About AmeriCorps

What is AmeriCorps?

The Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal organization established under the National and Community Service Act of 1990 that administers the AmeriCorps National Service Network, was created in 1993 to support service at national, state and local levels by overseeing three main initiatives:

• AmeriCorps, whose members serve with local and national organizations to meet community needs and, after their service, receive Education Awards to offset the expenses of a college education;
  
  
• Learn and Serve America, which links service and education for students from kindergarten through college; and
  
  
• National Senior Service Corps, through which Americans 55 and older lend their skills and expertise to community service activities.

AmeriCorps supports local, state and national organizations across the country that engage Americans in results-driven community service. AmeriCorps participants, or members, serve full- or part-time for a year, and upon completion of their service term receive an Education Award. Education Awards are paid as vouchers by the National Service Trust and may be redeemed within seven years to fund qualified educational expenses at colleges, universities, other postsecondary institutions and approved school-to-work programs. Qualified expenses include tuition, room and board, and repayment of student loans already incurred.

AmeriCorps members nationwide are united by four common goals:

1. Getting things done through direct and demonstrable services that help solve community problems in the areas of education, public safety, environment and other human needs.
   
   
2. Strengthening communities by bringing together Americans of all ages and backgrounds in a common effort to improve our communities.
   
   
3. Encouraging responsibility by enabling members to explore and exercise their responsibilities to their communities, their families and themselves.
   
   
4. Expanding opportunity by enhancing members’ educational opportunities, job expertise and life skills.
   

These four goals comprise the AmeriCorps ethic. OKMM-EAP strives to ensure that this ethic is reflected in the activity and accomplishments of field sites and members. OKMM-EAP members strengthen their own communities, encourage responsibility and public engagement in others and expand learning and growth opportunities for themselves and fellow Oklahomans.

Learning the Language – AmeriCorps Terminology

Below are common AmeriCorps terms and definitions, which are used throughout OKMM-EAP materials.

• The Oklahoma Community Service Commission is the state agency authorized by the Corporation for National and Community Service to administer Oklahoma's national service programs.
  
  
• An applicant is an individual who has applied to participate in OKMM-EAP but is not an enrolled AmeriCorps member.
  
  
• Enrollment means an applicant has been fully accepted to participate in OKMM-EAP and is registered in the national AmeriCorps database.
  
  
• OKMM-EAP members are eligible citizens age 17 and older who commit to serve their community through AmeriCorps.
  
  
• Service activities are direct, meaningful actions performed through organized community service efforts that count toward fulfillment of service hours in a member’s service term. AmeriCorps programs use the term “serve” rather than “work” to describe the time a member spends volunteering.
  
  
• Service hours are the number of hours members spend performing eligible service activities during a service term. This is the foundation of all AmeriCorps programs.
  
  
• A service term is the contracted length of time during which an AmeriCorps member must perform eligible service activities for a prescribed number of service hours to qualify for the Education Award. OKMM-EAP members serve 300 hours in a one-year service term.
  
  
• The Education Award is the $1,000 voucher that members receive after successfully completing a term of service with OKMM-EAP. The voucher may be used to pay qualified educational expenses, including tuition, room and board or repayment of student loans, and is viable for up to seven years after the service term is completed.
  
  
• OKMM-EAP beneficiaries are the general population served by OKMM-EAP members during the course of their service term; literally, citizens of all ages in Oklahoma communities who benefit from this program.
  
  
• Financial literacy is knowledge and understanding of fiscal principles and concepts, including basic money management skills and recognition of the importance of wise financial decision-making.