[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 10, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2573-2574]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-532]



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CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE


AmeriCorps State and Direct Grant Program, Learn and Serve 
America K-12 Grant Program, and Learn and Serve America Higher Ed Grant 
Program 1995 Policies and Preferences

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Corporation for National and Community Service (the 
Corporation) in the Federal Register of October 27, 1994 (59 FR 53963) 
proposed changes and invited comments with regard to three of its main 
programs: AmeriCorps*USA, Learn & Serve America K-12, and Learn & Serve 
America Higher Education. The Corporation is now proposing additional 
policy changes and program preferences for funding for these three 
programs. This notice addresses previously established rules concerning 
the percentage of time a program must commit to direct service activity 
and a new policy issue focusing on fee-for-service. Moreover, the 
Corporation has decided to give special consideration for programs that 
have received funding from the Corporation in the past. The Corporation 
invites all interested parties to comment on the issues discussed in 
this notice. Any comments received will be given careful consideration 
in the development of final FY 1995 policies and grant applications.

DATES: Comments on the Corporation's proposal for Direct Service Time 
and Special Consideration for Past Corporation Funded Programs must be 
received no later than January 25, 1995. Comments specifically 
addressing the Corporation's proposal for Fee-for-service must be 
received no later than March 13, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Responses to this notice may be mailed to Ethan Kline of the 
Office of General Counsel, Corporation for National Service, 1201 New 
York Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20525.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ethan Kline at (202) 606-5000 x. 467 
between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. For 
individuals with disabilities, information will be made available in 
alternative formats, upon request.

I. Policies and Guidelines

A. Direct Service Time

    The Corporation's position has been that in order for programs to 
have direct and demonstrable results in communities, at least 80% of 
each AmeriCorps Members required 1700 hours of service (1360 hours) 
must be spent in direct service activities, with no more than 20% of 
the required service time (340 hours) spent in training, education, and 
other non-direct service activities. In general, eligible direct 
service activities are those service activities that directly relate to 
a programs Community Service Objectives and may include on-site 
training, specific instructions related to a service project, 
developing relevant lesson plans, and imparting specific knowledge 
through workshops and presentations. Eligible non-direct service 
activities, including training and education, are those that relate to 
the fulfillment of a program's Community Building and Participant 
Development Objectives, and may include meeting with a community-based 
organization in order to develop a relationship with that organization 
or having Members attend GED preparation classes.
    The Corporation now proposes to refine this policy and apply the 
``80/20'' Rule to the general design of the AmeriCorps program, not to 
each individual Member. This change allows for variances among the 
individual Members (some of whom will spend more time performing direct 
service while others will spend more time in education, training, or 
other non-direct service activities) and for variances throughout the 
course of the year (a program may choose to spend more time in training 
sessions at the beginning of the year rather than at the end of the 
year). The 80/20 Rule will apply only to the required minimum of 1700 
hours, [[Page 2574]] and if a program exceeds 1700 hours, the extra 
hours will not fall under these guidelines. For example, if a program 
is designed so that Members complete an average of 1900 hours of 
service, an average of 1360 of those hours must be spent in direct 
service and 540 hours may be spent on eligible non-direct service 
activities such as training and education.

B. Fee-for-Service Definition

    The Corporation recognizes that fee-for-service is a term that 
changes within the specific context of a program. Therefore, for 
purposes of discussion and potential future policy guidance, the 
Corporation defines Fee-for-service as specific time-limited activities 
undertaken by an AmeriCorps program for which the program charges the 
organization for which the activity is undertaken. This could result 
from a bid the AmeriCorps program placed in an RFP process or a 
cooperative agreement with other agencies. Typically, the agreement or 
contract specifies a scope of work and the fee to be charged for the 
activity.
    For future policy guidance, the Corporation is considering setting 
quality parameters relative to fee-for-service activities and limiting 
the scope of fee-for-service work that can be applied to the state and 
local match requirements of AmeriCorps. This would not limit the fee-
for-service activity a program could accomplish with participants other 
than AmeriCorps Members.
    Possible ways of limiting fee-for-service activity could include: 
restrictions on the percentage of the total budget or the total non-
Corporation budget that may be derived from fees for service; 
restrictions on the abilities of programs to conduct fee-for-service 
projects using Corporation support or to count fee-for-service 
activities toward required service hours; and restrictions on the 
project selection process (e.g. require programs to demonstrate that 
the availability of fees did not enter into the project selection 
process).

II. Special Consideration for Past Corporation Funded Programs

    The following programs were funded previously by the Corporation, 
but due to regulatory changes they are no longer eligible to apply 
directly to the Corporation and thus they might elect to apply through 
the state process. Because their current funding is based upon 
priorities established for the 1994 grant cycle, they may apply under 
either 1994 priorities or the new 1995 priorities, but they are 
encouraged to use those for 1995. These programs will apply to the 
state using the application instructions for new programs. If these 
programs meet quality standards, they will receive preference over 
other new program applications in the Corporation selection process:
    A. Defense Conversion Assistance programs.
    B. Summer of Safety Continuation Programs.
    C. Subtitle D programs originally funded for two year grants under 
the National and Community Service Act of 1990. These programs did not 
compete under the 1994 funding cycle.
    D. Subtitle H Programs of the National and Community Service Act of 
1993 renewed from Subtitle E, which were programs under the National 
and Community Service Act of 1990.

    Dated: January 4, 1995
Terry Russell,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 95-532 Filed 1-9-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6050-28-P