AMERICORPS

AMERICORPS. Envisioned as a renewed commitment to national service programs, AmeriCorps harked back to the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps and the Community Action Programs of the Great Society. The concept of a federally sponsored, community oriented volunteer program originated in the 1992 platform of Democratic presidential candidate William J. Clinton, and proved one of the most popular proposals of the campaign. After Clinton's election, the creation of AmeriCorps became a priority for the incoming administration.

While some critics in the philanthropic community criticized the plan to pay volunteers—warning that it would demean the true nature of volunteerism—Congress approved the formation of AmeriCorps under the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993. The act created the Corporation for National and Community Service to oversee AmeriCorps as well as two additional agencies, Learn and Serve America and the National Senior Service Corps. Within AmeriCorps, three departments carried out distinct programs: AmeriCorps*State and National, AmeriCorps*Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), and AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC).

Administered through grant awards to state commissions, AmeriCorps*State and National programs matched volunteers in the areas of education, public health and safety, and the environment with existing local community programs. Typical AmeriCorps volunteers worked to reduce illiteracy, build housing, improve national park facilities, and provide assistance to physically and mentally challenged individuals. In return for a minimum of 1,700 hours of annual service, volunteers received a stipend for living expenses ($7,640 in 1998), health insurance, child-care assistance, and an educational award for tuition or outstanding student loans. In order to stem criticism of the program as a government intrusion into volunteer service, participants were limited to two years in the program and the stipend and health insurance benefits were kept at minimal levels. The AmeriCorps*VISTA program, a continuation of the original VISTA program begun in 1965, focused on poverty-related initiatives such as job training and public health programs, while NCCC participants worked to promote civic pride while learning leadership values in ten-month environmental and educational programs.

Although AmeriCorps was criticized for financial mismanagement during its initial phase, a strong commitment by President Clinton kept the program from being dismantled. Under the direction of Harris Wofford, the program improved its performance and reduced its expenses, a fact that helped it win approval from the incoming Republican administration of President George W. Bush in 2000. Although his move to include faith-based organizations in AmeriCorps programs raised controversy over issues of state funding for religious groups, the president's maintenance of a $237-million budget in 2001 ensured that an estimated 50,000 volunteers would continue to serve in AmeriCorps programs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bandow, Doug. "AmeriCorps the Beautiful? National Service—or Government Service?" In Volunteerism. Edited by Frank McGuckin. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1998.

Hebel, Sara. "Bush Proposes Funds to Maintain AmeriCorps." Chronicle of Higher Education 46, no. 32 (April 2001): A42.

Waldman, Steven. The Bill: How the Adventures of Clinton's National Service Bill Reveal What Is Corrupt, Comic, Cynical—and Noble—about Washington. New York: Viking, 1995.

Wofford, Harris, and Steven Waldman. "AmeriCorps the Beautiful? Habitat for Conservative Values." In Volunteerism. Edited by Frank McGuckin. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1998.

Timothy G.Borden

See alsoVolunteerism .