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​Serve Illinois Announces $35.7 Million For AmeriCorps Programs
45 programs will place more than 1,800 AmeriCorps Members in over 70 counties

We are excited to announce $20 million in Corporation for National and Community Service federal grants to place 1,830 AmeriCorps Members in 45 programs to serve Illinois communities. This is an increase of $2.5 million over last year, allowing AmeriCorps Members to serve in seven additional programs. These awards include $7.4 million in education awards that AmeriCorps Members can use to pay for college after their term of service. AmeriCorps programs will match these funds with an additional $15.7 million in local funding. The total investment into Illinois communities will be $35.7 million!

AmeriCorps Members dedicate up to one year to help communities with unmet economic, education, health, public safety, disaster preparedness, veteran services, and environmental needs. Members may receive a modest living allowance, student loan deferment, health insurance, childcare, and professional development. Members who successfully complete their service receive an educational award of up to $5,920 to help pay for college, graduate school, vocational training, or to pay off student loans.

Since 1994, more than 41,000 Illinoisans have served 59 million hours through AmeriCorps. Those hours equal more than $1.5 billion in community impact. They have also earned $140.8 million in education awards.

• »Meet Illinois' AmeriCoprs Programs
• »Read the News Release
• »Join AmeriCorps!

​Nominate a Volunteer for Illinois' Volunteer of the Week

Each week we feature a new person or group as Illinois' Volunteer of the Week. Since we began, the hard work of hundreds of Illinoisans has been hightlighted, and we are just getting started!

Do you know a volunteer that is doing amazing things in your community that you would like to get the attention they deserve? Nominate them!

• »Nominate a volunteer
• »Meet all the volunteers of the week

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Recognize a volunteer!

  ​Serv​​​​​e Illinois​​ Blog

2017 Serve Illinois Annual Report - posted by Serve ​Illinois Staff

Dan Dankert of Moline

​Dan Dankert is an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer at the Western Illinois University Quad Cities campus. He helped turn a small storage room into a food pantry that is helping feed students. The food pantry is available to all WIU students. Dan says it helps relieve stress for college students facing difficult times as well as helping non-traditional students trying to make ends meet. "We have quite a few people who come in that are single parents or having to take care of multiple children while going to school while trying to go to work," said Dan. He says the next step is hopefully teaming up with local food banks in the area to grow the food pantry.

In the fall of 2017, a WIU survey showed about a third of students on campus weren't getting enough to eat. Currently WIU has a little more than 1000 students attending classes. To make sure students don't go hungry on other local campuses, Dan organized the 2nd annual informational "food insecurity conference" on Friday March 2nd. The conference provided speakers from the Iowa State University Extension Outreach Local Foods Program coordinator, the Food Rescue Partnership, a Quad-Cities group that works to rescue food from becoming waste, and the River Bend Foodbank.

• »Nominate someone for the volunteer of the week
  
• »More Featured Volunteers
  
  
  

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