Statement by AmeriCorps CEO Smith on the President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget

The Budget provides $1.342 billion for AmeriCorps to invest in core infrastructure improvements, reduce barriers to service and address America’s most urgent challenges

/EIN News/ -- Washington, DC, March 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the Biden-Harris Administration released the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2025. Following historic progress made under the President’s leadership—with over 14 million jobs added since the President took office and inflation down two-thirds from its peak—the Budget protects and builds on this progress with proposals for responsible, pro-growth investments in America and the American people. The President’s Budget will lower costs for the American people, protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, secure Americans at home and abroad, and reduce the deficit by ensuring the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.

“Over the last 30 years, America has counted on AmeriCorps to address our country’s biggest challenges in a cost-efficient way that benefits communities, nonprofit organizations, and those who serve,” said Michael D. Smith, CEO, AmeriCorps. “To prepare for the next 30 years, we will strengthen pathways to education and employment, center equity, and remove barriers so that national service is a viable opportunity for Americans of all backgrounds.”

The FY 2025 Budget will support more than 190,000 AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in addressing some of our nation’s most urgent needs, including preparing students for success in school, responding to natural disasters, supporting veterans and military families, preserving public lands, combatting climate change, assisting with independent living for elders, and expanding racial and economic equity, among other priorities. The Budget also includes $8 billion in mandatory funding to support an additional 50,000 American Climate Corps members annually by 2031.

In addition, the Budget makes critical and targeted investments in the American people that will promote greater prosperity for decades to come. To support the AmeriCorps’ mission, the President’s Budget for fiscal year 2025 invests in the agency’s future.

1. Reducing barriers to service and promoting equity to enhance the AmeriCorps member and volunteer experience. The Budget will strengthen pathways to education and employment, remove barriers to service, and increase the member living allowance to the equivalent of $13 per hour —a significant step toward the Administration’s goal of $15 per hour that would make service a viable opportunity open to Americans of all backgrounds.
2. Addressing America’s most urgent challenges facing local communities. The Budget supports and expands American Climate Corps, a workforce development and service initiative that improves the lives of individuals and communities throughout the nation, while helping the United States face intersecting challenges – including the catastrophic and disproportionate impacts of climate change and unequal access to training, higher education, and high-quality jobs. The Budget also provides $15 million to support and expand AmeriCorps’ American Climate Corps Hub.
3. Investing in AmeriCorps infrastructure to strengthen the agency for the long-term. The Budget continues to advance financial and operational reform by investing in systems, IT modernization, internal controls, audit readiness, and staff. In addition, it will increase funding for additional staff capacity, strengthen workplace culture, advance equity action planning and invest in leadership training and development.

The Budget is a fiscally responsible proposal that honors the bipartisan budget caps established in the Fiscal Responsibility Act’s hard-fought bipartisan budget agreement. It builds on the President’s record to date while achieving meaningful deficit reduction through measures that cut wasteful spending and ask the wealthy to pay their fair share.

For more information on the President’s FY 2025 Budget, please visit: WhiteGouse.gov/OMB/Budget/ or AmeriCorps.gov/CBJ.

National Service Press Office
                    AmeriCorps
                    (202) 766-2848
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