The Serve America Act

The Serve America Act, sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), was passed by the Senate last night. This legislation creates several new volunteer programs and also increases incentives for participation in existing volunteer programs like Americorps. CIS actively supported this legislation and we are please it has passed. The next step is for the House and Senate to meet and reconcile differences between the House-passed version and the Senate-passed version.

Among the new programs created by this legislation:

Education Corps will enlist thousands of volunteers to support improved education in low-income communities. This will present a tremendous new opportunity for CIS affiliates to enhance their staffing with volunteers, similar to how several affiliates have done using AmeriCorps.

The Volunteer Generation Fund will enhance the capacity of organizations, such as CIS, to recruit and manage volunteers effectively beyond full-time corps members. This fund could potentially grow from $50 million in the first year to $100 million in the fifth year.

The bill would also create Youth Engagement Zones in low-income communities to provide grants for local partnerships engaging students in service-learning activities within their communities. Grants would range from $250,000 to $1 million per year for up to five years.

An additional fund in the new legislation would provide competitive grants to expand proven solutions to challenges that our communities face. CIS Affiliates are well-positioned to apply for these grants when they become available. The total fund would grow from $50 million in the first year to $100 million in the fifth year supporting local sub-grants of at least $100,000 per year for up to five years.