Volunteer Maine, the Maine Commission for Community Service, is accepting grant applications under the AmeriCorps State Competitive program.

This annual AmeriCorps competition focuses on federal funding priorities, which this year include rural communities, climate action, and service as a pathway to employment, according to a news release from the Augusta-based commission.

Interested agencies are encouraged to attend a virtual information session from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1.

To register and submit questions in advance, mainestate.zoom.us.

AmeriCorps grants are awarded to eligible organizations to implement evidence-based direct service programs in which AmeriCorps members provide the human resources to carry out the program. The service activities target high priority, critical needs in specific communities with the goal of measurably improving/changing the situation.

AmeriCorps also builds the capacity of the community to meet its own needs by engaging citizens as volunteers who serve alongside the AmeriCorps members. The third goal of AmeriCorps is to develop the skills, knowledge, and abilities of members, not only through their service work but also their community and civic engagement, enabling these individuals to lead community initiatives after their year of service.

In this competition, the federal AmeriCorps funding priorities take precedence. They are:

• Organizations leading service in communities with concentrated poverty, rural communities, tribal communities, and those organizations serving historically underrepresented and underserved individuals, including but not limited to communities of color, immigrants and refugees, people with disabilities, people who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, people with arrest and/or conviction records, and religious minorities;
• Veterans and military families, caregivers and survivors;
• Faith-based organizations;
• Programs that provide additional benefits to AmeriCorps members aimed at enhancing member experience and bolstering member recruitment and retention;
• Programs that create workforce pathways for AmeriCorps members, including deliberate training, certifications, and hiring preferences or support;
• Environmental stewardship, including supporting communities to become more resilient through measures that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve land and water, increase renewable energy use and improve at-risk ecosystems, especially in underserved households and communities; and
• Economic Mobility Corps, a joint initiative with the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund to place national service members at certified community development financial Institutions.

For more information and to download the application instructions, visit volunteermaine.gov. The submission deadline is Thursday, Nov. 17, no later than 11:59 p.m., local time.

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