§ 2500.20 - Program descriptions.

§ 2500.20 Program descriptions.

(a) AmeriCorps operates four main national service programs: AmeriCorps NCCC, AmeriCorps Seniors, AmeriCorps State and National, and AmeriCorps VISTA. Additional information on each of these programs and additional AmeriCorps programs is available at www.americorps.gov.

(1) AmeriCorps NCCC is a full-time residential service program for individuals aged 18 to 24 (unless otherwise authorized), as defined by statute. Individuals serving in the NCCC program complete team-based service projects that respond to priority national and community needs. AmeriCorps NCCC program staff recruit, train, and manage volunteers (called “members”) and partner with organizations that serve as project sponsors. FEMA Corps is a sub-program that AmeriCorps NCCC manages in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It places members in service positions to perform disaster public assistance, planning, preparedness, and recovery activities. The NCCC Forest Corps is a sub-program that AmeriCorps NCCC manages in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. It places members in service positions to perform wildfire mitigation, reforestation, and climate resiliency activities. Finally, NCCC houses the agency's Disaster Services Unit (DSU), the entity which coordinates with FEMA to secure funding to mobilize AmeriCorps NCCC and AmeriCorps State and National members under a federally declared disaster.

(2) AmeriCorps Seniors focuses on providing service opportunities for individuals aged 55 years or older. It operates four national service programs: the Foster Grandparent Program, Senior Companion Program, RSVP, and the Senior Demonstration Program. Under each of these programs, AmeriCorps Seniors provides grants to sponsoring organizations to meet priority national and community needs. The sponsoring organizations then recruit and enlist local volunteers, and address performance measures as required by grant terms and conditions.

(3) AmeriCorps State and National provides grants to States, Territories, Indian Tribes, public and private nonprofit organizations, local governments, and institutions of higher education to carry out national service programs, offering a wide range of service opportunities. In addition to grant funds to support direct programming, AmeriCorps State and National also provides general operating funding for State service commissions.

(4) AmeriCorps VISTA is a program for individuals aged 18 and older to participate in full-time service to strengthen and supplement efforts to eliminate and alleviate poverty and poverty-related problems in the United States. AmeriCorps VISTA partners with local organizations to recruit, select, train, and assign volunteers (“members”) to work on projects at a sponsoring organization or one of its project sites.

(b) In addition to its four main national service programs, AmeriCorps also operates several additional programs and activities. These include the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service; the September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance; the Volunteer Generation Fund; and other national service programs that AmeriCorps establishes through agreements with other Federal agencies.