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| AmeriCorps Update
09.22.2014
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| IMPORTANT DEADLINES + EVENTS
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| September 25, 2014 PER Processing Deadline.
September 30, 2014 National PreparAthon Day. Click here or see below for details.
October 9, 2014 PER Processing Deadline.
October 16, 2014 Final FFRs/APRs due to OneStar for all 2013-2014 AmeriCorps Programs.
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| It’s a Wrap – AmeriCorps 20th Anniversary Thank you to all of our AmeriCorps Texas programs, members and alums who came out to support the AmeriCorps 20th Anniversary Celebration on September 12th! Nationwide, CNCS’s Thunderclap campaign generated 52 million impressions on social media and was the 4th largest Thunderclap campaign in history – not to mention the largest Thunderclap campaign ever implemented by a federal agency! OneStar is preparing final event photos, video links, and media highlights that will be sent to all event participants and supporters this week. For now, visit the following links for information: Stay tuned for more, and thank you for all of your hard work to make the AmeriCorps 20th Anniversary such a huge success!
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| Announcing the 2014-15 AmeriCorps Texas Portfolio
On September 12th, OneStar officially announced the new 2014-2015 AmeriCorps Texas grants portfolio in conjunction with the AmeriCorps 20th Anniversary totaling $13.7 million to support 2,282 AmeriCorps members serving with 24 organizations in Texas. Below is a listing of 2014 AmeriCorps grants in Texas: - Amarillo Independent School District, $285,431 to support 55 AmeriCorps Members
- American YouthWorks, $390,000 to support 30 AmeriCorps Members
- Austin Independent School District, $265,255 to support 20 AmeriCorps Members
- AVANCE, Inc. El Paso Chapter, $1,048,058 to support 80 AmeriCorps Members
- Boys & Girls Club of Austin, $465,225 to support 70 AmeriCorps Members
- Breakthrough, $464,835 to support 139 AmeriCorps Members
- City Year, Inc., $1,476,300 to support 116 AmeriCorps Members
- CitySquare, $1,153,652 to support 298 AmeriCorps Members
- College Forward, $931,178 to support 73 AmeriCorps Members
- Communities in Schools of Central Texas, $711,032 to support 90
- Communities in Schools of the Heart of Texas, $279,168 to support 48 AmeriCorps Members
- Front Steps, $403,000 to support 31 AmeriCorps Members
- Harris County Department of Education, $327,394 to support 32 AmeriCorps Members
- Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, $503,508 to support 39 AmeriCorps Members
- Project GRAD Houston, $244,353 to support 25 AmeriCorps Members
- Project Transformation, $550,550 to support 133 AmeriCorps Members
- Reading Partners, $370,500 to support 30 AmeriCorps Members
- Schulenburg Weimar In Focus Together Inc., $271,559 to support 41 AmeriCorps Members
- Teach for America, $950,000 to support 622 AmeriCorps Members
- The University of Texas at Brownsville, $280,397 to support 80 AmeriCorps Members
- Travis Co. through the Travis Co. Health and Human Services and Veterans Services, $301,696 to support 29 AmeriCorps Members
- United Way of El Paso County, $265,611 to support 20 AmeriCorps Members
- University of North Texas, $466,003 to support 78 AmeriCorps Members
- University of Texas at Austin | Charles A. Dana Center, $1,356,600 to support 103 AmeriCorps Members
Click here for the full press release.
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| White House Launches Employers of National Service As part of the AmeriCorps 20th anniversary celebration at the White House on Friday, President Obama announced Employers of National Service, a new initiative to build a talent pipeline to connect AmeriCorps and Peace Corps alumni with leading employers from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. As part of this announcement the White House released a list of charter employers. We ask that you join them and have your organization become an Employer of National Service as well as share information about this initiative with other employers. Please visit NationalService.gov/Employers for more information and to sign up. Any employer that signs up by December 31, 2014 will be considered a charter member. Through this initiative, employers will have new access to a dedicated, highly qualified, and mission-oriented pool of potential employees and national service alumni will have additional opportunities to apply their skills in the workplace. The 900,000 Americans who have participated in AmeriCorps since 1994 and the 215,000 who have participated in the Peace Corps are people who are motivated, flexible, innovative, and outcome-oriented. Become an Employer of National Service member today and please pass this along to any employers whom your program has a strong relationship with!
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| Final APR Link & Instructions | Due October 16 The Final AmeriCorps Progress Report (APR) is due to OneStar for AmeriCorps Texas programs on October 16, 2014, by 11:59pm CST. The primary purpose of the Final APR is to gauge each program’s progress on key metrics, including member enrollment and retention rate, the 30-day enrollment/exit cycle time, and whether you met your selected Performance Measures. After review, OneStar reports the data collected through your APR directly to CNCS for their final review. OneStar has created an updated Google Form for you to submit your responses. If you provided your saved link during mid-year, your Grants Officers should have provided it to you via email. When you click the link, you will be brought to the Final APR report. Your responses from mid-year will appear for you to update. Any questions added for the final report will show up blank for you to complete. In an effort to help with your submission, we are sharing a few additional tips to keep in mind as you complete this report: - Once you begin the form, your work will not save until you hit “submit” at the very end. We strongly recommend that you not begin the online form until you are ready to complete the full report (Please refer to the “Worksheet for 2013-2014 FINAL APR” to assist you).
- IMPORTANT: When you hit submit, please click the "Edit your response" link and save the unique link that comes up in your web browser if you did not save it at mid-year. We strongly recommend that you email this link to your grants officer.
- Take a close look at each page and its instructions for notes on what is required and what is optional.
- The time period covered in the report is the start of your grant period through July 31, 2014. This includes results of your Performance Measure data at end of year.
- As noted at mid-year, we added fields to the final report to collect data on the following: Disaster Preparedness and Response, Member Development, Community Awareness Presentations and National Days of Service and Volunteer Data.
- UPDATE: OneStar recently received instructions from CNCS, which included the addition of a new and required item titled “Analysis of Impact” and an adjustment to the definition of “Impact Snapshot.” See worksheet and/or APR report for a detailed description.
Note that it is essential that programs complete the APR by the specified deadline, as OneStar’s statewide report is due to CNCS at the end of October. If you foresee any challenges in meeting the deadline, please notify me immediately. To be taken to the Final APR Form, click here . Or go to your unique saved link that you have on file (your program did not send a link to OneStar at mid-year). You may also wish to download the following documents to guide you in your report preparation and submission: Thank you for your continued work! Please let your OneStar Grants Officers know if you need additional information or assistance as you complete your Final APR.
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| 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance - Texas AmeriCorps Civic Reflection Discussions To honor the 9/11 Day of Remembrance across Texas, OneStar is partering with Amy Salinas of Cultivating Agents of Change (CAC) Consulting to host 5 different civic reflection discussions throughout the month of September for both members and staff to participate. This civic reflection discussion will provide an opportunity for AmeriCorps members and program staff to dialogue about important questions around diversity, peace, responsibility, good deeds, and much more. To get to these questions, we will use a specific reading that should be read prior to participation and that will be emailed prior to the day of dialogue. Here are the dates, times and registration information:
Civic Reflection Online Discussions
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| No matter what plans you have for 9/11, we hope you will invite your members to participate in one of the Civic Reflection discussions. Many of you are hosting your own during September or October, but we will hope you will invite them to participate so they can have another opportunity to talk about a different reading with different members from around the state. Civic Reflection 101 for 9/11 Discussion Facilitators We will also hold 4 different Civic Reflection 101 discussions that will help to support program staff in understanding the basics of civic reflection and to review the 4 sample readings that are provided as tools for you to use in your own civic reflection with your members in September or later in honor of the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance. Each of these sessions will be the same, but will be at varied days and times so that you can find one that fits your schedule. This webinar will educate AmeriCorps program staff about civic reflection and build their capacity to facilitate a 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance civic reflection discussion based on a specific reading. This webinar will be led by Amy Salinas. Here are the dates, times and registration information:
Civic Reflection 101 Informational Webinars (to support staff in learning about civic reflection and the sample readings)
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| If you have any questions at all or want to talk about these opportunities further, please do not hesitate to contact Amy Salinas at CACconsulting@hotmail.com or 512.294.3370.
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| Welcome to National Preparedness Month FEMA’s Ready Campaign has established four universal building blocks of emergency preparedness: Be informed, Make a Plan, Build a Kit, and Get Involved. America’s PrepareAthon! builds on this foundation by encouraging millions of Americans to focus on a simple, specific activity that will increase preparedness. During National Preparedness Month (NPM) we ask you, your family, community, school and workplace to take action by planning a National PrepareAthon! Day on or around September 30th. We recommend using digital media tools as a way to promote National Preparedness Month, September 1st-30th. How to get involved: - Download the NPM 2014 Digital Engagement Toolkit. In the toolkit you'll find tips on how to promote National Preparedness Month, as well as resources, images, tweet suggestions and tons of other great resources to help you spread awareness!
- Register for National PrepareAthon! Day. America’s PrepareAthon! is a new national community-based campaign for action that focuses on increasing emergency preparedness through hazard-specific drills, group discussions and exercises. National PrepareAthon! Day is on September 30th.
- Make a Communications Plan. Your family may not be together when a disaster strikes so it is important to plan in advance: how you will get to a safe place; how you will contact one another; how you will get back together; and what you will do in different situations. Read more about Family Communication during an emergency.
- Follow NPM Social Media Channels. Follow @Readygov and @PrepareAthon on Twitter. Use the hashtag #NatlPrep and encourage your followers to do the same. Like us on Facebook/Readygov.
The 2014 National Preparedness Month theme is: “Be Disaster Aware, Take Action to Prepare.”
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| New PER and Fiscal Updates OneStar has a few fiscal updates to share with the field. - Final PERs: Please note the following to clarify the 13-14 Final PER deadline. The email sent directly to grantees (titled “Year End Memo” or “Final PER Reminders”) should have the correct deadline which is 30 days after the end of your budget period (i.e. grants ending 8/31/14 have PERs due on 9/30/14). If additional time is required beyond the 30 day deadline, please contact your Grants Officers with a proposed new date for submitting your final PER. If you have not already done so, please do so immediately.
- New 14-15 PER Template – Please use the new 2014-2015 PER Template for all 2014-15 PERs including your pre-award PER. (This has also been added to our Grantee Resources Library).
- Pre-Award Cost Authorizations: Please note that if you have a Pre-Award Cost Authorization from OneStar, we request that the first PER of the year have a start and end date that is the same as the pre-award period even if you did not incur any costs during that period. For example, if a grantee has a pre-award allowance effective 7/1/14, and a budget period of 8/1/14 through 7/31/15, we request that the first PER have a beginning date of 7/1/14 and an ending date of 7/31/14, and that it only include costs incurred during that period, along with any grant-related in-kind matching contributions received during that period. If you requested a pre-award allowance, but did not incur any costs during that period, then please submit a PER for the pre-award period with all zeros on it. Then, the second PER would begin 8/1/14 and could end as late as 9/30/14.
- For Fixed Grantees: Please report all costs in the “Member Support Costs” line in section II of the attached PER template.
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| Coming Soon: Operation AmeriCorps! CNCS has just announced the forthcoming Operation AmeriCorps initiative for city and community leaders. Through Operation AmeriCorps, all three AmeriCorps programs will be made available in a single application. So, for the first time, local leaders will be able to design a comprehensive project that engages AmeriCorps State and National programs, harnesses AmeriCorps VISTA’s poverty-focused capacity building, and taps AmeriCorps NCCC’s surge capacity! As part of the public comment process on this initiative, CNCS is taking the next few weeks to listen to colleagues and partners and gather feedback and specific project ideas that will help structure the future funding competition. In addition to recent conference calls, CNCS is soliciting comments, questions, or ideas about how local city and community leaders would use Operation AmeriCorps in their cities. If you have input or questions, contact OperationAmeriCorps@cns.gov.
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| Changes to AmeriCorps Enrollment/Exit Forms Last week, CNCS announced that changes to the member enrollment and member exit forms are now live in the MyAmeriCorps/eGrants portal. These changes are designed to improve data quality and to provide additional demographic data about the AmeriCorps member population. Changes include: - All demographic questions are now required.
- The enrollment form now has additional options for veteran status.
- The exit form has new questions about disability status, type of disability and disability benefits.
- The exit form asks whether education level has changed since the beginning of service.
CNCS expects to share updated paper versions of the forms in the near future. NOTE: Programs that use paper forms should continue to use the old forms until new ones are provided.
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| AmeriCorps Alums: Virtual Grad Fairs are Back! In conjunction with AmeriCorps Alums, we are proud to announce an upcoming professional development opportunity for AmeriCorps members and Alums to further their Life After AmeriCorps: Second Annual Virtual Grad School Fair Series: These exciting events will build on last year’s inaugural event by including even more schools committed to recruiting AmeriCorps alumni. One of the key goals of this event is to provide alumni with options that are available to them when considering how they will utilize their Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. Many alumni and current members can benefit from the growing number of schools that are actively recruiting AmeriCorps alumni. This event will help connect members and alumni to those schools, and will include schools that match the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. For AmeriCorps programs, this event is a great Life After AmeriCorps opportunity that provides members with a wide variety of choices for using the Ed Award. Best of all, the event is FREE to current AmeriCorps members and alumni. There are two opportunities to attend this year’s series. They will occur on: - Friday, September 26, 2014 from 12:00PM to 3:00 PM Eastern (Register here)
- Tuesday, September 30, 2014 from 6:00PM to 8:30PM Eastern (Register here)
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| G-489 - Management of Spontaneous Volunteers in Disasters
OneStar is pleased to announce that the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) will be offering two upcoming G-489 certification courses on “Management of Spontaneous Volunteers in Times of Disaster”: This one-day course aims to introduce the keys to success in managing large numbers of spontaneous volunteers in disasters. Its underlying assumption is that much of the volunteer help is indeed needed, and that with basic Emergency Management coordination skills, the volunteer resources can often be put to effective use, making a positive difference in the affected community. The course will discuss the benefits spontaneous volunteers can bring to relief efforts and the challenges they may bring if not coordinated effectively. In addition, the course will examine planning considerations regarding spontaneous volunteers. Special emphasis is also placed on how to make full use of a Volunteer Reception Center—the backbone of any well-organized spontaneous volunteer management program.
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| 20 FOR 20: Texas AmeriCorps Alum Lisa Tatum Honored for Commitment to Service To commemorate the 20th anniversary of AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps Alums – a Points of Light enterprise— today announced the 20 winners of its National Leadership Awards, including Lisa Tatum from Dallas, Texas. Tatum and 19 other alumni from across the country, were selected because of their exemplary commitment to a lifetime of service. Building on her experience as an AmeriCorps member, Tatum now works as Senior Manager, Disaster Preparedness at the Volunteer Center of North Texas. Lisa’s service began in 1997 with AmeriCorps NCCC, Western Region Corps Member. Lisa has responded to natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and Super Storm Sandy, provided professional consulting and support to communities nationally, and has promoted service as a chapter leader for the AmeriCorps Alums of North Texas and a key member of the North Texas AmeriCorps Alliance. View Lisa's story on video here.
The award winners, chosen from a pool of nominees from all 50 states and all 20 years of AmeriCorps’ history, serve as spokespeople, advocates and resources for all alumni beyond Sept. 12. “We are inspired by the wealth of talent our national awards competition revealed, proving that those who serve continue to make a difference at the highest levels of public, private and nonprofit leadership,” said AmeriCorps Alums Co-Executive Directors Mary Bruce and Ben Duda. “AmeriCorps alumni are not just emerging leaders. They are already leading our communities at home and abroad.”
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| Civic Reflection Training Services Request Form OneStar is pleased to periodically offer Civic Reflection training services to grantees, national service programs, and eligible organizations throughout the state of Texas. The two types of services offered are Civic Reflection Discussions and Civic Reflection Facilitation Workshops. Civic reflection uses short, thought-provoking images, video or readings from literature, history, or philosophy to open up important questions in civic life and explore the underlying values and beliefs that drive our shared work in the world. AmeriCorps programs have utilized the practice of civic reflection as a tool in such areas as member development, staff development, and member retention.
Reasonable Accommodation Request Form OneStar may have funding available to support grantees with reasonable accommodation requests for members and/or potential members. If you need to request funds to provide a reasonable accommodation for a member or potential member, please complete the request form at http://www.tfaforms.com/167676.
Updating Program Contact Information If during the year, you have any changes, additions, or deletions to your program’s contacts, please update your program’s Authorized Representative Form (ARF) by visiting http://www.tfaforms.com/159770. This site allows you to add, remove, and/or update contacts at any time and you only need to enter the contact information for the person(s) you need to update. 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
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.
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