Philadelphia Makes Top 10 List for Producing Most AmeriCorp Members Per Capita
Philadelphia – The federal agency which administers the AmeriCorps program, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), announced this week that Philadelphia ranks eighth among large cities for producing the most AmeriCorps members per capita. There are currently 906 AmeriCorps members from Philadelphia. Since AmeriCorps was formed more than 20 years ago, Pennsylvania has produced 45,000 AmeriCorps members who have given more than 60 million hours of service to their country and received more than $141 million in scholarships.
“We’re thrilled that CNCS has recognized the strong culture of service in Philadelphia,” said Stephanie Monahon, the City’s Chief Service Officer. “Over the last several years, Philadelphia has made a focused effort to raise the profile of AmeriCorps programs and increase the number of service members, and we’re very pleased with the results.”
Through the Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service, the City worked to increase AmeriCorp capacity programs across and within City departments. Specifically, the City’s AmeriCorps program collective, the National Service Task Force, was formed to build public awareness of AmeriCorps and its benefits to Philadelphia. Additionally, the City supports community-based programs that employ AmeriCorps members, including Youthbuild, a unique program focusing on workforce development for opportunity youth who did not complete high school. City Year is the largest AmeriCorps programs in Philadelphia, with over 200 young adults providing a year of service to students from neighborhoods and schools in need across the city.
“As City Year enters its 10th year, we celebrate this honor with our fellow AmeriCorps programs,” said Darryl Bundrige, Executive Director at City Year. “AmeriCorps programs address chronic issues in education, health, homelessness, the environment, and much more. Serving in an AmeriCorps program exposes participants to exciting career paths with the organizations with which they serve or others while developing valuable skills that not only benefit the people we serve, but also the AmeriCorps member him/herself in developing career pursuits.”
Since AmeriCorp’s founding 1994, more than 980,000 Americans have provided more than 1.3 billion hours of service, and earned more than $3.1 billion in education awards to pay for college. In October, the nation will celebrate a milestone when the one-millionth AmeriCorps member will take the AmeriCorps pledge, committing to “get things done” for America.
The rankings were determined by associating the permanent address of AmeriCorps members with a U.S. designated place and state, including the District of Columbia. The analysis looked exclusively at members who served in the 2014-2015 program year. For this analysis, a large-sized city was defined as any place with a population greater than or equal to 250,000. The listed states and cities produce the highest number of AmeriCorps members per capita. More information about the rankings can be found here.