AmeriCorps has been a longstanding community service program since 1993. It was designed very much like the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) from the Great Depression era. The program provides 75,000 jobs for adults to serve their communities through nonprofit groups. AmeriCorps is non-partisan, launched during the Clinton Administration, but grown during the Bush Administration.
Well, somehow in this past legislative session, we forgot to fund Nevada’s portion of AmeriCorps. And like other federal programs, this is required for the matching of federal funds. Now here is the kicker…..Nevada’s contribution: $365K. Federal matching: $7.5 million. My calculator reads 20.5:1 matching. That is a lot of jobs in Nevada that will go away because the Legislature overlooked this and forgot to fund Nevada’s part.
What a shame. Nevada never needed more programs like AmeriCorps like it does right now.
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