ETR Receives New Grant from Corporation for National and Community Service

After a nationwide competition, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has awarded ETR Associates a three-year Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) cooperative agreement to support the Serve America Resource Center. ETR has been managing the Resource Center, the national service hub for the nation's volunteer community, for over 14 years; and the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, which promotes quality service-learning practices across educational institutions, community organizations and Indian tribes and U.S. territories, for almost 8 years. The new, unified project will continue to provide websites, publications, training and other services to the entire national service field in an innovative and cost-effective manner.

CNCS awarded this grant soon after President Obama signed into law the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act that expands national service programs administered by CNCS, including Americorps, Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America. Both CNCS and Congress expect to see significant increases in the number of volunteers engaged in service and service-learning in their communities as a result of the reauthorization of the Serve America Act. AmeriCorps, for example, is expected to increase from 75,000 to 250,000 members by the year 2017. The projects managed by ETR support these volunteers and the organizations they work with, and are part of the additional infrastructure CNCS is expected to provide to support this dramatic expansion in service.

CNCS is the is the nation's largest grantmaker supporting service and volunteering, and plays a vital role in supporting the American culture of citizenship, civic engagement, service and responsibility.