Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Help Keep AmeriCorps Running

From Cincinnati Public Allies:

Greetings Partners! 

WE NEED YOUR HELP! The House voted to shut down AmeriCorps in the current year's budget. Please take 2 minutes and call 202-224-3121 and ask for your Representative's office. Tell them you are a constituent and not to kill national service and explain why you care.
We need to shore up supporters and let opponents know we won't just lie down. The most important thing is that you share that you live in their district and explain why you care. If you wish for additional talking points, see below.
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*I am calling to urge you to vote NO on H.R. 1. Please do not shutdown the Corporation for National and Community Service or eliminate AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Learn & Serve America or the Volunteer Generation Fund.
*The CR will decimate vital services in our communities when millions of Americans need food, shelter, healthcare, job training and educational support.
*Communities are counting on national service participants and community volunteers to meet the increased demand for services.
*Provide an example of your local impact and what will be lost if your program is eliminated. Example: My organization has 140 AmeriCorps members serving in 10 Boston Public Schools. They are providing targeted and school-wide interventions in literacy, match, attendance and classroom behavior. If Congress eliminates AmeriCorps, nearly 2,000 high-risk 3rd-9th graders will no longer receive this additional support in the classroom.  *The CR will only push unemployment rates up. Unemployment numbers -- particularly for young people, veterans and military spouses, older Americans and people of color-remain alarmingly high.
*For Americans who are struggling to find work, national service programs offer participants the opportunity to earn a subsistence-level stipend, develop skills, and create pathways to future employment. Eliminating programs like AmeriCorps will result in jobs lost for the corps members and the staff who supervise them. Example: If Congress eliminates AmeriCorps, our 140 AmeriCorps members and the staff that supervise them will be out of work.
*The federal investment made in faith based and community organizations through the Corporation for National and Community Service leverages $799 million in matching funds from companies, foundations and other sources.
*If you defund the national service programs, whole organizations will shut down and most will not be able to reopen again even if funding is restored.

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