Idaho State University receives portion of a $2 million grant for AmeriCorps Program

Idaho State University’s Idaho Healthcare for Children and Families AmeriCorps program, housed at the Institute of Rural Health, received $311,193 to fund 37 out of 140 AmeriCorps members across Idaho through next summer.

The grant was received through Serve Idaho, the Governor’s Commission on Service and Volunteerism that received nearly $2 million from the Corporation for National and Community Service.

“Children and families will benefit the most from this new grant because an AmeriCorps Member serves at a placement site whose goal it is to help children and families succeed,” said Barbara Cunningham, the ISU Institute of Rural Health’s senior grant project coordinator. “The placement site puts up matching funds to leverage the positive impact of the grant funding. As a result, the placement site benefits and has a stake in their new member. Additionally, ISU benefits by receiving the funds to administer the program. It is a win-win situation for everyone involved.”

Idaho AmeriCorps members will work full or part time in education, healthy futures, environmental stewardship, veterans and military families, economic opportunity and disaster services. Of the $2 million grant, many organizations received funds including Lewis Clark State College, Lewis Clark Service Corps; Student Conservation Association, Idaho AmeriCorps Program; Idaho Department of Labor, Veterans Serving Veterans AmeriCorps; Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute, AmeriCorps program; and Blackfoot Community Center, SRJH/BCC Consortium AmeriCorps program.

“This grant has a positive impact on everyone who participates: placement sites, AmeriCorps members, ISU, and the communities where AmeriCorps members serve,” said Cunningham. “We are all making a positive impact in our respective communities. Every year we provide AmeriCorps with great stories from our members. I have read innumerable stories which have brought tears to my eyes because of the different impacts my members have had in their community.”

AmeriCorps members receive a modest living stipend and an education award that can be used to pay for college or to pay back qualified student loans. More than 6,500 people of all ages and backgrounds in Idaho are helping meet local needs, strengthen communities and increase civic engagement through national service. In 2012 the Corporation for National and Community Service committed more than $6.4 million to support Idaho communities through national service initiatives.

Serve Idaho is a division of the Idaho Department of Labor. It encourages volunteerism and community service, promoting collaborative efforts among public, private and nonprofit, state and local agencies to advance community service programs and civic engagement statewide. The commission administers Idaho’s AmeriCorps programs, Idaho’s Promise and the Governor’s Brightest Star Awards, and hosts the annual Serve Idaho Conference on Service and Volunteerism. The commission developed the state model for Emergent Volunteer Reception Centers established during disasters for the Bureau of Homeland Security. Serve Idaho is funded in part by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Idaho Department of Labor.

More information about Serve Idaho and AmeriCorps service opportunities is at www.serveidaho.gov.
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