Of all of President Bill Clinton's legacies, the one that received the most bipartisan support was AmeriCorps. The Corporation for National and Community Service's AmeriCorps program typically gives annual grants to 50,000 individuals, who take part in essential community service projects. These individuals, who serve up to a year, receive an award of $4,725 toward higher education as well as a modest living allowance.
In his State of the Union address, President Bush praised AmeriCorps and said that it should be enlarged to 75,000 participants. He included funds in his 2004 budget to pay for that expansion.
Unfortunately, because of accounting mismanagement by Corporation executives, it was recently discovered that funds available this year were $66 million less than a year ago. Unless that problem is rectified, the number of individuals enrolled this year in AmeriCorps will plunge from 50,000 to 35,000.
These are not just accounting numbers. The human impact of these cuts in our area would be very damaging. The Maryland program would be slashed from 452 AmeriCorps members to 52 members. Montgomery County has developed a highly successful AmeriCorps program, Project CHANGE. Project CHANGE was developed in conjunction with the President of Montgomery College, Charlene Nunley, the Superintendent of Schools for Montgomery County, Jerry Weast, and leaders from the County’s non-profit, immigrant and business communities. If the funding is not restored, Montgomery County would lose Project CHANGE and the great work it does on behalf of our neediest students and families.
Last week Congress acted swiftly to bandage the hemorrhage in AmeriCorps funding. Thanks largely to the leadership of Maryland’s own Senator Barbara Mikulski, it took just two days for both houses of Congress to enact legislation, S.1276, that will help address the AmeriCorps problem, at least in the short term. It creates a budgeting mechanism that ensures the Corporation has the funds needed to pay educational awards. Under this bill, the Corporation would be able to enroll about 50,000 AmeriCorps participants, without the need for additional funds. President Bush must still sign the bill in order to ensure that AmeriCorps survives this year.
The bandage was a necessary quick fix to stop the bleeding. Assuming the President signs the bill, it will prevent a significant loss in AmeriCorps funding and keep Project CHANGE up and running. But now we need to take the patient to the hospital and fix this problem for good. The President called for an increase in the number of AmeriCorps workers from 50,000 to 75,000 in 2004. If we are going to meet this challenge, then we should provide the appropriate level of funding to AmeriCorps so it operates at full strength.
We must restore funding for both the National Service Education Trust and the AmeriCorps program. America’s communities need AmeriCorps today more than ever, and the talented and dedicated AmeriCorps members need to receive their education stipends following their service.