Environment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


June 8, 2011


Drastic Loss of Funding for Faith-Based Volunteer Service

Washington, D.C. -- Catholic Volunteer Network learned recently that the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) did not fund its grant for AmeriCorps Education Awards. Catholic Volunteer Network has been able to offer the AmeriCorps Education Award to about 1,300 volunteers each year for the last 13 years.

“The loss of this funding is going to have a tremendous negative impact on many people,” said Jim Lindsay, Catholic Volunteer Network Executive Director. “Our organization’s mission and outreach initiatives will suffer, but the hardest hit will be the 1,300 volunteers who would have served as AmeriCorps members at the 900 sites run by our programs in 43 states and the District of Columbia, where volunteers have filled needed roles in schools, soup kitchens and social service agencies.”

CNCS, the federal agency that oversees volunteer service initiatives across the U.S., received a cut in funding and was able to fund only 53 programs out of more that 330 that applied. Fiscal year 2011 congressional budget appropriations were $1.1 billion, $72 million below the 2010 fiscal level. The Learn and Serve America program was cut entirely and AmeriCorps programs received a $22.5 million reduction. Coupled with the cuts, CNCS received requests for nearly twice as many national service funds as it did last year.

AmeriCorps Education Awards are vouchers earned to pay education costs at qualified institutions of higher education, for educational training or to repay qualified student loans. For terms of service that are supported with 2011 funds, the award value for completion of 1,700 hours of service is $5,550. Catholic Volunteer Network volunteers will lose over $5 million dollars in education awards.

In the 2009-2010 grant year, Catholic Volunteer Network placed:

• 400 AmeriCorps volunteers in educational placements, serving nearly 250,000 people
• 80 AmeriCorps volunteers in health placements, serving nearly 85,000 people
• 50 AmeriCorps volunteers in nutrition placements, serving more than 600,000 people
• 525 AmeriCorps volunteers in social services, serving more than 750,000 people

“For 13 years, we have had a wonderful partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service,” Lindsay said. “Without the Education Award, many of the young adults, the vast majority of whom are recent college graduates, may not be able to serve. ”

Lindsay said the loss of loan forbearance during a volunteer’s period of service, an AmeriCorps benefit, will create serious obstacles for volunteers who need to defer their educational loans.  “Volunteer service may no longer be an option for many young people.”

Established in 1963, Catholic Volunteer Network is the leading non-profit association for domestic and international volunteer programs. Currently, more than 14,000 volunteers serve in its member programs throughout the U.S. and in over 100 other countries worldwide. It has been the largest faith-based grantee of CNCS. The program has been vigilant in ensuring that volunteer hours counted toward the Education Award do not include religious activities or other pursuits prohibited by AmeriCorps.

Lindsay is concerned that the ability of Catholic Volunteer Network programs to recruit and retain volunteers may suffer.  Catholic Volunteer Network publishes RESPONSE, an annual directory of full-time, faith-based volunteer opportunities, with more than 30,000 copies distributed last year to schools, churches and individuals. Catholic Volunteer Network conducts recruiting efforts on more than 80 college campuses annually. It holds an annual conference for its members and hosts workshops for startup programs.

Further information is available online at http://www.catholicvolunteernetwork.org/.