11 States Selected to Receive Youth Service Grants
WASHINGTON, DC — America’s Service Commissions (ASC) is pleased to announce that it will be able to support 11 states in expanding youth service opportunities at a statewide level, thanks to a $265,000 grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The two-year grant will fund a multi-year initiative to identify how the state service commission network can expand youth service opportunities through national service, such as AmeriCorps and the Volunteer Generation Fund. ASC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association of the 52 governor-appointed state service commissions across the United States and its territories that administer AmeriCorps State grants and other volunteer-related funds.
ASC will facilitate monthly learning calls for the participating state commissions, conduct a national landscape analysis of promising program models and initiatives, and identify strategies to sustain youth service at the state level. At the conclusion of the project, ASC will identify lessons learned from the participating state service commissions to share with the broader state service commission network.
ASC selected the following 11 states to receive $20,000 mini-grants for 15 months to support their capacity in expanding youth service.
Each selected state will be assessing the current youth service landscape and exploring opportunities to expand the quality and/or quantity of youth service opportunities, with a focus on middle school and high school youth that are less likely to be engaged in service.
“We are grateful to the Mott Foundation for their support to help expand youth service opportunities at the state level,” said Kaira Esgate, CEO of ASC. “State service commissions are uniquely positioned to do this work. We know young people benefit from meaningful service opportunities, and we believe having early exposure to service is critical to establishing lifelong volunteers and engaged citizens.”