What is LISC AmeriCorps?
LISC AmeriCorps is a national service program made possible by funding from the AmeriCorps federal agency to inspire community connection and promote community solutions. Since 1994, passionate, dedicated people serving as LISC AmeriCorps members with community development groups in the places where LISC works, from urban centers to rural communities, has been a vital part of our capacity building strategy.
LISC AmeriCorps members serve an important, three-fold purpose: members serve with organizations to spearhead valuable projects; they engage local residents in the revitalization of their own neighborhoods; and they develop skills, experience and insight into community development and the profound value of service. LISC AmeriCorps is a valuable talent pipeline for community economic development and is an onramp for people with lived experience to secure good jobs. LISC AmeriCorps offers a competitive national service living stipend, leadership training opportunities, and opportunities to connect with like-minded peers across the LISC AmeriCorps network. LISC AmeriCorps equips emerging leaders with the skills to effect long-term community-based change.
Impact
LISC AmeriCorps has placed more than 3,400 full- and half-time members placed in more than 102 cities across the country.
Over 37,000 individuals have been coached on employment skills by LISC AmeriCorps members leading to jobs for nearly 9,800 of those individuals
LISC AmeriCorps members have recruited and managed 198,091 volunteers who served a total of 920,000 hours in their communities.
LISC AmeriCorps members have helped to develop 13,569 affordable housing units and have provided home ownership counseling to nearly 53,000 residents.
AmeriCorps members paint the route for a Safe Passage program in San Francisco's Tenderloin, an effort to help kids walk to school safely.
How we do it
LISC AmeriCorps offers two distinct opportunities for service: the LISC AmeriCorps Classic program and the LISC AmeriCorps Economic Mobility Corps (EMC) program, both made possible by support from the AmeriCorps federal agency.
LISC AmeriCorps Classic Program
For nearly 30 years, LISC AmeriCorps has awarded partner organizations the opportunity to recruit a person to serve with us as a LISC AmeriCorps member. Working with our local offices and national programs across the country, each year, we provide over 100 community development organizations with about 160 LISC AmeriCorps members terms ranging in length from 11 to 2 months to expand on the work local community development organizations need to address local needs.
LISC AmeriCorps Classic members can do everything from financial counseling and job placement, to housing development and foreclosure prevention, to COVID community response and support, to safety and justice. LISC AmeriCorps Classic members engage local residents in volunteering to improve safety, health and the beauty of their neighborhoods. The Classic program offers members training, a living stipend and benefits (for qualified member types) during their term of service, and an education award to use for educational expenses (including to pay of qualified student loan debt) after they’ve successfully completed their service requirements.
- Learn more about applying to be a LISC AmeriCorps Classic Program member here.
- Learn more about hosting a LISC AmeriCorps Classic Program member here.
LISC AmeriCorps Economic Mobility Corps (EMC) Program
The Economic Mobility Corps (EMC) is the result of a new, innovative partnership between the CDFI Fund and the AmeriCorps federal agency. The initiative places AmeriCorps members at certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) to serve program clients while simultaneously expanding CDFI capacity to provide financial counseling, broadening the scale and impact of CDFI programs. LISC AmeriCorps is one of three inaugural grantees of the program.
The LISC AmeriCorps EMC program focuses on financial counseling services that helps LISC AmeriCorps EMC members work one-on-one and in small groups with people in their communities to help individuals gain increased financial knowledge and/or leads to people purchasing or remaining in safe, decent, healthy affordable housing. LISC AmeriCorps EMC members serve between 3 and 12 months and may be eligible to earn certificates about CDFIs and credit building.
- Learn more about applying to be a LISC AmeriCorps EMC member here.
- Learn more about hosting a LISC AmeriCorps EMC member here.
