Thank you for your answer!

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Awesome! Thanks!

Hi Michael! Glad I stumbled on your AMA this morning.

I'm a big fan of Americorps,the idea of Americorps, and volunteering in general. The overall picture your "Civic Life in America" report shows a much more optimistic picture than what our own research has shown for the past two years.

Without spoiling too much, what are your big takeaways that didn't make it to the latest report?

Love the work you do!

Please do. I think it's certainly possible that they have used these tokenized shares as a way to hide idiosyncratic risk that arose from the events of Jan 21.

+ I will also say, national service programs are proud to have the dual honor of both serving our veterans and military families—and serving beside them. We are grateful to the more than 15,000 veterans who do currently serve as AmeriCorps members and volunteers and make AmeriCorps service their second act. I recommend this report from the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, which outlines ways that we can do even more to show the connections between and the importance of all types of service to the country: https://www.volckeralliance.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Final%20Report%20-%20National%20Commission.pdf

Thank you for your service! We’re always looking to get the word out about AmeriCorps, and that’s part of the reason I’m on Reddit today to promote AmeriCorps and MLK Day of Service.

When you do serve or volunteer, please bring a friend, bring your child, bring your grandparents. Volunteering even just one time can spark a lifetime commitment to service. Please visit AmeriCorps.gov/MLKDay to learn more and find an opportunity to serve.

Thank you for the candid question. We work hard everyday to ensure AmeriCorps service provides transformative benefit to the communities where we serve and for the AmeriCorps members themselves. That’s why our more than 1 million alumni tell us their service experience made such a difference in their lives. They saw the near-term impact of their work—helping to address urgent local needs defined by communities—and they saw how their experience gave them a head start and leg up in their career paths.

On my watch—and with full support from President Biden and the Biden Harris Administration—we have also made sure to take a serious look on member benefits. We’ve steadily raised the minimum living allowance, encouraged grantees and their partners to go above and beyond the minimum, and President Biden recently called on Congress to raise the minimum living allowance to $15/hour by 2025.

We have about 60,000 AmeriCorps members, but we also have about 140,000 AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers. Benefits vary quite a bit from program to program—some of these benefits include a living allowance or volunteer stipend, housing, supplemental health insurance, loan deferment, and childcare. And we also know there are benefits around skills training and growing professional networks. Over 40% of alumni who find a job w/in 6 months of service found that job through an AmeriCorps connection. And we know that AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers are healthier, less depressed, and less socially isolated than those who do not serve.

Beyond this effort, we’re sharpening our other benefits. The Segal Education Award is now set to match the Pell Grant. We offer childcare vouchers, loan forbearance, health care (in many programs), training and wrap around supports to help members go from a year of service to a lifetime of service.

I grew up in a low-income community and I know what it means to have the resources you need to be able to serve your community. That’s why making sure AmeriCorps service reflects the diversity of our country and the communities we serve is a personal priority and passion. We’re not where we need to be, but we have our first ever equity plan, strategic plan and road map that confronts these issues head on and will make sure we get to where we need to be.

Hey Mr. Smith,

Thanks for taking time to reach out on a platform that’s new to you. My question is, for a young professional who makes a comfortable enough salary to travel recreationally, what would be the best way to incorporate volunteerism into that? I did quite a bit with organizations in high school and college, but it’s seems like as we get settled into our careers, married, kids, etc. that life kind of gets in the way. It’s hard enough to find time just for a trip here and there.

I’d like service to become a regular thing, and if I could incorporate it into the travel I already do, it would help make it more commonplace with me, my friends, family etc.

🙏

First, thanks to you and your girlfriend for serving! We love Peace Corps Volunteers, especially when we see so many serving as AmeriCorps members when they return home!

The last few years have been difficult for anyone recruiting anyone to serve or work – corporations, nonprofits, military. It’s forcing all of us to pay more attention to outreach and clearly articulate the benefits to serving. At AmeriCorps, the challenges in recent years have accelerated our efforts to raise the living allowance and think deeply about other wrap around benefits like housing, transportation and training. It’s also made us get smarter and sharper on recruitment and advertising. We have our first centralized recruitment team in more than a decade and are doing even more to reach potential members where they are - whether that’s traditional advertising or letting members take over our social media channels and share their stories any chance they get. Regardless, we have been thrilled to see robust interest from Americans of all generations in serving their country, and the great thing about AmeriCorps is we can quickly change with the needs of the community and the interest of those serving. For example, we helped more than 12 million people during the pandemic, and we have more than 15,000 AmeriCorps members working on disaster response and combatting the impacts of climate change.

As a one-time Americorp member I've always felt that, while serving in the military is a great sacrifice, it is only one way citizens can be of service to our country. What can be done to better promote alternate ways to be of service, like Americorp?

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Does Brian Sozzi of yahoo finance belong in one of those progressive commercials about becoming your parents?

Furthermore, were any tokens that were not actually backed by a real share used as reasonable locates?

+ One of the things that gets me most excited about this work is National Days of Service, like MLK Day (this coming Monday Jan 16). MLK Day is the only federal holiday that is also a national day of service. Like Dr. King said: Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. And while it’s just day one day the calendar, we know that volunteering even one time...can spark a lifetime of giving back. You can find an opportunity to serve at Americorps.gov/MLKDay.

Why do you believe CEXes became so popular in the crypto space? Don’t they defeat the whole purpose of a decentralized digital currency?

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This work is personal for me. I grew up in an underserved community in Western Massachusetts raised by teen parents who did not have a lot of financial resources. But what we had was a community that took care of its kids and neighbors kids so we could dream big dreams despite the zip code where we were born. I met my first AmeriCorps members – VISTA and Foster Grandparents – at my local Boys & Girls Club. They served alongside nonprofit professionals and a host of other volunteers who were not looking to get rich or famous – but were looking to do whatever it took to make hope and opportunity possible for kids like me. So, serving as CEO AmeriCorps is a full circle moment for me to bring the full weight and resources of the federal government and many partners to support communities like mine – all across the country – that are leveraging the power of community and national service to transform lives and strengthen communities.

Hi Michael,

Returned Peace Corps Volunteer here.

My girlfriend just finished up serving a term with Americorps and mostly really enjoyed her service! Her cohort lead and her supervisors were worried about low applicant numbers for the coming year. Some folks were attributing this to generational differences and eagerness/willingness to volunteer.

What trends in application counts have you seen and do you foresee for the coming years?

There are a lot of Michael Smiths... that one isn’t me, but it sounds like they had a great season!

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I'm actually not too sure here. I'll have to do more digging before I can give a coherent response to this. - PR

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