The Influx of AmeriCorps Members

President Obama last week signed legislation that will expand the AmeriCorps program to 250,000 people. That is the equivalent of two college towns suddenly unleashed to fight poverty across the country. Amazing.

At this scale we need to rethink the whole program and ecosystem needed to support them to ensure the results our nation needs.

Here are four ideas for how to support this growing army.

1. AmeriCorps is a well-known brand at universities and with folks entering the job market. We need to expand this reach to promote the program to mid-career professionals who are either looking to do a career change or a sabbatical. To do this, AmeriCorps could market to career coaches and corporate HR departments. They will quickly spread the word. This will bring a needed influx of middle management into nonprofit organizations and also build a pipeline for leadership in the sector.
2. The AmeriCorps program will need to market to nonprofits much more aggressively. It should partner with the Foundation Center to do trainings for nonprofits across the country where they can help organizations understand all the ways they could leverage the program.
3. Much like the IRS has created an industry to help people and organizations file their taxes, my sense is that we will need a small industry to support AmeriCorps. The nonprofit sector does not have the capacity to manage this new influx. We need intermediaries to help nonprofits design programs, apply for AmeriCorps grants, find the best people for the jobs and help a nonprofit integrate Corps members into their organization. These intermediaries will need lobbying, grant writing, recruitment, program design and training competencies.
4. Speaking of armies, AmeriCorps would be an interesting re-entry program for returning veterans from the Middle East. It would enable them to continue to serve while integrating them into the domestic workforce.

So, there they are. Four ideas of how we can harness the exciting influx of AmeriCorps members.

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