AMERICORPS MEMBER BENEFITS

- ​Full-time AmeriCorps Living Allowance: $22,000/year or Half-time AmeriCorps Living Allowance: $11,000/year. 

-  The AmeriCorps education award payable toward tuition or federal student loans and issued to members upon successful completion of the service term commitment and required service hours

- West Virginia tuition waiver – for every 600 hours of service members complete, they will receive a tuition waiver for one semester at any West Virginia college or university

 - Subsidized healthcare, if eligible (full-time members only)

- Subsidized child care, if eligible (full-time members only)

- The opportunity to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

- The experience of bringing history to life and transforming communities across West Virginia

WHAT TO EXPECT IF SELECTED AS A SITE SPONSOR?

- Paying a cash match of $7,700 for a full-time member or $3,850 for a half-time member to be used toward the required program match. PAWV will invoice the organization/agency for this grant match payment. It is nonrefundable and typically requested in two installments unless otherwise discussed with the program director.

- Doing local recruitment through your organization/agency’s usual networks for applicants to fill the member role(s) at your site (and, optimally, to fill member roles at other sites in the program as well). 

- Conducting mandatory, second-round interviews with promising applicants.

- Providing an office space and all necessary service materials such as a desk and access to a site-provided computer with internet access and with appropriate computer programs for the member’s duties.

- Training the member in site duties so that each member can fulfill their expected duties at the site.

- Reimbursing the member for site-related travel, site-related expenses, and site-specific training by the next pay period (subject to the organization/agency’s policies).

- Serving as the communications conduit and keeping your staff, volunteers, and members informed regarding PAWV and AmeriCorps updates, policies, and deadlines.

- Serving as an ambassador for PAWV and Preserve WV AmeriCorps with your funders and community stakeholders.

- Assigning a site supervisor to provide day-to-day supervision, direction, and support for your site’s AmeriCorps member(s).

 SITE SUPERVISOR RESPONSIBILITIES

- Meeting with the member or members regularly and providing tasks, objectives, and feedback to complete projects that benefit the site and the community.

- Being a first point of contact to deal with disciplinary issues, harassment, or other grievances.

- Attending a mandatory orientation for all members and site supervisors, held the last week of August at a location(s) to be determined

- Reviewing and approving members’ timesheets twice a month.

- Completing evaluation forms of your member(s) mid-way through the year and at the end of the year;

- Gathering relevant data from the site and submitting timely reports to PAWV, when requested, through data collection forms (typically using SurveyMonkey). 

PRESERVE WV PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES

- Conducting a national recruitment strategy to identify a high caliber pool of applicants for the Preserve WV AmeriCorps member roles.

- Reviewing applications, contacting applicants, and conducting initial, first-round interviews (typically by phone) with promising candidates.

- Administering payroll for each member in addition to payroll taxes and workers compensation insurance.

- Managing the finances of the grant and submitting monthly expenditure reports to Volunteer West Virginia.

- Serving as the program’s point of contact for Volunteer West Virginia and for AmeriCorps Headquarters.

- Advocating for your organizations/agencies in our work with state agencies and national organizations.

- Providing site supervisors and members with initial training regarding the Preserve WV program, AmeriCorps, etc. during its mandatory Orientation.

- Ensuring the highest possible compliance and effectiveness through monitoring, training, and support to host sites and members.

AMERICORPS PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES

​As outlined in 45CFR § 2520.65 and the 2012 AmeriCorps Provisions IV.D.3, staff and members may not engage in certain prohibited activities while charging time to the AmeriCorps program, accumulating service or training hours, or otherwise performing activities supported by the AmeriCorps program or AmeriCorps National.
 
Prohibited Activities Include:
a. Attempting to influence legislation; 
b. Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; 
c. Assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing; 
d. Impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements; 
e. Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office; 
f. Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials; 
g. Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization; 
h. Providing a direct benefit to--
         i. A business organized for profit; 
         ii. A labor union; 
         iii. A partisan political organization;
         iv. A nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions contained in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 related to engaging in political activities or substantial amount of lobbying except that nothing in these provisions shall be construed to prevent participants from engaging in advocacy activities undertaken at their own initiative; and 
          v. An organization engaged in the religious activities described in paragraph 3 above unless AmeriCorps National assistance is not used to support those religious activities; 
i. Conducting a voter registration drive or using AmeriCorps National funds to conduct a voter registration drive. 
j. Providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services; and 
k. Such other activities as the AmeriCorps Federal Agency may prohibit.
 
AmeriCorps members may not engage in the above activities directly or indirectly by recruiting, training, or managing others for the primary purpose of engaging in one of the activities listed above. Individuals may exercise their rights as private citizens and may participate in the activities listed above on their initiative, on non-AmeriCorps time, and using non-AmeriCorps funds.  Individuals should not wear the AmeriCorps logo while doing so.
 
Additional Prohibited Activities Include:
∙ Participating in any fundraising activity that has not been pre-approved by PAWV, or that is for the organization/agency’s operating budget, general fund, or AmeriCorps site sponsor grant match.
∙ Writing or otherwise working on applications for federal grants. 
∙ Replacing paid staff members (even temporarily, such as while a staff member is out sick).
∙ Duplicating existing staff tasks.