AmeriCorps Week

WHEREAS, service to others is a hallmark of the American character and throughout our history citizens have stepped up to meet our challenges by volunteering in their communities; the current economic downturn means more Americans are facing hardships, and volunteering and national service is needed more than ever; and

WHEREAS, the AmeriCorps national service program has proven to be a highly effective way to engage Americans of all ages and backgrounds in meeting a wide range of community needs and promote the ethic of service and volunteering since its creation in 1994; each year AmeriCorps, including AmeriCorps VISTA and AmeriCorps NCCC, provides opportunities for 80,000 citizens across the nation, including approximately 380 citizens in Alabama, to give back in an intensive way to our communities, our state, and our country; and

WHEREAS, more than 800,000 men and women across the nation, including more than 5,500 men and women from Alabama, have taken the AmeriCorps pledge to “get things done for America” by becoming AmeriCorps members since 1994; those AmeriCorps members have served a total of more than 1 billion hours nationwide, including eight million hours served by residents from Alabama, helping to improve the lives of our state’s most vulnerable citizens, strengthen our educational system; protect our environment, and contribute to our public safety, and;

WHEREAS, AmeriCorps was designed to give a key role to states in deciding where resources should be directed to meet state and local needs through the work of Governor-appointed state service commissions, including the Alabama State Service Commission (Serve Alabama); and

WHEREAS, AmeriCorps has strengthened America’s independent sector by investing more than $7.6 billion dollars to support the efforts of tens of thousands of non-profit, community, educational and faith-based community groups nationwide, and those grants have leveraged hundreds of millions of additional funds and in-kind donations from others sources; last year, AmeriCorps members recruited and supervised more than four million community volunteers, demonstrating AmeriCorps value as a powerful catalyst and force multiplier; and

WHEREAS, AmeriCorps members nationwide, in return for their service, have earned nearly $2.4 billion in Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards to further their own educational advancement at colleges and universities – including more than $14.6 million that has been earned by residents of Alabama; AmeriCorps members, after their terms of service end, remain engaged in our communities as volunteers, teachers, public servants and non-profit leaders in disproportionately high levels; and

WHEREAS, Congress recently passed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Corporation for National and Community Service and engage more Americans in service, including a major expansion of AmeriCorps to focus on critical national issues of education, health, clean energy, veterans and economic opportunity; and

WHEREAS, March 9 through March 17, 2013, is designated as AmeriCorps Week and is an opportune time for the people of Alabama to salute AmeriCorps members and alums for their powerful impact, thank all of AmeriCorps’ community partners in Alabama who make the program possible and bring more Americans into service:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Robert Bentley, Governor of Alabama, do hereby proclaim the week of March 9 through March 17, 2013, as

AmeriCorps Week

in the state of Alabama and urge citizens to thank AmeriCorps members and alumni for their service and to find ways to give back to their communities.