Washington, DC (December 8, 2021) – Tonight, the U.S. Senate confirmed Michael Smith as the Chief Executive Officer of AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteering. AmeriCorps, formerly the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), mobilizes Americans to tackle the country’s most pressing challenges through service.
Following is a statement by AnnMaura Connolly, President of Voices for National Service.
“We are tremendously grateful to the bipartisan Senators who confirmed Michael Smith to lead the AmeriCorps agency today. Michael is the right person to lead AmeriCorps as the country continues to recover from the pandemic, which exacerbated so many of the longstanding problems facing communities across the country. Voices for National Service enthusiastically supports Michael as CEO for AmeriCorps.
“With decades of executive experience working to improve communities and to create opportunities for young people, Michael is the perfect person to work with the 70,000 nonprofit organizations across the country that leverage national service as a results-driven strategy to meet community challenges – and a way to invest in Americans of diverse backgrounds.
“National service stands at the precipice of receiving an historic investment through the Build Back Better Act, and we can think of no better person to lead AmeriCorps through this transformational growth. Michael’s energy and passion for creating lasting change and putting people at the center of solving the problems facing their communities, combined with his broad-ranging expertise, including at the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, the Social Innovation Fund, and the Case Foundation, make him an ideal candidate to lead AmeriCorps. His deep personal commitment and his unparalleled record of achievement is what’s needed today at the Agency’s helm.”
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