About S.277 - The Serve America Act
Key highlights that may help nonprofits include:
- Creates two new service-learning programs: (1) a Youth Engagement Zones to Strengthen Communities program, providing competitive grants to partnerships between local educational agencies that serve high-need, low-income communities and certain community-based or state entities to engage students and out-of-school youth in service-learning addressing specific challenges faced by their communities; and (2) a Campus of Service program, which annually grants up to 30 institutions of higher education (IHEs) with exemplary service-learning programs the funds to assist their students' pursuit of public service careers, and the right to nominate additional individuals for ServeAmerica Fellowships.
- Creates a Community Solutions Funds Pilot program awarding competitive matching grants to grantmaking institutions or partnerships between such institutions and state or local governmental entities which will use the grants to provide competitive matching subgrants to community organizations for use in replicating or expanding proven solutions to specifically identified community challenges.
- Establishes an Innovation Fellowships Pilot program awarding competitive grants to individuals who are veterans, or have completed at least one period of national service, to establish innovative nonprofit organizations that address national and local challenges.
- Creates a ServeAmerica Corps program providing formula grants to states and awarding competitive grants to states and nonprofit organizations to fund national service in low-income communities by: (1) Clean Energy Service Corps; (2) Education Corps; (3) Healthy Futures Corps; (4) Opportunity Corps; and (5) Encore programs designed to take advantage of the skills of participants age 50 and older. Creates additional incentives for national service participation by individuals age 50 and older.
- Requires the Office of Volunteers for Prosperity (VfP) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement a VfPServe program providing skilled professionals with fixed-amount stipends to offset their costs of volunteering abroad to address specified VfP objectives aimed at ameliorating living conditions in developing countries.
Source:
GovTrack.us. S. 277--111th Congress (2009): Serve America Act, GovTrack.us (database of federal legislation). (accessed Mar 16, 2009)
