$444m eyed for AmeriCorps

WASHINGTON -- After a year of management problems and budget woes for AmeriCorps, congressional negotiators agreed last week to give the troubled national service program $444 million for fiscal 2004. The funding, part of the $328 billion year-end spending bill that House and Senate negotiators recently completed, exceeds President Bush's budget request by $11 million and should be enough to meet his public pledge to expand AmeriCorps to 75,000 participants. Congress is expected to vote on the bill in December.

The money, if approved, "would result in a significant increase for AmeriCorps that would allow more Americans than ever to serve their communities through the program," said Stephen Goldsmith, chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the agency that oversees AmeriCorps and two other service programs.

The money represents a $170 million increase over AmeriCorps' 2003 budget, and it is at least $99 million more than either the House or Senate had previously indicated it would grant AmeriCorps in 2004. Both the funding level and the increase are the highest in the corporation's history.

"This is tremendously positive news," said Alan Khazei, a founder of City Year, which recruits 17- to 24-year-olds for a year of community service in urban areas. "It means that Congress and the president have heard that the American people really believe in and value AmeriCorps."

AmeriCorps volunteers work 20 to 40 hours a week, providing such services as literacy coaching, building low-income housing, mentoring children and cleaning parks. Some volunteers receive modest living stipends. Most also are eligible for grants of $4,725 to pay college tuition or repay student loans.

The budget increase represents a reversal of fortune for the beleaguered Clinton-era service program. A lack of funding and mismanagement left AmeriCorps officials unable to fund as many as 20,000 of 50,000 volunteer slots this year.

Local AmeriCorps program officials found themselves fighting for enough money to avoid closures or cutbacks in service. In September, AmeriCorps advocates staged 100 hours of speeches to pressure Congress for more money. Many called on Bush, in particular, to make a public show of supporting higher funding.

Some legislators, especially key House Republicans, said they were disinclined to provide more money until AmeriCorps had straightened out its management problems.