National service refers to programs like AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and other programs and initiatives. Participants in these programs address community needs in disaster services, economic opportunity, education, the environment, health, and veterans and military families.
Rates
Since 1994, 1 million individuals have served 1.4 billion hours in AmeriCorps and have earned $3.3 billion of Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards. In 2015 AmeriCorps members served at 21,600 unique sites, managing or mobilizing 2.3 million community volunteers, and leveraging $1 billion worth of resources from other sources. Figure 1 shows the breakdown of 2015 AmeriCorps services.1
FIGURE 1: AMERICORPS BY THE NUMBERS
Benefits for Youth
A growing body of research shows that national service has an effect on more than just communities served, but also on AmeriCorps members. Through surveying 3,772 AmeriCorps alumni, and a secure data match with the National Student Clearinghouse, the AmeriCorps Alumni Outcomes Study2 found that:
- AmeriCorps service is found to have a significant positive effect on civic engagement; respondents were more likely to engage in all community service activities asked about in the survey post-AmeriCorps compared to pre-AmeriCorps. There was also a positive effect seen on sense of community, cultural competency and measures of self-efficacy.
- The study found that AmeriCorps service had significant effects on alumni’s employment and career pathways. For example, AmeriCorps alumni are more likely to attain a bachelor’s degree or higher than the average American adult.
Resources
AmeriCorps
This program engages more than 80,000 Americans in intensive service each year at 21,600 unique sites including nonprofits, schools, public agencies, and community and faith-based groups across the country.
AmeriCorps Alumni Outcomes Study
This study explores how national service experiences successfully encourage national service alumni to stay civically engaged, develop and utilize skills gained through service, and/or pursue service-oriented careers and post-secondary education and employment.
Results from the National Student Clearinghouse Data Match: New Methods for Assessing AmeriCorps Alumni Outcomes
This report executed a data match of a sample of three cohorts of AmeriCorps alumni (who completed their last term of service in 2005, 2010, and 2013) to postsecondary enrollment and graduation records held by the National Student Clearinghouse.
SeniorCorps
This AmeriCorps program connects today’s 55+ with the youth and youth organizations that need them most through mentoring, coaching, or companionship.
Still Serving: Measuring the Eight-Year Impact of AmeriCorps on Alumni (PDF, 56 pages)
This study assesses the outcomes and impacts of national and community service on individuals who serve in AmeriCorps State and National and AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. The objective of the study is to identify the effects of AmeriCorps on members’ civic engagement and volunteering, employment and careers, educational attainment, and life satisfaction.
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