Call you Reps & Stand For AmeriCorps!

The most effective way you can help us Stand For AmeriCorps is to c Your Member of Congress. Voicing your support to your member of congress is one of the easiest and most effective ways to demonstrate your concern for the proposed AmeriCorps budget cuts. If you need help determining the members of your congressional delegation, visit www.congress.org. This database will provide you with contact information for your elected officials. Once connected, identify yourself as a constituent and ask to speak to the Legislative Director or the Legislative Assistant in charge of national service. If calling the House, be sure to voice your thanks or displeasure over how your representative voted (votes recorded here). Talking points for your call are noted below.

Talking points for Calling members of Congress:

• (Senate only) I am calling to urge you to vote NO on any proposal to eliminate funding for AmeriCorps or the Corporation for National and Community Service.
• The CR will decimate vital services in our communities when millions of Americans need food, shelter, healthcare, job training and educational support.
• Communities are counting on AmeriCorps members, national service participants and community volunteers to meet the increased demand for services.
• Provide an example of your local impact and what will be lost if your program is eliminated. Example: My organization has 140 AmeriCorps members serving in 10 Boston Public Schools. They are providing targeted and school-wide interventions in literacy, match, attendance and classroom behavior. If Congress eliminates AmeriCorps, nearly 2,000 high-risk 3rd-9th graders will no longer receive this additional support in the classroom.
• The CR will only push unemployment rates up. Unemployment numbers -- particularly for young people, veterans and military spouses, older Americans and people of color-remain alarmingly high.
• For Americans who are struggling to find work, national service programs offer participants the opportunity to earn a subsistence-level stipend, develop skills, and create pathways to future employment. Eliminating programs like AmeriCorps will result in jobs lost for the corps members and the staff who supervise them. Example: If Congress eliminates AmeriCorps, our 140 AmeriCorps members and the staff that supervise them will be out of work.
• The federal investment made in faith based and community organizations through the Corporation for National and Community Service leverages $799 million in matching funds from companies, foundations and other sources. If you defund the national service programs, whole organizations will shut down and most will not be able to reopen again even if funding is restored.