evaluation to be 

completed in the summer of 2016 will inform funding priorities in FY 2017. 

Similarly, as findings from the CNCS research grants awarded in FY 2015 

become available, they will be used to test new national service models 

and explore the role of national service in creating jobs in communities 

AmeriCorps serves. Finally, as evidence emerges from initiatives like the 

Social Innovation Fund, CNCS will explore roles for AmeriCorps awardees 

to expand the use of evidence-based programs in their communities.

Increasing the emphasis on evidence creates the need for additional grant 

funds to support high-quality evaluations. In addition, it is important to 

note that new programs will not have evidence to support their specific 

intervention. Therefore, CNCS will continue to promote innovation by 

supporting well thought-out theories of change that have not yet been 

proven and placing emphasis on the use of performance measurement 

and evaluation as a way to help new programs achieve positive outcomes 

and grow their level of evidence in support of those outcomes.

10 To download this report, go to: http://www.americaspromise.org/news/role-national-service-closing-graduation-gap
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 19

Part III: Budget Activities

Efficiencies 

All grantees are required to raise additional funds to manage their 

programs, since CNCS’s funding is not sufficient to cover all costs. 

Seventy percent of FY 2015 grantees with awards of $500,000 or greater 

currently match at the rate of dollar for dollar or higher. The average 

match rate reported by all of the FY 2015 cost-reimbursement grantees 

with awards more than $500,000 is greater than 50 percent, meaning 

that for every federal dollar invested, there is an additional dollar from the 

community supporting the program. 

Some programs are fixed-price awards that do not report match funds; 

however, they must raise additional revenue because it costs considerably 

more than the federal award to administer an AmeriCorps program. In 

total, including these “other resources,” for every federal dollar invested, 

AmeriCorps State and National FY 2015 grantees will raise $2.70. 

Partnerships and Priority Initiatives 

Operation AmeriCorps

In FY 2017, AmeriCorps State and National will continue to support 

Operation AmeriCorps, which was discussed earlier in this Budget. 

One example of this initiative is Operation AmeriCorps Orlando. This 

program will engage 130 AmeriCorps State members over two years 

to provide in-school and out of school support to high school seniors 

and ensure they go on to one of five opportunities after graduation: 

college, service in the military, AmeriCorps national service, a job, or 

a paid internship. AmeriCorps members across CNCS service streams, 

including AmeriCorps VISTA and AmeriCorps NCCC, will be crucial in this 

transformative process. AmeriCorps State members will contribute to 

this effort by serving in five local high schools and the City of Orlando 

recreation centers throughout targeted neighborhoods. AmeriCorps State 

members will lead academic tutoring, education and career counseling, 

and college immersion and workforce development training.11

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

During FY 2015, AmeriCorps State and National continued to support its 

grantees’ increased attention to, understanding of, and implementation 

of evaluation. The FY 2015 grant competition required applicants to 

submit logic models, describe their theories of change, and discuss the 

evidence base for the proposed interventions and outcomes. Applicants 

were scored against a four tiered evidence level scale: pre-preliminary, 

preliminary, moderate, and strong. 

The AmeriCorps State and National performance measures presented 

earlier in this Budget do not reflect all of the work being completed by 

grantees, but they do provide examples of how the agency is having a 

positive influence on challenges important to a broad range of people 

across the nation. For example, three of the priority measures track 

improvements to students’ success in school or helping people find safe 

housing, which are issues that affect millions of Americans. For FY 2015, 

CNCS estimates that its awardees will meet the needs of more than 

500,000 people in these priority issue areas. 

For activities in FY 2014, grantees reported on 77 different national 

performance measures plus numerous applicant determined measures. 

For example, AmeriCorps grantees working to help improve school 

readiness for economically-disadvantaged children reported that more 

than 311,000 students showed improved academic performance.

Successful Project Examples

The following projects illustrate the important roles that AmeriCorps 

members have played in communities nationwide and the role national 

service has played in improving educational outcomes for low-income 

students and schools.

Critical Roles

Performance data reported to CNCS by the following grantees illustrate 

the important contributions AmeriCorps members have made in providing 

disaster relief, housing, and employment coaching to residents nationwide. 

• A return on investment analysis in FY 2013 determined AmeriCorps’ 

investment of $9 million into Habitat for Humanity yielded $7.1 

million in community investment. Five hundred and seventy-five 

AmeriCorps members served one million hours and recruited 

approximately 260,000 volunteers — a 452:1 ratio. The program 

built or repaired 3,441 homes for an average cost of $2,624 in 

federal funds per home.

• Since September 2014, the St. Paul Neighborhood Network’s 

Community Technology Empowerment Project members have 

secured employment for 443 program participants. Members 

provide technology, financial, and employment teaching and 

coaching to low-income and immigrant populations at Twin Cities 

community agencies. 

• Fifteen AmeriCorps grantees are trained as AmeriCorps Disaster 

Response Teams (A-DRT’s), providing a combined total of 3,000 

specially trained AmeriCorps members ready to deploy to disaster 

stricken areas. For example, 162 AmeriCorps members from nine 

A-DRTs across the country were deployed on a mission assignment 

from FEMA to respond to flooding throughout the Detroit area. Between 

October and December 2014, these members mucked and gutted 351 

homes and completed 424 damage assessments. These grantees 

11 This information is based on awarded applications. Members have not yet begun serving.
20 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

also respond to disasters as part of their AmeriCorps grant. In 2015, 

AmeriCorps members provided direct service and responded to 

disasters in 13 states providing much needed assistance with debris 

removal and cleanup, registering disaster survivors for assistance, 

conducting damage assessments, and by managing volunteers and 

donations. In addition, AmeriCorps members provide essential disaster 

preparedness through education, outreach, and training; projects to 

mitigate the effects of flooding, hurricanes, and wildfires; and recovery 

support, including rebuilding/repair of storm damaged homes. 

• In response to heavy rainfall that led to flooding and landslides 

in Grays Harbor County, Washington and a request from the state 

emergency management agency for assistance, 45 AmeriCorps 

members with Washington Conservation Corps conducted damage 

assessments and debris removal of flood damaged homes, as well 

as leveraging additional volunteers by supporting the Volunteer 

Reception Center. They were able to conduct nearly 80 damage 

assessments and leverage hundreds of volunteers to remove more 

than 400 cubic yards of debris.

• Severe weather in Texas in May and June 2015 led to record amounts 

of rainfall that flooded many communities. Before the storms ended, 

Texas Conservation Corps deployed 28 AmeriCorps members to 

manage two volunteer reception centers in San Marcos, Texas. Within 

the first day they registered over 1,000 volunteers. 

Critical Results

The following programs conducted rigorous third-party evaluations. The 

strength of these findings demonstrate how national service provides 

important support from cradle to career, including ensuring young children 

are ready for kindergarten, boosting early reading success, and supporting 

college access.

• Playworks has conducted a quasi-experimental design and an 

experimental, randomized controlled trial and both demonstrate 

positive, statistically significant findings. In the Playworks model, 

AmeriCorps members use play to teach and model skills such 

as respect, empathy, problem-solving, and conflict resolution. 

The resulting positive recess climate improves students’ feelings 

of inclusion. This leads to an improved overall school climate 

where students are 36 percent more likely to feel physically and 

emotionally safe, 42 percent more likely to feel they belong, and 

have a 34 percent greater sense of connection to school. Research 

has identified that school engagement is an indicator of long-term 

academic and social outcomes. 

• Quasi-experimental evaluations of the Minnesota Reading Corps

model found that the evidence-based literacy enrichment and 

tutoring services members provide to preschool students effectively 

improves preschool students’ emergent literacy skills. AmeriCorpstutored four- and five-year-old students not only out-performed 

students in comparison groups in five assessed areas (recognizing 

letter sounds, rhyming words, letter names, picture names, and 

alliterations) but they significantly outperformed students in 

comparison groups in rhyming words and picture names. 

• A 2 015 quasi-experimental comparison group study measured the 

impact of City Year’s “Whole School Whole Child” model by analyzing 

publicly available state assessment data from more than 600 similar 

schools in high-poverty urban settings in 22 cities, of which 150 had 

partnered with City Year and 460 had had not. To identify comparison 

schools, Policy Studies Associates used propensity score matching 

that identified schools that were similar in terms of baseline state 

standardized test performance data, enrollment, and demographic 

information, including the percentage of English-language learners 

and economically disadvantaged students. The study found that 

schools that partnered with City Year were two to three times more 

likely to improve their proficiency rates in English Language Arts and 

math as compared with similar schools that did not have City Year. 

City Year AmeriCorps members promote academic achievement and 

foster student engagement in and out of the classroom at more than 

290 schools in 27 urban communities across the United States

• Other AmeriCorps education program models with strong evidence 

have demonstrated their impact on improving children’s ability to 

read. A randomized study of the Reading Partners’ program was 

conducted in which 1,265 students at 19 schools in second to fifth 

grade were randomly assigned to either receive the intervention or 

not. Using student reading assessment scores at the beginning and 

end of the school year, the evaluation found statistically significant 

impacts of the program on reading comprehension, reading fluency, 

and sight-word reading after one year. 

• A randomized control trial found that participants in the College 

Possible program were more than 15 percentage points more likely 

to enroll in a four-year institution right after high school.12

12 Christopher Avery, “Evaluation of the College Possible Program: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial,” NBER Working Paper 19562, October 2013, http://www.nber.org/papers/w19562.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 21

Part III: Budget Activities

TABLE 8. AmeriCorps VISTA Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account ($ in 000’s)

FY 2015 

Enacted Level

FY 2016 

Enacted Level

FY 2017 

President’s 

Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Subsistence $54,867 $57,155 $60,440 $3,285

Post-Service Stipend $1,668 $2,040 $2,095 $55

Healthcare $10,896 $6,800 $6,963 $163

Childcare $1,328 $1,480 $1,519 $39

Workers Compensation $940 $950 $950 $0

Travel, Relocation & Settling In $3,113 $3,452 $3,544 $92

Supervision and Transportation $5,114 $5,807 $5,962 $155

Grant-making Support $443 $181 $181 $0

Training $11,825 $12,330 $12,027 ($303)

Evaluation, Administration, etc. $784 $784 $784 $0

Recruitment and Outreach $1,385 $1,385 $1,415 $30

Total Budget Authority* $92,364 $92,364 $95,880 $3,516

*

 Total budget authority may not equal sum of total budget accounts due to rounding.

FY 2016 Performance Plan

AmeriCorps VISTA was created to support efforts to reduce poverty and 

build economic opportunity throughout the country. Established and 

authorized in 1964 as Volunteers in Service to America, the program 

became part of the AmeriCorps network of programs in 1993. AmeriCorps 

VISTA primarily builds the capacity of organizations to alleviate poverty 

by engaging individuals age 18 and older in a year of full-time service 

activities.

Investing Federal Funds in Outcomes and 

Evaluation

With the requested FY 2017 funding, AmeriCorps VISTA will continue 

to build the capacity of results-based, community programs and 

organizations that help economically disadvantaged Americans and 

communities address poverty and poverty-related issues. Several 

examples of these types of investments are described in the following 

sections. As evidence accumulates for effective national service and 

BUDGET ACTIVITY 2:

AmeriCorps VISTA

(Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, Title I, Part A)

TABLE 9. AmeriCorps VISTA Vital Statistics (in whole numbers)

Statistic

FY 2015 

Enacted Level

FY 2016 

Enacted Level

FY 2017 

President’s 

Budget

Increase/ 

Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Total AmeriCorps VISTA Members 7,782 8,533 8,764 231

Number of MSYs 5,550 6,095 6,305 210

Cost per MSY $16,642 $15,154 $15,220 $66
22 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

social innovation program models, CNCS plans to use this evidence to 

inform AmeriCorps VISTA programming. 

AmeriCorps VISTA Member Experience

AmeriCorps VISTA actively coordinates with CNCS’s Research and 

Evaluation Office to review and assess ways to improve its participants’ 

experience. CNCS revised the content and administration of its Member Exit 

Survey in FY 2015 in order to collect more relevant information and improve 

response rates. In addition, the agency piloted an alumni survey. Both 

surveys represent efforts to collect quality information about members’ 

experiences as well as the outcomes of those experiences—particularly in 

continued civic engagement and career pathways later in life. 

Strengthening Member Development and Support 

Based on AmeriCorps VISTA’s assessment, structured learning 

opportunities that provide personalized feedback and guidance have the 

greatest effect on members’ development and successful completion of 

their assignment. The greatest returns on investment are in the coaching 

and supervision from the sponsor and the AmeriCorps VISTA Pre-Service 

Orientation for members. In FY 2017, AmeriCorps VISTA will further expand 

and enhance its virtual training offerings for members, sponsors, and site 

supervisors to increase support and achieve greater cost efficiencies. 

AmeriCorps VISTA Member Activities and 

Organizational Outcomes

The flexibility to work with community stakeholders to identify culturally 

and regionally appropriate solutions to poverty is a hallmark of the 

AmeriCorps VISTA program. The intended outcome of AmeriCorps VISTA 

projects is the increased programmatic, organizational, or community 

capacity to address poverty and poverty-related issues, as determined 

locally with the involvement of beneficiaries in the community. 

To achieve these outcomes, AmeriCorps VISTA members engage in a 

variety of capacity building service activities, such as strengthening 

community partnerships, recruiting volunteers and helping to improve 

volunteer management systems, developing materials that support 

programming, conducting community assessments and outreach to target 

beneficiaries, and fundraising. AmeriCorps VISTA members are often 

involved in several of these activities during their term.

Of particular interest, some AmeriCorps VISTA members are helping host 

sites increase their capacity to effectively use data to measure outcomes 

and improve performance of their anti-poverty interventions. AmeriCorps 

VISTA members helping to build the data/research and evaluation capacity 

of nonprofit sponsors support CNCS’s goal of using data more effectively. 

AmeriCorps VISTA will look for best practices and takeaways from these 

data-focused projects. 

AmeriCorps VISTA members raised $222 million in FY 2015 to support the 

anti-poverty interventions of the organizations they served. In addition, 

AmeriCorps VISTA members developed meaningful opportunities for more 

than 1.2 million community volunteers to serve low-income communities.

Based on historical data, AmeriCorps VISTA estimates that it will generate 

more than $200 million in leveraged cash and in-kind resources in FY 2017 

to support the capacity-building efforts of nonprofits across the nation. 

Provided below is an example of how, with local community involvement, 

AmeriCorps VISTA members are being leveraged to create or expand 

capacity to address local needs. 

Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) 

This bipartisan initiative was launched by Kentucky Governor Steve 

Beshear and Congressman Hal Rogers to help meet the challenges in 

eastern Kentucky related to unemployment and poverty, and help the 

region develop and execute new locally-oriented strategies to attack 

persistent challenges. Through this investment of more than $1 million, 

CNCS estimates that 50 AmeriCorps VISTA members will provide 100,000 

volunteer hours over the next year to eastern Kentucky families and 

individuals. These AmeriCorps VISTA members recruit and manage 

volunteers, raise funds, and build the capacity of 16 local nonprofit and 

education organizations that tackle poverty and expand opportunity to 

50 counties in rural Kentucky’s Appalachian region. They will focus on job 

creation and retention, youth engagement, education success, and health 

and human services. 

One AmeriCorps VISTA member co-wrote a successful $19.9 million grant 

funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support underemployed 

Kentuckians to gain vital workforce skills. Partnering with the Eastern 

Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, State Cabinet for Health 

and Family Services, Education and Workforce Development, and the 

Kentucky Community and Technical College System, this grant will help 

low-income residents increase their employment readiness. 

AmeriCorps VISTA members raised $222 million in FY 2015 to 

support the anti-poverty interventions of the organizations 

they served. In addition, AmeriCorps VISTA members 

developed meaningful opportunities for more than 1.2 million 

volunteers to serve low-income communities.

Based on historical data, AmeriCorps VISTA estimates that it 

will generate more than $200 million in leveraged cash and 

in-kind resources in FY 2017 to support the capacity-building 

efforts of nonprofits across the nation. 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 23

Part III: Budget Activities

Evidence and Results

In FY 2017, AmeriCorps VISTA will continue to promote effective and 

efficient solutions to social challenges by selecting projects with strong 

indications of success. These indications include robust logic models, 

demonstrated past performance, and similarity to successful models. 

AmeriCorps VISTA is currently working with CNCS’s Research and 

Evaluation Office to develop an updated theory of change and associated 

logic model that will guide the program’s evaluation strategy in the 

coming years. A primary goal of this effort is to increase VISTA’s capacity 

to identify program sponsors with an increased likelihood of having 

interventions with measurable anti-poverty impact. 

Efficiencies

In FY 2015, over 23 percent of all AmeriCorps VISTA living allowances 

were funded by sponsoring organizations, primarily with funds from the 

communities where the AmeriCorps VISTA members served. This is a 

tribute to the degree in which AmeriCorps VISTA resources are valued 

by the communities served. In FY 2017, AmeriCorps VISTA is projecting 

that approximately 25 percent of all AmeriCorps VISTA living allowances 

for members will be supported through cost-share agreements funded 

by public-private partnerships. These cost share agreements allow 

for more members to serve by further leveraging federal funds. CNCS 

estimates that this cost-share program will enable VISTA to support nearly 

2,000 more AmeriCorps VISTA members in FY 2017 than what federally 

appropriated funds alone would support. 

As referenced above, AmeriCorps VISTA will also continue to achieve 

greater cost efficiencies by further expanding and enhancing its virtual 

training offerings for members, sponsors, and site supervisors. 

Partnerships and Priority Initiatives

Resilience AmeriCorps 

For FY 2017, AmeriCorps VISTA is requesting a $4 million increase to 

recruit, train, place and support up to 175 additional AmeriCorps VISTA 

members in low-income communities throughout the United States as part 

of Resilience AmeriCorps. This initiative responds to a recommendation 

made by the President’s State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on 

Climate Preparedness and Resilience to assist vulnerable communities 

that lack the capacity to rebound from catastrophic events—both natural 

and manmade. Resilience AmeriCorps is a partnership initially launched 

between CNCS, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, Cities of 

Service, and the Rockefeller Foundation. 

The first phase of Resilience AmeriCorps kicked off in early FY 2016 

with Cities of Service placing 19 VISTA members in 10 cities across the 

country: Anchorage, Alaska; Boulder, Colorado; Chicago, Illinois; El Paso, 

Texas; Minot, North Dakota; New Orleans, Louisiana; Norfolk, Virginia; 

Phoenix, Arizona; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 

traditional AmeriCorps VISTA onboarding was supplemented by resiliencespecific training developed by the Rockefeller Foundation. 

Further phases of Resilience AmeriCorps will include placing members at 

sites around the country with additional intermediary partners including 

Catholic Charities USA and Lutheran Services in America.

Mentoring, Opportunity Youth, and Workforce Development 

Initiatives 

Through support for the My Brother’s Keeper initiative, AmeriCorps VISTA 

will help young adults gain the education they need to become employed 

in today’s workforce and find entry-level jobs. Support will include the 

following pipeline-to-jobs endeavors:

• Promoting collaborative efforts to connect various programs focused 

on youth mentoring;

• Coordinating programs focused on selected My Brother’s Keeper Task 

Force focus areas: 

o Entering school ready to learn with a focus on closing the 

achievement gap, ensuring access to high quality early care and 

education, and expanding health and developmental screenings

o Promoting reading at grade level by third grade through joint 

book reading and in-home literacy programs, and increasing the 

capacity of successful reading proficiency programs

o Facilitating college access by improving access to college advising 

and support tools and offering Free Application for Federal Student 

Aid support to targeted populations

o Creating workforce development projects that support programs 

focused on increasing entry-level job, mentorship, and 

apprenticeship options

Refugee Resettlement

In FY 2017, AmeriCorps VISTA will continue to assist with the resettlement 

of refugees by supporting projects that:

• Connect targeted populations with programs focused on English as a 

Second Language and computer literacy

• Provide interviewing skills, resume writing, mentoring programs, and 

other professional development opportunities for youth and adults

• Expand access to social services including health care, food access, 

and transportation.

STEM AmeriCorps 

In FY 2017, AmeriCorps VISTA will help to expand STEM education by 

supporting partnerships such as those with US FIRST, US2020 and 
24 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

the California State University system. These partnerships engage 

students, faculty/staff, and community partners to bolster the number 

of low income/underserved (low socio-economic) and underrepresented 

(minority, female, rural) students who pursue and obtain STEM-related 

degrees. This program will expand on the partnership CNCS has with 

the National Science Foundation, in collaboration with 100Kin10 to help 

thousands of teachers access the Education Awards, which will enable 

them to learn computer science fundamentals, and teach and inspire the 

next generation of great innovators, problem-solvers, and STEM teachers. 

Promise Zones

AmeriCorps VISTA is supporting the Promise Zone Initiative, a part of the 

President’s plan to create economic opportunity for distressed families 

through broad support for the geographic area in which they live. 

The inaugural five Promise Zone designees are San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los 

Angeles, Kentucky Highlands, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Each 

of these communities received a broad package of support to revitalize the 

community, including five AmeriCorps VISTA members per year for five years 

in each community. Among other activities, AmeriCorps VISTA members have 

helped build the capacity of the Promise Zones to work with federal agencies, 

coordinate key stakeholders, and support the community’s data plans. 

In April, 2015, eight additional Promise Zone designees were named: 

Camden, Hartford, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Sacramento, St. Louis, the 

Low Country of South Carolina, and Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the 

Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. 

Following a third and final competition, seven additional communities are 

expected to be announced as Promise Zone designees in the spring of 2016. 

Overall, a total of 20 communities will receive a Promise Zone 

designation. AmeriCorps VISTA will make available resources to support 

five AmeriCorps VISTA members (up to a total of 100 AmeriCorps VISTA 

members) per year for five years in each community. 

AmeriCorps VISTA will continue to coordinate with other federal, state, 

local, and tribal agencies in support of the Administration’s Promise 

Zone and Strong Cities Strong Communities initiatives, among other 

interagency initiatives. 

Operation AmeriCorps

For FY 2017, AmeriCorps VISTA plans to support Operation AmeriCorps, 

which was introduced earlier in this Budget. An example of the type 

of work CNCS anticipates funding with this Budget is an economic 

development project in Utah that provides AmeriCorps members in 

both AmeriCorps State and National and AmeriCorps VISTA with an 

opportunity to help Americans who are homeless find stable housing. 

Additionally, AmeriCorps members help those at risk of homelessness 

find jobs and access social services. AmeriCorps VISTA members 

contribute to this effort by engaging and providing outreach to 

target communities, providing capacity-building support to sponsor 

organizations, and evaluating and assessing service impact. 

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

In FY 2015, CNCS funded more than 7,000 AmeriCorps VISTA members who 

helped organizations meet community needs in the agency’s primary focus 

areas. The agency estimates the following project distribution by focus area:

• Economic Opportunity (40%)

• Education (32%)

• Healthy Futures (23%)

• Other (5%)

Provided in the following sections is additional context for how AmeriCorps 

VISTA projects will further target CNCS’s priority strategic objectives in FY 

2017, along with examples of recent project success based on currently 

available data.

Economic Opportunity

AmeriCorps VISTA estimates that more than 2,100 project sites will be 

approved to receive capacity-building assistance from AmeriCorps VISTA 

members in the Economic Opportunity focus area. 

The primary strategic objectives under Economic Opportunity are housing, 

employment, and financial literacy. Some examples of successful 

programs follow.

Equal Justice Works

The Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps VISTA project builds the capacity of 

tenant associations in eligible project-based Section 8 U.S. Department 

of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-assisted properties to increase 

tenants’ knowledge of their rights, responsibilities, and options for 

preserving their homes and improving their communities. AmeriCorps 

VISTA members build the capacity of tenant organizations through 

outreach, education, leadership development, and legal aid. The project is 

the result of a federal partnership between CNCS and HUD. In 2015, EJW 

reported that 945 community volunteers were recruited as a result of the 

VISTA project and they provided over 5,300 hours of community service. 

One of the sites, Bread for the City, reported that 261 housing units were 

retained or made available to low-income individuals and families.

Bethany Christian Services

Bethany Christian Services is a global children and families social services 

agency that empowers and strengthens families for the well-being of 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 25

Part III: Budget Activities

children. In 2015, the 39 AmeriCorps VISTA members at Bethany Christian 

Services focused on literacy, English as a Second Language (ESL), housing 

placement, financial literacy, mentoring, and economic development 

through employment services and job skill development. AmeriCorps VISTA 

members recruited 778 volunteers and secured more than $1.7 million for 

the organization through cash and in-kind donations. These resources led 

to the development of a refugee agricultural farm and a refugee driver’s 

education program, three community gardens that service 90 families a 

year, furnished homes for over 250 refugee individuals and families, and a 

refugee job placement rate of more than 85 percent.

Education

CNCS estimates that more than 2,100 project sites will be approved to 

receive capacity-building assistance from AmeriCorps VISTA members in the 

Education focus area. A majority of sites are likely to focus on K-12 success 

and post-school support. Some examples of successful models follow.

Heart of Florida United Way 

Heart of Florida United Way in Orlando operates an AmeriCorps VISTA 

project focusing on enhancing academic achievement, attendance, 

behavior, and college readiness of students in Title I schools in lowincome communities in the Orange, Osceola, and Seminole County 

School Districts. In FY 2015, 20 AmeriCorps VISTA members recruited 

1,037 volunteers to mentor, tutor, and perform other activities at lowperforming schools, serving 8,768 hours. 

These VISTAs have also formed community-school partnerships, including 

partnerships with Lockheed Martin, NASA, and the National Society of 

Black Engineers, to have their employees/members work with low-income 

students around STEM education and STEM careers. An evaluation of the 

project showed that students mentored by community volunteers had 

better school attendance and academic achievement compared to students 

who were eligible for mentoring but did not participate in the program. 

Higher Achievement

Eight AmeriCorps VISTA members help strengthen the capacity of Higher 

Achievement, an organization that provides middle school students 

from under-resourced communities with rigorous year-round learning 

enrichment, caring role models, and a culture of high expectations. 

The program’s model works to instill college-bound scholars with the 

character, confidence, and skills to succeed.

AmeriCorps VISTA members support Higher Achievement’s mission to 

serve scholars at operating centers in Washington, DC; Alexandria, VA; 

Baltimore, MD; Pittsburgh, PA; and Richmond, VA. 

AmeriCorps VISTA members play an active role in expanding Higher 

Achievement’s after-school and summer academy program, generating 

nearly $154,000 in cash and in-kind resources. They also conduct 

research and evaluation and develop connections with the community 

surrounding each Achievement Center to build grassroots support and 

recruit community-based volunteers and mentors. 

This year, AmeriCorps VISTA members recruited and managed nearly 600 

mentor volunteers who provided academic instruction, guidance, and 

personal support to more than 1,000 scholars. At Higher Achievement, 

95 percent of the scholars that complete its programs advance to top 

academic high school programs and 93 percent advance to college. 

With the support of AmeriCorps VISTA members, Higher Achievement aims to 

serve 70 percent more students and impact more than 7,000 students in 2016.

Healthy Futures

CNCS estimates that more than 1,200 project sites will be approved to 

receive capacity-building assistance from AmeriCorps VISTA members in 

the Healthy Futures focus area. A majority of these sites will be focused on 

nutrition and access to health care.

Top Box Foods VISTA Project 

The Top Box Foods VISTA project addresses the issue of “food deserts” 

and “food swamps” in low-income Chicago neighborhoods that either lack 

grocery stores or have an abundance of fast food. Top Box provides highquality and nutritious food at affordable prices to low-income individuals 

and families. AmeriCorps VISTA members help expand the program by 

adding churches, community organizations, schools, pantries, public 

housing, and senior centers as partners. 

In FY 2015, AmeriCorps VISTA members developed 21 new community 

partners, recruited 75 more community volunteers, and secured $48,000 

in grant funding. These operational and financial capacity-building efforts 

enabled the program to distribute 227,284 lbs. of food, including 137,445 

lbs. of fresh produce to 1,450 new customers. Ninety percent of program 

participants reported that Top Box increased their food security and 

helped them provide high quality nutritional meals to their family.

Oregon Health Authority VISTA Partnership Project

Oregon Health Authority (OHA) sponsors a team of 29 AmeriCorps VISTA 

members that serve throughout the state with local community health 

agencies. This AmeriCorps VISTA project focuses on health equity, access 

to care, wellness initiatives, and building public health infrastructure to 

help communities more effectively bring themselves out of poverty.

The AmeriCorps VISTA team forms new partnerships, generates media 

exposure and secures new funding sources. This past year, the AmeriCorps 

members raised $2.3 million in cash and in-kind donations, developed 158 

new partnerships, and recruited 6,000 community volunteers. Through 

programs and services developed by the VISTA team, more than 2,800 new 

community members received health services.
26 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

BUDGET ACTIVITY 3:

AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC)

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, Subtitle E)

TABLE 10. AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY 2015 

Enacted 

Level

FY 2016 

Enacted 

Level

FY 2017 

President’s 

Budget

Increase/ 

Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Program Support $12,055 $12,055 $12,055 $0

Program Operations $17,945 $17,945 $17,945 $0

Total Budget Authority $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $0

TABLE 11. AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps Vital Statistics (in whole numbers)

Statistic

FY 2015 

Enacted 

Level

FY 2016 

Enacted 

Level

FY 2017 

President’s 

Budget

Increase/ 

Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Number of MSYs 1,200 1,200 1,200 0

Total Annualized Members 1,011 1,011 1,011 0

Cost per MSY $29,674 $29,674 $29,674 $0

Cost per MSY (constant 2009 dollars) $26,248 $26,248 $26,248 $0

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN

AmeriCorps NCCC is a residential, team-based program that provides 

opportunities for young Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 to 

address pressing national and community needs in all 50 states through 

10 months of full-time, intensive national service.

Investing Federal Funds in Outcomes and 

Evaluation

A collaborative team of CNCS staff and outside academics worked 

together to study the implementation and early outcomes of the FEMA 

Corps interagency partnership. The team presented a panel at the fall 

2014 Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary 

Action research conference and is submitting two papers for publication in 

peer-reviewed journals. The team interviewed senior leaders at both FEMA 

and AmeriCorps NCCC and analyzed program performance data. One 

paper details the policy process from idea inception to implementation 

and explains how the partnership required all stakeholders involved 

to break new ground in developing relationships, identifying and 

understanding roles, crossing organizational boundaries, and merging 

both agency cultures and administrative processes. The other paper uses 

the partnership between FEMA and AmeriCorps NCCC as a case study 

demonstrating what it takes for two federal agencies to successfully 

collaborate on data collection and reporting. These studies reflect the 

agency’s commitment to systematically assessing its programs, policies, 

and partnerships to ensure they can achieve their intended results. 

NCCC Member Experiences and Outcomes

The FY 2017 requested funds will support core programming for 

NCCC projects that increase employment skills, leadership abilities, 

and economic opportunity for young adults—particularly those from 

disadvantaged circumstances.

AmeriCorps NCCC coordinates with CNCS’s Evaluation Office to review 

and assess ways to improve its volunteers’ experience. This includes the 

use of tools such as the AmeriCorps member exit survey. Key findings from 

the most recent survey are highlighted in the box to the right.13

13 AmeriCorps NCCC Member Exit Survey 2014.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 27

Part III: Budget Activities

Youth from Disadvantaged Circumstances

AmeriCorps NCCC continues to expand participation by recruiting a 

diverse member community to serve across the country. Approximately 

40 percent of AmeriCorps NCCC members are from disadvantaged 

circumstances. Since focusing on the goal of the Serve America 

Act to recruit and place youth from disadvantaged circumstances 

into AmeriCorps NCCC, the program has enhanced its outreach and 

recruitment efforts to appeal to a broader demographic of organizations 

and potential members. CNCS will continue to thoughtfully engage 

members of different backgrounds in FY 2017 using the funding requested 

in this Budget. Related to this engagement, CNCS will also use the 

requested FY 2017 NCCC funding to continue training staff on effective 

strategies for engaging and retaining disadvantaged youth. Staff will 

be trained on to issues related to poverty, mental health, diversity and 

cultural differences. 

While working to better understand participants’ experience, AmeriCorps 

NCCC will also coordinate with the agency’s new data analysis unit 

discussed earlier in this Budget to improve the quality and usefulness of 

administrative data collected through the program’s campuses. This effort 

will include ensuring that CNCS’s information systems are capturing the 

right data at the right time to inform key business decisions. 

AmeriCorps NCCC Member Activities and Project 

Sponsor Outcomes

In keeping with the program’s statutory focus, AmeriCorps NCCC will 

continue to prioritize resources and track results in:

• Suppression and prevention of wildfires

• Assistance to individuals who are homeless, at-risk youth, 

and veterans

• Environmental education

• Volunteer recruitment

• Energy conservation

• Tax preparation support

On the opposite page are key indicators of results related to these focus 

areas. Projects are selected and developed based on community requests 

and the changing priorities across the regions served by the program. The 

flexibility of the AmeriCorps NCCC program allows pressing community 

needs to be addressed as the priorities change across the region and 

country where members serve. 

In addition to capturing these performance indicators, AmeriCorps NCCC 

conducts project sponsor surveys, which provide outcome evidence on 

the community impact of the AmeriCorps NCCC program model. The most 

recently available results, from FY 2014, demonstrate two primary results 

of AmeriCorps NCCC projects. First, AmeriCorps NCCC service enhanced 

the capacity of the sponsoring organization to meet community needs. 

Second, collaborating with AmeriCorps NCCC expanded or enhanced the 

sponsoring organization’s community impact. Ninety-five percent of the 

sponsors reported that NCCC enhanced their ability to provide services, 

including increasing the number of people they could serve and the 

amount of service they could provide. Specific examples are described in 

this budget activity’s FY 2015 Accomplishments section.

Evidence and Results 

For FY 2017, AmeriCorps NCCC will coordinate with CNCS’s Office of 

Research and Evaluation to increase the program’s capacity to gather and 

use evidence as well as other indicators of performance. For example, a 

study designed to better understand how to more accurately measure the 

benefits of AmeriCorps NCCC projects from the perspective of sponsors 

will be implemented in FY 2016. 

Partnerships and Priority Initiatives

FEMA Corps

Building on AmeriCorps NCCC disaster work and two decades of working 

together on disaster response and recovery efforts, the Department of 

Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and 

CNCS launched an innovative partnership in 2012 to further strengthen the 

nation’s ability to respond to and recover from disasters while expanding 

professional disaster management opportunities for young people. CNCS 

anticipates continuing its partnership with FEMA to address critical needs 

with a renewed Inter-Agency Agreement in FY 2017. CNCS anticipates 

enrolling approximately 1,000 FEMA Corps members in FY 2017 support 

with funding through FEMA.

Member Development 

AmeriCorps NCCC is a strong contributor to the agency’s strategic 

goal of providing professional, educational, and life benefits to 

service participants. The most recent performance measures survey 

for the AmeriCorps NCCC Program found that members reported: 

• Improved sensitivity and respect for cultural differences (90 

percent)

• Strengthened commitment to community service (84 percent) 

• Increased likelihood to motivate others to strengthen their 

commitment to community service in the next year (88 percent) 

• An intention to volunteer more frequently (84 percent)
28 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

TABLE 12. AmeriCorps NCCC Performance Indicators

Performance Indicator

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Actual

FY 2016 

Projected

FY 2017 

Projected

Wildfire - suppression and containment 18,435 35,331 39,089 40,000 40,000

Wildfire - acres of brush cleared 2,606 1,179 6,842 6,000 6,000

Wildfire - prescribed burns 4,108 25,813 12,648 13,000 13,000

Homeless assisted 16,880 16,322 13,700 17,000 17,000

At-risk youth assisted 13,355 21,666 14,638 15,000 15,000

Veterans assisted 3,913 5,681 2,978 2,000 2,000

People taught environmental information 15,660 11,579 9,909 17,000 17,000

New trees planted 314,731 41,261 49,509 50,000 50,000

Volunteers coordinated or recruited 74,606 24,212 24,420 12,000 12,000

Houses constructed 641 281 197 250 250

Houses weatherized/outfitted with energy-efficiency modifications 231 182 235 200 200

Taxpayer dollars returned to Americans through tax prep services $21.3M $13.3M $16.5M $15M $15M

FEMACorps: Helpline calls answered 17,714 14,656 23,607 23,000 23,000

FEMACorps: Educational materials or preparedness kits distributed 24,773 1,240 3,830 6,500 6,500

FEMACorps: Survivor cases updated 62,680 17,108 3,045 1,075 1,075

FEMACorps: Shelter sites assessed 141 64 1,796 900 900

The Corps Network and AmeriCorps VISTA

AmeriCorps NCCC is an active participant in The Corps Network which 

supports the Youth Corps conservation movement. Since 2010, a 

partnership has developed with Conservation Legacy and AmeriCorps 

VISTA to assist impoverished communities develop cleaner, healthier 

places to live and work. The Conservation Legacy AmeriCorps VISTA 

program includes an AmeriCorps NCCC team placed in small rural 

communities to energize their capacity building activities with direct 

service. The AmeriCorps NCCC members gain experience by participating 

on important projects which benefit mostly poor, isolated communities. 

These teams have served in seven states including Alaska, West Virginia 

and Colorado. In 2015, AmeriCorps NCCC teams landscaped a 4,000 

square foot community garden with over 180 plants, improved four miles 

of trail, and served 150 children through guided hikes on two school field 

trips in partnership with “Take it Outside New Mexico.” In four Colorado 

cities, AmeriCorps NCCC teams improved six gardens in communities and 

schools, beautified six historic buildings, and improved two miles of trail. 

AmeriCorps NCCC anticipates continuing this partnership and expanding 

this model to other Youth Corps. 

Operation AmeriCorps

In FY 2017, AmeriCorps NCCC plans to support Operation AmeriCorps, 

combining AmeriCorps NCCC teams with other service streams such 

as AmeriCorps State and National and AmeriCorps VISTA to solve a 

community’s most pressing challenges. Current projects include the City 

of Flint, Michigan’s Community Education Initiative, designed to improve 

the school environment and increase the chance of educational success. 

Two AmeriCorps NCCC teams are working to improve school facilities, 

recreational areas, and safe routes. Additional wrap-around supports from 

AmeriCorps State and National members include tutoring, service learning, 

and connecting families with social service support. 

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

In FY 2015, AmeriCorps NCCC enrolled 1,000 members and recruited 

or managed more than 12,000 additional volunteers in efforts to 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 29

Part III: Budget Activities

improve communities throughout the country. Throughout the fiscal 

year, AmeriCorps NCCC continued to serve in the focus areas identified 

in the Serve America Act and CNCS’s Strategic Plan: natural and other 

disasters, infrastructure improvement, environmental stewardship and 

conservation, urban and rural development, and energy conservation. 

For FY 2015, in support of the work highlighted earlier in this section, 

AmeriCorps NCCC project hours were allocated as follows: 

TABLE 13. FY 2015 AmeriCorps NCCC Project 

Hours by Focus Area14

Issue Area

Team Service 

Hours Completed

Percentage of Total 

Team Service Hours 

Natural and Other 

Disasters

129,417 17.53%

Infrastructure 

Improvement

107,929 14.62%

Environmental 

Stewardship and 

Conservation

226,092 30.63%

Energy Conservation 8,962 1.21%

Urban and Rural 

Development

265,639 35.99%

Total15 738,039 100%

Successful Project Examples

Urban and Rural Development – 2015 Summer Food Program 

Support

AmeriCorps NCCC teams addressed childhood hunger in several states by 

supporting, enhancing and improving access to food during the summer 

of 2015. The City of Little Rock, Arkansas received a $200,000 Cities of 

Service Leadership Grant funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the 

Rockefeller Foundation and initiated a Love Your School evidence-based 

intervention to lower rates of childhood obesity. Three AmeriCorps NCCC 

teams augmented the AmeriCorps-Garden Corps Team in all seven Partner 

Schools delivering nutrition presentations to students; constructing raised 

bed gardens; teaching health food shopping and preparation skills and 

garden and irrigation repair; and leading physical activity programs like 

walking clubs for students. 

Hasbidito, a community organization in Cuba, New Mexico engages 

residents in the Eastern Navajo Nation, one of the poorest in New Mexico. 

It has no food-related infrastructure other than schools, senior centers, 

and community centers. Community members must travel 60-90 miles 

to Farmington or Albuquerque to access a supermarket. To re-build and 

enhance the Tri-Community Mobile Farmers Market, the AmeriCorps NCCC 

team started community gardens that included 53 garden beds, five water 

towers, and a refurbished greenhouse. 

In Hannibal, Missouri nearly 60 percent of children qualify for free and 

reduced lunches. An AmeriCorps NCCC team served with Douglass 

Community Services in partnership with the USDA summer food program 

to prepare meals and support the ENRICH math and language arts 

enhancement program to combat summer learning loss. Youth were 

tested at the end of the summer on their math and communication 

comprehension with the goal of maintaining level or higher skills from 

when they left school in May. 

Supporting Disaster Survivors

In FY 2015, AmeriCorps NCCC responded to flooding in Michigan, Texas, 

Oklahoma, South Dakota, and West Virginia. FEMA Corps teams responded 

to disasters throughout the country including Guam and Puerto Rico. In 

response to the Texas flooding, the state requested ten AmeriCorps NCCC 

and FEMA Corps teams (1,722 members) which complemented the efforts 

of other CNCS disaster programs to provide critical resources to disaster 

damaged areas. They played a critical role in marshalling and managing 

outside volunteers helped the affected communities begin to recover, and 

bridged the gap between private and non-government sector assistance to 

disaster survivors. 

The first 72 hours are critical in disaster response and FEMA Incident 

Management Assistance Teams often arrive in that timeframe to set up 

response infrastructure. AmeriCorps NCCC teams augment this important 

work to enhance effectiveness, efficiency, and capacity; which ultimately 

benefits disaster survivors. The agency has highlighted this partnership 

as an example of government delivering services better, faster, and more 

efficiently—a core element of President Obama’s Management Agenda.

Environmental Conservation – Blue Water Baltimore; 

Baltimore, Maryland

Over the course of the fiscal year, Blue Water Baltimore requested three 

AmeriCorps NCCC teams (24 members) to help plant and maintain 

trees and shrubs, and engage the public in the Mayor’s Tree Baltimore 

Initiative. This initiative will help create a tree canopy in Baltimore City 

to improve water quality and allow forests to regenerate naturally. Blue 

Water Baltimore’s mission is to restore the quality of Baltimore’s rivers, 

14 Data submitted as of 7-10-15

15 These hours do not include those devoted to training or the 80 hours of individual service each NCCC member must complete with a community sponsor of their own choosing.
30 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

streams, and harbor to foster a healthy environment, strong economy, and 

thriving communities. Through the work of three AmeriCorps NCCC teams, 

AmeriCorps members planted over 1,000 trees in the Baltimore region. 

Additionally, members tended to another 7,000 trees, potted over 400 

native plants, and canvased the community emphasizing the benefits of 

trees and plants. Lastly, members helped clean up trash near rivers and 

streams in the area.

Infrastructure Improvement – Bigfork Playhouse Children’s 

Theater; Bigfork, Montana

An AmeriCorps NCCC team partnered with the Bigfork Playhouse 

Children’s Theater (BPCT) to assist with infrastructure improvements as 

well as after school programming. The BPCT produces and presents a 

yearly series of youth-oriented theatrical productions at the Bigfork Center 

for the Performing Arts in order to promote, encourage, and help train 

youths in all aspects of theatre. The Bigfork ACES Afterschool Program 

also utilizes the theater and provides a variety of activities including 

tutoring and mentoring, music, art, recreation, cooking, gardening, STEM, 

and social enrichment classes to at-risk youth. 

While serving at BPCT, the AmeriCorps NCCC team renovated the theater. 

AmeriCorps members replaced the old tin roof, primed and painted the 

entire first floor, removed old flooring, installed 2,500 square feet of 

new linoleum and carpet, and 420 feet of new base trim. In addition to 

the renovation, members engaged youths in the afterschool program 

to encourage physical activity, creative adventures, and healthy 

interpersonal communication. The improvement of the facilities will assist 

in helping children feel special, valued, and safe. 

Energy Conservation – Habitat for Humanity: Seven Rivers 

Maine, Inc.; Topsham, Maine

In partnership with Habitat for Humanity Seven Rivers, an AmeriCorps 

NCCC team assisted with weatherization and winterization of eight 

homes. Habitat for Humanity Seven Rivers creates successful 

homeownership opportunities for low-income families by building 

sustainable housing and repairing, weatherizing, and winterizing existing 

homes. Most of the homeowners assisted were disabled, elderly, or low 

income families with several dependent children at home. 

AmeriCorps members conducted energy assessments to determine the 

need for each home. Once completed, members insulated doors, attics, 

basements, and hot water pipes. For homes where these services could 

not be done, AmeriCorps members replaced old windows with interior 

storm windows which help reduce drafts and heat loss. Due to the work 

of the AmeriCorps NCCC team, Habitat for Humanity Seven Rivers was 

able to weatherize and winterize more homes and complete more effective 

weatherization and winterization methods in these homes. 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 31

Part III: Budget Activities

BUDGET ACTIVITY 4:

State Service Commission Support Grants

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, sections 126(a) and 178)

TABLE 14. State Commission Support Grants, Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY 2015 Enacted 

Level

FY 2016 Enacted 

Level

FY 2017 President’s 

Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

State Service Commission Support Grants $16,038 $16,038 $17,000 $962

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN

When Congress created CNCS in 1993, it envisioned national service as a 

shared federal-state partnership, creating a central role for governors in 

designing and implementing national service through governor-supported 

State Service Commissions (Commissions). This helps focus support at the 

local level. Commissions perform vital functions and are invaluable partners 

to CNCS. More than 1,000 private citizens serve as governor-appointed 

commissioners, leading and guiding national service efforts in their states 

by identifying local needs, directing federal and state resources, ensuring 

oversight and accountability, tracking performance and community impact, 

and leading citizen service efforts in their states and territories. 

Today, the nation’s 52 Commissions monitor approximately three-fourths 

of CNCS’s AmeriCorps grant funds. Commissions strive to be centers of 

excellence and laboratories of innovation that develop state and local 

solutions for state and local needs. Commissions provide outreach 

to prospective AmeriCorps grantees, develop the next generation of 

AmeriCorps programs, conduct grant competitions, provide training 

and technical assistance, and build the capacity of faith-based and 

community organizations seeking to operate AmeriCorps programs. They 

are uniquely well-suited to this work because they know and understand 

state and local needs. 

Commissions establish state-wide goals for national service and 

volunteer action through State Service Plans and actively pursue them 

in collaboration with other CNCS programs, volunteer centers, Voluntary 

Organizations Active in Disasters, and other partners. Their activities 

include hosting statewide volunteer conferences, coordinating state 

volunteer training and volunteer matching systems, and developing 

volunteer centers. 

Commissions also support key governor initiatives, such as decreasing 

high school dropout rates, increasing mentoring efforts, reducing 

crime, supporting people with disabilities, helping veterans make the 

transition to civilian life, and coordinating volunteers in response to 

disasters. In addition to providing training and technical assistance, 

State Commissions have frontline responsibility for ensuring AmeriCorps 

grantees comply with all federal rules and regulations and oversee and 

monitor their subgrantees.

With the requested funding, CNCS will focus State Commission Support 

grants on the following: 

• Strengthening Commissions’ use of evidence-based approaches 

and their capacity to measure results and move the programs they 

fund to stronger levels of evidence. Commissions will use the funds 

to support training for applicants and grantees on performance 

measures, monitor their subgrantees to ensure program impact in 

local communities, and track their own performance.

• Nurturing strong programs to compete for the expanded funding 

amounts proposed for FY 2017 AmeriCorps grants, ensuring robust 

competition and more “home-grown” programs.

• Advancing the agency’s goal to develop results-driven partnerships 

that expand service opportunities to meet state and local needs, 

• Supporting Commissions in performing their critical administrative, 

oversight, monitoring, training, and strategic functions.

Evidence and Results

In keeping with CNCS’s strategic objectives on evidence and measuring 

performance, in FY 2014 State Commissions were required to submit 

logic models and establish performance measures for their Commission 

activities. In FY 2015 State Commissions reported on their performance. 

The FY 2017 budget will provide Commissions needed support to track and 

report the results of their own activity, as well as to train and monitor the 

performance of their subgrantees. Given that Commissions oversee threefourths of AmeriCorps grantees, it is crucial they have sufficient capacity 

and expertise to help grantees advance their use of evidence, including 

small grantees that often lack the fiscal and human resources to conduct 

impact evaluations. This data will also help CNCS monitor and measure 

the impact of State Commissions in capacity building and other activities.
32 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Efficiencies

State Service Commissions, along with CNCS, will explore more efficient 

approaches to ensure accountability among AmeriCorps programs. CNCS 

will continue its partnership with Commissions to deliver training to more 

CNCS programs at lower cost through a series of regional conferences. The 

training conferences, planned and conducted by Commissions and CNCS 

staff, train program staff on AmeriCorps and federal grant requirements. 

The trainings also feature both CNCS and Commission procedures for 

oversight and monitoring as well as tracking and reporting on performance 

measures. State Commissions will also continue to expand their use of lowcost distance learning tools to provide training to grantees.

State Commission Support grants have a 1:1 match requirement. This 

match requirement increases the return on federal investment by requiring 

every federal dollar to be matched with a dollar of state or private funds. 

Given tight state budgets, this continued state funding is an indication 

that governors value the critical role of State Commissions in assessing 

and addressing local needs.

Partnerships and Priority Initiatives

As the centers for national service and volunteer activity in their 

states, Commissions have a long history of developing partnerships 

that strengthen service and expand volunteer opportunities. Through 

interagency and public-private partnerships, Commissions advance the 

agency’s goal to expand service opportunities and increase the impact 

of citizens in solving problems. Through the FY 2017 request, State 

Commissions will continue to develop new and sustainable partnerships. 

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

In FY 2015, State Commissions continued to conduct a variety of activities 

in their states to ensure accountability, develop partnerships, build 

the use of evidence, and maintain a strong network of service delivery. 

These activities included training, performance reviews, site visits, risk 

assessments, and other activities. 

As an example of partnership development, ServeMinnesota continued to 

support the expansion of Reading Corps, an evidence-based, data-driven 

model that has proven to be effective in boosting literacy levels of Pre-K 

and K-3 students. Two recent evaluations of the Reading Corps model by 

NORC at the University of Chicago found that AmeriCorps members can 

produce significantly greater increases in student’s literacy outcomes, and 

that the model is highly replicable in multiple settings. ServeMinnesota 

has provided technical support for the replications of the Reading Corps 

model, which now operates in 12 states and Washington D.C., serving 

more than 40,000 students annually in nearly 1,200 preschools and 

elementary schools.

Many State Service Commissions play a leadership role in disaster 

services operations, working in partnership with state emergency 

management agencies, Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters, 

and faith-based and nonprofit organizations. Twenty-five State 

Commissions are included in their states’ emergency management 

plans as the lead for volunteer and donations management during 

times of disaster. Others are responsible for coordinating disaster 

preparedness education programming for their state, donations or 

provide communities with disaster preparedness information. State 

Service Commissions work with their networks to support disaster 

preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation in their states. 

As one example of how Commissions promote evidence, the Seeing Impact 

Project is a partnership of Serve Washington and Oregon Volunteers to 

design and embed into the leadership teams of Oregon and Washington 

AmeriCorps programs the ability to evaluate impact in credible, powerful, 

and meaningful ways. The Seeing Impact Project has provided Washington 

and Oregon AmeriCorps programs with the tools to develop durable and 

sustainable practices of evaluating impact.

One of CNCS’s most significant Commission successes is the Detroit 

Urban Safety Corps. For this effort, CNCS partnered with Michigan’s 

Governor, Detroit’s Mayor, and Police Chief and Wayne State University to 

mobilize community members to help increase public safety and reduce 

blight in a number of high-need Detroit neighborhoods. AmeriCorps 

members along with volunteers created special maps featuring crime 

“hotspots,” which can then be targeted with focused area patrols—of 

both uniformed and plain clothes officers—and other community policing 

methods. AmeriCorps members mobilized and recruited community 

volunteers. The crime rate dropped by 51 percent in targeted Detroit 

neighborhoods—a reduction that local officials credit with saving Detroit 

$62 million.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 33

Part III: Budget Activities

BUDGET ACTIVITY 5:

National Service Trust

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title 1, Subtitle D)

TABLE 15. National Service Trust Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY 2015 Enacted 

Level

FY 2016 Enacted 

Level

FY 2017 President’s 

Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

National Service Trust* $209,618 $220,000 $206,842 ($13,158)

*In FY 2017, approximately $25.3 million in carryover funds in the National Service Trust will be used to meet the anticipated Trust obligation need.

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN

The National Service Trust (the Trust) was established by the National 

and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 to provide funds for Segal 

AmeriCorps Education Awards for eligible AmeriCorps members, who 

successfully complete their terms of service in an AmeriCorps program. 

By statute, the value of the education award is linked to the maximum 

level for Pell Grants each year. For FY 2017, the estimated value of the 

education award for a full-time member who completes his or her term of 

service is $5,935. 

Funding for the Trust comes from appropriations, interest earned, and 

proceeds from the sale or redemption of Trust investments. The awards 

can be used to: 

• Repay qualified student loans 

• Pay education expenses at a qualified institution of higher education 

(or GI Bill institution for eligible members) 

• Repay eligible interest expenses. 

The Budget request will support approximately 87,400 new AmeriCorps 

member enrollments in the Trust, in line with the following principles:16

• An estimated average Trust cost per MSY of $4,365

• Full-time members comprise approximately 46.2 percent of the 

portfolio

• No increase to the National Service Trust Reserve. As directed by the 

Strengthen AmeriCorps Program Act, a portion of the funds in the 

Trust are held in reserve and are for use only in the event that the 

estimates used to calculate obligations differ from actual results. 

The reserve currently totals $46.7 million for the General Fund and 

$3.5 million for the Recovery Act Fund. 

Members will benefit from the opportunity to earn an education award that 

will help pay for student loans, education expenses, or eligible interest. 

This will reduce awardees’ debt burden and free up their capital to help 

pay rent, purchase homes, or go on to obtain further skills. In other words, 

they will be better positioned to achieve economic success.

Efficiencies

CNCS monitors and adjusts several factors to ensure the effective and 

efficient administration of Trust dollars. The agency used assumptions 

noted with each of the following factors to calculate the Trust budget 

request for FY 2017: 

Member Service Years. AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps 

VISTA, and AmeriCorps NCCC members will comprise approximately 

53,000 MSYs. An additional 1,177 AmeriCorps VISTA members are 

projected to choose a cash stipend in lieu of an education award, and 

therefore do not affect funding in the Trust. 

Enrollment Rate. Consistent with the Strengthen AmeriCorps Program 

Act legislative history, the calculation of Trust funding assumes that all 

members will be enrolled in the Trust, allowing for refillable slots. Over 

the past five years, enrollment rates have averaged about 98 percent of 

available slots.

Earning Rate. Based on the Strengthen AmeriCorps Program Act 

legislation, the FY 2017 calculation assumes that about 84 percent of full 

time members enrolled in the Trust will complete their service and earn an 

award, which is consistent with the Trust model. This typically ranges from 

77 percent to 86 percent depending on term type.

Full Value of the Award. This calculation assumes that members earning 

an award will earn the full value based on their earning category (e.g., 

16 Includes approximately 1,000 no cost slots.
34 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

full-time, part-time, and reduced part-time). Historically, CNCS has found 

that about four percent of members exit programs early and receive a 

slightly reduced award. 

Usage Rate. Based on Trust model projections, for FY 2017, CNCS is 

projecting 88 percent of the awards earned will be used, which includes a 

factor of 100 percent for members over age 55. Under the Serve America 

Act, education awards earned by members over age 55 can be transferred 

to an eligible beneficiary. CNCS is projecting that all transferable awards 

will eventually be used.

Net Present Value. Two years can elapse between the time that CNCS 

receives an appropriation for the Trust, a grant is awarded, and a 

member is enrolled and completes his or her service term. In addition, 

members have seven years from the completion of their service to use 

their award. Consequently, over nine years can elapse between the initial 

appropriation to the Trust and when an education award is used. Members 

who perform multiple terms of service, or are unavoidably prevented from 

using their education award can also receive an extension of the time the 

education award can be used. CNCS takes this time frame into account 

by discounting the education award to its net present value. The discount 

factors used in the calculation are based on historical usage patterns, 

Office of Management and Budget projected interest rates, and the 

weighted average maturity of CNCS’s Trust portfolio.

Reserve Account. This request does not include additional funding for the 

National Service Trust Reserve, which currently stands at $50.2 million 

and is adequate to cover unanticipated costs.

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

Since CNCS’s inception in FY 1993, AmeriCorps members have earned 

over $3.1 billion in education awards and used over $2.2 billion of that 

amount to fund their education and repay student loans. In addition, 

CNCS has made $93.6 million in interest forbearance payments, covering 

the interest costs of outstanding student loans for AmeriCorps members 

during their terms of service.17

17 FY 2015 data will be available, and included in this analysis, after October 1, 2014.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 35

Part III: Budget Activities

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN

RSVP engages the skills, talents, and experience of volunteers age 

55 and older, participating in federally-funded projects, to meet a 

wide range of community needs. RSVP volunteers help seniors live 

independently in their homes, tutor and mentor at-risk youth, help 

communities recover from disasters, and expand economic opportunities 

for veterans and their families. 

Investing Federal Funding in Outcomes and 

Evidence

Starting in FY 2016, CNCS will link federal funding to volunteer placement 

in either service activities associated with performance measure 

outcomes or service activities that support evidence-based programming. 

This change will allow current RSVP grantees and future RSVP applicants 

to prioritize outcomes and evidence in both competitive and noncompetitive renewals. 

Between FY 2013 and FY 2015, CNCS competitively awarded the entire 

RSVP grant portfolio for the first time in the program’s history, which 

represents an important goal of the Serve America Act (SAA). From 

FY 2016 to FY 2018 the SAA requires that RSVP grants be administratively 

renewed, a process that will set the stage for the next round of 

competitive grant renewals in FY 2019 to FY 2021, pursuant to the SAA. 

RSVP Volunteer Experiences and Outcomes

In FY 2016, CNCS anticipates additional analyses on the self-reported 

health characteristics of RSVP volunteers. This information will inform 

program and policy development for FY 2017. 

Initial indications suggest that younger RSVP volunteers are wellrepresented in National Performance Measure-related service activities. 

This provides preliminary assurance that future generations of Americans 

will continue to volunteer in CNCS programs as they become eligible at 

age 55. These results will inform the development of future data collection 

TABLE 16. RSVP Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY 2015 Enacted 

Level

FY 2016 Enacted 

Level

FY 2017 President’s 

Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Grants to Projects 

 Continuing Grants, Extensions, Supplemental 

(one time funds)

$29,337 $32,220 $33,294 $1,074

 Administrative Renewals $0 $13,841 $13,841 $0

 New Grants $17,798 $1,074 $0 ($1,074)

Subtotal, grants $47,135 $47,135 $47,135 $0

Grant making and Business Support $1,768 $1,768 $1,768 $0

Total Budget Authority $48,903 $48,903 $48,903 $0

BUDGET ACTIVITY 6:

Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP)

(Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, Title II)

TABLE 17. RSVP Vital Statistics (in whole numbers)

Statistic

FY 2015 Enacted 

Level

FY 2016 Enacted 

Level

FY 2017 President’s 

Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Number of federally-funded awards 627 627 627 0

Average federal award/grant $75,000 $75,000 $75,000 $0
36 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

on the experiences of its program volunteers. This research will contribute 

to the development of tools that will help RSVP programs and State 

Offices provide efficient feedback on what volunteers are experiencing as 

they serve their communities.

While working to better understand participants’ experience, RSVP will 

coordinate with the agency’s new data analysis unit discussed earlier in 

this Budget to improve the quality and usefulness of administrative data 

such as where participants are serving. This work will include reviewing 

the usefulness of current data and applying standardized quality control 

practices to ensure such data is valid and reliable.

RSVP Volunteer Activities and Recipient Outcomes 

RSVP volunteers help seniors live independently in their homes, tutor and 

mentor at-risk youth, expand economic opportunity for veterans and their 

families, and help communities recover from disasters. RSVP estimates 

that it will leverage more than 230,000 volunteers in FY 2017 to help 

organizations accomplish the following:

• Serve more than 300,000 veterans in activities such as 

transportation and employment service referrals

• Mentor more than 70,000 children

• Provide independent living services to nearly 800,000 adults, 

primarily frail seniors

• Provide respite services to more than 20,000 family or informal 

caregivers

• E ngage more than 20,000 veterans who will serve as RSVP volunteers

• Leverage more than 18,000 additional volunteers to support RSVP 

activities such as delivering meals to those in need and tutoring atrisk children

Evidence and Results

CNCS and the Administration for Community Living (ACL) at the 

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), have entered into a 

Memorandum of Understanding to use volunteer service activities to 

support shared strategic goals that include evidence-based programs. 

Under this MOU, CNCS is encouraging RSVP Corps programs to engage in 

evidence-based disease and disability prevention programs including:

• Matter of Balance: CNCS currently has grantees engaged with Matter 

of Balance and provided supplemental funding to expand this activity 

in Rhode Island in FY 2015.18

• S tanford Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP): 

CNCS also has grantees engaged with CDSMP and has provided 

supplemental funding to introduce this program in Wyoming19 and 

expand it to South Dakota.20 The addition of these new CDSMP 

programs in Wyoming means that this model will exist in all 50 states. 

In FY 2017, CNCS anticipates continuing to expand the types of initiatives 

highlighted above in partnership with HHS.

Efficiencies

Based on anticipated match levels, CNCS projects that states and local 

communities will contribute an estimated $39 million in non-federal 

support during FY 2017, including cash and in-kind support to RSVP 

projects. These additional resources, including an estimated $4 million in 

state-appropriated dollars, demonstrate how RSVP is able to efficiently 

leverage federal funds to achieve broader impact. The changes in the RSVP 

national performance measures will also provide RSVP grantees increased 

flexibility to support allowable service activities outside of the national 

performance measures that are often supported by non-federal funding, 

while ensuring that federal funding is tied to outcomes and evidence. 

Partnerships and Priority Initiatives

Senior Corps RSVP has answered the agency’s call to further leverage 

results-driven relationships within and outside of the government by 

developing an extensive network of partners, including Area Agencies on 

Aging, Community Service Block Grants, Volunteer Centers, United Ways, 

social services agencies, faith-based organizations, and many others.

Older Americans, who have time, experience, and expertise, are in an 

excellent position to support communities through volunteering. As 

mentioned earlier, CNCS and the ACL have entered into a Memorandum 

of Understanding to support ACL Evidence-based Disease and Disability 

Prevention Programs. CNCS will work with ACL to use volunteer service 

activities to bolster the ability of older adults and persons with disabilities 

to support communities in need throughout the United States. 

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In FY 2015, RSVP volunteers provided service in their communities 

through local organizations that deliver meals to the homes of isolated 

older adults or schools where volunteers tutor at-risk youths. The following 

are actual and projected results for RSVP projects. 

Community Impact

The majority of FY 2015 RSVP grants focus on strategic objectives related 

to improving health outcomes in target communities. These objectives 

18 Federal Hill House RSVP in Providence, Rhode Island

19 Cheyenne Housing Authority RSVP & Community Action Program of Natrona County RSVP, Wyoming 

20 Volunteers of America, Dakotas RSVP South Dakota
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 37

Part III: Budget Activities

TABLE 18. RSVP Performance Measures21

Measure

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Estimated

FY 2016 

Projected

FY 2017 

Projected

Veterans served 461,000 329,000 329,000 300,000 300,000 

Children mentored 87,000 78,000 78,000 70,000 70,000 

Adults receiving independent living services 610,000 797,000 797,000 800,000 800,000 

Families or caregivers receiving respite care 15,000 20,300 20,300 20,000 20,000 

Veterans serving as RSVP volunteers 21,600 20,100 20,100 20,000 20,000 

Volunteers 274,500 232,400 232,400 230,000 230,000 

include helping to increase seniors’ ability to remain in their own homes 

with the same or improved quality of life for as long as possible. CNCS 

estimates that more than 800,000 seniors will receive RSVP assistance 

toward this objective.

In FY 2015 CNCS conducted case studies on Disaster Services provided 

by CNCS grantees in FY 2013 in response to 1) tornadoes centered around 

Moore, Oklahoma; 2) flooding in Colorado; 3) flooding in Springfield, 

Missouri; 4) an industrial accident in West, Texas; and 5) damage from 

Super Storm Sandy in Long Island, New York. These case studies resulted 

in the development of disaster services toolkits for RSVP grantees and a 

series of regional trainings for RSVP grantees that will occur in FY 2016. 

CNCS also provided $95,000 in supplemental funding to the Morehead 

State University RSVP project to support long-term disaster service 

support in eastern Kentucky.

Successful Project Example (by Focus Area)

Disaster

RSVP of the Midlands – South Carolina

In FY 2015, Senior Corps provided a grant augmentation of $100,000 

to Senior Resources, Inc., the sponsor of RSVP of the Midlands, South 

Carolina, to support flood recovery and continued disaster education 

efforts. The additional funding was used to support: new RSVP 

volunteers to be trained in disaster preparation, recovery, mitigation, 

and response; expanded capacity by training RSVP volunteers to lead 

disaster coordination efforts; developing new partnerships to strengthen 

local disaster network; purchasing and assembling of Personal Safety 

Preparedness Kits for distribution to vulnerable seniors; and engaging 

appropriate community partners to train and educate community members 

on emergency management. 

Morehead University RSVP Program - Kentucky

In 2015, Senior Corps provided a grant augmentation of $150,000 to 

Morehead University, the sponsor of the Senior Corps RSVP program, to 

support long-term disaster recovery in response to devastating floods in 

the Eastern Kentucky counties of Carter, Rowan, and Johnson Counties. 

The augmentation grant supported two volunteer case management 

positions to aid in the on-going needs of the residents affected by the 

floods. These individuals served as the point of contact for identifying 

needs, recruited and connected volunteers to address those needs, as well 

as engaged in long-term recovery planning. CNCS estimates the program 

engaged and managed more than 400 community-based volunteers and 

recruited at least 50 new RSVP volunteers. 

Additionally, Morehead University is working alongside the Johnson 

County Recovery Group, UNITE, the Christian Appalachian Project, and 

Below is a list that indicates the percent of FY 2015 RSVP grants 

targeting respective focus areas.22 

• Disaster Services (2 percent)

• Economic Opportunity (2 percent)

• Education (13 percent)

• Environmental Stewardship (1 percent)

• Healthy Futures (82 percent)

• Veterans and Military Families (1 percent)

21 In FY 2015, CNCS began a comprehensive review of the first agency-wide performance data reported by SCP grantees and anticipates providing some related preliminary analysis in FY 2016. All 

numbers are rounded.

22 FY 2015 Grants will begin to report results to CNCS in FY 2016. By FY 2017, CNCS will begin to share these grants’ results in the agency’s public reports. Percentages do not equal 100 percent due 

to rounding.
38 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

CNCS AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) to increase 

resources and support rebuilding and redevelopment of the area.

North Coast Opportunities RSVP Program - California

In FY 2015, North Coast Opportunities (NCO), the RSVP sponsor in Lake 

County, California received an augmentation grant of $100,000 to aid 

with recovery efforts related to the Lake County fires. NCO anticipates 

that a total of 500 new volunteers will provide assistance that reaches at 

least 6,400 individuals whose homes have been destroyed or damaged 

contributing at least 10,000 hours (20 hours per volunteer) over the 

coming year. Since the fires, more than 375 new volunteers have come 

forward to help with relief efforts, and spontaneous volunteers continue to 

come forward to serve. NCO RSVP will utilize the supplemental funding to 

support volunteer management as well as managing incoming donations 

that meet immediate needs for food, shelter, and transportation for 

disaster survivors.

Education

RSVP of Montgomery County – Pennsylvania

The RSVP program, sponsored by Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 

supports Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs in 

public and charter schools in Philadelphia and Montgomery County. RSVP 

volunteer tutors support two STEM initiatives: STEM Career Exposure 

Presentations; in which professional engineers, scientists and others 

hold interactive demonstrations on the kind of careers that result from 

a science and math education; and My Free Tutor, an online, interactive 

math tutoring program. In the program approximately 38 RSVP 

volunteers exclusively serve students that are from low-income families. 

During 2015, RSVP volunteers served 324 students through the STEM 

initiative, including students recruited through a collaboration with the 

League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). 

In 2015, RSVP, in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, 

launched a partnership with the TRIO Veterans Upward Bound College 

Preparatory Program for three 15-week semesters to help prepare veterans 

to enter college as prepared learners. Nine RSVP volunteers served 24 

veterans in the program, helping six of these veterans to graduate, while 

the remaining veterans are continuing their college prep courses. 

To support more students in 2016, RSVP plans to expand My Free Tutor 

through a collaboration with the College Access Center of Delaware County 

and the Swenson Arts and Technology High School in Philadelphia.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 39

Part III: Budget Activities

BUDGET ACTIVITY 7: 

Foster Grandparent Program (FGP)

(Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, Title II)

TABLE 19. Foster Grandparent Program Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY 2015 Enacted 

Level

FY 2016 Enacted 

 Level

FY 2017 President’s 

Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Grants to Projects 

 Renewal/Continuing Grants $101,090 $106,150 $101,090 ($5,060)

 New VSYs-new grants & augmentations $5,060 $0 $5,060 $5,060

Subtotal, grants $106,150 $106,150 $106,150 $0

Grant making and Business Support $1,552 $1,552 $1,552 $0

Total Budget Authority $107,702 $107,702 $107,702 $0

TABLE 20. Foster Grandparent Program Vital Statistics (in whole numbers)

Statistic

FY 2015 Enacted 

Level

FY 2016 Enacted 

Level

FY 2017 President’s 

Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Number of federally funded CNCS awards/grantees 319 319 319 0

Average federal award/grant $332,000 $333,000 $333,000 $0

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN

The Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) is an intergenerational program 

first established in 1965 that connects volunteers age 55 and over with 

opportunities to provide one-on-one mentoring, nurturing, and support 

to children with special or exceptional needs, or who are at an academic, 

social, or financial disadvantage. 

Investing Federal Funding in Outcomes and 

Evidence

FGP’s budget justification includes a request for new authority. CNCS 

does not currently have the authority to compete grants in the Foster 

Grandparent Program. Therefore, the agency is requesting changes to 

the Domestic Volunteer Service Act that will introduce competition to the 

Foster Grandparent Program and ensure federal funds support the most 

competitive applicants in each community. 

In FY 2016, CNCS will allow FGP grantees to request a higher level 

of volunteer service year costs if they are implementing an evidencebased program. This will create a strong incentive for grantees to adopt 

more effective practices and provide additional resources to support 

such programming. If this approach is successful, CNCS will strongly 

consider continuing it in FY 2017 and beyond. This approach, combined 

with the request for authority to compete these grants in FY 2017, make 

the grants more attractive to applicants interested in implementing 

evidence-based interventions.

In FY 2015 CNCS funded case studies of two AmeriCorps models that 

are being implemented with FGP’s support. These case studies examine 

the barriers to adoption of evidence-based national service models 

and provide a roadmap for the integration of the Foster Grandparent 

Program into evidence-based programs. The results of these case 

studies will lead to potential policy changes and the proposal of 

regulatory changes and proposed statutory changes to support the 

expansion of evidence-based programs in FGP. An example of this is 

the proposal to provide statutory relief to allow Foster Grandparent 

Volunteers to serve in team leader roles similar to the team leader role 

allowed for in the Senior Companion program. 
40 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

CNCS will introduce additional rigor in the administrative renewal process 

in FY 2016 to require that successfully renewed grants demonstrate full 

compliance with CNCS national performance measure requirements. This 

administrative renewal process will incorporate selection criteria based 

on the FY 2013 RSVP competitive renewal. While CNCS does not currently 

have the authority to compete grants in the FGP, the agency expects that 

this new requirement will provide grantees confidence that they could 

successfully compete in a competitive renewal as proposed by this Budget. 

Furthermore, CNCS’s factor analysis and inter-rater reliability analysis of 

the FY 2013 RSVP competition, which was published in 2015, validates the 

use of these kinds of selection criteria in a competitive grant process. 

FGP Volunteer Experiences and Outcomes

CNCS has started a longitudinal quasi-experimental evaluation of the 

potential health benefits of volunteering in FGP with the final data being 

collected in FY 2017. After collecting this data, CNCS will assess findings 

and use them to inform program and policy work. This study will also 

examine retention rates and volunteer satisfaction for volunteers recruited 

in the summer and fall of 2015. 

This follows a cross-sectional study that demonstrated that FGP volunteers 

reported less poor health than a comparison group of community 

volunteers and non-volunteers. In FY 2014 Senior Corps completed an 

analysis of a cross-sectional evaluation of FGP volunteers as compared 

to similar volunteers not engaged in national service. The evaluation 

demonstrated that FGP volunteers were more likely to be African American 

and Latino older adults as compared to a comparison sample of non-FGP 

volunteers. These results demonstrate that FGP engages a diverse group of 

Americans 55 and older in volunteering. 

While working to better understand participants’ experience, FGP will 

coordinate with the agency’s new data analysis unit discussed earlier in this 

Budget to improve the quality and usefulness of administrative data such 

as the average distance FGP volunteers are traveling to serve. This work will 

include reviewing the usefulness of current data and applying standardized 

quality control practices to ensure such data is valid and reliable.

FGP Volunteer Activities and Recipient Outcomes 

FGP estimates that it will leverage more than 25,000 volunteers in 

FY 2017 to help organizations accomplish the following:

• Serve more than 23 million hours to communities with residents in 

need

• Mentor or tutor more than 189,000 disadvantaged children

• Mentor or tutor more than 2,000 disadvantaged children of military 

families

In FY 2015, CNCS conducted a feasibility study on a possible impact 

evaluation of a model that addresses school readiness through a FGP 

grant in Los Angeles, California. This model relies on Foster Grandparents 

to help improve school readiness and literacy skills for children age 3-5. A 

literature review of similar models that incorporate senior volunteers was 

conducted as part of the feasibility assessment. The findings will help 

inform the agency’s programming decisions in FY 2016 and FY 2017.

Evidence and Results

The Foster Grandparents Program is building its evidence base and 

identifying the most successful service strategies to inform FY 2017 

programming. Significant resources have been invested in gathering 

higher quality data about the characteristics of Foster Grandparents, their 

volunteer experience, and health outcomes associated with volunteering 

with FGP. The investment in a longitudinal survey of Foster Grandparents 

and the inclusion of a matched comparison group will advance the evidence 

base for the impact of volunteering on various health outcomes for seniors. 

In addition, CNCS is exploring the feasibility of placing Foster Grandparents 

in evidence-based programs. As findings emerge from these lines of 

inquiry the agency will be better positioned to most effectively place senior 

volunteers in programs that have demonstrated positive outcomes for the 

target population. Over time, the agency anticipates directly evaluating the 

effectiveness of program models that rely on Foster Grandparents.

Efficiencies

Based on anticipated match levels, CNCS estimates that states and local 

communities will contribute more than $30 million in non-federal support in 

FY 2017, including cash and in-kind support to FGP projects. The non-CNCS 

funding often supports both project operations and allows FGP projects to 

expand their scope of service by increasing the number of Volunteer Service 

Years (VSYs) available to serve. These additional resources, including an 

estimated $6 million in state appropriated dollars, demonstrates how FGP 

efficiently leverages federal funds to achieve broader impact.

Partnerships and Priority Initiatives

In FY 2017, CNCS will leverage cross-agency support for My Brother’s 

Keeper using targeted FGP mentoring activities through new Foster 

Grandparent Program grants awarded to the Chickasaw Nation of 

Oklahoma, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, and the Round Valley Indian 

Tribes of California. In FY 2016 CNCS will be conducting case studies 

on Foster Grandparents who are engaged in mentoring in support of My 

Brother’s Keeper.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 41

Part III: Budget Activities

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

Foster Grandparent Program FY 2015 accomplishments are highlighted in 

the following table.

Senior Corps FGP has answered the agency’s call to leverage results-driven 

relationships within and outside of the federal government. The expansion 

of the PEACE, Inc. Foster Grandparent Program to every 1st and 2nd grade 

classroom in Syracuse, New York is an example of support from State 

legislatures and local school boards. The Syracuse School District invested 

$350,000 in this expansion, which was supplemented by additional funds 

from CNCS. In total, 167 Foster Grandparents will serve in the 2015-2016 

school year. 

In FY 2015, Senior Corps began evaluating partnerships between Senior 

Corps FGP grantees and models funded through AmeriCorps grants. CNCS 

is also providing technical assistance and training to support the adoption 

of national service best-practices in Syracuse. CNCS is evaluating the 

expansion to be able to support other communities as part of the continuing 

work of the Presidential Task Force on Expanding National Service.

Community Impact

With its FY 2015 administrative renewals and grant continuations, FGP 

has successfully implemented agency performance measures across its 

portfolio. This means that by the end of FY 2016, CNCS will have outcome 

performance measures from 100 percent of FGP Grantees. The following 

data describes the national performance measure service activities that 

FGP volunteers will be engaged in as part of their current grants.23

• Academic achievement (49 percent)

• School readiness (35 percent)

• Mentorship (12 percent)

• Child welfare and safety related services (4 percent)

Successful Project Example 

Education

My Brother’s Keeper Initiative - Massachusetts

The Foster Grandparent Program sponsored by Action for Boston 

Community Development Inc. (ABCD) has Somali Foster Grandparent 

volunteers working with young Somali boys to help them learn English and 

to teach them about Somali culture and tradition. 

 For these boys, many of whom do not have fathers at home, the Foster 

Grandparents serve as older male role models. They advise them on 

how to assimilate into their communities without losing their cultural 

identity. They teach them about American customs and culture, as well 

as helping them understand the American education system, because 

their experience in their new communities may be different from their 

experience in Somalia. This cultural and practical mentoring can help 

ease the transition for these boys.

Foster Grandparents also engage in a Somalian tradition of telling folk 

stories to help develop the youths’ moral character. Two frequently told 

stories are “The Lion’s Share,” a story about sharing and greed and “Igal 

Shidad,” the moral of which is about acknowledging our weaknesses and 

embracing who we are. 

TABLE 21. Foster Grandparent Program Performance Measures24

Measure

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Estimated

FY 2016 

Projected

FY 2017 

Projected

Volunteers' hours served (in thousands) 23,000 23,000 23,000 23,000 23,000

Children served 196,000 189,100 189,100 189,100 189,100 

Children of military families served 3,400 2,700 2,700 2,700 2,700 

Direct volunteers25 28,250 25,190 25,190 25,190 25,190

23 FY 2015 Grants will begin to report results to CNCS in FY 2016. By FY 2017, CNCS will begin to share these grants’ results in the agency’s public reports. 

24 In FY 2015, CNCS began a comprehensive review of the first agency-wide performance data reported by FGP grantees and anticipates providing some related preliminary analysis in FY 2016. All 

numbers are rounded.

25 The Direct Number of Foster Grandparent Volunteers includes both CNCS funded and non-CNCS funded. Of this total, in 2014, 1,186 Foster Grandparent Volunteers were non-CNCS funded.
42 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

My Brother’s Keeper Initiative – Maryland

The Foster Grandparent program in Baltimore, Maryland is sponsored by 

the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) to support children in 

juvenile detention facilities. Statewide, twenty-three Foster Grandparent 

volunteers tutor and mentor approximately 350 children ages 12-21 years 

of age at the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services. These adults 

model appropriate behavior and help build up the self-esteem of the 

students they serve. DJS staff reports that the youth served by a Foster 

Grandparent are more respectful, not just to the adults, but also to their 

peers. Their overall classroom behavior improves and they are more 

focused on their class work. 

The Foster Grandparent volunteers serve the younger students in reading 

groups and participate with them in classroom open discussions, often 

sitting next to them to offer encouragement for the students to actively 

participate in the class. Along with mentoring the older students, the Foster 

Grandparents tutor them to help prepare them for their GED tests and help 

with other school projects. The Foster Grandparent volunteers encourage 

the youth to take responsibility for their actions and use the time they 

spend in detention to work toward goals that will benefit the youths once 

they are back home.

Recent research has shown that effective and timely re-entry and 

aftercare programs increase the success rate for youth when they return 

to the community by providing continued counseling, services and 

employment training and assistance. As a result of this research, the Foster 

Grandparent Program, with the support of the DJS Community Service 

Division, has added six additional volunteer sites focusing on Department 

of Juvenile Service community supervision, re-entry, and after-care 

programs. The new sites include 4 youth reporting centers and two group 

homes. The mentoring efforts of the ten Foster Grandparent Volunteers 

assigned to the new sites will touch the lives of approximately 200 youths 

as they continue their progress. 

The DJS Foster Grandparent Program also has 36 volunteers tutoring more 

than 175 students in Baltimore City Public Elementary Schools, and five 

volunteers tutoring 25 students in an after school program. 

Education and Head Start - North Carolina

The Foster Grandparent program, sponsored by Senior Resources of Guilford 

County, North Carolina, places 73 Foster Grandparents in schools and Head 

Start centers in the greater Greensboro area to provide one-on-one tutoring 

to children with special needs in reading and reading comprehension. Over 

the past year, 219 students participated in the program, with 90 percent 

of these students demonstrating improvement in literacy at the end of 

the program year. This impact includes 74 students in early-childhood 

programs who demonstrated improved readiness to enter Kindergarten 

at the end of the program. One hundred and forty five elementary school 

students received classroom tutoring, with 89 percent of participants 

being promoted to the next grade level at the end of the year. The program 

works with eleven partners in Guilford County and is in high demand in 

the community with a waiting-list of more than 30 income-eligible seniors 

ready to begin service with the Foster Grandparent Program.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 43

Part III: Budget Activities

BUDGET ACTIVITY 8: 

Senior Companion Program (SCP)

(Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, Title II)

TABLE 22. Senior Companion Program Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY 2015 

Enacted Level

FY 2016 

Enacted Level

FY 2017 President’s 

Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Grants to Projects 

 Renewal/ Continuing Grants $43,361 $44,368 $44,368 $0

 New VSYs-new grants & augmentations $1,007 $0 $0 $0

Subtotal, grants $44,444 $44,368 $44,368 $0 

Grant making and Business Support $1,068 $1,144 $1,144 $0 

Total Budget Authority $45,512 $45,512 $45,512 $0 

TABLE 23. Senior Companion Program Vital Statistics (in whole numbers)

Statistic

FY 2015 

Enacted Level

FY 2016 

Enacted Level

FY 2017 President’s 

Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Number of federally funded CNCS awards/grantees 182 182 182 0

Average federal award/grant $244,000 $244,000 $244,000 $0

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN

SCP engages volunteers, age 55 and over, in providing in-home support 

to adults who have difficulty with daily living tasks. 

Investing Federal Funding in Outcomes and 

Evidence

CNCS does not currently have the authority to compete grants in the 

Senior Companion Program. CNCS does not currently have the authority 

to compete grants in the Senior Companion Program. SCP’s budget 

justification includes a request for new authority to compete the program. 

This request would ensure federal funds support the most competitive 

applicants in each community. 

By introducing competition into SCP, providing robust support to help 

grantees implement evidence-based models, and helping evidencebased programs expand, the FY 2017 budget enhances the capacity for 

SCP volunteers to meet critical needs in their communities in the most 

effective manner.

In FY 2016, CNCS will allow SCP grantees to request a higher level of 

volunteer service year costs if they are implementing an evidence-based 

program. This will create a strong incentive for grantees to adopt more 

effective practices and provide additional resources to support such 

programming. If this approach is successful, CNCS will strongly consider 

continuing it for FY 2017 and beyond. This approach, combined with 

the request for authority to compete these grants in FY 2017, will make 

the grants more attractive to applicants interested in implementing 

evidence-based interventions.

CNCS will introduce additional rigor in the administrative renewal 

process in FY 2016 to require that successfully renewed grants 

demonstrate full compliance with CNCS national performance measure 

requirements. This administrative renewal process will incorporate 

selection criteria based on the FY 2013 RSVP competitive renewal. In 

2015, CNCS published a factor analysis and interrater reliability analysis 

of the FY 2013 RSVP competition, validating the selection criteria and the 

competitive process. While CNCS does not currently have the authority to 
44 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

compete grants in the SCP, the agency expects that this new requirement 

will provide grantees confidence that they could successfully compete 

in a competitive renewal as proposed by this Budget. Further, CNCS’s 

factor analysis and inter-rater reliability analysis of the FY 2013 RSVP 

competition, which was published in 2015, validates the use of these 

kinds of selection criteria in a competitive grant process. 

SCP Volunteer Experiences and Outcomes

CNCS has started a longitudinal quasi-experimental evaluation of the 

potential health benefits of volunteering in SCP with the final data 

being collected in FY 2017. After collecting this data, CNCS will assess 

findings and use them to inform program and policy work. This study will 

also examine retention rates and volunteer satisfaction for volunteers 

recruited in the summer and fall of 2015. This follows a cross-sectional 

study that demonstrated that SCP volunteers reported less poor health 

than a comparison group of community volunteers and non-volunteers. 

In FY 2014 Senior Corps completed an analysis of a cross-sectional 

evaluation of SCP volunteers compared to similar volunteers not 

engaged in national service. The evaluation demonstrated that SCP 

volunteers were more likely to be African American and Latino older 

adults as compared to a comparison sample of non-SCP volunteers. 

These results demonstrate that SCP engages a diverse group of 

Americans 55 and older in volunteering. 

While working to better understand participants’ experience, SCP will 

coordinate with the agency’s new data analysis unit discussed earlier 

in this Budget to improve the quality and usefulness of administrative 

data such as the average distance SCP volunteers are traveling to 

serve. This work will include reviewing the usefulness of current data 

and applying standardized quality control practices to ensure such 

data is valid and reliable.

SCP Volunteer Activities and Recipient Outcomes 

SCP projects that more than 12,000 volunteers will help organizations:

• Serve more than 10 million hours to communities with Americans in 

need

• Provide respite care to more than 6,000 families

• Serve approximately 43,000 total frail, older adults

• Serve more than 3,000 frail, older adult veterans

CNCS is also conducting a two-year study of caregivers served by SCP 

clients. This before-after analysis of caregiver stress among newly 

enrolled recipients of the Senior Companion Program will provide SCP 

programs a better understanding of the needs of caregivers and how the 

program can better serve clients. 

Evidence and Results

The Senior Companions Program is building its evidence base. 

Significant resources have been invested in gathering higher quality 

data about the characteristics of Senior Companions, their volunteer 

experiences, and health outcomes they perceive to be associated with 

volunteering with SCP. The investment in a longitudinal survey of Senior 

Companions and the inclusion of a matched comparison group will 

advance the evidence base for the impact of volunteering on various 

health outcomes for seniors. 

Efficiencies

Based on anticipated match levels, CNCS projects that states and local 

communities will contribute an estimated $22 million in non-federal 

support during FY 2017, including cash and in-kind to SCP projects. 

The non-CNCS funding supports project operations and allows SCP 

projects to expand their scope of service by increasing the number of 

VSYs available to serve the clients and their caregivers. These additional 

resources, including an estimated $6 million in state appropriated 

dollars, demonstrates SCP efficiently leverages federal funds to achieve 

broader impact. 

Partnerships and Priority Initiatives 

In FY 2017, CNCS anticipates continuing to support the Department of 

Health and Human Services Elder Justice initiative, which follows the 

award of new Senior Companion Programs to the North Fork Rancheria 

of Mono Indians of California and the Kenaitze Indian Tribe of Alaska. 

These new grants will invest national service resources to empower 

community members age 55 and older to serve vulnerable older adults 

in Native American and Alaskan Native communities. CNCS will also 

seek to support partnerships between SCP grantees and Accountable 

Care Organizations in order to integrate national service into coordinated 

models of care. 

SCP grantees work with states to expand services through Medicaid 

Home and Community-based (HCBS) Waivers. Medicaid HCBS waivers 

are designed to allow states greater flexibility to meet the needs of 

people with long-term care needs. The goal of the waivers is to substitute 

home and community-based services for nursing home and other 

institutional care, which strongly aligns with SCP’s mission. In FY 2014, 

nine states elected to incorporate SCP services into their Medicaidfunded home and community-based services, providing $820,000 to 

support 440 Senior Companions, who in turn provided in-home support 

to nearly 1,100 Medicaid-eligible clients. 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 45

Part III: Budget Activities

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

In addition to the examples above, SCP has answered the agency’s call 

to further leverage results-driven relationships within and outside of the 

government by developing an extensive network of partners, including: 

Area Agencies on Aging, Community Action Agencies, Volunteer Centers, 

United Ways, social services agencies, faith-based organizations, and 

many others.

Below is additional SCP performance information for recent past and 

future fiscal years. 

Community Impact

With the FY 2015 administrative renewals and grant continuations, SCP 

has successfully implemented agency performance measures across its 

portfolio. This means that by the end of FY 2016, CNCS will have outcome 

performance measures from 100 percent of all SCP Grantees. The chart 

below describes the national performance measure service activities that 

FGP volunteers will be engaged in as part of their current grants.

CNCS grantee data show that a majority (74 percent) of volunteers serving 

through FY 2015 SCP grants will focus on independent living services that 

assist older adults with remaining in their homes as they age.26 

In FY 2015, CNCS conducted the first ever Senior Companion Program 

Tribal grant competition which resulted in two grants; one to the North 

Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians of California, and one to the Kenaitze 

Indian Tribe of Alaska. These grants will implement SCP National 

Performance Measures and Elder Justice interventions. SCP grants will 

address health needs within communities by focusing specifically on 

independent living (aging in place) and access to health care. Senior 

Companion volunteers will address Elder Justice Act priorities by placing 

volunteers in assignments that help to mitigate the potential that clients 

and caregivers served by the Senior Companions will be victims of 

financial fraud, abuse, and/or neglect.

Foster Grandparent Program Tribal grants will provide support and/or 

facilitate access to services and resources that contribute to improved 

educational outcomes for economically disadvantaged people, especially 

children, and for children with special and/or exceptional needs. 

Successful applicants for both competitions are expected to increase 

support for adults in need of extra assistance in Indian Country by 

offering funding opportunities for grants to Indian Tribes.

The 2015 FGP and SCP competitions included the requirement to leverage 

other resources through meeting specific non-federal shares. Applicants 

competing for new projects were required to budget at least 10 percent 

match per year. 

Successful Project Example

Independent Living for Tribal Elders - Alaska

Kenaitze Indian Senior Companion Program that supports 40 Tribal 

Elders with an estimated 45 Senior Companions. Recruitment of Senior 

TABLE 24. SCP Performance Measures27

Measure

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Estimated

FY 2016 

Projected

FY 2017 

Projected

Volunteers' hours served (in thousands) 10,700 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000

Families receiving respite care 6,900 6,650 6,650 6,650 6,650

Frail, older adults served (e.g., buying food, providing transportation 

to medical appointments, etc.)

46,750 43,000 43,000 43,000 43,000

Frail, older adult veterans served 3,480 3,100 3,100 3,100 3,100

Direct volunteers28 13,770 12,190 12,190 12,190 12,190

26 FY 2015 Grants will begin to report results to CNCS in FY 2016. By FY 2017, CNCS will begin to share these grants’ results in the agency’s public reports.

27 In FY 2015, CNCS began a comprehensive review of the first agency-wide performance data reported by SCP grantees and anticipates providing some related preliminary analysis in FY 2016. All 

numbers are rounded.

28 The Direct Number of Senior Companion Volunteers includes both CNCS funded and non-CNCS funded. Of this total, in 2014, 2,226 Senior Companion Volunteers were non-CNCS funded. This is 

based on the most recent available data.
46 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Companions occurs within the existing Tyotkas Elders program in Kenai, 

Alaska through a partnership with the Kenai and Soldotna Senior Centers. 

The Senior Companion Program funding has allowed the tribe to expand 

support to homebound elders in the community who currently receive 

limited services and have little connection with the community. In addition 

to common SCP activities, the volunteers assist their clients to age in place 

while still partaking in traditional activities such as subsistence dip net 

fishing, berry picking, and community gatherings. Overall, the companions 

focus on community-wide connectivity and re-engaging Elders within the 

larger framework of Dena’ina cultural traditions.

Independent Living - Missouri

The Senior Companion program sponsored by Kingdom House, a 113 

year old Social Service Agency in St. Louis, supports the needs of elderly 

citizens both native and foreign born in an ethnically diverse community.

Working with 10 community based volunteer stations, this program 

has trained 55 low income seniors (average age of 70), as Senior 

Companion volunteers who serve a 45 mile span on the Missouri side 

of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area and visit an average of three frail, 

isolated and/or homebound clients per week. These Senior Companion 

volunteers help to combat loneliness and isolation and prevent premature 

institutionalization by providing a routine visit that involves a variety of 

activities from light meal preparation, medication reminders, reading 

together, grocery shopping, scheduling, and/or escorting clients to 

appointments. In the course of one year, this program has provided 

companionship and respite services to over 250 clients with a total of 

nearly 35,000 hours of service to the community. Ten of these volunteers 

are bilingual in both English and Vietnamese and provide service to 20 

of the 250 clients. Senior Companion visits also provide respite to the 

caregivers of the older adults being served.

Data collected from this program indicates that 50 vulnerable or at risk 

individuals have benefited from respite service with 98 percent of clients 

able to remain living at home. Ninety-six percent of caregivers also 

reported that respite services have allowed them to tend to their own 

needs and have relief from stress.

Client satisfaction surveys reveal that 98 percent of the 200 clients 

receiving companionship visits are extremely satisfied, that home 

visits have eliminated loneliness, and allowed them to remain living 

independently in the community.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 47

Part III: Budget Activities

BUDGET ACTIVITY 9: 

Social Innovation Fund

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, Subtitle H)

TABLE 25. Social Innovation Fund Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY 2015 

Enacted Level

FY 2016 

Enacted Level

FY 2017 

President’s Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Social Innovation Fund $70,000 $50,000 $50,000 $0 

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN

SIF Classic (original SIF program) 

Over the past five years, the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) has combined public 

and private resources to grow the impact of innovative, community-based 

solutions that have compelling evidence of improving the lives of people in 

low-income communities throughout the United States. Over a half a billion 

dollars has been leveraged in five short years to support nearly 200 nonprofit 

organizations. These funds were generated by local, regional, and national 

funding sources as matching funds for those provided by SIF. 

FY 2017, SIF will continue to identify the most innovative programs and 

support them through this public private partnership. With the requested 

funding level, SIF expects to make 15-20 grant awards. Additionally, SIF 

Classic will 1) conduct a comprehensive review of current funding areas; and 

2) review the benefit of SIF using current authority to directly fund grantees.

The program currently focuses on:

• Improving economic opportunity

• Improving health outcomes

• Investing in children and youth

• Innovative programs using technology to increase program outcomes

SIF Pay for Success (PFS)

As part of the President’s vision for building a smarter, more effective 

government, PFS financing has emerged as an approach that allows 

government to partner with the private and nonprofit sectors to fund 

proven and promising practices. PFS is an innovative contracting and 

financing model that leverages philanthropic and private dollars to fund 

services up front, with the government paying only after agreed upon 

outcomes are achieved. 

In FY 2015, SIF selected eight grantees to help communities study the use 

of PFS or structure PFS projects, helping to tackle social problems ranging 

from childhood asthma to chronic homelessness. As of January 2016, SIF 

was funding 36 studies to determine whether PFS would be an appropriate 

model for target programs. Additionally, SIF is providing nine PFS projects 

with support to help them structure financial deals. Through this work, CNCS 

is building capacity for PFS among more than 60 state and local governments 

and nonprofit organizations representing 40 jurisdictions across the country.

Evidence and Results

Evidence and research are fundamental components of all SIF grants. 

All programs funded by the SIF must be able to demonstrate at least a 

preliminary level of effectiveness before they are funded and then take 

part in a rigorous evaluation to strengthen their base of evidence and 

to document and assess whether their approach works more effectively, 

costs less, or leads to better results for America’s communities. As such, 

the SIF is inherently aligned with CNCS’s research and evaluation agenda 

in that it identifies interventions that have proven community impact and 

helps scale these interventions so that they reach more people. 

The SIF provides both technical assistance and funding for the required 

evaluation of all selected programs. These evaluations provide robust 

information about which programs and models generate strong results for 

individuals and communities and how they can be replicated successfully. 

The SIF is also committed to improving the effectiveness of nonprofits, 

grant-makers, and government agencies by rigorously documenting 

evidence and sharing best-practices and lessons learned.

In addition to promoting evidence-based programs, the SIF projects that 

100 percent of SIF’s portfolio will be active in at least one of the agency 

priority measures in FY 2017. These priority measures include: 

• Increased school readiness

• Improved education outcomes for K-12

• Improved access to housing

• Demonstrating stronger evidence of program effectiveness through 

evaluations 
48 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

SIF National Evaluation29 

The National Assessment of SIF Classic is expected to be completed by 

FY 2017. It examines how participation in the SIF affects the policies 

and practices of intermediaries, federal funders, and others in the grant 

making and nonprofit world. It is helping CNCS and other stakeholders 

assess change over the initiative’s implementation and answer the 

following five key questions that flow out of the initiatives theory of 

change:

1) Does SIF Classic increase organizational use of evidence-based 

grant-making strategies?

2) Does it increase organizations’ willingness and ability to build the 

evidence base for high-impact models?

3) Does it increase organizational knowledge of how to scale proven 

models?

4) Does it strengthen organizational infrastructure to support the 

growth of proven models?

5) Does it facilitate collaborative approaches to addressing local 

community needs?

Ongoing Evaluation

All SIF Classic grantees must conduct rigorous evaluations as a central 

aspect of receiving funding. The SIF currently has 73 approved program 

evaluations for a total of 87 funded interventions distributed across the 

following focus areas:

• Economic Opportunity (10)

• Healthy Futures (14)

• Youth Development (63)

Upcoming Evaluations

SIF anticipates that 12 new evaluations will be released by FY 2017.

Efficiencies

To be eligible for SIF funding, grantees are required to match every federal 

dollar 1:1 at the first stage of funding—federal grant to intermediary—

and at the second stage—intermediary to sub grantee. CNCS projects the 

amount of leveraged funds will be approximately $150 million in FY 2017. 

Additionally, SIF will be implementing an online learning tool and network. 

In addition to the learning tool and network SIF, will deliver an online portal 

that provides Congress, academics, grantees, and policymakers with realtime information about the SIF program by geography, subject matter, and 

impact. The portal will also allow users to network with each other to build 

on the learnings developed through SIF and related programming.

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

Since its inception in 2014, the PFS program has funded 33 PFS feasibility 

studies and provided support for project structuring for five PFS projects, 

with up to an additional ten feasibility studies and four projects to 

receive project structuring support from FY 2015 funds that are available 

through FY 2016. As of January 2016, CNCS is the only federal agency 

that has made active awards supporting the growth and strengthening of 

the pipeline of Pay for Success projects—an integral component in the 

development of the burgeoning field of evidence-based and outcomesoriented financing for high-quality, impactful interventions. As part of the 

three-year grant program, the PFS program expects to work with up to 50 

state and local government jurisdictions and nonprofits across the country 

to build capacity to develop PFS projects, and to support moving the 

projects from conception to fruition through project structuring dollars.

Successful Project Examples

Jobs for the Future

Evaluation of the Greater Cincinnati Workforce Network partnership found 

that programs demonstrated statistically significant positive effects on 

the general employment rates of participants and were highly effective 

in improving focus industry employment, job retention, and earnings for 

Health Careers participants.

Reading Partners

Evaluation of Reading Partners found that the program:

• More effectively raised students’ reading proficiency than other 

similar reading programs in the same schools that were studied

• Had a positive and statistically significant impact on students’ 

reading comprehension, reading fluency, and sight word efficiency; 

• Showed suggestive evidence that it was particularly effective with 

students reading at the lowest levels; and 

• Cost the host school/school district on average $710 per student, 

compared with an average of $1,690 per student for other reading 

programs offered in the same school. This resulted in a per student 

savings of $980 for the host school/school district. 

REDF

Life and work-related outcomes were tracked for 282 workers at seven 

social enterprises over the course of the study, which found that social 

enterprise workers moved toward economic self-sufficiency and life 

stability:

• Employment rose from 18 percent to 51 percent

• Stable housing rose from 15 percent to 53 percent

29 More on the SIF National and PFS Evaluations can be found later in the Evaluation Budget Activity section.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 49

Part III: Budget Activities

• Dependence on government support decreased from 71 percent to 

24 percent 

• Social enterprises produced $2.23 in social benefits for every $1 

they spent (by reducing dependence on government support and 

increasing tax revenue) 

U.S. Soccer Foundation

Soccer for Success is a sports-based youth development program that 

serves children in grades K-8 in underserved, urban communities. The 

program uses soccer as a tool to combat obesity, promote healthy eating 

and exercise habits, and foster positive youth development. The program 

consists of soccer activities that incorporate nutritional lessons. 

Evaluation of Soccer for Success found that the program participants 

showed:

• Greater improvement towards healthy BMI and waist 

circumference categories than participants in other similar 

programs in the same neighborhoods

• Greater improvement in aerobic capacity compared to 

participants in similar programs. 

In addition, the study found that Soccer for Success:

• Was implemented as designed (i.e. with fidelity) across the sites 

studied

• Had statistically significant and consistent results across 

different locations, genders, and socio-economic backgrounds 

supporting the conclusion that if the program were replicated with 

fidelity in other urban communities, similar results would be likely.

Nonprofit Finance Fund

As a recipient of SIF PFS funds, the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) is 

providing sub-awards to Pay for Success project coordinators to take PFS 

projects from conception to fruition. NFF’s SIF program has two objectives 

designed to further NFF’s goal of growing, strengthening, and diversifying 

the PFS market to: 

• Fund the exploration of innovative PFS funding strategies that will 

advance promising PFS approaches, and 

 

 

• Share knowledge, resources, and lessons learned from new and existing 

PFS projects through NFF’s learning platforms, including the existing 

Pay for Success Learning Hub website (www.payforsuccess.org/).

To accomplish these goals, NFF is supporting PFS transaction structuring 

for the following projects:30

• The Community Foundation of Utah, in partnership with Third Sector 

Capital Partners, Inc. – Maternal health, homelessness, criminal 

justice – Utah

• Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., in partnership with Corporation 

for Supportive Housing (CSH) – Homelessness – Denver 

• Jewish Vocational Services, in partnership with Social Finance 

US – Adult basic education and employment for English Language 

Learners – Massachusetts 

• Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc., in partnership with the 

Conscience Community Network, LLC – Youth involved in Juvenile 

Justice and Child Welfare Systems – Illinois 

• Tuscaloosa Research & Education Advancement Corporation, in 

partnership with Social Finance US – Employment for Veterans with 

Mental Health Illnesses – National 

• Greenville Health System – Community Paramedicine Services – 

South Carolina 

• Hillside Children’s Center – Juvenile Justice – New York

• Nurse Family Partnership National Service Office- Maternal and Child 

Health Wellbeing – Michigan

• The County of Santa Clara, California, in partnership with Telecare 

– Corporation Behavioral Health for Individuals with Acute Mental 

Health Needs – California

30 Please visit nationalservice.gov for more information about these projects.
50 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

BUDGET ACTIVITY 10: 

Volunteer Generation Fund 

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, Subtitle H)

TABLE 26. Volunteer Generation Fund Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY 2015 

Enacted Level

FY 2016 

Enacted Level

FY 2017 

President’s Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Volunteer Generation Fund $3,800 $3,800 $4,000 $200 

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN

The Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF) will support CNCS’s mission to 

improve lives and strengthen communities by strengthening volunteer 

management practices across the county. This includes helping nonprofit 

and voluntary organizations broaden their volunteer base, more effectively 

recruit and retain volunteers, expand opportunity for those who serve, and 

increase their impact on community challenges.

The requested funding will allow CNCS to focus VGF awards on the 

following:

• Allowing for additional governor-appointed Commissions to compete 

for and utilize VGF funding. Currently, only 17 Commissions 

are grantees, yet in the 2014 VGF competition 26 Commissions 

submitted grants requesting $6.3 million while CNCS only had $3.8 

million available.

• Strengthening Commissions’ use of evidence-based approaches 

in working with their VGF subgrantees and partners, and their 

capacity to measure results and move the programs they fund up 

the evidence chain. 

• Using VGF funding to (1) support efforts to leverage volunteers to 

help governors address state challenges, from working to reduce 

veteran’s homelessness to assisting those without employment find 

jobs or (2) use the funding competition to highlight a CNCS priority, 

including volunteering as pathway to employment, STEM, or projects 

that support Opportunity Youth. 

• Focusing investments on volunteer management practices that 

increase recruitment and retention, ensuring volunteers are 

productively engaged and increasing the stability of nonprofit 

operations, allowing organizations to increase community impact.

Effective strategies to retain volunteers include skill-building and skillmatching. Skill-building includes practices that ensure volunteers learn 

new skills that expand opportunities for employment, especially among 

the unemployed, veterans, and disadvantaged youth. This approach is 

in line with CNCS research released in 2013 that provides a compelling 

empirical case establishing an association between volunteering and 

employment. The study, “Volunteering as a Pathway to Employment: Does 

Volunteering Increase Odds of Finding a Job for the Out of Work?” found 

that unemployed individuals who volunteer over the next year have a 27 

percent greater chance of being employed at the end of the year than nonvolunteers. Skill-matching connects volunteers with opportunities that 

complement their skills in order to make the best use of their time and 

talents. This focus on skill-building and matching may help strengthen the 

association between volunteering and employment. 

CNCS will use the VGF to support initiatives that recruit, train, and 

deploy volunteers as a strategy to address clearly identified needs. Some 

examples might include agency priorities such as STEM programs and 

projects that support Opportunity Youth. In addition, VGF funding will 

support efforts to leverage volunteers to help governors and mayors 

address state and local challenges, from working to reduce homelessness 

to assisting those without employment find jobs. 

Evidence and Results

The VGF will continue to support nonprofit and community organizations 

in implementing research-based volunteer management curriculum and in 

using data to strengthen volunteer recruitment. Commissions will use the 

funds to enhance the ability of subgrantees and partners to report their 

performance, including the number of volunteers generated and adoption 

of best practices in volunteer management. 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 51

Part III: Budget Activities

Efficiencies 

The VGF will continue to play a key role in supporting state and local 

efforts to help nonprofits make more effective and efficient use of 

volunteers through the service enterprise model. A service enterprise is 

an organization that fundamentally leverages volunteers and their skills to 

successfully deliver on the mission of the organization. 

The CaliforniaVolunteers Service Enterprise Initiative, developed with 

VGF support, is a train-the-trainer model to increase the effectiveness 

and impact of nonprofit organizations through the strategic engagement 

of volunteers. Over three years of the VGF grant, volunteer centers in 

California have worked with 234 nonprofits to complete the service 

enterprise training. More than 80 percent of these organizations indicated 

in post-surveys that they are more effectively engaging competency/ 

skills-based volunteers, resulting in improved internal operational and 

financial systems to enhance organizational sustainability. In partnership 

with CaliforniaVolunteers, Points of Light, and others, nonprofits around 

the country are now accessing training to become certified as service 

enterprises. This effort will change the way in which organizations view 

and engage volunteers to support their organizational missions. 

Partnerships and Priority Initiatives

The VGF will continue to support partnership efforts between Commissions 

and nonprofits, faith-based and community organizations, and public 

agencies to engage more volunteers more effectively in solving problems. 

Commissions use VGF funding to create or strengthen partnerships 

that help nonprofits strengthen volunteer management practices, 

expand outreach and recruitment, and improve systems and training for 

volunteers. 

For example, OneStar Foundation, the Texas State Service Commission, uses 

its VGF funding to strengthen the state’s ability to harness unaffiliated, 

spontaneous, and other community volunteers in times of disaster.

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

During FY 2015, VGF grantees that received awards in FY 2014 reported 

results and CNCS made new awards to grantees that will continue to 

focus on the agency’s priorities.31 All VGF grants support CNCS’s mission 

to improve lives and strengthen communities through growing and 

strengthening national service. 

In FY 2015, Commissions that received their CNCS grant awards in 

the previous year supported volunteer connector organizations, trained 

nonprofits in volunteer management, and increased the number of new 

and continuing volunteers in their states, especially skilled volunteers. 

Governor-supported Commissions provided direct support to numerous 

nonprofits and volunteer connector organizations in urban and rural 

communities in their states, and reported on performance measures 

related to volunteer recruitment and management. 

For example, VGF grantees:

• Expanded access to volunteer opportunities by expanding geographic 

reach of volunteer centers in underserved communities 

• Improved systems and training for coordinating disaster and 

emergency volunteers to meet immediate and long-term needs

• Implemented a research-based volunteer management curriculum 

for nonprofit organizations

• Enhanced nonprofit organizational capacity to manage and engage 

volunteers in meaningful service through training and technical 

assistance

• Recruited volunteers from among specialized populations including 

college students, youth, and corporate volunteers 

• Built capacity to manage volunteers in times of disaster. 

In addition, Commissions supported community-based organizations by 

helping them to recruit, manage, and support volunteers; including four 

Commissions new to the VGF. All grantees provide subgrants to locally 

based non-profits and volunteer centers, including rural and underserved 

communities in Mississippi, Louisiana, Michigan, and Maryland. Priority 

areas represented include education, disaster response, and building 

capacity of volunteer recruitment and retention. For 2013 Volunteer 

Generation Fund grants, State Commissions reported that more than 

266,000 volunteers were leveraged with the support of these grants.

31 FY 2013 VGF grants were awarded in the 4th quarter of the fiscal year and were funded for one year. Therefore, results from these grants occurred in FY 2014 and represent the most current VGF 

accomplishments. 
52 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

BUDGET ACTIVITY 11: 

Innovation, Demonstration, and Other Activities 

National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, Subtitle H

TABLE 27. Innovation Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY 2015 

Enacted Level

FY 2016 

Enacted Level

FY 2017 

President’s Request

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Innovation, Demonstration and Other Activities $3,600 $3,600 $3,601 $1

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN

Subtitle H Innovation, Demonstration, and Other Activities funding 

provides resources for CNCS to strengthen the nation’s volunteer 

sector, bring more Americans into service, encourage social innovation, 

strengthen existing national service programs, and support and encourage 

new forms of national service and civic participation. This Budget activity 

includes Call to Service initiatives to engage more Americans in service 

to meet pressing community needs including the Martin Luther King, Jr. 

(MLK) National Day of Service and the September 11th National Day of 

Service and Remembrance. The activities in Subtitle H promote national 

service and volunteering, identify and incubate innovative program 

models, disseminate effective practices, and strengthen the reach and 

impact of national service programs and voluntary organizations across 

the country.

Partnerships and Priority Initiatives

Call to Service

In FY 2017, CNCS will lead the nation’s two principal Days of Service, 

Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service and the September 11th 

National Day of Service and Remembrance. Consistent with previous 

years, CNCS will align these Days of Service with the agency’s strategic 

priorities, including economic opportunity, education, and veterans 

and military families. In addition, to align with the agency’s theme of 

effectiveness and efficiency, CNCS intends to streamline grant application 

and award process to better align these grants with the agency’s 

performance measures and evidence-based outcomes.

CNCS is also committed to strengthening its efforts to inspire more 

Americans to volunteer and consider applying for national service 

programs. This focus will include exploring new technology to make 

information about these opportunities more accessible through mobile 

applications and other channels. 

Support for Innovative Service and Other Assistance 

Innovative service requires ongoing training, support and attention 

to in order to be effective. With increasing emphasis on evidence and 

evaluation, developing multiple ways to deliver training and support is 

more important than ever. Innovative Service and Other Assistance Funds 

will focus on supporting national service expansion based on increasing 

levels of evidence, and compliant and effective performance among new 

and ongoing projects. 

CNCS will continue expanding its training and technical assistance 

reach to more than 3,400 grantees and projects, including AmeriCorps 

and Senior Corps. Topics include critical training on core competencies. 

Content will reflect attention to emerging community needs, new 

requirements, compliance, best practices in program and financial 

management, and to support the expansion of national service and related 

programs. All materials will be developed in formats that are accessible 

on line to all who need them when they are needed. 

In FY 2017, CNCS will again support competitive grants for Regional 

Training Conferences. This cost-effective strategy trains over 2,000 

project directors in AmeriCorps and Senior Corps, reaching frontline 

staff with the critical training topics including performance measures, 

compliance, financial and grant management, and criminal history checks. 

Subtitle H Funds will support the development of new digital resources, as 

well as hosting and maintenance of CNCS’s training infrastructure. New 

content, capacity, and enhanced interactive elements are needed for new 

partnerships and for inclusion of people with disabilities.

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

Call to Service

In FY 2015, Call to Service activities including national days of service, 

partnerships, and convenings that engaged hundreds of thousands of 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 53

Part III: Budget Activities

Americans in service, expanded to new communities, demonstrated 

impact, and recognized the efforts of those who serve. 

Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service 

The Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service was a significant 

moment for national service. Specific examples of MLK Day success 

include the following: 

• The faith-based grantee Hope Worldwide engaged more than 

6,100 volunteers and reached more than 43,000 households with 

critical fire prevention safety and disaster preparedness information. 

Volunteers also implemented a large-scale improvement project at 

four Nashville area parks and recreation community centers and 

started an ongoing reading program with an initial class of 900 

children. 

• Service for Peace engaged an estimated 23,300 volunteers in 359 

projects on MLK Day with an additional 3,600 volunteers engaged in 

123 projects in the 40 subsequent days of peace. In Bloomington, 

Indiana, the group completed 40 service projects that focused on 

increasing awareness of ways to prevent teen violence, providing 

books to a local family shelter, and setting up a clothing closet for 

low-income families with the Boys and Girls Clubs Ellettsville Unit. 

• Points of Light mobilized an estimated 111,900 individuals in almost 

2,000 local projects. One project supported a pro-bono Scope-AThon during which more than 300 project managers were paired with 

100 local nonprofit organizations in the Washington, D.C. Together, 

these professional project managers contributed 2,400 hours worth 

of technical and strategic counsel in just one day. 

• The President and First Lady, joined by CNCS CEO Wendy Spencer, 

served alongside AmeriCorps members at the Boys & Girls Club of 

Greater Washington. More than 10 cabinet secretaries and other 

Administration officials participated in service projects across the 

country. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell joined AmeriCorps members 

and other community volunteers in cleaning up the Anacostia River 

and Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew served alongside City Year 

AmeriCorps members who were improving schools. 

September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance

Like MLK Day, the September 11th National Day of Service and 

Remembrance brought together neighbors in all 50 states and the District 

of Columbia to build affordable housing for veterans and military families, 

educate citizens on disaster preparedness, organize food drives, and more.

CNCS led the annual event, working with MyGoodDeed, Community 

Organizations Active in Disasters, Inc., Montana Campus Compact, Points 

of Light, and hundreds of nonprofit groups, faith-based organizations, and 

schools and businesses nationwide. In many locations, AmeriCorps and 

Senior Corps members organized and participated in service projects. 

In Washington, President Obama served at a CNCS-funded site where 

he joined AmeriCorps members, MyGoodDeed, parents, KaBOOM!, and 

community leaders in building a playground at a Washington, D.C. school. 

The CNCS CEO participated in the President’s project and also joined six 

cabinet secretaries and other agency leaders who commemorated the day 

by volunteering. 

• In Florida, Community Organizations Active in Disasters, Inc. used 

its grant to continue to help residents recover from devastating 

spring floods. Through the end of September, 1,764 families received 

casework or case management support.

Employers of National Service

Announced by President Obama as part of the 20th anniversary of 

AmeriCorps in 2014, this initiative recognizes the valuable skills gained by 

the 900,000 Americans who have participated in AmeriCorps since 1994 and 

the 215,000 who have participated in the Peace Corps. Employers of National 

Service builds a talent pipeline which connects AmeriCorps and Peace Corps 

alumni with leading employers from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors 

to create recruitment, hiring, and advancement opportunities. 

As President Obama said when launching the initiative, “If you’re an 

employer who wants to hire talented, dedicated, patriotic, skilled, tireless, 

energetic workers, look to AmeriCorps, look to the Peace Corps...Citizens 

who perform national service are special. You want them on your team.” 

In less than a year, more than 300 corporations, nonprofits, local, state, 

and federal government employers have signed on to this opportunity. 

The list includes Disney, Comcast, NBC Universal, CSX, American Red 

Cross, Habitat for Humanity, United Way Worldwide, and the U.S. Office of 

Personnel Management. In addition, the governors of Montana and Virginia 

signed up their states as Employers of National Service. On the municipal 

level, New York City, Phoenix, and Tucson joined the list of participating 

cities that already includes Nashville, Philadelphia, and South Sioux City. 

The success of this initiative underscores the broad geographical and 

multilevel enthusiasm for employers to recruit national service alumni.

Stars of Service

In addition to Employers of National Service, the President established the 

Stars of Service on the 20th Anniversary of AmeriCorps. The President’s 

Service Star Award recognizes youth leaders, whom CNCS will encourage 

to consider applying their skills through AmeriCorps. The Commissions 

asked each governor to submit the name of a Star of Service recipient 

between the ages of 12 and 18 for recognition from the White House in 

2015. Stars of Service also honor the commitment of young people from 

diverse communities, rural and urban, across the nation. 
54 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Mentoring

As part of its focus on engaging Americans in service and volunteering, 

CNCS served as the presenting sponsor of the National Mentoring Summit, 

organized by MENTOR: The National Partnership on Mentoring. This 

summit brought together 500 nonprofit, business, and government leaders 

to enhance the quality and impact of the mentoring programs, chart the 

future of mentoring, and focus the power of mentoring on measurable 

outcomes. The Mentoring Summit provided CNCS with an opportunity to 

highlight the agency’s leading role in advancing one of the President’s 

priorities, the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force. 

This forum allowed CNCS to demonstrate how national service programs 

can help recruit mentors and engage the private sector in the agency’s 

work. CNCS focused on partnerships, such as Youth Opportunity 

AmeriCorps’s partnership with the Justice Department and Aspire 

Mentoring Corps, a partnership with AT&T and MENTOR that will engage 

AmeriCorps members in providing mentoring activities to thousands of atrisk youth. This expansion builds on the President’s call for public-private 

partnership to expand national service opportunities. 

President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll

Working with the Department of Education, CNCS recognized an estimated 

766 schools for exemplary community service in the 2014 President’s 

Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. 

The 2014 Presidential Award winners were California State University, 

Dominguez Hills in Carson, California; Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa; 

University of Nebraska-Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska; and Wheelock College 

in Boston, Massachusetts. The institutions were recognized for their 

achievements in general community service, interfaith community service, 

economic opportunity, or education. 

One of the winners, the University of Nebraska-Omaha, has increased the 

number of service-learning courses offered in all six academic colleges 

and at every level, from first year general education through graduate 

seminars. Today, 42 percent of the student body participates in service 

learning and volunteer projects. In the last 14 years, academic servicelearning has grown from seven courses with 100 students, to more than 

160 courses with more than 2,600 students each year.

Support for Innovative Service and Other Assistance 

In FY 2015, CNCS support focused on enhancing the grantee and project 

performance through innovative training models and digital infrastructure 

support focused on compliance, accountability, and management. 

AmeriCorps State and National grantees participated in their annual 

symposium of 400 leaders of Commissions, multi-state programs, 

programs operating in a territory without a commission, tribal programs, 

and tribal planning grantees. Participants include program and financial 

staff of AmeriCorps State and National programs. Special sessions target 

leaders who are new to their positions in AmeriCorps. Training topics focus 

on financial and grants management, and compliance requirements. 

In FY 2015, CNCS issued competitive grants for Regional Training 

Conferences. The events were held in five locations, and reached 2,000 

participants. This innovative series extended training opportunities to many 

frontline staff, who have not previously received direct training in critical 

topics including financial and grants management, performance measures, 

and compliance, including criminal history checks. Participants included 

AmeriCorps and Senior Corps project staff, and Commission leaders. 

To support one of the many partnerships developed through the 

President’s Task Force on Expanding National Service, funds from the 

Innovation and Demonstration budget also supported a pre-service 

convening for justice AmeriCorps grantees and members. This training 

was a joint effort between CNCS and its partner, the Department of 

Justice. Sessions were designed to ensure understanding of performance 

requirements for effective startup of this new program. All training 

developed for these programs is available on demand to all stakeholders, 

through the CNCS digital infrastructure. Funds support hosting, 

maintenance and improvements, and content updates in a user-friendly 

format via CNCS’s website.

In 2015 the Office of Research and Evaluation hosted the inaugural CNCS 

Research Summit for over 250 attendees, and 100 virtual participants 

(CNCS grantees, projects, state commissions, the philanthropy sector, 

academics, and consultants). The objectives of the Summit included: 

1) F ostering a positive culture of evaluation and promoted learning 

among all grantees regardless of funding levels, using performance 

measurement data and process evaluations

2) H ighlighting the evaluation efforts of CNCS programs that expand 

the evidence base for activities and programming; promote member/

volunteer benefits; and promote the direct contributions of national 

service to communities and beneficiaries

3) D iscussing knowledge gaps, national service innovations, and the 

use of different methodologies to advance research and evaluation 

with targeted audiences, including federal agencies, policy 

makers and academics in order to advance national service, social 

innovation, and social science research. 

The Summit produced recommendations for the creation of an evaluation 

and evidence practitioners electronic mailing list, a Research and 

Evaluation Office blog on evidence-based practices and related topics, 

and inclusion of conference session products in ongoing Research and 

Evaluation projects. 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 55

Part III: Budget Activities

BUDGET ACTIVITY 12: 

Evaluation

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, section 179)

TABLE 28. Evaluation Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY 2015 Enacted 

Level

FY 2016 Enacted 

Level

FY 2017 President’s 

Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Evaluation $5,000 $4,000 $6,000 $2,000 

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN 

In alignment with the agency’s call to do what works, and as part of CNCS’s 

effort to improve the quality and results of its programs, CNCS uses its 

evaluation budget to implement an ambitious research and evaluation 

agenda capable of comprehensively addressing the agency’s mission and 

illuminating its most effective policies, programs, and practices. 

CNCS works through its Office of Research and Evaluation and in 

coordination with its programs and external stakeholders to: 

• Inform the development and implementation of CNCS programs and 

initiatives with evidence

• Measure the performance and results of CNCS’s programs and 

initiatives through research and evaluation

• Build knowledge about the effectiveness of national service and 

volunteering as solutions to community needs using scientific 

methods

• Encourage a culture of learning and continuous improvement within 

the agency and within the nonprofit organizations CNCS funds

• Shape key agency policy and program decisions using credible data. 

With its FY 2017 Budget request, CNCS will deepen the evidence base for 

AmeriCorps programs, expand the reach of its evaluation capacity building 

initiative to Commissions and State Offices, build connections to valuable 

intellectual capital within U.S. universities, and increase staff and grantee 

access to evidence to promote its use for program improvement and 

organizational learning. 

To achieve the goals outlined above, CNCS will design and implement a 

comprehensive, mixed-methods evaluation of AmeriCorps. The agency is 

considering an evaluation design capable of examining the role of different 

national service models (e.g., direct service delivery models, volunteer 

management models, organizational capacity building models, team-based 

models) in improving organizational and community capacity to address 

CNCS focus areas. A case study methodology utilizing both quantitative 

and qualitative data, as well as meaningful comparisons, is envisioned. 

The agency will also increase the evaluation capacity of Commissions and 

State Offices by creating more local networks of evaluation expertise. 

These networks will coordinate and leverage local evaluation expertise 

and help build evidence for effective models, creating a stronger pipeline 

of competitive applications. Initial efforts to develop these networks of 

evaluation excellence will include integrating the Evaluation Institute 

model implemented with AmeriCorps State and National grantees in 2015 

into Regional Training Conferences. In addition, virtual centers could be 

built that would provide a platform for Research and Evaluation staff, 

program officers, grantees, and local evaluators who have worked with 

grantees to share information. CNCS would also fund another cohort 

of universities to continue increasing the nation’s understanding and 

knowledge about the importance and potential of volunteering, national 

and community service, and other civic behaviors in addressing some of 

America’s greatest challenges. 

As part of it efforts to achieve mission success, CNCS will strengthen 

its strategies for disseminating its research and evaluation findings. 

Examples of dissemination activities include the following:

• Create customized resources for different stakeholder groups such 

as research to practice or issue briefs

• Convene annual Evidence Summits to share findings and their 

potential use for decision-making with key stakeholder groups

• Create and manage state-level reports of member exit survey data 

so that Commissions can ensure quality member experiences

Additionally, with the FY 2017 Budget request, CNCS will continue to 

support an ambitious research and evaluation strategy capable of 

comprehensively addressing the agency’s mission, accommodating 
56 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

agency-wide evidence priorities, and illuminating the agency’s most 

effective policies, programs, and practices. For example, survey research 

is used to document various outcomes for national service members and 

volunteers participating in CNCS programs. 

Further, members are surveyed after completing their service terms 

and asked about the quality of their experience while serving in an 

AmeriCorps program as well as their future plans regarding continued 

civic engagement, education, and employment. In addition, strategic thirdparty program evaluations are conducted to determine the effectiveness 

of priority agency initiatives. Finally, the Office of Research and Evaluation 

dedicates significant resources to building the capacity of grantee 

organizations to conduct quality evaluations of their programs and to use 

evaluation findings for program improvement. 

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

The Office of Research and Evaluation worked with program offices in 

FY 2015 to make significant strides in the agency’s use of evidence and 

evaluation in budget, policy, and management decisions. The Office of 

Research and Evaluation convened a now-annual research and evaluation 

strategy meeting with agency leadership, including all program directors, 

to determine priorities for the year. 

Key 2015 accomplishments include:

Research Learning Strategies

• Conducted a research grant competition to expand the agency’s 

connection to academia’s intellectual capital. The Notice of Funding 

Availability published in June of 2015 generated 60 letters of interest 

submissions by institutions of higher education nationwide. A total 

of 54 applications were submitted. Seven awards were made totaling 

$923,100.00.

• Improved a survey methodology that will increase the quality of 

information the agency collects from its national service members. The 

member exit survey content and administration were revised within a 

year and was administered for the first time in the spring of 2015. 

• Completed a Senior Corps survey that provided the first-ever 

descriptive data for volunteers in the program and implementation of 

a longitudinal survey of volunteers based on these findings.

• Drafted a literature-based rationale and data-based combined 

volunteering and civic engagement supplement32 and shared with the 

U.S. Census Bureau and other Federal stakeholders in preparation for 

revising current data collection procedures. 

Evaluation Learning Strategies

• Prioritized a set of third-party program evaluations focused on 

assessing the Agency’s highest-profile initiatives which currently 

includes the Social Innovation Fund national assessment, the School 

Turnaround AmeriCorps evaluation, and the Social Innovation Fund 

Pay For Success evaluation.

• Implemented an evaluation capacity building initiative that 

has increased grantee organizations’ ability to conduct quality 

evaluations and ultimately generate more credible evidence of 

effectiveness. Within two years of implementing this model, staff has 

experienced a transition from resistance to evaluation to invitations 

from Commissions to offer workshops at their regional training 

conferences nationwide. 

Dissemination & Utilization Strategies

• Launched a virtual repository of evaluation reports and resources, 

facilitating access to existing evidence and best-practices for program 

design and evaluation purposes and contributing to an increase of three 

points for the Agency’s What Works Index score in 2015.

• Conducted a systematic review of the National Service and Social 

Innovation research literature and developed two practice briefs 

focused on the Education and Economic Opportunity focus areas for 

the field to use. 

• Completed a review of 50 years of AmeriCorps VISTA’s program 

evaluations used to facilitate a discussion with program staff around 

their long-term research and evaluation strategy. 

Partnerships and Priority Initiatives

The Office of Research and Evaluation continued to work closely with 

agency programs to enhance the CNCS’s infrastructure (e.g., leadership, 

systems and structures, communication, culture33) for evidence-based 

decision-making, including: 

• Convened a now annual research and evaluation strategy meeting 

with agency leadership, including all program directors, to determine 

priorities for the year. 

• Included and refined evidence criteria in the scoring matrix for 

AmeriCorps applications.

32 For more information about these supplements be go to https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/current-population-survey-volunteers-supplement and http://catalog.data.gov/dataset/currentpopulation-survey-civic-engagement-supplement. 

33 Source: Preskill, H., & Boyle, S. (2008). A multidisciplinary model of evaluation capacity building. American Journal of Evaluation, 29, 443-459.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 57

Part III: Budget Activities

BUDGET ACTIVITY 13: 

Salaries and Expenses (S&E) 

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Section 501(a)(5); Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, Section 504(a))

TABLE 29. Salaries and Expenses Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Activity

FY 2015 

Enacted Level

FY 2016 

Enacted Level

FY 2017 

President’s 

Budget

Increase/

Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Salaries $40,052 $41,971 $42,726 $755

Other personnel compensation $358 $610 $710 $100

Civilian personnel benefits $12,330 $11,711 $11,774 $63

Total personnel compensation $52,740 $54,292 $55,210 $918

Travel and transportation of persons $1,502 $1,530 $1,611 $81

Rental payments to GSA* $8,616 $5,615 $4,119 ($1,496)

Communications, utilities, and miscellaneous charges $2,049 $1,907 $1,907 $0

Other Services $16,427 $17,943 $26,033*** $8,090

Supplies and Materials $403 $450 $450 $0

Total, Salaries and Expenses** $81,737 $81,737 $89,330 $ 7,593

Full Time Equivalent 460 459 467 8

*In FY 2016 CNCS relocated its headquarters offices to a new Washington, DC location. An 18 month rent-free incentive associated with CNCS’s Headquarters move, ending in FY 2017, 

temporarily reduced rental payments to GSA while providing some relief for rising costs in other salaries and expenses areas.

**The salaries and expenses total does not reflect IT costs covered by program funds and NCCC direct administrative expenses.

***Includes an IT investment of $23.4 million.

FY 2017 REQUEST

The CNCS FY 2017 Budget proposes growth in AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps 

VISTA and other initiatives and so the request S&E also includes some 

support requirements relating to the proposed program growth. Since 

FY 2010, S&E funding has trended downward, resulting in a budgets that 

had decreased by nearly two percent by FY 2016. 

In addition to dealing with actual budget reductions and reductions 

caused by absorbing the cost of inflation, CNCS has taken on new 

support roles and responsibilities, in part resulting from new security 

and reporting requirements mandated by Congress. The FY 2017 budget 

request for S&E will provide support for necessary investment in people, 

infrastructure, and governance that will enable CNCS to meet its fiduciary, 

financial, and operational requirements; identify and mitigate risk; provide 

effective program support; and ensure mission success. 

These infrastructure and support investments will enable CNCS to achieve 

its management and mission goals and will be aligned with the following 

strategic objectives:

• Develop and retain a talented, diverse, and adaptive workforce that 

continues to promote organizational excellence and advance national 

service

• Strengthen IT systems to enhance efficiencies, enable program 

effectiveness, improve accountability, and provide effective system 

security

• Ensure that financial and grants management systems and policies 

support CNCS’s business infrastructure so that the agency can meet 

its goals and objectives.

In support of the priorities listed above, CNCS requests an FY 2017 S&E 

budget increase of approximately $7.6 million above FY 2016 enacted levels to:

• Fund staff compensation and training at levels comparable to those 

of other federal agencies and sufficient for effective employee 

retention and development

• Modernize and strengthen information technology systems and 

infrastructure to provide adequate program and operational support 

and address the agency’s operational risk
58 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

• Fund 8 additional Full Time Equivalent employees.34

The following sections provide detailed explanations and justifications for the 

FY 2017 S&E budget request and describe how this investment is essential in 

order for CNCS to meet its management objectives and agency goals.

Staffing and Training

In addition to supporting critical CNCS programming, the requested budget 

increase allows CNCS to right-size a critically under-resourced support staff, 

develop and retain a skilled workforce by appropriately compensating staff, 

reward superior personnel performance, and provide targeted employee 

training opportunities. 

Over the past several years, reductions in S&E funding has prevented 

CNCS from allocating appropriate staffing resources in response to 

increased program support needs. New Congressional requirements such 

as the Improper Payments Elimination and Reduction Act and criminal 

history checks, along with greater CNCS involvement in partnerships, have 

dramatically increased monitoring, assessment, and auditing demands. 

CNCS must acquire, equip, and train the workforce to conduct these 

activities as well as analyze the data collected. 

The $750,000 requested for training represents approximately 1.3 percent 

of the requested payroll budget. Identifying training needs in the Budget 

request is considered a federal government best-practice and this 

percentage is less than other agencies’ training budgets. For example, the 

Office of Personnel Management allocates approximately two percent of 

its budget for training. 

It is also a standard best-practice for federal agencies to include salary 

increases and performance award funding in their budget requests as 

a means of offering appropriate and equitable compensation to high 

performing career employees. CNCS is adopting this practice to improve 

compensation and retention flexibilities, as opposed to the past practice 

of hoping funding for such compensation will emerge from unanticipated 

cost savings elsewhere in the S&E budget. Such savings have not become 

available in past years, and the approach to funding these standard 

compensation payments is neither an effective nor a responsible practice.

The FY 2017 budget requests $450,000 for performance awards 

and salary adjustments to be distributed following the completion of 

Performance Year 2016 appraisals. This funding will incentivize high 

quality work and help CNCS retain its most productive staff. This 

funding represents a nominal investment compared to other federal 

pay scales, particularly compared to the General Schedule (GS), which 

builds in automatic of pay adjustments (e.g., standard within grade 

increases) instead of the performance-based pay adjustments this 

request envisions. 

CNCS will continue to prioritize training based on statutory/regulatory 

requirements and cross-cutting organizational priorities. Such 

requirements include training on IT security and privacy, the No FEAR Act, 

ethics, appropriations law, grants management, finance and accounting 

practices, and federal supervision. In addition to training in regulatory 

and technical areas, CNCS will increase its delivery of leadership and 

professional development opportunities through the design and delivery 

of a cohort-based leadership development program and an increased 

emphasis on diversity and inclusion practices. In addition, CNCS will 

continue its partnership with the Department of the Interior, which 

provides commercial off-the-shelf training at discounted prices.

Information Technology (IT)

The FY 2017 IT budget request of approximately $23.4 million represents 

a net increase of $7.8 million over the corresponding FY 2016 funding 

level. The request seeks to restore funding cut in FY 2016, support the 

continued operation and maintenance of CNCS’s existing IT services 

including contract cost escalation, and invest in system modernization 

and enhancements to better support core business operations and serve 

the agency’s stakeholders. The restoration of funding will enable CNCS 

to implement recommended cybersecurity and industry improvements as 

well as resume scheduled technology refresh upgrades. The IT investment 

includes completing phase two of grants and member management 

modernization, improving video teleconferencing, and implementing 

critical IT enhancements, such as data monitoring, records management, 

and intelligent data compression (data de-duplication), which reduces 

storage and is necessary to further strengthen CNCS’s cybersecurity 

posture and accountability. 

Key IT service categories and associated projects/activities that will be 

funded by this request include:

IT Infrastructure and Grant/Member Management Systems

• O perating, maintaining, and securing CNCS’s network and 

telecommunications services, including phone, data, and mobile 

services

• Hosting, maintaining and enhancing the security of CNCS core 

systems and websites including My AmeriCorps Portal, Grants 

and Member Management System (Phase 1), data warehouse, 

nationalservice.gov, and new Evidence Exchange

• Delivering staff office productivity/collaboration services and other 

software required to meet mission needs

34 Due to higher expected costs for IT modernization, CNCS has revised its request to 8 additional FTE. 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 59

Part III: Budget Activities

• Providing grantees with a single point of contact for service support 

(e.g., National Service Hotline/Help desk) and program information

Cyber Security and Privacy Protection

• Continuing to invest in IT security/privacy contractor support 

services to ensure the protection of systems and data

• Implementing new tools and processes to address emerging threats 

and respond to rapidly changing IT security policy requirements

• Meeting the cyber security challenges by implementing next 

generation security measures that provide a more rigorous protection 

of data and systems 

Support Services and Shared Services

• Operating and maintaining CNCS’s Financial Management System

• Subscribing to Federal Shared Services (e.g., Grants.gov, HHS 

Payment Management System, eOPF, eRulemaking, GSA ETS Travel) 

to meet business requirements

IT Modernization and Innovation

• C ompleting grants and member management modernization (Phase 2) 

utilizing advanced security features to protect member data and starting 

the implementation of new, more expansive data analytic services to 

enable new business intelligence that will inform policy decisions

• Deploying information system enhancements to support compliance 

with the DATA Act, mature agency risk and grantee performance 

management capabilities, and expand Evidence Exchange data sets 

and online services

• Implementing new, secure and more robust records management 

capability to enable compliance with Federal requirements

• Providing new video teleconference and telecommunications 

infrastructure at CNCS’s new headquarters facility to support staff 

mobility and productivity

FY 2015 MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE AND 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

As the nation’s largest federal grantmaker devoted exclusively to 

supporting national and community service projects, CNCS provides 

approximately $790 million in results-focused funding to organizations 

across the nation that improve lives and strengthen communities. 

CNCS has adopted key indicators, detailed below, to help gauge the 

agency’s effectiveness and efficiency in managing grants. These metrics 

serve as a supplement to the Goal 1 and 2 priority measures listed earlier 

in this Budget, which focus on grant results.

In FY 2015, CNCS launched a number of critical initiatives across the 

agency to improve overall operations, performance, and accountability. 

Within the last year, CNCS completed the following management initiatives:

Accountability 

CNCS continued to foster a culture of integrity, accountability and 

transparency by fortifying its internal controls, oversight, and monitoring. 

CNCS’s Office of Accountability and Oversight (OAO) led these enhancement 

efforts by beginning the development of a more robust and integrated 

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program in FY 2015. In FY 2016, CNCS 

established an Office of the Chief Risk Officer to lead the ERM program 

at CNCS. That office will work with restructured CNCS risk management 

entities to apply a holistic approach to risk management across CNCS.

The OAO office efforts also involved managing the agency’s A-123 Internal 

Controls program, including 15 business process assessments focused on 

the following areas:

• Design and effectiveness of operations

• Compliance with laws and regulations

• Reporting reliability.

TABLE 30. CNCS Strategic Goal 4: Operations Measures

Award and close grants and contracts within prescribed timeframes

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Actual

FY 2016 

Target

FY 2017 

Actual

Award all grants before the budget period start date. 95% 95% 95% 95% 95%

Post grant competition award and review data to the internet 

within 90 days of completion of the award process.*

100% 63%** 100% 100% 100%

Complete all grant monitoring activities identified in the annual 

monitoring plan and follow up with grantees where necessary.

89% 85% 85% 85% 85%

Close all grants within 180 days of the performance period end date. 64% 65% 65% 65% 65%

*Actual FY 2015 data for this measure will be available February 2016.

**CNCS is currently working to post the balance of its award data, which should be available online by the spring of FY 2016.
60 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

The assessments enabled CNCS to establish clear roles and 

responsibilities for management officials to assess risks and focus 

remediation efforts on the agency’s operational integrity. As a result, 

management identified improvement opportunities for contracting, grants 

monitoring, and compliance with regulations. Additional actions are 

already underway to implement the following business improvements:

• Develop an enhanced enterprise-wide, risk-based grants monitoring 

model that directs monitoring efforts to the highest risk activities 

across programs

• Establish an infrastructure to ensure regulatory compliance, 

especially as the agency moves to address prior year audit concerns 

and modernize its information systems 

• Enhance business processes to inform contracting decisions that will 

focus scarce resources on the highest priority agency needs.

Overall, CNCS’s integrity assurance program identified opportunities that 

when combined with its greatest resource — human capital — will help 

the agency mitigate current and future threats to mission success.

Accounting and Financial Management Services 

In FY 2015, the Office of Accounting and Financial Management Services 

implemented efforts to achieve timelier, traceable, and accurate collection 

processing by implementing:

• Required electronic invoice payments 

• Preauthorized debit processing for selected cost-share sponsors

• Electronic Check Processing for check deposits with new equipment, 

which allowed efficient disposition of unreadable checks submitted 

to CNCS.

Also, in FY 2015, CNCS implemented an automated interface between its 

financial system (Momentum) and the Treasury Department’s payment and 

collection system (IPAC) to eliminate manual entries and associated errors. 

This interface will improve the timeliness, reliability, and efficiency of 

processing these collections and payments through the financial system.

CNCS has also implemented a new travel management system (ETS2) 

with improved reporting. The agency has adopted CFO-level exception 

reporting for travelers with late vouchers or other exceptional conditions in 

order to assure timely submission and processing of travel transactions.

Information Technology 

CNCS’s recent IT investments have been focused on an entity-wide 

modernization effort that will enhance and facilitate business processes 

in support of the agency’s mission, while strengthening CNCS’s enterprise 

cyber security program to enable secure and effective IT management.

In FY 2015, CNCS continued to execute its IT strategy through initiatives 

and projects emphasizing:

• Modernizing systems to meet evolving business processes

• Expanding cybersecurity oversight for IT systems and data

• Maximizing return on IT investment 

• Effectively managing agency information resources.

Key accomplishments by Strategic Area include:

Modernizing systems to meet evolving business processes

• Began implementing information system projects focused on 

optimizing grants management business processes and deploying 

support services to the next generation of grants and member 

management system

• Implemented online versions of office productivity and collaboration 

software and CNCS electronic records management capability

• Updated CNCS’s core telecommunications and network infrastructure 

to support 21st Century service delivery and mitigate the risk of 

failure with aging equipment

• Deployed new applications and hardware to improve overall office 

automation, accountability, and staff mobility.

Expanding cyber security oversight for IT systems and data

• Awarded a cyber security support contract, filled critical staff 

vacancies, developed a plan for remediating known weaknesses in 

the information assurance program, and ultimately transformed the 

program into a cyber security strategy

• Implemented new portable media encryption technology to protect 

CNCS data and networks

• Improved Security Authorization and Accreditation processes.

• Retrained the entire agency on cybersecurity and, where appropriate, 

provided specialized security training for staff with elevated privileges.

Maximizing return on IT investment

• Awarded new IT Managed Service Contract, which will enable OIT to 

improve delivery of core IT services to programs/offices making use 

of cloud technologies

• Continued to consolidate web and digital properties onto a single 

web platform, reducing management overhead and redundancy.

Effectively managing agency information resources

• Implemented new tools to improve the overall usability of websites 

and web applications to ensure compliance with Section 508 

requirements.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 61

Part III: Budget Activities

Disability Inclusion Strategy

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN

Disability inclusion is a priority for CNCS. In alignment with its authorizing 

legislation, CNCS seeks to expand opportunities for the meaningful and 

successful inclusion of people with disabilities in national service. The 

agency’s disability inclusion strategy supports the objectives of Goal 

Two in the CNCS strategic plan, strengthening national service so that 

participants engaged in CNCS-supported programs consistently find 

satisfaction, meaning, and opportunity.

CNCS’s disability inclusion strategy mitigates the real and perceived 

barriers to full inclusion of people with disabilities in national service 

programs. In addition, this strategy helps participants to:

• Engage in a high-quality service experience

• Find meaning in their service experience that leads to continued 

service in their communities

• Discover professional, educational, or civic opportunities through 

their service experience 

• Gain health benefits associated with service, particularly for 

veterans and participants over the age of 55.

In FY 2017, CNCS plans to use two percent of statutorily required accounts 

(C, D, E, and H) to support people with disabilities serving in CNCS 

programs. Pursuant to the Serve America Act, the primary objective of 

CNCS’s disability inclusion strategy will be to enroll and support members 

with disabilities serving in CNCS programs. To this end, CNCS will:

• Leverage member exit form data to improve outreach efforts in 

FY 2016 and ensure that all segments of the diverse disability 

community are able to engage in national service. The data will also 

be used to set further goals for disability outreach and education 

for CNCS grantees. Where there are identified populations within 

the disability community which have not been engaged, CNCS will 

establish and strengthen relationships with membership-based 

organizations of people with disabilities who have the specific 

disability which is under- or un-represented. 

• Expand the agency’s work with the Office of Disability Employment 

Policy to include: consultation to provide technical assistance to 

CNCS grantees and partners at conferences and strengthen CNCS’s 

online resources for grantees and partners (including creating 

content), enhancing coordination and communication between the 

workforce development system and the network of national service 

programs, and supporting recruitment efforts within the disability 

community. 

• Collaborate with Vocational Rehabilitation Services to provide the 

groundwork for recruitment of members with disabilities from their 

client population by distributing information about the benefits 

national service provides to their counselors.

• Provide a one-day workshop to educate nonprofit organizations 

who comprise and serve the disability community on becoming an 

AmeriCorps State and National grantee. This targeted outreach is 

meant to assist with bringing greater diversity to the ASN grantee 

population while engaging potential grantees with significant 

disability populations who could become members with disabilities. 

This workshop will provide further information to the types of 

organizations that joined a disability community Notice of Funding 

Opportunity (NOFO) call in fall 2015.

• Further develop key partnerships to facilitate outreach that benefits 

disability recruitment goals. For example, working with coalitions 

and national organizations like the Association of Higher Education 

and Disability (AHEAD) and Career Opportunities for Students with 

Disabilities (COSD), whose conferences are attended by college 

guidance counselors, are two ways CNCS will reach out to those 

connected to college students with disabilities. 

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

For FY 2015, as authorized by the Serve America Act, CNCS used program 

dollars to fund its disability activities.

In 2015, CNCS expanded the available resources on disability inclusion for 

grantees:

• Developed an educational campaign during the month of July that 

provided 25 action items that are necessary to achieve disability 

inclusion. This campaign was disseminated through social media 

with grantees and directed them to a landing page with supportive 

resources for further reference.

• Provided technical assistance on understanding the logistics of 

reasonable accommodation of members with disabilities at a 

regional cluster conference and at Washington D.C. based service 

events. Similar support was provided through dozens of calls and 

emails with grantees.

• Increased the electronic resources available on program accessibility 

through the Disability Inclusion Knowledge Network 

• Released the Employers of National Service toolkit for Alumni with 

Disabilities along with a joint letter to the Workforce Development 

system regarding the Department of Labor’s Inclusive Service 

guide. The toolkit provides resources that support the pathway to 

employment for AmeriCorps alumni by educating them on disability 

employment issues and providing connection to disability-specific 
62 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

government programs, mentorship, and networking opportunities. 

The guide provides the workforce development system necessary 

information for those interested in identifying inclusive service 

opportunities. 

• Strengthened the process for obtaining funding for reasonable 

accommodations for service members with disabilities. While 

the vast majority of members with disabilities cost nothing to 

accommodate because their accommodations are logistical in 

nature, programs who have members that need goods and services 

as part of their accommodation are receiving reimbursement for 

this cost. AmeriCorps grantees are now able to submit requests for 

reimbursement after they have verified that their service member has 

a qualifying disability according to the Americans with Disabilities 

Act and after the manager and service member worked together 

to determine the proper reasonable accommodation. In FY 2015, 

accommodations for ten members were reimbursed. 

• Developed five new e-courses developed to assist grantees and 

partners, who are supervising service members with disabilities to 

recruit, accommodate, retain, and better understand some of the 

unique issues associated with disability identity. 

• Developed a toolkit for alumni with disabilities to use when 

attempting to transition to employment following national service. 

Given the unique employment issues people with disabilities 

experience and the myriad of specialized resources pertaining to 

disability, the toolkit provides up-to-date information about special 

programs, government resources, and assistance available to 

individuals with disabilities. The toolkit is part of the Employers of 

National Service initiative and was released in line with the 25th 

anniversary celebrations of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 

late July 2015. 

In FY 2015, CNCS began receiving more detailed information about 

disability status to the AmeriCorps member exit form. While answering this 

question is voluntary for members, the data collected will assist CNCS in 

understanding the approximate number of people with disabilities exiting 

AmeriCorps programs. This benchmark will assist with recruitment efforts 

by providing additional information to assess whether CNCS is recruiting 

effectively and identify those populations where there is an opportunity 

to expand collaboration, as well as justification for expansion into those 

targeted populations. 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 63

Part III: Budget Activities

Disaster Response, Recovery, 

and Mitigation Strategy

CNCS has developed a comprehensive, strategic approach that leverages 

its program resources to help communities in need respond to, recover 

from, and mitigate the effects of natural disasters. Through AmeriCorps 

and Senior Corps, CNCS responds to natural and man-made disasters, 

including forest fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, terror attacks, and 

oil spills. Since 1994, CNCS programs have provided critical support to 

millions of Americans affected by disasters. The agency’s assets include:

• 4,200 AmeriCorps Disaster Response Team (A-DRT) members, 

including AmeriCorps NCCC, that are available to be deployed in 

response to disasters 

• 1,000 NCCC-FEMA Corps members directly deployable by FEMA 

throughout the country 

• 300,000 Senior Corps participants throughout the country 

Since 2011, CNCS has responded to nearly 75 state and federally 

declared disasters while deploying over 10,000 National Service 

members. 

FY 2017 PERFORMANCE PLAN

In FY 2017 and beyond, the focus of disaster services with AmeriCorps 

and Senior Corps will be on building a strong national service 

infrastructure, working in partnership with Commissions, state and 

local government, tribal governments, nonprofits, and faith-based 

organizations. This strong national service infrastructure is being 

accomplished through training and support to AmeriCorps programs and 

members on the local level, providing opportunities for elevating national 

service engagement in all phases of the disaster continuum, providing 

training and technical assistance, and by coordinating partnership 

and collaboration between national service and other disaster-focused 

nonprofits and local government. CNCS is building the capacity 

of AmeriCorps members across the country to be prepared to help 

communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. 

Throughout FY 2015 and FY 2016, CNCS is conducting training for local 

AmeriCorps programs across the nation in management of volunteer 

reception centers in disaster-impacted communities. This FEMA 

certified training is conducted in partnership with FEMA, State Service 

Commissions, CNCS State Office, state and local emergency managers, 

and local Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters. In addition, 

CNCS is building the capacity and standardizing training across the 

agency’s AmeriCorps Disaster Response Team programs. In FY 2016, all 

AmeriCorps members in the A-DRT programs will be trained in the basics 

of disasters and emergency management systems, disaster psychology, 

risk management, crew management and operations, and additional 

direct service modules depending on the disaster type. A standardized 

A-DRT training will better prepare AmeriCorps members to enter into a 

disaster response deployment and provide consistent service to disaster 

partners and communities. 

On the national level, CNCS is also a federal partner with America’s 

PrepareAthon! Campaign to increase emergency preparedness and 

resilience through hazard-specific drills, group discussions, and other 

emergency exercises. AmeriCorps members will provide individuals, 

communities, and organizations with action-based guidance to practice 

the steps necessary to stay safe during a disaster or emergency; learn 

about mitigation measures; and understand community plans, including 

alerts and warnings, evacuation, and sheltering. 

CNCS, through its Disaster Services Unit, has worked with a Senior 

Corps RSVP Think Tank of 25 RSVP Project Directors to assist in the 

development and production of a training and technical assistance toolkit 

for RSVP projects engaged in disaster service activities. In addition, 

throughout FY 2015 and FY 2016, CNCS is conducting training for local 

Senior Corps programs across the nation in management of volunteer 

reception centers in disaster-impacted communities. 

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

In FY 2015 local AmeriCorps members provided direct service 

and responded to disasters in more than 13 states and a territory 

(California, Guam, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, 

Michigan, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, 

and Vermont). These members provided critical assistance with debris 

removal and cleanup of homes damaged by disasters, conducted damage 

assessments, registered disaster survivors for assistance, and managed 

and documented volunteer hours and donations. 

In addition to direct response activities, AmeriCorps members regularly 

provide essential services across the nation in areas of disaster 

preparedness through education, outreach, and training; mitigation 

projects, including environmental projects to mitigate the effects of 

flooding and hurricanes; and recovery operations, which includes the 

rebuilding and repair of storm-damaged homes, long-term recovery 

support, and needs and case management. 

In addition to CNCS’s network of local AmeriCorps programs, there are 

15 grantees that are trained as AmeriCorps Disaster Response Teams 
64 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

(A-DRT’s). They are providing a combined total of 3,000 specially trained 

AmeriCorps members ready to deploy to disaster stricken areas. 

• Direct Assistance: AmeriCorps can provide direct support to 

homeowners in the cleanup of their homes. There is still a high 

demand for cleanup support with few voluntary agencies to meet 

the high demand.

• Volunteer Coordination: AmeriCorps can coordinate and lead 

volunteers in the cleanup efforts. This coordination is critical to a 

community and individuals ability to recover quickly and safely.

• D ocumentation for soft match: AmeriCorps can track volunteer 

hours and donated resources that may be used as soft match 

for the state’s cost share for the PA grant under FEMA’s Donated 

Resources Policy.

For FY 2015 there are two priority areas to build the capacity of 

AmeriCorps in disaster services:

• Increase CNCS partnerships with State Emergency Management 

Agencies (EMAs). This has been accomplished by implementing 

a tiered system of national service and emergency management 

engagement to share: best-practices, targeted goals, and a consistent 

framework for engaging the power of national service. The goal is to 

engage all 50 states at the basic level while continuing growth and 

engagement once the base goal is reached.

• Create a Commission Working Group on disaster services. 

CNCS has increased the level of training and technical support to 

strengthen collaboration between State Service Commissions and 

the Disaster Services Unit (DSU). Regional work groups are planning 

and implementing regional preparedness exercises between the DSU, 

Commissions, and CNCS State Offices.

Successful Project Examples

AmeriCorps

In response to heavy rainfall that led to flooding and landslides in 

Grays Harbor County, WA; 45 AmeriCorps members with Washington 

Conservation Corps conducted damage assessments and debris 

removal of flood-damaged homes, and leveraged additional volunteers 

by supporting the Volunteer Reception Center. They were able to 

conduct nearly 80 damage assessments and leverage an additional 225 

volunteers to remove more than 400 cubic yards of debris. 

Following severe weather and tornadoes that struck Van, Texas on May 

11, 2015; nine AmeriCorps members from American Youth Works Texas 

Conservation Corps were called by the state Emergency Management 

Agency to set up and manage a Volunteer Reception Center. They 

members were able to coordinate and manage more than 1,000 

volunteers that arrived to assist with the cleanup efforts. Just weeks 

later, with continued severe weather and flooding in Texas, record 

amounts of rainfall flooded many communities. Before the rain had even 

stopped, Texas Conservation Corps deployed 28 AmeriCorps members to 

manage two volunteer reception centers in San Marcos and Wimberley, 

Texas. Within the first day they registered over 1,000 volunteers.

Senior Corps

In FY 2015, local Senior Corps volunteers provided direct service 

and responded to disasters in communities across the United States 

providing much needed assistance with supporting feeding and 

shelter operations, managing 211 call centers, conducting damage 

assessments, registering disaster survivors for assistance, and 

managing and documenting volunteer hours and donations. In addition 

to direct-response activities, Senior Corps volunteers regularly provide 

essential services across the nation in areas of disaster preparedness 

through education, outreach, training, mitigation projects, and recovery 

operations which include long-term recovery support and survivor case 

management. 

In FY 2014 and FY 2015, Senior Corps made augmentation awards to 

existing RSVP projects in communities impacted by disasters. This 

award increased the number of RSVP volunteers assisting communities 

in response and recovery activities to build community resiliency. Case 

studies of the eight augmentation awards analyzed how RSVP volunteers 

can be more effective in providing support to areas affected by natural 

disasters. 

In June 2013, the state of Oklahoma was hit by a series of devastating 

tornadoes. These historic storms caused catastrophic damage 

and overwhelmed local emergency response capacity. Illustrating 

the magnitude and severity of these events, the storm left a path 

of destruction two miles wide and 12 miles long through a major 

metropolitan area, including Moore, OK. 

Prior to these storms, RSVP of Central Oklahoma had no disaster-related 

experience. Shortly after the most severe storms, RSVP of Central 

Oklahoma was inundated with calls requesting volunteers from multiple 

organizations. To assist with relief efforts, the grantee placed volunteers 

at various call centers, nonprofit organizations, and shelters. In total, 

108 RSVP of Central Oklahoma volunteers contributed more than 5,500 

service hours to nine nonprofit and state organizations. RSVP of Central 

Oklahoma also engaged in outreach to local agencies to determine and 

respond to needs for volunteer placement. 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 65

Part IV: Office of Inspector General

CNCS made an augmentation award to the grantee to expand their 

disaster related activities. Grant resources were used to fund and train 

a disaster coordinator, strengthen partnerships with United Way and 

Heartline 211, where RSVP volunteers assisted with disaster relief call 

centers. RSVP of Central Oklahoma also directed some augmentation 

funds toward support for disaster preparedness within the program’s 

existing base of 500 vulnerable, direct low-income clients. 

RSVP volunteers assembled and distributed disaster preparedness 

kits and conducted consultations with recipients to help them prepare 

for future emergencies. RSVP volunteers also distributed Be-Ready 

bags — containing essential disaster preparedness materials such as 

blankets, flashlights, and emergency water — to a total of 6,000 seniors 

throughout the State of Oklahoma. 

When severe weather and storms struck the same area again in the 

spring of 2015, RSVP of Central Oklahoma was ready and able to 

respond, coordinating with the state EOC (Emergency Operations 

Center), assisting with phone calls, in-takes, and volunteer/donation 

management. RSVP volunteer also worked with Heartline 211 and Red 

Cross on the ground assessing further needs. 
66 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL | PART IV

PROGRAM SUMMARY/MISSION

Protecting the taxpayers’ billion dollar investment in national service is the 

mission of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s (CNCS’s) 

Office of Inspector General (OIG). As the nation’s largest service and 

volunteer grant-making organization, CNCS faces numerous challenges 

in achieving its mission. These challenges include managing a portfolio 

of National Direct grants and grants awarded by State Commissions 

throughout the United States, many of them small nonprofit organizations; 

measuring the performance of these grants to ensure that Americans receive 

a strong return on their investment; and achieving results despite outdated 

information systems and a cumbersome legacy infrastructure. Cybersecurity 

and implementing a strategy of risk-based grant management, along with 

the information systems architecture to support it are among the most 

urgent priorities facing CNCS. The OIG plays a critical role in strengthening 

CNCS to meet these challenges by conducting audits and reviews to identify 

wasteful spending and mismanagement, investigating fraud and other 

wrongdoing, and taking other steps to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and 

inefficiencies in CNCS programs and operations.

FY 2017 Budget Request Summary

For FY 2017, the OIG requests an operating budget of $6.1 million. 

These resources are necessary to provide effective and meaningful 

oversight of CNCS’s programs and operations, including the activities 

of contractors and grantees.

With the funds requested, the OIG will protect our national service 

programs by:

• Conducting audits, evaluations, and reviews of high-risk CNCS

activities, focusing on systemic, operational, and programmatic

vulnerabilities and highlighting areas in need of better risk

management

• Particular oversight of urgent and ongoing information technology

(IT) security and modernization activities, in addition to compliance

with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)

• Working closely with agency leadership to adopt, develop and

implement a comprehensive Enterprise Risk Management strategy, to

strengthen CNCS operations and improve grant management

TABLE 24. OIG Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Activities 

FY 2015 

Enacted Level

 FY 2016 

Enacted Level

FY 2017 

President’s Budget

Increase/Decrease 

(FY16-FY17)

Audit $2,040 $2,537 $3,345 $808

Investigation $1,032 $1,009 $1,021 $12

Support $1,466 $1,076 $1,134 $58

Information Technology $706 $537 $521 ($16)

Training $6 $38 $60 $22

CIGIE $0 $15 $19 $4

Total Operations $5,250 $5,250 $6,100 $850

Relocation Expense $0 $0 $0

Total Budget Authority $5,250 $5,250 $6,100 $850

Reimbursable Authority* $250 $250 $80 $80

Total Available for Obligation $5,250 $5,250 $6,100 $850

*Reimbursable Authority authorized for FY 2016
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 67

Part III: Budget Activities

• Auditing selected high-risk grantees to identify problematic 

practices, recommend improvements, and determine costs that 

should be recovered

• Protecting the integrity of CNCS programs, operations, and activities 

by working an active caseload of civil, criminal, and administrative 

matters

• Operating a robust hotline operation to receive and process 

allegations of fraud, waste, and mismanagement by CNCS, grantees 

or contractors

• Collaborating with an independent public accountant to perform the 

statutorily required audit of CNCS’s financial statements

• Making recommendations concerning proposed revisions of CNCS 

policies, procedures, and regulations, focusing on strengthening 

internal controls to prevent and detect waste, fraud and abuse

• Recommending suspensions and debarments to protect the integrity 

of CNCS programs 

• Upholding the quality standards of the Inspector General community 

by devoting $60,000 to the training necessary for investigators and 

auditors to maintain their professional credentials and expand the 

OIG’s capacities and competencies; 

• Contributing actively to the governance and activities of the 

Inspector General community to promote accountability across the 

Federal government. 

Audit Section

For FY 2017, the OIG Audit Section requires $3,345,439. For a grantmaking agency such as CNCS, audits are an essential oversight tool and 

form the largest single component of the OIG’s Budget. 

An estimated 40 percent of the Audit budget will be devoted to four 

statutorily required audits/evaluations, which are performed by 

independent firms with close collaboration by OIG personnel: (1) the 

Financial Statement Audit (including the audit of the National Service 

Trust);35 (2) the Federal Information Security Management Act evaluation 

(FISMA);36 (3) review of the Corporation’s compliance with the Improper 

Payments and Elimination and Recovery Act (IPERA);37 and (4) review of 

CNCS compliance with the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act 

(DATA Act). The first three of these audits continue to uncover serious 

vulnerabilities in CNCS’s security, risk management, and accountability, 

which have not been fully resolved. The remaining mandatory evaluations 

— risk assessments of CNCS purchase card and travel card programs — 

are undertaken by the OIG audit staff. 

For maximum impact, the OIG will continue to devote attention to weaknesses 

in significant agency programs, processes and operational units. The OIG 

is strengthening its evaluation capacity for this purpose and with sufficient 

funding, intends to undertake two such evaluations in FY 2017. Our recent 

work illustrates the value of this internally focused oversight:

• A recent report on procurement practices found multiple 

irregularities and egregious waste, including $900,000 of poorly 

conceived consulting studies and reports that were paid for but 

never used, legally unauthorized contractual commitments by 

program staff and payments of millions of dollars to consultants for 

labor without any substantiation of the charges.38 

• Another report discovered serious weaknesses in the administration 

and monitoring of AmeriCorps’ growing portfolio of fixed amount 

grants, which enabled a grantee to overspend by $1 million without 

timely detection. Our 17 recommendations for stronger oversight 

included risk-based monitoring with certain automatic controls to 

protect against a recurrence of this loss.

• Currently in progress is an evaluation of the National Civilian 

Community Corps, which will include recommendations to strengthen 

program operations and increase the impact and cost-effectiveness 

of national service on our communities.

• In FY 2016, the OIG will evaluate the VISTA program, to determine 

whether it is meeting certain objectives and creating increased, 

sustainable capacity in anti-poverty organizations.

The OIG will likewise continue to audit grantees that are at high risk of 

mishandling Federal dollars. Two recent audits of Senior Corps grantees 

found pervasive financial mismanagement occurring over multiple years, 

resulting in overcharges of $868,000 in one case39 and $1.7 million in 

the case of the other.40 In FY 2017, we expect to audit multiple state 

commissions, the AmeriCorps component that accounts for more than half 

of the agency’s programmatic budget, as well as other select grantees.

35 Audit of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Fiscal Year 2014 Financial Statements, Audit Report 15-01 http://www.cncsoig.gov/sites/default/files/15-01.pdf

36 Our Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) Independent Evaluation for FY 2014, Audit Report 15-03 (http://www.cncsoig.gov/sites/default/files/15-03_0.pdf) found agency controls 

were ineffective in seven of the 12 areas that were tested. In four of the seven areas, the deficiencies were severe enough to constitute a significant deficiency; these areas were Continuous 

Monitoring Management, Risk Management, Plans of Action and Milestones (POA&M), and Privacy. 

37 Our IPERA evaluation found that CNCS, despite considerable time and expense, did not perform a reliable assessment of the susceptibility of its programs and activities to improper payments, nor 

did it reliably estimate the amount or the rate of improper payments in the AmeriCorps program. See Performance Audit of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Compliance with the 

Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 for Fiscal Year 2014, Audit Report 15-04. http://www.cncsoig.gov/sites/default/files/15-04_0.pdf

38 Audit of Blanket Purchase Agreements for Professional Consulting Services, Audit Report 14-09. http://www.cncsoig.gov/sites/default/files/14-09.pdf

39 Audit of Atlantic Human Resources, Audit Report 13-05a (http://www.cncsoig.gov/sites/default/files/13-05a.pdf) and Audit Report 13-05b (http://www.cncsoig.gov/sites/default/files/13-05b.pdf). 

This grantee ultimately filed for protection in bankruptcy.

40 Audit of Family Services of Central Massachusetts, Audit Report 14-05 (http://www.cncsoig.gov/sites/default/files/14-05.pdf), pending management decision and resolution.
68 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Improving the Corporation’s risk management, particularly with respect to 

grants, remains a priority. A long history of inadequate risk assessments 

and monitoring coupled with ineffective mitigation — the lack of a 

comprehensive risk management strategy — are the root causes of 

mismanagement by grantees. The lack of adequate risk assessment by CNCS 

impairs the operation of programs and is leading to unnecessary waste. 

CNCS has formally committed to a long-needed Enterprise Risk Management 

approach and plans to launch in FY 2016 a new grant monitoring process 

that is part of a larger project to modernize its information technology. The 

OIG has long advocated such an undertaking, particularly to meet the more 

rigorous requirements for managing Federal grants adopted last year. The 

success of the new system will determine the effectiveness and efficiency of 

national service for years, if not decades, to come. An OIG evaluation of the 

new monitoring program will add sustained value to CNCS by improving its 

ability to manage grant risks more effectively. 

As our prior evaluations show, there is an increased need to audit and/or 

evaluate the Corporation’s information security. In FY 2015, we reported 

that the information security and privacy program at CNCS did not meet 

minimum standards under FISMA and required substantial improvement. 

The controls were found to be ineffective in seven areas and in four of 

them — Continuous Monitoring, Risk Management, Plans of Action & 

Milestones, and Privacy — the defects were severe enough to constitute a 

significant deficiency that required immediate correction and attention by 

agency leadership. Having been entrusted with the personal information 

of nearly one million AmeriCorps members and alumni, CNCS must 

strengthen its information security, and the OIG will continue to place a 

high priority on progress in this vital area. 

Investigation Section

The OIG Investigation Section requires funding of $1,020,601. The Section 

focuses on allegations of fraud involving potentially significant losses of 

agency funds and other substantial criminal or administrative misconduct 

involving its programs and operations. Our five agents travel extensively 

throughout the country to pursue investigations and coordinate with 

Federal, state, and local prosecutors. While in the field, investigators take 

the opportunity to conduct Fraud Awareness Briefings, outreach efforts 

that educate agency and grantee staff about proper grant administration 

to avoid or minimize losses from fraud. The Section also operates the 

Hotline through which OIG receives reports of fraud, other misconduct, 

and violations of the Whistleblower Protection Act.

Investigative needs continue to increase. CNCS has recently expanded 

the categories of misconduct that must be reported to the OIG, and 

our regional Fraud Awareness Briefings have also generated additional 

requests for investigative assistance. We have already surpassed last 

year’s number of Hotline calls by 37 percent and are on track to exceed 

the number of investigations undertaken last year. The Section is also 

encountering more complex matters involving larger amounts. 

In FY 2015, the investigation section conducted 31 investigative actions, 

handled 139 Hotline contacts and recovered more than $4,240,133 and 

identified more than $139,800 in savings to the Federal government based 

on changes in grantee behavior as a result of our investigative efforts. 

In FY 2015, the Investigation Section secured the largest False Claims 

recovery in the history of CNCS, the sum of $4,083,304 in damages 

and penalties. Based on a Hotline report, investigators discovered the 

Project Ayuda, an AmeriCorps program based at a community college 

in Maricopa County, AZ, allowed pre-professional students to receive 

AmeriCorps credit for performing clinical service independently required 

by their academic programs. Only a handful of the more than one 

thousand students enrolled in Project Ayuda provided service beyond their 

educational requirements. As a result, the expenditure of AmeriCorps 

funds produced no added benefit for the community. By approving false 

timesheets and falsely certifying education awards, the Executive Director 

induced AmeriCorps to disburse $2,960,684 in Federal funds: $2,036,084 

in education awards to individuals who had not earned them and 

$924,600 awarded to the community college to administer the program. 

Rather than risk a determination of liability, the community college district 

settled the lawsuit for four million dollars, an unprecedented amount 

for CNCS. As the Inspector General noted at the time of the settlement, 

“Taxpayers are justifiably outraged when a community fails to receive 

promised services because national service funds were misused. We hope 

that this settlement will deter other grantees from similar misconduct.” 

The Commercial Litigation Branch of the Department of Justice’s Civil 

Division handled the case on behalf of CNCS. See DOJ Maricopa Press 

Release (http://www.cncsoig.gov/sites/default/files/maricopadoj.pdf).

The Investigation Section also houses the OIG’s research analyst, an 

experienced investigator whose work supports all OIG operations, including 

analysis of grant histories, social media sifting, analysis of Single 

Audit Reports, criminal and commercial background checks, corporate 

relationships, and related research. This work is invaluable to Audit Section, 

as well as to investigators, and enhances the OIG’s risk assessments. 

The requested level of support will enable our highly talented workforce 

to maintain its consistently high quality performance to achieve timely 

results and to travel throughout the United States to combat fraud, waste, 

and abuse wherever they occur. Prior resource limitations required the 

OIG to defer investigating allegations of serious misconduct, including 

fraud, and to refer many cases to the agency for follow-up, either 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 69

Part IV: Office of Inspector General

directly or through a State Commission. This posed a high risk that 

serious misconduct would remain undetected, would not be thoroughly 

investigated by trained professionals, or that evidence would become 

spoiled, stale, or unavailable. The OIG believes that the integrity for 

Federal programs must be protected, and our investigators are committed 

to the timely and impartial investigation of all allegations. 

Support Section 

The Support Section sustains the leadership and administrative operation 

of the OIG, including the Inspector General, Deputy Inspector General/

Whistleblower Ombudsman, and Counsel to the Inspector General by 

supporting the staff responsible for budgeting, accounting and financial 

administration, as well as, all OIG common expenses. Our request for the 

Support Section totals $1,133,696. 

Information Technology

The Information Technology Section (ITS) provides timely and dynamic 

information to its internal and external customers, supported by a 

technology infrastructure that makes possible for anyone to access our 

public reports on any type of device, from anywhere in the world, any time 

of the day. Internally, ITS ensures that auditors and investigators have 

the technology to manage their work papers and products collaboratively, 

expeditiously, accurately and securely, even from remote locations. ITS 

also supports the electronic research tools used by the OIG’s investigative 

research analyst. In addition, the expertise of our Chief Technology Officer 

augments our substantive review of the agency’s information technology 

challenges and identifies security and compliance issues in agency 

systems. ITS requires funding of $521,264. 

During FY 2015, ITS oversaw the OIG’s transition to a collaborative 

document management system with a shared environment and is taking 

other steps to eliminate paperwork in favor of digital signatures. This 

saves time and money, increasing the OIG’s efficiency. 

By the end of FY 2017, ITS will have transitioned the OIG onto the Cloud 

infrastructure as a Service environment, by moving almost all OIG IT 

services into a cloud environment. When complete, this will enable the 

OIG to shrink its footprint by eliminating physical servers and network 

hardware, while increasing the staff’s ability to communicate and share 

documents seamlessly and securely. 

Certification for Training and Council of Inspectors 

General on Integrity and Efficiency Support 

Our training request of $60,000 satisfies all OIG’s training requirements 

for FY 2017. Included in our request is $19,000 which will be used to 

provide support to the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and 

Efficiency.

Strategic Goals and Performance Measures

The OIG is charged with providing timely and independent information 

to the Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer and the Congress regarding 

the effectiveness and efficiency of CNCS programs and operations. Our 

objective is to improve the Corporation’s ability to meet its responsibilities, 

including as a fiduciary of public funds, and achieve its mission. Thus, the 

OIG’s FY 2017 audit and investigative plans are designed, to the best of 

the OIG’s ability, to assist CNCS in meeting its strategic goals, reducing 

program vulnerabilities, strengthening program integrity in the delivery 

of benefits to program participants, and increasing the efficiency and 

effectiveness with which CNCS manages and exercises its stewardship of 

grant funds. 

The OIG’s Strategic Plan and Performance Measures can be found at OIG 

2010-2015 Strategic Plan (http://www.cncsoig.gov/sites/default/files/

strategic_plan_2010-2015.pdf).
70 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDICES | PART V

APPENDIX A. Corporation for National and Community Service Appropriations History, 1994-2017

(dollars in thousands)

Activity FY94 Enacted FY95 Enacted FY96 Enacted FY97 Enacted FY98 Enacted

Total, Operating Expenses $543,503 $651,587 $566,844 $586,499 $653,975

National Service Trust $98,751 $115,070 $56,000 $59,000 $70,000

AmeriCorps State and National $155,500 $219,000 $215,000 $215,000 $227,000

AmeriCorps VISTA $42,724 $47,700 $41,235 $41,235 $65,235

AmeriCorps NCCC $10,000 $18,000 $18,000 $18,000 $18,000

National Senior Service Corps $130,278 $135,764 $128,341 $144,764 $163,240

RSVP $34,388 $35,708 $34,949 $35,708 $40,279

Foster Grandparent Program $66,117 $67,812 $62,237 $77,812 $87,593

Senior Companion Program $29,773 $31,244 $31,155 $31,244 $35,368

Senior Demonstration Program $0 $1,000 $0 $0 $0

Innovation, Demonstration and Assistance1 $31,900 $30,000 $29,850 $30,000 $30,000

Innovation, Demonstration and Other

Social Innovation Fund

Volunteer Generation Fund

Nonprofit Capacity Building Fund

Evaluation $4,600 $5,500 $5,000 $5,000 $5,000

Learn and Serve America $40,000 $46,000 $43,000 $43,000 $43,000

State Commissions Support Grants2 $24,750 $28,723 $24,918 $25,000 $27,000

Partnership Grants $5,000 $5,830 $5,500 $5,500 $5,500

Special Volunteer Programs

Disability Placement Funds $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Training and Technical Assistance3 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Salaries and Expense Account $31,151 $31,160 $28,541 $27,850 $28,129

Office of the Inspector General $944 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $3,000

TOTAL, CNCS4 $575,598 $684,747 $597,385 $616,349 $685,104

1

 Pursuant to P.L. 110-28 $1.360 million was transferred from Innovation, Demonstration and Assistance to the Salaries and Expense Account in FY 2007. 

2

 NCSA administrative expenses are included in the State Commission Support Grants Program line item prior to FY 2004

3

 Training and Technical Assistance dollars were provided in a separate appropriation beginning in FY 2010. 

4

 Total budget authority may not equal sum of budget accounts due to rounding.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 71

Part III: Budget Activities

APPENDIX A. Corporation for National and Community Service Appropriations History, 1994-2017

(dollars in thousands) (continued)

Activity FY99 Enacted FY00 Enacted FY01 Enacted FY02 Enacted FY03 Enacted

Total, Operating Expenses $682,266 $696,545 $729,112 $698,501 $745,755

National Service Trust $70,000 $70,000 $69,846 $0 $99,350

AmeriCorps State and National $237,000 $233,395 $230,492 $240,492 $173,863

AmeriCorps VISTA $73,000 $80,574 $83,074 $85,255 $93,674

AmeriCorps NCCC $18,000 $17,892 $20,954 $24,896 $24,838

National Senior Service Corps $173,910 $182,818 $188,547 $206,379 $215,934

RSVP $43,001 $46,117 $48,884 $54,884 $58,501

Foster Grandparent Program $93,256 $95,988 $98,868 $106,700 $110,775

Senior Companion Program $36,573 $39,219 $40,395 $44,395 $46,260

Senior Demonstration Program $1,080 $1,494 $400 $400 $398

Innovation, Demonstration and Assistance1 $28,500 $28,500 $28,437 $28,488 $35,269

Innovation, Demonstration and Other

Social Innovation Fund

Volunteer Generation Fund

Nonprofit Capacity Building Fund

Evaluation $5,000 $5,000 $4,989 $5,000 $2,981

Learn and Serve America $43,000 $43,000 $42,905 $43,000 $42,721

State Commissions Support Grants2 $28,356 $27,895 $30,932 $30,991 $32,289

Partnership Grants $5,500 $7,471 $28,936 $29,000 $14,901

Special Volunteer Programs $5,000 $9,935

Disability Placement Funds $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Training and Technical Assistance3 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Salaries and Expense Account $29,129 $31,129 $32,229 $32,213 $34,346

Office of the Inspector General $3,000 $3,985 $4,989 $4,994 $5,961

TOTAL, CNCS4 $714,395 $731,659 766,330 735,708 786,062

1

 Pursuant to P.L. 110-28 $1.360 million was transferred from Innovation, Demonstration and Assistance to the Salaries and Expense Account in FY 2007. 

2

 NCSA administrative expenses are included in the State Commission Support Grants Program line item prior to FY 2004.

3

 Training and Technical Assistance dollars were provided in a separate appropriation beginning in FY 2010. 

4

 Total budget authority may not equal sum of budget accounts due to rounding.
72 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX A. Corporation for National and Community Service Appropriations History, 1994-2017

(dollars in thousands) (continued)

Activity FY04 Enacted FY05 Enacted FY06 Enacted FY07 Enacted FY08 Enacted

Total, Operating Expenses $867,833 $856,574 $837,936 $805,760 $782,744

National Service Trust $129,233 $142,848 $138,600 $117,720 $122,539

AmeriCorps State and National $312,147 $287,680 $264,825 $264,825 $256,805

AmeriCorps VISTA $93,731 $94,240 $95,464 $95,468 $93,800

AmeriCorps NCCC $24,853 $25,296 $36,730 $26,789 $23,782

National Senior Service Corps $214,264 $215,857 $217,586 $217,586 $213,785

RSVP $58,156 $58,528 $59,685 $59,685 $58,642

Foster Grandparent Program $110,121 $111,424 $110,937 $110,937 $108,999

Senior Companion Program $45,987 $45,905 $46,964 $46,964 $46,144

Senior Demonstration Program $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Innovation, Demonstration and Assistance1 $11,159 $13,227 $16,280 $29,771 $18,893

Innovation, Demonstration and Other

Social Innovation Fund

Volunteer Generation Fund

Nonprofit Capacity Building Fund

Evaluation $2,982 $3,522 $3,960 $3,960 $3,891

Learn and Serve America $42,746 $42,656 $37,125 $37,125 $37,459

State Commissions Support Grants2 $11,929 $11,904 $12,516 $12,516 $11,790

Partnership Grants $14,913 $14,384 $14,850 $0 $0

Special Volunteer Programs $9,876 $4,960

Disability Placement Funds $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Training and Technical Assistance3 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Salaries and Expense Account $61,321 $64,480 $66,083 $70,324 $67,759

Office of the Inspector General $6,213 $5,952 $5,940 $4,963 $5,828

TOTAL, CNCS4 $935,367 $927,006 $909,959 $881,047 $856,331

1

 Pursuant to P.L. 110-28 $1.360 million was transferred from Innovation, Demonstration and Assistance to the Salaries and Expense Account in FY 2007. 

2

 NCSA administrative expenses are included in the State Commission Support Grants Program line item prior to FY 2004.

3

 Training and Technical Assistance dollars were provided in a separate appropriation beginning in FY 2010. 

4

 Total budget authority may not equal sum of budget accounts due to rounding.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 73

Part III: Budget Activities

APPENDIX A. Corporation for National and Community Service Appropriations History, 1994-2017

(dollars in thousands) (continued)

Activity FY09 Enacted FY10 Enacted FY11 Enacted FY12 Enacted FY13 Enacted

Total, Operating Expenses $811,639 $857,021 $780,809 $750,252 $711,009

National Service Trust $131,075 $197,000 $199,260 $211,797 $200,719

AmeriCorps State and National $271,196 $372,547 $349,300 $344,348 $326,336

AmeriCorps VISTA $96,050 $99,074 $98,876 $94,820 $89,861

AmeriCorps NCCC $27,500 $29,000 $28,942 $31,882 $30,214

National Senior Service Corps $213,785 $220,900 $207,883 $207,490 $196,637

RSVP $58,642 $63,000 $50,299 $50,204 $47,578

Foster Grandparent Program $108,999 $110,996 $110,774 $110,565 $104,781

Senior Companion Program $46,144 $46,904 $46,810 $46,722 $44,278

Senior Demonstration Program $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Innovation, Demonstration and Assistance1 $18,893 $60,500 $60,379 $53,280 $50,493

Innovation, Demonstration and Other $5,500 $5,489 $4,481 $4,246

Social Innovation Fund $50,000 $49,900 $44,815 $42,471

Volunteer Generation Fund $4,000 $3,992 $3,984 $3,776

Nonprofit Capacity Building Fund $1,000 $998 $0 $0

Evaluation $3,891 $6,000 $5,988 $2,994 $2,838

Learn and Serve America $37,459 $39,500 $0 $0 $0

State Commissions Support Grants2 $11,790 $17,000 $16,966 $13,441 $12,738

Partnership Grants $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Special Volunteer Programs $0 $0

Disability Placement Funds $0 $5,000 $4,990 $0 $0

Training and Technical Assistance3 $0 $7,500 $7,485 $1,996 $1,892

Salaries and Expense Account $71,715 $88,000 $87,824 $82,843 $78,510

Office of the Inspector General $6,512 $7,700 $7,684 $3,992 $3,784

TOTAL, CNCS4 $889,866 $1,149,721 $1,075,577 $1,048,884 $994,022

1

 Pursuant to P.L. 110-28 $1.360 million was transferred from Innovation, Demonstration and Assistance to the Salaries and Expense Account in FY 2007. 

2

 NCSA administrative expenses are included in the State Commission Support Grants Program line item prior to FY 2004.

3

 Training and Technical Assistance dollars were provided in a separate appropriation beginning in FY 2010. 

4

 Total budget authority may not equal sum of budget accounts due to rounding.
74 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX A. Corporation for National and Community Service Appropriations History, 1994-2017

(dollars in thousands) (continued)

Activity FY14 Enacted FY15 Enacted FY16 Enacted

FY17 President’s 

Budget

Total, Operating Expenses $756,849 $758,349 $787,929 $794,608

National Service Trust $207,368 $209,618 $220,000 $206,842

AmeriCorps State and National $335,430 $335,430 $386,010 $386,010

AmeriCorps VISTA $92,364 $92,364 $92,364 $95,880

AmeriCorps NCCC $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000

National Senior Service Corps $202,117 $202,117 $202,117 $202,117

RSVP $48,903 $48,903 $48,903 $48,903

Foster Grandparent Program $107,702 $107,702 $107,702 $107,702

Senior Companion Program $45,512 $45,512 $45,512 $45,512

Senior Demonstration Program $0 $0 $0 $0

Innovation, Demonstration and Assistance1 $76,900 $77,400 $57,400 $57,601

Innovation, Demonstration and Other $3,100 $3,600 $3,800 $3,601

Social Innovation Fund $70,000 $70,000 $50,000 $50,000

Volunteer Generation Fund $3,800 $3,800 $3,600 $4,000

Nonprofit Capacity Building Fund $0 $0 $0 $0

Evaluation $5,000 $5,000 $4,000 $6,000

Learn and Serve America $0 $0 $0 $0

State Commissions Support Grants2 $15,038 $16,038 $16,038 $17,000

Partnership Grants $0 $0 $0 $0

Special Volunteer Programs $0 $0 $0 $0

Disability Placement Funds $0 $0 $0 $0

Training and Technical Assistance3 $0 $0 $0 $0

Salaries and Expense Account $80,737 $81,737 $81,737 $89,330

Office of the Inspector General $5,000 $5,250 $5,250 $6,100

TOTAL, CORPORATION4 $1,049,954 $1,054,954 $1,094,916 $1,096,880

1

 Pursuant to P.L. 110-28 $1.360 million was transferred from Innovation, Demonstration and Assistance to the Salaries and Expense Account in FY 2007. 

2

 NCSA administrative expenses are included in the State Commission Support Grants Program line item prior to FY 2004

3

 Training and Technical Assistance dollars were provided in a separate appropriation beginning in FY 2010. 

4

 Total budget authority may not equal sum of budget accounts due to rounding.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 75

Part III: Budget Activities

APPENDIX B. Summary of CNCS Programs and Budget

The following exhibit provides information about CNCS programs and other activities.

Program/Activity Description

Major Programs

AmeriCorps State 

and National

With funds channeled through States, Territories, Tribes, and community-based organizations, 

AmeriCorps grants enable communities to recruit, train and place AmeriCorps members to meet 

critical local needs in the areas of disaster services, economic opportunity, education, environmental 

stewardship, healthy futures, and veterans and military families, as directed by the Edward M. Kennedy 

Serve America Act of 2009.

AmeriCorps VISTA AmeriCorps VISTA is an anti-poverty program that provides opportunities for individuals 18 years or older 

with a full year of service in low income communities. VISTA members support the efforts of non profits 

and communities to build and enhance sustainable anti-poverty programs.

AmeriCorps NCCC AmeriCorps NCCC is a 10-month residential national service program for people ages 18–24. AmeriCorps 

NCCC members will be deployed to respond to natural disasters and engage in urban and rural 

development projects across the nation.

State Commission Support Grants These population-based formula grants support the operation of State Service Commissions that 

administer approximately two-thirds of AmeriCorps State and National grant funds. Commissions are 

responsible for monitoring sub-grantees and ensuring that they comply with federal requirements and 

performance expectations. These grants must be matched by the Commissions.

National Service Trust Funds educational awards to eligible national service program participants. “

Senior Corps-RSVP Grants awarded to eligible sponsors to develop and manage flexible non-stipend opportunities for 

volunteers age 55 and over to help improve their lives while delivering a wide range of community 

services to nonprofits and public agencies.

Senior Corps-FGP Grants awarded to community organizations for stipended service for volunteers age 55 and over to 

support children and youth with special or exceptional needs. Volunteers meeting income eligibility 

requirements receive an hourly cash stipend.

Senior Corps-SCP Grants awarded to community organizations for stipended service for volunteers age 55 and over to help 

individuals, primarily frail seniors, to remain independent in their homes. Volunteers meeting income 

eligibility requirements receive an hourly cash stipend.

Social Innovation Fund Grants awarded to intermediaries to help mobilize public and private resources to grow innovative, 

community-driven solutions that have evidence of compelling impact such as supporting organizations 

that provide training to the unemployed and loans to those in need of housing support

Volunteer Generation Fund Grants awarded to support voluntary organizations and state service commissions that help grow 

volunteerism, increase volunteers’ career skills and expand opportunity for the unemployed, veterans, 

and disadvantaged youth.

Innovation, Demonstration, and Other 

Activities

Grants to support important field-building activities including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, 

and the ongoing United We Serve initiative (the President’s Call to Service).

Evaluation This activity supports the design and implementation of research and evaluation studies and will 

facilitate the use of evidence and evaluation by CNCS and national service organizations.

Salaries and Expenses Funds for administering and managing CNCS programs.
76 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX C. Summary of Program Benefits for Participants

Program Eligibility Stipend

AmeriCorps State 

and National

In general, an AmeriCorps State and National member must (1) be at least 17 years old 

at the commencement of service, or have been an out-of-school youth 16 years of year 

age at the commencement of service, participating in a youth corps program; (2) s/he 

must have a high-school diploma (or its equivalent) or agree to obtain a high-school 

diploma or its equivalent prior or using the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award; and 

(3) s/he must be a citizen, national, or lawful permanent resident alien of the United 

States.

Minimum living allowance of $12,530 

for full-time members in program 

Year 2014. A minimum living 

allowance is not required for less 

than full-time members or Education 

Award Program members. 

AmeriCorps VISTA An AmeriCorps VISTA member must (1) be 18 Years of age or older, and (2) s/he must 

be a citizen, national or legal resident of the United States.

Yes. Members receive the following 

living allowance: $973/month to 

$1650/month (based on regional 

cost of living and tied to the poverty 

rate.).

AmeriCorps NCCC An AmeriCorps NCCC member must (1) be between the ages of 18 and 24 years old, 

and (2) s/he must be a citizen, national, or lawful permanent resident alien of the 

United States. 

Yes. Eligible members receive the 

living allowance ($400/month for 10 

months), lodging and meals. Team 

leaders earn $1136 per month during 

11 months of service.

RSVP To be an RSVP volunteer, an individual must (1) be 55 years of age or older; (2) s/he 

must agree to serve without compensation, and (3) s/he must reside in or nearby the 

community served by RSVP.

No. 

Foster 

Grandparent 

Program

To be a Foster GrandParent volunteer, an individual must (1) be 55 years of age or 

older. (2) S/he must be determined by a physical examination to be capable, with or 

without reasonable accommodation, of serving children with exceptional or special 

needs without detriment to either himself or herself or children served. (3) In order to 

receive a stipend, individual must have an income that is within the income eligibility 

guidelines (within 200% of poverty).

Yes, if income guidelines are met 

(200% of poverty), then program 

volunteers receive $2.65/hour tax 

free.

Senior Companion 

Program

To be a Senior Companion, an individual must (1) be 55 years of age or older. (2) S/

he must be determined by a physical examination to be capable, with or without 

reasonable accommodation, of serving without detriment to either himself or herself or 

adults served. (3) In order to receive a stipend, individual must have an income that is 

within the income eligibility guidelines (within 200% of poverty).

Yes, if income guidelines are met 

(200% of poverty), then program 

volunteers receive $2.65/hour tax 

free.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 77

Part V: Appendix

APPENDIX C. Summary of Program Benefits for Participants (continued)

Program Term of Service Healthcare Childcare

Segal AmeriCorps 

Education Award

AmeriCorps State 

and National

An AmeriCorps member serves for at 

least one of the following terms: fulltime (minimum of 1700 hours up to 12 

months), half-time (minimum of 900 

hours for up to 12), reduced half-time 

(minimum of 675 hours for up to 12 

months), quarter time (minimum of 

450 hours for up 12 months), minimum 

time (minimum of 300 hours up to 12 

months).

Full-time members must receive 

health care benefits except for 

members in the Education Award 

Program. Less than full time 

members may not receive health care 

with CNCS funds.

Only members are 

eligible to receive 

child care. Rate 

established by 

state Child Care 

Development Grants.

Yes.

AmeriCorps VISTA Full-time for one year. Yes (CNCS administered health plan). Yes. Maximum 

$400/month per 

child.

Yes or may select 

an end of service 

stipend accrued at 

the rate of $125/

month.

AmeriCorps NCCC An AmeriCorps NCCC member serves 

full-time in a team-based residential 

program for 10 months.

Yes. CNCS administered health plan. Yes. Maximum 

$400/month per 

child.

Yes.

RSVP Open enrollment-no set schedule. Can 

serve as few or as many hours as the 

volunteer chooses (volunteer hours 

varies).

No. No. No.

Foster 

Grandparent 

Program

Open enrollment service schedule 

between 15 and 40 hours per week. 

No (Note: Each Foster Grandparent 

receives a physical examination 

annually with the cost covered by th

project/grantee).

e 

No. No.

Senior Companion 

Program

Open enrollment service schedule 

between 15 and 40 hours per week. 

No (Note: Each Senior Companion 

receives a physical examination 

annually with the cost covered by the 

project/grantee).

No. No.

 
78 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX D. AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and SIF Grant Match Requirements

At a Glance

AmeriCorps State and National 

For grants made from FY 2016 Appropriations, AmeriCorps State and National grantees must meet the minimum match requirements below based on 

the number of years they have been operating their AmeriCorps programs.

Required match levels are based on the grant award. For example, a program that receives a grant of $250,000 is required to match 24 percent 

($60,000) in the first year, cash and/or in-kind.

Minimum grantee match requirement

Y1

24%

Y2

24%

Y3

24%

Y4

26%

Y5

30%

Y6

34%

Y7

38%

Y8

42%

Y9

46%

Y10

50%

Programs in severely economically distressed communities or rural areas may be allowed to follow alternative match requirements, as per the 

following schedule: 

Alternative match requirements

Y1

24%

Y2

24%

Y3

24%

Y4

24%

Y5

24%

Y6

24%

Y7

29%

Y8

31%

Y9

33%

Y10

35%

Programs that can demonstrate an inability to raise either the minimum grantee requirements or the alternative grant requirements, shown above, 

may apply to CNCS for a full or partial waiver.

AmeriCorps VISTA 

Certain project sponsors (not grantees) share in the project costs with AmeriCorps VISTA by providing VISTA members’ subsistence allowance. 

Cost-sharing among projects is encouraged but not required by AmeriCorps VISTA. Additionally, AmeriCorps VISTA has a limited number of projects 

receiving operating grants; VISTA does not require a non-federal match from these projects.

RSVP 

RSVP grantees must match:

10 percent of the total cost of the project for the first year

20 percent of the total cost of the project for the second year

30 percent of the total cost of the project for the third, and subsequent years.

Foster Grandparent Program 

Each Foster Grandparent Program must match at least 10 percent of the total cost of the project for all years. 

Senior Companion Program 

Each Senior Companion Program must match at least 10 percent of the total cost of the project for all years. 

Social Innovation Fund

Traditional SIF intermediary grantees are required to match their CNCS grant dollar for dollar, in cash from non-federal sources. Traditional SIF 

intermediary subgrantees are required to provide the same match—dollar for dollar in cash—for every dollar they receive from intermediaries.

SIF PFS intermediary grantees are required to match their CNCS grant, dollar for dollar, in cash or in-kind from non-federal sources. 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 79

Part V: Appendix

APPENDIX E. AmeriCorps Members by Program Type: FY 1996–2016

Program

Actual 

1996 

Awarded

Actual 

1997 

Pct Awarded Pct

Actual 

1998 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

1999 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2000 

Awarded Pct

Education Award Program N/A 15,280 31.3% 10,508 20.8% 12,464 22.4% 16,436 25.1%

National Direct 8,239 28.8% 6,601 13.5% 7,446 14.7% 7,020 12.6% 6,958 10.6%

State Formula and Competitive 14,625 51.1% 19,701 40.4% 21,181 41.9% 22,123 39.7% 28,088 42.9%

Territories 93 0.3% 246 0.5% 59 0.1% 215 0.4% 252 0.4%

Tribes 97 0.3% 202 0.4% 135 0.3% 242 0.4% 425 0.6%

Other State and National 586 2.0% 1,212 2.5% 4,286 8.5% 5,796 10.4% 5,387 8.2%

VISTA Ed Awards 2,506 8.8% 3,150 6.5% 4,256 8.4% 4,653 8.4% 4,960 7.6%

VISTA Stipends 1,548 5.4% 1,442 3.0% 1,895 3.7% 1,959 3.5% 1,902 2.9%

NCCC 926 3.2% 964 2.0% 820 1.6% 1,195 2.1% 994 1.5%

Total 28,620 48,798 50,586 55,667 65,402

Program

Actual 

2001 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2002 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2003 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2004 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2005 

Awarded Pct

Education Award Program 20,651 28.4% 23,859 34.4% 6,899 21.6% 28,975 38.9% 25,024 34.2%

National Direct 7,287 10.0% 7,225 10.4% 3,517 11.0% 9,751 13.1% 10,221 14.0%

Professional Corps N/A N/A N/A - 1,545 2.1%

State Formula and Competitive 33,278 45.7% 29,548 42.7% 13,740 42.9% 28,436 38.2% 28,658 39.1%

Territories 128 0.2% 142 0.2% - 149 0.2% 26 0.0%

Tribes 212 0.3% 314 0.5% 86 0.3% 185 0.2% 162 0.2%

Other State and National 2,200 3.0% 752 1.1% 652 2.0% - -

VISTA Ed Awards 5,801 8.0% 4,270 6.2% 3,086 9.6% 4,061 5.4% 4,475 6.1%

VISTA Stipends 2,128 2.9% 1,920 2.8% 2,711 8.5% 1,782 2.4% 1,962 2.7%

NCCC 1,156 1.6% 1,250 1.8% 1,300 4.1% 1,184 1.6% 1,147 1.6%

Total 72,841 69,280 31,991 74,523 73,220
80 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX E. AmeriCorps Members by Program Type: FY 1996–2016 (continued)

Program

Actual 

2006 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2007 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2008 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2009* 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2010* 

Awarded Pct

Education Award Program 23,112 29.8% 23,303 31.7% 22,111 29.6% 20,856 23.5% 20,521 (22.9%)

National Direct 11,332 14.6% 12,568 17.1% 13,810 18.5% 16,942 19.1% N/A

Professional Corps 1,331 1.7% 2,426 3.3% 1,645 2.2% 1,637 1.8% N/A

State Formula and Competitive 33,605 45.0% 27,047 36.8% 28,431 38.1% 36,183 40.8% N/A

Competitive Grants (new for 2010) N/A N/A N/A N/A 36,858 41.1%

State Formula Only (new for 2010) N/A N/A N/A N/A 22,198 24.5%

Territories 116 0.1% 123 0.2% 60 0.1% 60 0.1% 236 0.3%

Tribes 158 0.2% 80 0.1% 72 0.1% 91 0.1% 191 0.2%

Other State and National - - - - -

VISTA Ed Awards 4,797 6.2% 5,162 7.0% 4,871 6.5% 7,901 8.9% 6,537 7.3%

VISTA Stipends 2,057 2.6% 1,690 2.3% 2,533 3.4% 3,882 4.4% 2,100 2.3%

NCCC 1,126 1.5% 1,184 1.6% 1,102 1.5% 1,068 1.2% 1,200 1.3%

Total 77,634 73,583 74,635 88,620 89,631

Program

Actual 

2011 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2012 

Awards Pct

Actual 

2013 

Awards** Pct

Projected 

2014 

Awards Pct

Projected 

2015 

Awards Pct

Education Award Program 16,906 20.5% 13,073 15.9% 11,186 15.6% 9,069 14.2% 6,522 9.2%

National Direct N/A N/A N/A

Competitive Grants (new for 2010) 35,459 43.0% 32,571 39.5% 33,863 47.2% 33,846 53.1% 37,942 53.3%

State Formula Only (new for 2010) 21,082 25.6% 21,350 25.9% 17,927 25.0% 11,948 18.7% 17,229 24.2%

Territories 286 0.3% 224 0.3% 224 0.3% 18 0.0% 239 0.3%

Tribes 204 0.2% 164 0.2% 178 0.2% 0.0% 260 0.4%

Other State and National -

VISTA Ed Awards 5,507 6.7% 6,751 8.2% 6,011 8.4% 6,160 9.7% 6,500 9.1%

VISTA Stipends 1,797 2.2% 1,414 1.7% 1,200 1.7% 1,540 2.4% 1,300 1.8%

NCCC 1,200 1.5% 1,200 1.5% 1,200 1.7% 1,200 1.9% 1,200 1.7%

Total 82,441 76,747 71,789 63,781 71,192

* * FY’s 2009 and 2010 include additional VISTA members funded under American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. 

** Award counts are based on CNCS’s FY 2013 sequestered funding level.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 81

Part V: Appendix

APPENDIX E. AmeriCorps Members by Program Type: FY 1996–2016 (continued)

Program Projected 2016 Awards Pct Projected 2017 Awards Pct

Education Award Program 11,535 13.4% 11,535 13.2%

National Direct 

 Competitive Grants (new for 2010) 42,141 49.0% 43,002 49.2%

 State Formula Only (new for 2010) 20,851 24.3% 21,267 24.3%

Territories 398 0.5% 406 0.5%

Tribes 270 0.4% 275 1.3%

Other State and National 1,000 1,000 1.1%

VISTA Ed Awards 6,912 8.0% 7,099 8.1%

VISTA Stipends 1,621 1.9% 1,665 1.9%

NCCC 1,200 1.4% 1,200 1.4%

Total 85,928 87,449
82 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX F. AmeriCorps Members by Service Term: FY 1996–2016

Program

Actual 

1996 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

1997 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

1998 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

1999 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2000 

Awarded Pct

Full-time 19,607 68.5% 25,809 52.9% 27,401 54.2% 27,671 49.7% 29,944 46.0%

Full-time S/N 14,627 51.1% 20,253 41.5% 20,430 40.4% 19,864 35.7% 22,088 34.0%

Part-time 8,131 28.4% 16,858 34.5% 14,588 28.8% 15,545 27.9% 16,049 24.7%

Reduced Part-time 882 3.1% 6,131 12.6% 8,597 17.0% 12,451 22.4% 19,049 29.3%

Total 28,620 48,798 50,586 55,667 65,042

* Fiscal Year 2009 data includes additional AmeriCorps State and National and VISTA members funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). 

** FY 2010 includes additional VISTA members funded under ARRA.

Program

Actual 

2001 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2002 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2003 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2004 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2005 

Awarded Pct

Full-time 34,450 47.3% 33,860 48.9% 18,470 57.7% 33,359 44.8% 32,459 44.3%

Full-time S/N 25,365 34.8% 26,420 38.1% 11,373 35.6% 26,332 35.3% 24,875 34.0%

Part-time 16,413 22.5% 14,366 20.7% 6,890 21.5% 15,262 20.5% 11,896 16.2%

Reduced Part-time 21,978 30.2% 21,054 30.4% 6,631 20.7% 25,902 34.8% 28,865 39.4%

Total 72,841 69,280 31,991 74,523 73,220

Program

Actual 

2006 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2007 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2008 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2009* 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2010** 

Awarded Pct

Full-time 35,203 45.3% 33,937 46.1% 36,561 49.0% 44,599 50.3% 39,715 44.3%

Full-time S/N 27,223 35.1% 27,059 36.8% 28,822 38.6% 32,941 37.2% 32,151 35.9%

Part-time 12,839 16.5% 10,126 13.8% 9,971 13.4% 11,113 12.5% 11,581 12.9%

Reduced Part-time 29,592 38.1% 29,520 40.1% 28,103 37.7% 32,908 37.1% 38,335 42.8%

Total 77,634 73,583 74,635 88,620 89,631
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 83

Part III: Budget Activities

APPENDIX F. AmeriCorps Members by Service Term: FY 1996–2016

Program

Actual 

2011 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2012 

Awards Pct

Actual 

2013 

Award*** Pct

Actual 

2014 

Awards Pct

Projected 

2015 

Awards Pct

Full-time 38,043 46.1% 38,294 49.9% 38,271 53.3% 36,862 57.8% 40,207 56.5%

31,357 38.0% 31,136 40.6% 31,376 43.7% 29,915 46.9% 33,107 46.5%

9,785 11.9% 10,563 13.8% 7,315 10.2% 7,882 12.4% 10,155 14.3%

34,613 42.0% 27,890 36.3% 3,264 4.5% 2,620 4.1% 2,964 4.2%

8,751 12.2% 7,356 11.5% 7,336 10.3%

14,188 19.8% 9,061 14.2% 10,530 14.8%

Full-time S/N

Part-time

Reduced Part-time

Quarter-Time

Minimum-Time

Total 82,441 76,747 71,789 63,781 71,192

Program

Projected 2016 

Awards Pct

Projected 2017 

Awards Pct

Full-time 41,015 47.7% 41,824 47.8%

32,854 38.2% 33,438 38.2%

12,776 14.9% 12,970 14.8%

3,296 3.8% 3,352 3.8%

9,680 11.3% 9,825 11.2%

19,161 22.3% 19,478 22.3%

Full-time S/N

Part-time

Reduced Part-time

Quarter-Time

Minimum-Time

Total 85,928 87,449

***Award counts are based on CNCS’s FY 2013 sequestered funding level.
84 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX G. AmeriCorps Grants over $500,000

The list below shows all AmeriCorps programs that received a grant of more than $500,000 in FY 2015 under the AmeriCorps State, National, 

and Fixed Amount grant programs. The match levels shown are based on grantee budgets. Organizations that appear more than once are local 

affiliates of national organizations that are funded through state commissions instead of the national organization. For example, City Year, Inc. is a 

National Direct grantee. There are also other City Year affiliates that receive funding through state commissions. In the case of state programs, the 

commissions are the grantees, but do not operate any programs directly. Therefore, for state programs, we list the subgrantees - the organizations 

that actually operate the programs. For National Direct programs, the grantee organization is listed.

Under Fixed Amount grants, organizations receive specific amounts per full-time member and members who complete their service hours receive an

education award. The amount provided by CNCS is substantially less than the cost of operating the AmeriCorps program and the organization bears 

all other operational and member support costs, including the living allowance. Therefore, no match is required and the Grantee Share is zero. In all 

other cases, the Grantee Share is the sum of all non-CNCS funds.

Program Type State Grantee Name

CNCS 

Share

Grantee 

Share

Total 

Budget

% Grantee 

Match

National Direct MA YouthBuild USA, Inc $9,920,460 $9,920,460 $19,840,920 50.00%

National Direct MA City Year, Inc. $8,032,570 $8,032,570 $16,065,140 50.00%

State Competitive MN ServeMinnesota Action Network $7,607,600 $7,608,675 $15,216,275 50.00%

Fixed Amount WA WA State Employment Security Department $7,149,870 $0 $7,149,870 0.00%

Fixed Amount MD National Association of Community Health $6,513,090 $0 $6,513,090 0.00%

Centers, Inc.

Fixed Amount WI Public Allies, Inc. $6,241,950 $0 $6,241,950 0.00%

State Competitive MN ServeMinnesota Action Network $4,075,500 $4,075,618 $8,151,118 50.00%

Fixed Amount GA Habitat for Humanity International, Inc. $3,890,250 $4,092,231 $7,982,481 51.27%

Fixed Amount MD Notre Dame Mission Volunteers Program, Inc. $3,879,463 $5,509,520 $9,388,983 58.68%

National Direct MD University of Maryland $3,644,114 $3,740,028 $7,384,142 50.65%

National Direct LA St. Bernard Project $3,571,152 $2,362,214 $5,933,366 39.81%

Fixed Amount NY Teach For America $3,440,000 $0 $3,440,000 0.00%

National Direct DC The Corps Network $3,280,023 $4,773,423 $8,053,446 59.27%

Fixed Amount MA Citizen Schools, Inc. $3,000,000 $0 $3,000,000 0.00%

State Competitive NY City Year, Inc. $2,774,950 $2,774,950 $5,549,900 50.00%

State Competitive MA City Year, Inc. $2,543,690 $2,543,690 $5,087,380 50.00%

State Competitive CA City Year, Inc. $2,500,000 $2,500,000 $5,000,000 50.00%

State Competitive PA City Year, Inc. $2,297,165 $2,297,165 $4,594,330 50.00%

State Formula MN ServeMinnesota Action Network $2,200,000 $942,972 $3,142,972 30.00%

State Competitive MN ServeMinnesota Action Network $2,143,750 $1,976,486 $4,120,236 47.97%

State Competitive IL City Year, Inc. $2,106,668 $2,106,668 $4,213,336 50.00%

Fixed Amount MT Montana Conservation Corps, Inc. $1,872,000 $0 $1,872,000 0.00%

Fixed Amount WA WA State Employment Security Department $1,860,000 $0 $1,860,000 0.00%

Fixed Amount WA WA State Department of Ecology $1,823,920 $0 $1,823,920 0.00%
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 85

Part V: Appendix

APPENDIX G. AmeriCorps Grants over $500,000

Program Type State Grantee Name

CNCS 

Share

Grantee 

Share

Total 

Budget

% Grantee 

Match

State Competitive NY New York City Office of the Mayor $1,759,442 $1,930,166 $3,689,608 52.31%

National Direct DC AARP Foundation $1,664,141 $1,751,556 $3,415,697 51.28%

State Competitive NY Harlem Children's Zone $1,601,470 $2,778,469 $4,379,939 63.44%

National Direct CA Playworks Education Energized $1,497,600 $3,879,905 $5,377,505 72.15%

National Direct OR Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest $1,490,562 $1,389,355 $2,879,917 48.24%

State Competitive DC City Year, Inc. $1,482,000 $1,482,000 $2,964,000 50.00%

State Formula CA Bay Area Community Resources / BAYAC $1,470,628 $2,132,150 $3,602,778 59.18%

AmeriCorps

National Direct MA City Year, Inc. $1,460,040 $1,460,040 $2,920,080 50.00%

National Direct DC Equal Justice Works $1,444,815 $1,104,308 $2,549,123 43.32%

National Direct DC Equal Justice Works $1,414,085 $1,109,858 $2,523,943 43.97%

State Competitive PA Keystone SMILES Community Learning Center $1,413,027 $2,114,613 $3,527,640 59.94%

Fixed Amount CO Colorado Youth Corps Association $1,394,489 $0 $1,394,489 0.00%

State Competitive NY The Service Collaborative of WNY, Inc. $1,368,762 $1,589,309 $2,958,071 53.73%

Fixed Amount TX UT Austin Charles A. Dana Center $1,315,902 $0 $1,315,902 0.00%

Fixed Amount NY FoodCorps, Inc. $1,310,400 $0 $1,310,400 0.00%

Fixed Amount CA Napa County Office of Education $1,300,000 $0 $1,300,000 0.00%

State Competitive TX City Year, Inc. $1,299,859 $1,299,859 $2,599,718 50.00%

Fixed Amount NY New York City Office of the Mayor $1,296,750 $0 $1,296,750 0.00%

State Competitive UT Ogden CIty School District $1,292,579 $1,582,403 $2,874,982 55.04%

Fixed Amount CO Conservation Legacy $1,259,910 $0 $1,259,910 0.00%

State Formula FL City Year, Inc. $1,237,703 $1,232,340 $2,470,043 49.89%

Fixed Amount MN Minnesota Alliance With Youth $1,230,250 $0 $1,230,250 0.00%

National Direct NY Local Initiatives Support Corporation $1,227,730 $2,117,767 $3,345,497 63.30%

State Competitive LA City Year, Inc. $1,221,419 $1,221,419 $2,442,838 50.00%

State Competitive WV West Virginia University Research Corp. $1,198,587 $1,198,587 $2,397,174 50.00%

State Competitive HI Kupu $1,193,375 $919,314 $2,112,689 43.51%

State Competitive CA Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc. $1,168,322 $1,461,239 $2,629,561 55.57%

State Formula KY Barren County School Board $1,146,105 $882,356 $2,028,461 43.50%

State Competitive CA California Children and Families Foundation $1,137,384 $1,633,409 $2,770,793 58.95%

State Formula TX CitySquare $1,136,453 $1,249,968 $2,386,421 52.38%

State Formula PA Allegheny County Department of Human $1,129,378 $1,129,378 $2,258,756 50.00%

Services
86 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX G. AmeriCorps Grants over $500,000 (continued)

Program Type State Grantee Name

CNCS 

Share

Grantee 

Share

Total 

Budget

% Grantee 

Match

State Competitive FL City Year, Inc. $1,120,568 $1,120,568 $2,241,136 50.00%

State Formula TX College Forward $1,109,522 $1,109,527 $2,219,049 50.00%

Fixed Amount MN Minnesota Alliance With Youth $1,078,155 $0 $1,078,155 0.00%

Fixed Amount PA Health Federation of Philadelphia $1,065,900 $0 $1,065,900 0.00%

State Formula PA Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8: Pennsylvania 

Mountain Service Corps

$1,061,500 $1,067,000 $2,128,500 50.13%

State Competitive MS Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning $1,008,167 $1,009,470 $2,017,637 50.03%

State Competitive MA Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc. $1,004,795 $1,005,344 $2,010,139 50.01%

National Direct DC Equal Justice Works $993,853 $1,479,588 $2,473,441 59.82%

State Formula CA Our City Forest $987,870 $1,227,096 $2,214,966 55.40%

State Competitive CA Child Abuse Prevention Council, Inc. $979,889 $1,762,753 $2,742,642 64.27%

National Direct KY Berea College $950,114 $311,536 $1,261,650 24.69%

Fixed Amount TX Teach For America $950,000 $0 $950,000 0.00%

State Competitive MA City of Boston $947,459 $855,340 $1,802,799 47.45%

State Competitive CA Playworks Education Energized $939,125 $2,444,038 $3,383,163 72.24%

State Formula CA Administrative Office of the Courts $919,942 $1,011,400 $1,931,342 52.37%

State Competitive WV United Way of Central West Virginia $903,068 $976,266 $1,879,334 51.95%

State Competitive OH College Now Greater Cleveland $896,000 $649,131 $1,545,131 42.01%

State Competitive FL City of Orlando $894,301 $306,579 $1,200,880 25.53%

Fixed Amount DC The Corps Network $883,952 $0 $883,952 0.00%

Fixed Amount DC National Council of La Raza $871,831 $0 $871,831 0.00%

State Competitive PA Managing Director's Office $858,551 $1,122,022 $1,980,573 56.65%

State Formula NY Student Conservation Association, Inc. $850,000 $1,375,656 $2,225,656 61.81%

Fixed Amount CA Reading Partners $846,545 $0 $846,545 0.00%

State Competitive MI City Year, Inc. $843,664 $843,664 $1,687,328 50.00%

State Competitive CA Reading Partners $819,000 $2,052,419 $2,871,419 71.48%

State Formula TX CIS of Central Texas $818,009 $823,248 $1,641,257 50.16%

State Formula OH Educational Service Center of Central Ohio $797,937 $479,995 $1,277,932 37.56%

Fixed Amount MN College Possible $792,000 $0 $792,000 0.00%

State Competitive NY Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc. $789,168 $836,676 $1,625,844 51.46%

State Competitive FL City Year, Inc. $776,530 $776,530 $1,553,060 50.00%

State Competitive IN Boys & Girls Clubs of Wayne County Indiana, Inc $754,051 $562,890 $1,316,941 42.74%
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 87

Part V: Appendix

APPENDIX G. AmeriCorps Grants over $500,000 (continued)

Program Type State Grantee Name

CNCS 

Share

Grantee 

Share

Total 

Budget

% Grantee 

Match

Fixed Amount DC Rebuilding Together, Inc $731,244 $0 $731,244 0.00%

State Formula NY Great Oaks Foundation Inc $717,162 $593,209 $1,310,371 45.27%

Tribal CA Hoopa Valley Tribe $701,984 $491,594 $1,193,578 41.19%

State Competitive OR American Red Cross Oregon Trail Chapter $701,907 $806,680 $1,508,587 53.47%

State Formula CA Safe Passages $694,980 $591,321 $1,286,301 45.97%

Fixed Amount CO Mile High United Way $693,440 $0 $693,440 0.00%

State Formula CA Coachella Valley Unified School District $676,023 $689,278 $1,365,301 50.49%

Fixed Amount WA Washington Campus Compact $672,000 $0 $672,000 0.00%

Fixed Amount NC National College Advising Corps $672,000 $0 $672,000 0.00%

State Formula MI Hope Network West Michigan, Inc $659,040 $212,577 $871,617 24.39%

Fixed Amount TX Literacy Coalition of Central Texas $645,523 $452,979 $1,098,502 41.24%

National Direct CA Youth Policy Institute $643,557 $648,853 $1,292,410 50.20%

State Competitive CA Local Government Commission $638,267 $1,343,000 $1,981,267 67.78%

Fixed Amount WA Washington State Department of Veterans 

Affairs

$630,500 $0 $630,500 0.00%

Fixed Amount OK City Year, Inc. $625,000 $0 $625,000 0.00%

State Formula CT Great Oaks Foundation Inc $617,850 $444,409 $1,062,259 41.84%

State Formula WI Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation $617,850 $199,196 $817,046 24.38%

State Competitive CA Prevent Child Abuse California $603,310 $743,845 $1,347,155 55.22%

State Competitive CA Youth Policy Institute $583,070 $956,441 $1,539,511 62.13%

State Formula MA Phoenix Charter Academy $578,159 $554,815 $1,132,974 48.97%

National Direct MN Reading & Math Inc $567,450 $645,326 $1,212,776 53.21%

State Competitive FL City Year, Inc. $560,284 $560,284 $1,120,568 50.00%

State Competitive OH City Year, Inc. $560,284 $560,284 $1,120,568 50.00%

Fixed Amount TX City Year, Inc. $560,284 $0 $560,284 0.00%

State Competitive NY Monroe Community College $557,327 $557,983 $1,115,310 50.03%

Fixed Amount WI Public Allies, Inc. $555,750 $0 $555,750 0.00%

State Formula FL Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition $553,510 $401,723 $955,233 42.05%

State Formula KY Homeless And Housing Coalition of Kentucky $552,290 $582,892 $1,135,182 51.35%

State Competitive NH City Year, Inc. $550,621 $550,621 $1,101,242 50.00%

State Competitive TX Project Transformation $550,388 $1,079,341 $1,629,729 66.23%

Fixed Amount NV Great Basin Institute $550,328 $0 $550,328 0.00%
88 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX G. AmeriCorps Grants over $500,000 (continued)

Program Type State Grantee Name

CNCS 

Share

Grantee 

Share

Total 

Budget

% Grantee 

Match

National Direct NH Student Conservation Association, Inc. $549,531 $2,187,847 $2,737,378 79.92%

State Formula AL YWCA Central Alabama $549,200 $336,606 $885,806 38.00%

State Formula CA Education Outside $549,170 $980,673 $1,529,843 64.10%

Fixed Amount KY Operation UNITE $543,400 $0 $543,400 0.00%

Fixed Amount MA New Sector Alliance, Inc. $541,510 $0 $541,510 0.00%

Fixed Amount TX American YouthWorks $537,200 $0 $537,200 0.00%

Fixed Amount CA Napa County Office of Education $537,200 $0 $537,200 0.00%

Fixed Amount WA Mt. Adams Institute $531,050 $0 $531,050 0.00%

State Competitive ME LearningWorks $529,876 $295,556 $825,432 35.81%

State Formula IL Northwestern University Settlement Association $528,799 $528,853 $1,057,652 50.00%

State Competitive MA Northeastern University $528,745 $801,645 $1,330,390 60.26%

State Formula CA Community Initiatives $525,006 $344,094 $869,100 39.59%

State Competitive MO Curators of the University of Missouri $524,000 $1,418,959 $1,942,959 73.03%

State Competitive NM Rocky Mountain Youth Corps $522,750 $1,024,461 $1,547,211 66.21%

Fixed Amount CA GRID Alternatives $521,084 $0 $521,084 0.00%

State Formula OH Ohio Association of Community Colleges $519,840 $305,298 $825,138 37.00%

State Formula OK Red River Community Corps, Inc. $518,766 $492,507 $1,011,273 48.70%

State Competitive UT Utah Conservation Corps $515,211 $966,167 $1,481,378 65.22%
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 89

Part V: Appendix

APPENDIX H: AmeriCorps Formula Grant Allocation

State FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17

Alabama $1,223,964 $2,096,427 $1,975,058 $2,234,591 $1,845,064 $1,900,686 $1,928,563 $2,162,498 $2,205,666

Alaska $500,000 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $656,563 $669,669

Arizona $1,706,598 $2,684,552 $2,541,103 $2,861,476 $2,303,711 $2,383,130 $2,444,196 $2,772,774 $2,828,124

Arkansas $749,672 $1,529,436 $1,446,096 $1,630,233 $1,348,887 $1,396,325 $1,412,683 $1,579,593 $1,611,125

California $9,650,323 $12,148,399 $11,434,561 $12,949,034 $10,645,730 $10,914,737 $11,230,554 $12,788,653 $13,043,943

Colorado $1,296,835 $2,194,924 $2,081,365 $2,339,579 $1,941,910 $2,017,643 $2,067,324 $2,347,710 $2,394,575

Connecticut $919,240 $1,725,420 $1,625,390 $1,839,133 $1,518,761 $1,567,654 $1,585,366 $1,769,480 $1,804,803 

Delaware $500,000 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $656,563 $669,669

District of Columbia $500,000 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $656,563 $669,669

Florida $4,812,036 $6,406,461 $6,030,290 $6,828,676 $5,685,302 $5,861,397 $6,050,081 $6,939,205 $7,077,727 

Georgia $2,542,955 $3,692,285 $3,480,668 $3,935,624 $3,195,633 $3,288,750 $3,366,326 $3,822,438 $3,898,742

Hawaii $500,000 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $656,563 $669,669

Idaho $500,000 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $1,169,472 $1,192,818 

Illinois $3,387,256 $4,652,573 $4,363,343 $4,959,199 $3,978,569 $4,066,400 $4,128,837 $4,642,240 $4,734,909 

Indiana $1,674,203 $2,630,739 $2,473,848 $2,804,117 $2,299,493 $2,368,136 $2,407,312 $2,708,189 $2,762,251 

Iowa $788,309 $1,566,338 $1,478,904 $1,669,567 $1,382,017 $1,431,587 $1,451,246 $1,624,748 $1,657,181 

Kansas $735,690 $1,507,400 $1,426,002 $1,606,745 $1,332,137 $1,378,723 $1,395,602 $1,558,963 $1,590,083

Kentucky $1,120,874 $1,973,447 $1,861,609 $2,103,506 $1,728,071 $1,782,711 $1,809,136 $2,028,024 $2,068,508 

Louisiana $1,158,038 $2,028,911 $1,916,845 $2,162,626 $1,786,746 $1,844,648 $1,873,852 $2,104,153 $2,146,156 

Maine $500,000 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $ 656,563 $ 669,669 

Maryland $1,479,080 $2,405,211 $2,268,004 $2,563,725 $2,126,558 $2,195,360 $2,237,330 $2,518,117 $2,568,384 

Massachusetts $1,706,017 $2,683,869 $2,527,919 $2,860,748 $2,328,320 $2,400,944 $2,448,010 $2,762,347 $2,817,489

Michigan $2,626,360 $3,736,079 $3,487,319 $3,982,303 $3,185,940 $3,262,771 $3,314,966 $3,731,851 $3,806,347 

Minnesota $1,370,594 $2,270,179 $2,138,098 $2,419,794 $1,992,658 $2,058,547 $2,095,078 $2,357,944 $2,405,013 

Mississippi $771,523 $1,548,929 $1,460,700 $1,651,010 $1,358,370 $1,404,891 $1,420,275 $1,583,971 $1,640,032

Missouri $1,552,069 $2,495,001 $2,347,800 $2,659,432 $2,162,965 $2,226,401 $2,261,215 $2,611,091 $2,592,810 

Montana $500,000 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $656,563 $ 669,669 

Nebraska $500,000 $1,188,844 $1,126,535 $1,267,194 $1,059,163 $1,102,791 $1,115,467 $1,244,246 $1,269,084

Nevada $682,664 $1,452,654 $1,371,819 $1,548,390 $1,298,498 $1,350,786 $1,377,816 $1,552,517 $1,583,509

New Hampshire $500,000 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $656,563 669,669

New Jersey $2,279,600 $3,342,767 $3,138,900 $3,563,070 $2,916,042 $2,994,686 $3,048,753 $3,432,905 $3,501,433

New Mexico $520,985 $1,255,243 $1,191,311 $1,337,970 $1,120,099 $1,161,121 $1,171,375 $1,302,797 $1,328,804

New York $5,117,103 $6,719,208 $6,291,855 $7,162,034 $5,752,247 $5,887,839 $6,009,789 $6,791,840 $6,927,420
90 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX H: AmeriCorps Formula Grant Allocation (continued)

State FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17

North Carolina $2,421,310 $3,552,559 $3,349,993 $3,786,689 $3,151,159 $3,249,973 $3,324,305 $3,769,112 $3,844,352

North Dakota $500,000 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $656,563 $669,669

Ohio $3,015,582 $4,226,295 $3,952,744 $4,504,827 $3,625,946 $3,713,540 $3,776,403 $4,255,892 $4,340,849

Oklahoma $956,288 $1,778,016 $1,682,813 $1,895,196 $1,578,230 $1,636,133 $1,662,453 $1,868,797 $1,906,103 

Oregon $995,066 $1,821,215 $1,720,924 $1,941,241 $1,600,625 $1,657,525 $1,687,709 $1,905,257 $1,943,290

Pennsylvania $3,268,248 $4,557,316 $4,272,742 $4,857,664 $3,948,972 $4,037,248 $4,103,257 $4,624,422 $4,716,735 

Puerto Rico $1,038,117 $1,865,355 $1,702,427 $1,988,291 $1,539,091 $1,572,768 $1,572,139 $1,733,310 $1,767,911 

Rhode Island $500,000 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $656,563 $669,669 

South Carolina $1,176,154 $2,050,467 $1,936,479 $2,185,602 $1,819,022 $1,884,841 $1,923,934 $2,174,017 $2,217,415

South Dakota $219,882 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $656,563 $669,669

Tennessee $1,631,695 $2,591,202 $2,442,686 $2,761,974 $2,278,010 $2,347,975 $2,394,298 $2,702,183 $2,756,124

Texas $6,386,955 $8,352,573 $7,930,333 $8,903,046 $7,471,332 $7,716,833 $7,985,282 $9,170,021 $9,353,075

Utah $718,438 $1,496,749 $1,422,988 $1,595,392 $1,324,025 $1,380,583 $1,406,254 $1,585,083 $1,616,725 

Vermont $500,000 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $656,563 $669,669

Virginia $2,039,745 $3,085,600 $2,911,928 $3,288,955 $2,736,231 $2,822,758 $2,881,118 $3,254,690 $3,319,661

Washington $1,719,474 $2,705,875 $2,561,330 $2,884,204 $2,394,781 $2,475,906 $2,534,617 $2,878,858 $2,936,326

West Virginia $500,000 $1,196,061 $1,130,733 $1,274,887 $1,059,133 $1,098,967 $1,106,926 $1,228,110 $1,252,626 

Wisconsin $1,477,601 $2,391,278 $2,248,015 $2,548,874 $2,084,656 $2,145,283 $2,177,375 $2,445,264 $ 2,494,077

Wyoming $500,000 $628,908 $600,000 $670,356 $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 $656,563 $669,669 

TOTAL $83,936,545 $125,781,666 $118,551,479 $134,071,246 $110,704,105 $113,789,000 $115,987,222 $131,312,505 $133,933,792
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 91

Part V: Appendix

APPENDIX I: Social Innovation Fund Intermediaries

SIF Classic

Intermediary Focus Area

Year 

Selected

Average 

Annual 

Grant

Years of 

Funding 

Awarded Description

AARP 

Foundation

Economic 

Opportunity

2014 $  1.0 

million

3 AARP's model focuses on increasing measurable outcomes for low-income 

women 50+ related to the critical interplay between training for and 

obtaining a job with family-sustaining wages; and building the financial 

capability to make sound decisions that reduce debt, rebuild savings and 

pave the way to greater financial stability.

AARP 

Foundation

Youth 

Development

2015 $  1.0 

million

3 AARP's project addresses the need for replicable, scalable and costeffective models to reduce the number of children not reaching the critical 

benchmark of reading by the end of the third grade.  The AARP Foundation 

will be evaluating whether this more cost-effective and scalable small group 

intervention is as effective as the higher cost, one-on-one tutoring approach.

AIDS United Healthy Futures 2010 $  2.0 

million

3 AIDS United's program aims to increase the number of HIV positive 

individuals receiving care. The SIF grant to AIDS United supports 13 

innovative partnerships – collaborations of nonprofits, researchers and 

others – that are improving individual health outcomes and strengthening 

local services systems. In total, it will connect at least 3,500 low-income 

and marginalized individuals with HIV to high quality health care and the 

supportive services they need.

Annie E. 

Casey 

Foundation

Youth 

Development

2015 $   1.5 

million

3 Annie E. Casey's program will integrate portions of two existing interventions 

that support system-involved youth to connect to post-secondary education 

and employment

Boston 

Foundation

Youth 

Development

2014 $  2.7 

million

1 Boston Foundation's initiative supports academic programming and college 

advising activities at the high school level, offers a summer bridge program 

for students transitioning from high school to college and works closely with 

colleges and universities to offer students the support they need to earn 

a degree and be prepared to enter the workforce. The ultimate goal is to 

dramatically increase the number of BPS graduates completing college.

Capital Area 

United Way

Youth 

Development

2012 $  1.0 

million

2 Capital Area United Way will fund eight to 12 organizations that will replicate 

and/or expand early childhood development programs to increase school 

readiness among children in low-income and rural parishes within the 

Greater Baton Rouge area.

Capital 

Impact 

Partners

Economic 

Opportunity

2011 $  1.0 

million

2 Capital Impact Partners supports programming that builds the capacity 

of local organizations to more effectively manage public investment in 

affordable homeownership for low-income families to ensure that assisted 

families realize measurable economic benefits including increased 

stability, access to neighborhoods of opportunity, and family wealth 

building.
92 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX I: Social Innovation Fund Intermediaries (continued)

SIF Classic

Intermediary Focus Area

Year 

Selected

Average 

Annual 

Grant

Years of 

Funding 

Awarded Description

Corporation 

for Supportive 

Housing (SIF 

Classic)

Healthy Futures 2011 $  1.2 

million

2 Corporation for Supportive Housing is expanding and replicating supportive 

housing models that combine health, housing and social services to 

improve the health and housing outcomes from homeless individuals with 

complex health needs who frequently multiple public crisis systems.

Foundation 

for a Healthy 

Kentucky

Healthy Futures 2010 $  1.0 

million

3 The Foundation for a Health Kentucky will improve access to needed health 

services, reduce health risks and disparities, and promote health equity 

in low-income communities in Kentucky. Subgrantees will focus on testing 

innovative strategies to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, curb 

smoking and other unhealthy habits, and, increase access to health services 

in underserved communities. 

Greater Twin 

Cities United 

Way, in 

partnership 

with 

Generation 

Next

Youth 

Development

2012 $  1.0 

million

2 Greater Twin Cities United Way in partnership with Generation Next, will 

focus on improving kindergarten readiness, 3rd-grade reading proficiency, 

9th-grade readiness for upper-level math, four-year high school graduation, 

and post-secondary enrollment among low-income students in the St. Paul/

Minneapolis area, working with at least 11 subgrantees.

GreenLight 

Fund

Youth 

Development

2012 $  1.0 

million

2 GreenLight Fund will target low-income children and youth to close the 

achievement and opportunity gap in Boston, Philadelphia, and the San 

Francisco Bay Area, selecting two subgrantees in each of the sites.

Jobs for the 

Future, Inc. - 

National Fund 

for Workforce 

Solutions

Economic 

Opportunity

2010 $  3.2 

million

3 Jobs for the Future, Inc and the National Fund for Workforce Solutions (NFWS) 

will expand their targeted training and technical assistance to low-income 

individuals while also addressing the critical skill needs of employers. The 

funds will dramatically increase economic opportunities for disadvantaged 

workers and job seekers through investments in regional workforce 

collaboratives that partner with employers to identify jobs and career 

pathways in high-growth industries.

Jobs for the 

Future, Inc. - 

Opportunity 

Works

Youth 

Development

2014 $  2.0 

million

3 Jobs for the Future and its partner, the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions, 

seeks to improve education and career outcomes for youth disconnected from 

school or work, also known as Opportunity Youth, in 12 communities across 

the country. The expectation is that participating youth will earn a diploma or 

its equivalent and enter postsecondary education at twice the rate of peers 

who do not receive these services.

Local 

Initiatives 

Support 

Corporation

Economic 

Opportunity

2015 $  3.7 

million

3 The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) will implement the Bridges 

to Career Opportunity Program to improve employment for low-income, 

hard-to-employ unskilled workers.  The local organizations funded by 

the program will partner with employers to ensure that the academic 

preparation, skills training and other provided services are relevant to local 

industries and employment opportunities.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 93

Part V: Appendix

APPENDIX I: Social Innovation Fund Intermediaries (continued)

SIF Classic

Intermediary Focus Area

Year 

Selected

Average 

Annual 

Grant

Years of 

Funding 

Awarded Description

Local 

Initiatives 

Support 

Corporation

Economic 

Opportunity

2015 $  3.7 

million

3 The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) will implement the Bridges 

to Career Opportunity Program to improve employment for low-income, 

hard-to-employ unskilled workers.  The local organizations funded by 

the program will partner with employers to ensure that the academic 

preparation, skills training and other provided services are relevant to local 

industries and employment opportunities.

Mayor's Fund 

to Advance 

New York City

Economic 

Opportunity

2010 $  5.7 

million

3 The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and the NYC Center for Economic 

Opportunity (CEO) will replicate five effective anti-poverty programs 

originally piloted by CEO in eight urban areas. By advancing the education, 

employment and financial savings of low-income adults and families, the 

programs will combat poverty across a diverse cross-section of America.

Mayor's Fund 

to Advance 

New York City

Healthy Futures 2015 $  2 

million

3 The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City will implement the Connection to 

Care (C2C) model to address the unmet mental health needs of New Yorkers. 

In partnership with the Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) and the NYC 

Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), local community based 

organizations serving at-risk individuals will integrate evidence-based 

mental health interventions into their existing programming.

Methodist 

Healthcare 

Ministries of 

South Texas, 

Inc.

Healthy Futures 2014 $  5.0 

million

2 Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas will implement a program 

designed to improve rates of depression and diabetes in high-poverty 

communities in the Rio Grande Valley through its Sí Texas: Social Innovation 

for a Healthy South Texas project.

Mile High 

United Way

Youth 

Development

2011 $  1.8 

million

2 Mile High United Way (MHUW) will fund subgrantee programs that leverage 

community volunteers to collectively address 3rd grade literacy rates in rural 

and urban areas across the state of Colorado. Building upon a strong state 

movement for reform and with strong bipartisan support from Colorado’s 

Governor, Lieutenant Governor and state legislature, Mile High United Way is 

poised to introduce key transformations in Colorado’s education system.

Missouri 

Foundation 

for Health

Healthy Futures 2010 $  1.0 

million

3 The Missouri Foundation for Health is investing in sub-grantees working in lowincome communities across the state to reduce risk factors and the prevalence 

of two preventable causes of chronic disease and death: tobacco use and 

obesity. The project draws on an integrated community change model blending 

two transformative models of prevention on obesity and tobacco control.

Nebraska 

Children and 

Families 

Foundation

Youth 

Development

2015 $  1.0 

million

2 Nebraska Children and Families Foundation’s Connected Youth Initiative will 

work in partnership with rural communities to build strong collaborations 

of service providers, funders and decision-makers to create supportive 

communities dedicated to improving outcomes for youth aged 14-24 who 

have experienced foster care, juvenile justice involvement or homelessness. 
94 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX I: Social Innovation Fund Intermediaries (continued)

SIF Classic

Intermediary Focus Area

Year 

Selected

Average 

Annual 

Grant

Years of 

Funding 

Awarded Description

New Profit 

Inc.

Youth 

Development

2010 $  5.0 

million

3 New Profit, Inc.collaborate with innovative youth-focused nonprofit 

organizations with existing evidence to yield significant improvements in 

helping young people navigate the increasingly complex path from high 

school to college and productive employment. The project will expand the 

reach of these nonprofits to improve the lives of young people in lowincome communities throughout the country. 

REDF Economic 

Opportunity

2010 $  1.5 

million

4 REDF will create job opportunities for thousands of Californians with multiple 

barriers to employment – including dislocated youth, individuals who 

have been homeless or incarcerated, and those with severe mental illness 

– in sustainable nonprofit social enterprises in low-income communities 

throughout the state. The project includes testing to determine the potential 

of these enterprises as scalable employment 

REDF Economic 

Opportunity

2015 $  3.5 

million

2 Through its Scaling the Impact of Social Enterprise SIF project, REDF will 

create job opportunities for individuals with multiple barriers to employment 

– including dislocated youth, individuals who have been homeless or 

incarcerated, and those with severe mental illness – in sustainable nonprofit 

social enterprises in low-income communities.  

Share Our 

Strength

Healthy Futures 2014 $  1.5 

million

1 Share Our Strength will accelerate the growth of its No Kid Hungry campaign. 

With a bold goal to end childhood hunger in the U.S., Share Our Strength plans 

to complete the first ever assessment of the impact of childhood hunger of a 

comprehensive strategy that engages all five federal nutrition programs.

Silicon Valley 

Community 

Foundation

Youth 

Development

2014 $  2.5 

million

3 The Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) will implement The Big Lift, 

a collective impact collaborative of more than 100 organizations that will 

provide funds to preschool and other organizations involved in the academic 

and social education of preschool students and is designed to increase the 

number of third graders who read proficiently in 11 high need school districts 

in San Mateo County, California.

The Edna 

McConnell 

Clark 

Foundation

Youth 

Development

2010 $  10.0 

million

3 The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation is combining large grants, strategic 

business planning, rigorous evaluation and capital aggregation to increase 

the scale and impact of youth development organizations in communities of 

need across the United States. Their subgrantees are focusing on improving 

the educational skills and workforce readiness of economically disadvantaged 

young people as well as helping them to avoid high-risk behavior. 

The John 

A. Hartford 

Foundation

Healthy Futures 2012 $  1.0 

million

2 The John A. Hartford Foundation will fund organizations to disseminate its 

IMPACT model of depression treatment through community health clinics 

in low-income rural areas in Wyoming, Washington, Alaska, Montana, 

and Idaho. By reducing costs for health expenditures and caregiving and 

increasing employment income of those affected by depression, they aim to 

increase economic well-being for individuals served.
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 95

Part V: Appendix

APPENDIX I: Social Innovation Fund Intermediaries (continued)

SIF Classic

Intermediary Focus Area

Year 

Selected

Average 

Annual 

Grant

Years of 

Funding 

Awarded Description

U.S. Soccer 

Foundation

Healthy Futures 2011 $  1.0 

million

2 The US Soccer Federation Foundation (USSFF) will support the expansion 

and replication of Soccer for Success (SfS), a no-cost, after-school, 

sports-based youth development program whose goal is to improve health 

by mitigating and reducing obesity through physical activity and nutrition 

education.

United 

Way for 

Southeastern 

Michigan

Youth 

Development

2011 $  2.0 

million

2 United Way for Southeastern Michigan will build on the expertise of its 

partnering organizations and facilitate the development of a portfolio of 

replicable early childhood learning communities in needy communities in 

greater Detroit and surrounding areas.

United Way 

of Greater 

Cincinnati

Youth 

Development

2010 $  1.0 

million

3 United Way of Greater Cincinnati, the Strive Partnership and other 

funders, will address the needs of low-income children and youth from 

“cradle to career” in the Greater Cincinnati-area though investments in 

early education, mentoring and literacy programs, college access, career 

pathways and other innovations. 

United Way 

of Greenville 

County

Youth 

Development

2014 $  1.0 

million

3 United Way of Greenville County (UWGC) is an existing grantmaking 

institution that has held a competitive grant process for over 40 yrs. 

Through the OnTrack Greenville initiative, UWGC will design a dropout 

prevention program to identify middle grade students who begin to 

disengage from school. A team will then match students with appropriate 

interventions and resources.

United Way of 

Lane County

Youth 

Development

2015 $  2.0 

million

2 The United Way of Lane County (UWLC) will implement the evidence-based 

Kids in Transition to School (KITS) program to improve the early literacy 

and social and self-regulation skills of Lane County children entering 

kindergarten.

Venture 

Philanthropy 

Partners

Youth 

Development

2010 $  2.0 

million

3 Venture Philanthropy Partners will create a powerful network of effective 

nonprofit organizations in the Washington D.C. National Capital Region 

supporting an integrated approach to addressing the education and 

employment needs of low-income and vulnerable youth ages 14-24. 

Youthprise Economic 

Opportunity 

and Youth 

Development

2015 $  1.0 

million

3 The mission of Youthprise is to champion learning beyond the classroom so 

that all Minnesota youth thrive. Youthprise was founded by the McKnight 

Foundation in 2010 to increase the quality, accessibility, sustainability and 

innovation of opportunities for learning beyond the classroom.
96 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

APPENDIX I: Social Innovation Fund Intermediaries (continued)

SIF Pay for Success

Intermediary Focus Area

Year 

Selected

Average 

Annual 

Grant

Years of 

Funding 

Awarded Description

Corporation 

for Supportive 

Housing (SIF 

Pay for 

Success)

Economic 

Opportunity and 

Health Futures

2014 $  0.3 

million

3 Corporation for Supportive Housing will provide technical assistance 

to government and nonprofit organizations, building their capacity to 

pursue PFS pilots that improve outcomes and reduce costs for high-cost 

vulnerable populations, namely homeless individuals, youth and families, 

and disabled residents of health care institutions who prefer to live in 

the community.

Green & 

Healthy 

Homes 

Initiative

Healthy Futures 2014 $  0.3 

million

3 GHHI will assess the feasibility of five cities or counties constructing 

asthma-related PFS projects and provide technical assistance to 

healthcare organizations (including integrated delivery networks, 

academic medical centers, and Medicaid managed care organizations) 

and nonprofit service providers. One health care entity, acting as a 

private payor, and one service provider will be selected per site, for a 

total of ten project sub-recipients. 

Harvard 

Kennedy 

School Social 

Impact Bond 

Lab

Multiple (Health 

Futures, Economic 

Opportunity, Youth 

Development)

2014 $  0.6 

million

3 HKS SIB will run two national competitions, in the fall of 2014 and the fall 

of 2015, to select a total of ten Government Partners who will receive fulltime technical assistance from the SIB Lab over the course of 15 months 

to assist with a PFS project. The SIB Lab will select for those innovative 

or path-breaking projects that most advance the PFS model in Social 

Innovation Fund focus areas. 

The SIB Lab will also continue to produce publications that capture and 

distill the key lessons learned from providing technical assistance and 

building capacity so that awareness of the PFS model can spread and so 

that others in the field can benefit.

Institute 

for Child 

Success, Inc.

Youth 

Development

2014 $  0.4 

million

2 Institute for Child Success, Inc. will provide technical assistance to help 

jurisdictions use PFS financing to improve outcomes for children and 

families. In 2014, ICS organized the first national conference on PFS for 

early childhood with the business organization ReadyNation. In 2015, 

ReadyNation, ICS and Pritzker Children’s Initiative are planning to host 

a second annual conference in Chicago, where participants are chosen 

through an open competition. 

National 

Council on 

Crime and 

Delinquency

Youth 

Development

2014 $  0.4 

million

2 This project will assist three state or local governments or nonprofit 

organizations to determine the feasibility of using PFS to promote 

interventions addressing positive youth development, with a focus on 1) 

juvenile justice or child welfare system-involved youth or youth at risk of 

entering or crossing over into these systems, and 2) addressing high rates 

of racial disparity in these systems. 
CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 97

Part V: Appendix

APPENDIX I: Social Innovation Fund Intermediaries (continued)

SIF Pay for Success

Intermediary Focus Area

Year 

Selected

Average 

Annual 

Grant

Years of 

Funding 

Awarded Description

Nonprofit 

Finance Fund

Multiple (Health 

Futures, Economic 

Opportunity, Youth 

Development)

2014 $  1.8 

million

2 NFF's proposed program will provide $2.88 million in grant funding over two 

years to an estimated 12 sub-recipients (anticipated as state, county, or local 

governments, and nonprofit providers with identified transaction coordinators 

) to structure high-quality PFS transactions. Sub-recipients will be expected 

to structure and close PFS transactions within two years of receiving support 

and therefore the program anticipates 8 transactions funded through the 

program will get to contract within a three-year period.

Third Sector 

Capital 

Partners, Inc.

Multiple (Health 

Futures, Economic 

Opportunity, Youth 

Development)

2014 $  0.6 

million

3 This project will create a laboratory for testing promising PFS mechanisms 

and infrastructures, providing assistance to approximately 10 government 

Sub-Recipients (across two cohorts), selected because they have engaged 

decision makers from multiple levels of government, have energized local 

philanthropic support and/or have demonstrated a high degree of PFS 

readiness. Additionally, TSCP will build capacity to convert the lessons 

learned in our cohorts and other individual PFS projects into scalable PFS 

blueprints that will be transferred to a much wider audience by engaging 

deeply with the leadership organizations for state and local government, as 

well as for funders.

University of 

Utah Policy 

Innovation 

Lab

Multiple (Health 

Futures, Economic 

Opportunity, Youth 

Development)

2014 $  1.1 

million

1 The Policy Innovation Lab will facilitate PFS deals across the Western 

United States with an initial focus on the intermountain west. The Lab 

anticipates working primarily with service providers and the surrounding 

community therein. Following the selection of a service provider, further 

technical assistance and support -- including back office, staff capacity 

building, impact measurement and reporting, governance, and general 

business support -- will be provided throughout the process to ensure 

successful development into PFS ready organizations.
98 CNCS FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

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