Wednesday, May 6, 2009

President Obama Signs Community Service Bill

On April 21, President Obama signed into law (P.L. 111-13) the "Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act," legislation that reauthorizes and expands national volunteer service programs.

The "Serve America Act" will:
Grow the number of AmeriCorps volunteers from 75,000 to 250,000
Increase education rewards to $5350
Provide incentives for middle and high school students to engage in service
Recognize and support universities engaged in service
Create green and other new service corps to meet key needs in low-income communities
Expand service opportunities for older Americans and public-private partnerships
Build a nationwide service infrastructure through community-building investments and social entrepreneurship
The final version of the bill contains restrictions on the types of activities for which national service funded positions can be used; however, nonprofit organizations will be able to use their own funds to advocate for causes in which they believe.

The bill also includes an amendment for nonprofit capacity building. It sets up a grant program in the Corporation for National and Community Service to expand organizational development assistance to small and midsize nonprofit organizations.

To read more, go here.

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