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Utilizing service years has the power to expand your organization’s capacity for achieving its mission and addressing critical community needs. Our communities face significant challenges and deep societal divides that threaten the health and wellbeing of our entire country. Service years provide the critical human capital we need to make progress in these areas. Thousands of young Americans are eager to make a difference in communities like yours. By hosting a service year, your organization will have the opportunity to engage these individuals to increase your impact over the course of a year. These young people learn new skills and gain real-world experience, while your organization retains committed, full-time service year corps members whose service will support your mission. By utilizing service years, you can serve more clients, extend your reach into the community, or build your organization’s capacity to achieve its goals. Sound good? Our country needs organizations like yours to join us in this movement to create inspiring, empowering service year opportunities.
A service year is an opportunity to develop real-world skills through hands-on service. From fighting poverty to working with kids and responding to natural disasters — a service year is a meaningful and fulfilling way to tackle the most pressing challenges facing our nation. If your organization is not currently part of AmeriCorps, or if you want to create a new program not recognized by AmeriCorps, your positions will need to be certified. Take a look at the criteria to determine if your program is eligible for certification.
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Certification Criteria
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Focus Areas
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Benefits to My Organization
Certification Criteria.
All service year positions must be submitted and approved for certification prior to becoming public. Here is an overview of the certification criteria used to determine the eligibility of submitted positions. Read more.
Focus Areas.
Service years address a wide array of issue areas. Click here to read some examples of ways that nonprofits and public organization from urban to rural communities are utilizing service year opportunities.
Benefits to My Organization.
Most nonprofit, education, and public organizations are perpetually understaffed. They need passionate and dedicated individuals who can increase their capacity to fulfill their mission, without over-extending their budgets. They also lack a talent pipeline; experts expect that the “talent shortage” for nonprofit and public positions will grow dramatically as Baby Boomers retire. Service years help meet these needs in three ways: It is important to note that service year positions are not meant to replace key roles or positions within an organization. The service year structure is intended to support and complement existing staffing models; not to create low-paying jobs or replace necessary employee roles. Corps members may either perform “direct service” that helps people, animals, or the environment, or “indirect service” that builds the capacity of an organization to provide direct service, via professionals or volunteers. A corps member who tutors a child, delivers meals and companionship to the elderly, or removes invasive species from public lands is performing “direct service.” In contrast, a corps member who recruits and manages volunteers, raises money for an organization, or creates a new website for an organization is performing “indirect service” that enables the organization to expand its reach or operate more effectively. A full-time corps member can cost much less than entry-level staff, consultants, contractors, and temp agencies. Organizations benefit from the full-time service of individuals who can dedicate a year towards the mission while receiving a low-cost living allowance. A full-time corps member can increase an organization’s workforce capacity either by taking on direct service (like tutoring or construction) or working to develop the organization’s institutional capacity to expand its reach and meet its mission. Service years can be an effective recruitment and talent development strategy. Many organizations use service years to test the fit of corps members with their work, even hiring alums after their term of service. These alums may in turn supervise the next cohort of service members as they continue to develop their leadership roles within an organization.
Service year programs are remarkably flexible; there is no one typical service year program design. In some cases, organizations recruit dozens of service year corps members and organize them in teams to take on projects across multiple locations. In others, one or two individuals serve at an organization working under staff supervision. Regardless of size, host organizations enable service year corps members to be part of a team and understand their larger role in solving society’s problems, while providing a meaningful service experience.
Create a Service Year Program
Organizations can create their own service year program to address local needs. The “Creating a Service Year Program” Handbook provides a guideline for starting a service year program.
Collaborate with existing Service Year Programs
Are you interested in working together with an existing host organization to address a problem in your community? Find and connect with host organizations in your community.
Learn more about hosting through ServiceYear.org
Learn more about "how it works" to host service years using ServiceYear.org, including the certification and recruitment process.