Dear Voices Community,
What an incredible week for national service!
Congress passed, and the President just signed, a $1.3 trillion omnibus appropriations bill to fund government operations for the remainder of fiscal year 2018 (which ends on September 30, 2018). The FY18 budget represents an increase of nearly $34 million for CNCS from FY17, sustains funding for Senior Corps and AmeriCorps*VISTA, includes an increase of $26 million for AmeriCorps State and National, and increases for state commissions, AmeriCorps*NCCC, the Volunteer Generation Fund and Days of Service.
This success is because of all of you, and the incredible work you have done to make sure that AmeriCorps and Senior Corps remain priorities for federal investment. Big thanks to our incredible Voices State Chapters for pulling out all the stops to make sure Members of Congress understand how important funding for AmeriCorps and Senior Corps is locally. So many of you have been at this relentlessly since we got word that the President was proposing to eliminate CNCS and it’s programs. Working together, we have turned a shut down budget into an increase. Truly an incredible outcome after a ton of effort. THANK YOU.
You can read our official statement on the omnibus here. Please join us in thanking our congressional champions by email, on Facebook, and on Twitter so we can keep up this momentum as we head into the FY19 appropriations process!
We’ve also seen some fantastic local mobilization and updates this week:
- Buffalo’s NPR News Station penned this article describing Buffalo as the “City of Good Neighbors” because of programs like AmeriCorps.
- During AmeriCorps week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recognized the 1,600 AmeriCorps members who are getting things done across the city. Thanks to all who serve in that community and who have worked with Mayor Garcetti to build support for national service.
- Volunteers of America, Dakotas’ RSVP, Foster Grandparents and Senior Companion members in Watertown, South Dakota are joining Mayor Sarah Caron and county commissioners for a National Service Recognition Day event. Thank you for lifting up the impact that national service programs have in your community!
- Thank you to UTEC in Massachusetts for lifting up Massachusetts Service Alliance during AmeriCorps Week.
- Thank you to Catherine Steck McManus, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Orlando and the Orlando Sentinel for featuring the importance of service programs like Habitat for Humanity in rebuilding communities in Central Florida.
- We were excited to see New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu celebrating AmeriCorps members in his state during AmeriCorps week!
- Congratulations to Gene Seaman, former Texas official, for your appointment to serve the One Star National Service Commission. Thank you Texas Governor Greg Abbott for your work to make this Commission a priority for Texas. We look forward to working with you all.
- Voices’ own Jennifer Ney and Amanda Hooper presented at the ASC North Central Training Conference this week on how to engage elected officials in support of national service. Thanks to all who participated!