Mathematica: How AmeriCorps Uses Data to Support Communities Through National Service and Volunteerism

This blog post was originally published in Mathematica on Wednesday, August 28, 2024.

By J.B. Wogan

Thirty years ago, President Bill Clinton signed bipartisan legislation creating what is now known as AmeriCorps, a federal agency for national service and volunteerism. Since then, the agency estimates that more than 1.3 million AmeriCorps members and hundreds of thousands more AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers have provided billions of hours of service across each of the 50 states and U.S. territories.

AmeriCorps functions as a kind of Swiss Army knife for addressing challenges in our communities, with members helping to prepare today’s students for tomorrow’s jobs, lead conservation and climate change efforts, connect returning veterans to jobs, fight the opioid epidemic, support seniors to live independently, make college more accessible and affordable, and help Americans rebuild their lives following disasters. To understand the impacts of the agency’s wide range of investments, AmeriCorps relies on its Office of Research and Evaluation.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of AmeriCorps, On the Evidence hosted a discussion on the role of data and research in helping AmeriCorps and its grantees deliver on their respective missions. The guests for this episode are Dr. Mary HydeStephanie GarippaDiana Gioia, and Scott Richman.

Hyde is the director of research and evaluation at AmeriCorps.

Garippa oversees the AmeriCorps program at Maggie’s Place, an Arizona-based nonprofit and AmeriCorps grantee serving mothers through housing, education, and direct support services.

Gioia is a former AmeriCorps member who works with Stephanie at Maggie’s Place, where she is the data and evaluation coordinator.

Richman is a senior researcher at Mathematica who co-authored a report for AmeriCorps synthesizing five years’ worth of studies describing the state of the evidence where the agency seeks to make an impact. The report is part of AmeriCorps LEARNS, an ongoing project where Mathematica helps AmeriCorps share the growing body of evidence on the impact of national service and resources for building that evidence.

On the episode, they discuss the important but complex task of measuring the impact of AmeriCorps, given that it seeks to not only spur higher levels of civic engagement and community service, but to simultaneously help its service members, partnering organizations, the communities in which both operate, and society as a whole. They talk about the kinds of evidence that AmeriCorps and grantees like Maggie’s Place collect, how that evidence is used to drive impact, and how the role of evidence in guiding AmeriCorps’ work has evolved over time.

Watch the full episode.

J.B. Wogan serves as the Senior Strategic Communication Specialist at Mathematica. 

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