AmeriCorps to distribute $3.6M grant for three Hawaii nonprofits
Three Hawaii nonprofits will benefit from a $3.6 million AmeriCorps grant this year, the Corporation for National and Community Service announced Wednesday.
Approximately $2 million will be distributed to local nonprofits and $1.5 million will be distributed in the form of educational scholarships for AmeriCorps members, they said. An additional $600,000 in from the corporation will be distributed by the state to other nonprofits throughout the Islands.
Kupu Hawaii Youth Conservation Corps will receive approximately $1.2 million in support for AmeriCorps members involved with in Kupu’s environmental stewardship programs for young adults.
Roughly $145,000 in AmeriCorps grants will support 18 volunteers, or “justice navigators” for the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii. The nonprofit’s Project Kaulike supports low- and moderate-income families and low-income veterans and their families as they navigate Hawaii’s civil justice system.
Teach for America’s Hawaii chapter will receive $133,000, allowing 166 Americorps members to serve as teachers at low-income schools. Last year, 185 corps members taught in 56 schools across Oahu and the Big Island. College graduates are recruited to teach for two years in under-resourced schools, and nearly 25 percent of TFA corps members are Native Hawaiian or kamaaina, according to the nonprofit.
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, praised the lasting impact AmeriCorps volunteers have had in the Islands.
“Many AmeriCorps Teach for America volunteers found it to be so inspirational they stayed on [as teachers],” she said. "I think this experience with the public school system stays with them and many of them will go on to be captains of the industry.”
Read the entire piece at: http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/blog/morning_call/2015/06/americorps-to-distribute-3-6m-grant-for-three.html
