IN THIS EDITIONAmeriCorps Update | October 27, 2020
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Important Deadlines & Events
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Public Allies DEI Webinar Session 2. 2-3:30 PM CT. Analyzing patterns in our individual work practices and using critical consciousness to build an AmeriCorps that works in the interest of everyone. Join
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OneStar closed in observance of Veterans Day.
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New AmeriCorps Staff Orientation. Hosted virtually online. Register
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OneStar closed in observance of Thanksgiving.
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The election is one week away! OneStar encourages everyone to let their voice be heard and to vote in this year’s general election.
AmeriCorps members should be encouraged to vote and allowed time away from service to vote, but AmeriCorps members should not receive service or training hours for voting. OneStar strongly recommends that AmeriCorps members do not wear the logo while voting to mitigate any perception that members were accruing hours while voting or any potential partisan activity.
As a reminder, please reference the prohibited activities, which include prohibitions on partisan activities, voter registration drives, and providing services at election or polling places.
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| AmeriCorps State & National Match Waiver Guidance
AmeriCorps, the agency, released the guidance on the blanket match waiver for FY19 and FY20 grants. This guidance formalizes the blanket match waiver that had previously been issued through COVID-19 FAQs, but does not change the implementation or the process of the waiver.
The blanket match waiver is in place for all of 2020-2021 program year, this allows you to drawdown your full federal award regardless of the amount you can report on grantee share. All programs should be reporting match to the extent that you are able throughout this program year. If you need to use the partial or full match waiver at any point this program year, please reach out to your Grants Officer so we can track the use of this waiver. Additionally, if you need to reclassify costs that had previously been reported as grantee share to federal share, please reach out to your Grants Officer for guidance.
If you used the match waiver in the 2019-2020 program year or need to use in the 2020-2021 program year, please ensure you have documented the partial or full use of the match waiver in your grant records.
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| Administration of Children & Families Allowing Federal Grants as Match for AmeriCorps
The Administration of Children and Families at Health Human Services announced that certain federal grants from their department have been authorized to use as match for AmeriCorps grants.
OneStar’s former CEO and President Elizabeth Darling was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as Commissioner of the Administration of Children and Families last year, and we are excited to see she continuing to champion AmeriCorps opportunities within the federal government!
If your program receives federal grants from the Administration of Children and Families, please see the letter for details.
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| New AmeriCorps Staff Orientation Registration Open | November 16-19
New AmerCorps Staff Orientation (NASO) is a multi-day training for staff at OneStar grantee organizations who are new to their position or new to working with your AmeriCorps program. The purpose of this training is to equip participants with basic knowledge about AmeriCorps, member management, grant management, and fiscal compliance.
We are excited to share that we are offering the New AmeriCorps Staff Orientation (NASO) virtually November 16-19, 2020. Visit the registration page to view the agenda and for more information on the specific training topics. There is no cost to register for NASO.
Platform information and login instructions will be provided to participants with registration confirmation following the close of registration on October 31, 2020.
The NASO schedule is as follows:
- Monday, November 16, 2020 9:00 a.m. - 2:15 p.m. CT
- Tuesday, November 17, 2020 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. CT
- Wednesday, November 18, 2020 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. CT
- Thursday, November 19, 2020 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CT
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| Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Resource Corner
OneStar is furthering its commitment to being more intentional with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work by sharing out a few resources in each AmeriCorps Update to help further our community’s learning and growth around how to create change in Texas.
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Creating a Trans-Inclusive Workplace (10 min. read) In this article, the Harvard Business Review describes in depth the psychological and economic consequences of not providing an inclusive workplace for the trans community. It provides solutions for organizations to incorporate an accepting and inclusive space for trans individuals.
10 Ways to Support LGBT Employees (3 min. read) Glassdoor describes 10 ways your organization can foster an inclusive workplace environment for your LGBT members and staff.
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Session 1: Understanding and using foundational principles of equity, inclusion and social justice. | September 23, 2 PM CT View recording
Session 2: Analyzing patterns in our individual work practices and using critical consciousness to build an AmeriCorps that works in the interest of everyone. | October 28, 2 PM CT Join
Session 3: Using collaborative approaches to strengthen the impact of AmeriCorps in local communities. | November 23, 2 PM CT
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| OneStar Webinar Series Recordings & Resources
We have concluded the OneStar Webinar Series for this calendar year. Thank you to all the programs that shared best practices with the AmeriCorps Texas portfolio. Webinars were recorded. Links to the recordings and resources found below:
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Virtual Onboarding and Member Experience Best Practices Join us for a conversation about best practices for virtual on-boarding and member experience. AmeriCorps Texas programs CitySquare, Equal Heart, and Communities in Schools Central Texas will share what strategies they implemented in these areas.
Challenges Facing Education Focused AmeriCorps Programs In light of the challenges, questions, and concerns our education based programs are facing about programmatic operations due to COVID-19, OneStar will be facilitating an interactive conversation for programs to share ideas, best practices, challenges, and creative solutions in program design and operation.
Holding Space for DEI Discussions and Personal Growth Stacie Sanchez Hare from City Year San Antonio will share how her program created space for staff and members to acknowledge and process the trauma in their communities. The AmeriCorps Texas DEI Committee briefly introduced resources for programs to begin or continue discussions and personal growth around diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Managing Multiple Operating Sites Meg Krueger from American YouthWorks will share strategies and systems the program uses for managing multiple operating sites including best practices for cultivating relationships with those sites and how that framework has informed their virtual member management practices.
Disability Inclusion Debbie Kizer and Rick Hernandez from Imagine Art will share how their program practices disability inclusion in all aspects of their work including having robust and inclusive policies and procedures, inclusion in member recruitment and management, and creating an inclusive environment for staff, members, and beneficiaries.
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| Disaster Basics Training for AmeriCorps Members
OneStar hosted a one-hour virtual training for members and program staff on October 22. This training covered basic disaster information and what types of activities members may be asked to support in times of disaster. Participating in this training fulfills the disaster training requirement as outlined in the OneStar Terms and Conditions.
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| RESOURCES & TRAINING
Grantee Resource Library + eNewsletter ArchiveLooking for helpful forms and templates? Miss a recent AmeriCorps Update eNewsletter? Make sure to check out OneStar’s online Grantee Resource Library on our website. You can now also find AmeriCorps Update eNewsletters from the past year archived here.
If someone at your organization needs to be added to the AmeriCorps Update distribution list and is not receiving them, you can now directly request to be added to OneStar's AmeriCorps Updates list by registering here.
2020-2021 Grantee Monthly Call Schedule
Recordings of previous Updates From the Field calls can be found here.
Recordings of previous Fiscal Update calls can be found here.
AmeriCorps Texas Grantee Portal
For technical assistance and instructions, please visit our AmeriCorps Texas Grantee Portal Support Hub, which we will continuously update as new functionalities are added. Please contact your Program or Grants Officer if you have further questions or concerns.
You must be an authorized user to access the Grantee Portal. A current authorized user on your grant can add additional users. If you need assistance, please contact Kailee Selzer, kailee@onestarfoundation.org.
Updating Program Contact Information If during the year, you have any changes, additions, or deletions to your program’s contacts, please update your Authorized Representative through the Authorized Rep Update button on your grant record in the AmeriCorps Texas Grantee Portal. As a reminder, OneStar requires the following roles to be designated and corresponding contact information to be on file:
- Legal Authorized Signatory
- Primary Program Contact
- Primary Fiscal Contact
- Secondary Contacts (Primary or Fiscal) – as applicable
- Pre-Award Contact or Grant Manager - as applicable
Please note that it is a grantee requirement to update this form within 10 working days of a change in your program’s key personnel assigned to your AmeriCorps project.
Reasonable Accomodation Request FormThe Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) may have funds available to help cover the costs of providing reasonable accommodations to AmeriCorps members. CNCS promotes inclusive service environments, where disability is valued as a part of the range of diversity that exists in the human condition, and persons with disabilities are welcomed and given every opportunity for full inclusion and participation in national service.
For additional questions about reasonable accommodations and/or reasonable accommodation reimbursement requests, please contact Betty Jo Schafer at bettyjo@onestarfoundation.org.
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