The Missouri Community Service Commission (MCSC) awarded $9.8 million in federal funds to place 759 AmeriCorps members with 19 programs across Missouri. Members will dedicate the next year to serving their communities through tutoring and mentoring for youth, preparing communities to respond effectively to emergencies, feeding those in need, promoting environmental stewardship and improving literacy.
Participating programs will also match the awarded funds with an additional $8 million in local funding for a total of $17.8 million across 41 counties. Additional American Rescue Plan funds will be released later this year to further support this investment.
AmeriCorps members serving communities receive a modest living allowance, student loan deferment, health insurance, childcare, and professional development. In addition, after completion of service, members receive an education award of up to $6,345 to help pay for educational expenses, such as college tuition or to repay student loans. The funds awarded today include $3.3 million in education awards.
A total of $60.4 million in education awards have been earned to date. Since 1994, more than 17,000 Missourians have served 25 million hours through AmeriCorps for a total of more than $649 million in community impact.
For details on this year’s program funding awards, including dollar amounts and locations, click on this link<https://showmeservice.org/americorps-programs/>.
One of the funding awards was in three counties in the KMMO listening area.
Harvesters’ mission is to feed hungry people today and work to end hunger tomorrow. For 40 years, Harvesters has been the region’s solution to hunger. By providing nutritious food and raising community awareness of hunger, Harvesters meets a basic need while emphasizing the importance of overall health and serving people with dignity. As a regional food bank serving a 26-county area of northeast Kansas and northwestern Missouri, Harvesters provides food and related household products to more than 760 nonprofit agencies including emergency food pantries, community kitchens, homeless shelters, children’s homes and other organizations. The service area includes Carroll, Johnson and Lafayette Counties
Commission now accepting applications for 2022-23
To ensure impact for the future, MCSC is now seeking applications for the 2022-2023 AmeriCorps program year. Applicants should be community or faith-based organizations, institutions of higher education, or governmental entities. Individuals, for-profit business, or organizations not in good standing with the federal government or the state of Missouri are ineligible.
Successful applications will recruit, train, place, and supervise AmeriCorps members who will serve between 100 to 1,700 hours with the goal of alleviating or eliminating a defined community need. Upon completion of service, members earn a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award from the National Service Trust that can pay for higher education expenses or be applied to qualified student loans. This is a three-year competitive grant that will be continued annually.
To learn how to apply for AmeriCorps funding, visit showmeservice.org/grants.