New Jersey BonnerAmeriCorps Orientation. National Service Program that is funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). Federally

New Jersey New Jersey BonnerAmeriCorps BonnerAmeriCorps

OrientationOrientation

• National Service Program that is funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).

• Federally funded; Locally implemented.

• Benefits the localities in which Members serve by meeting critical community needs.

• Benefits Members by educating them about their community and citizenship and by giving them means to continue their education.

What is AmeriCorps?

What is AmeriCorps?(Cont.)

• A program of service with many regulations that must be followed by partner organizations and Members.

• Members complete a Term of Service.

• A Term of Service is a commitment of hours to direct service and training.

• Members receive an Education Award with the successful completion of their Term of Service.

GetThings Done

DevelopParticipantsStrengthenCommunities

What is AmeriCorps?(Cont.)

AmeriCorps Aims to Meet 3 Different Goals:

• 1930: President Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the Depression.

• 1961: President Kennedy created the Peace Corps. Since then, more than 150,000 Americans have served in the Peace Corps.

• 1964: President Johnson created VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), giving Americans opportunities to serve low-income communities domestically.

• 1960’s: The Foster Grandparent Program and RSVP are created to enable older Americans to serve their communities.

National Service NetworkHistory

• 1990: President Bush signed the National and Community Service Act of 1990.

• 1993: President Clinton signed the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993, creating AmeriCorps and CNCS.

• AmeriCorps serves over 2 million Americans each year through two main streams of service:

1.AmeriCorps

2.Senior Corps

National Service NetworkHistory (Cont.)

• Created in 1993, AmeriCorps is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which also oversees Senior Corps.

National Service Network(Cont.)

AmeriCorps in New Jersey• Funded by the Corporation for

National and Community Service (CNCS).

• Administered by the New Jersey Commission on National and Community Service, which is housed in the Department of State.

• The State Commission is currently working with 20 programs.

• There are over 300 AmeriCorps members serving in all areas of New Jersey.

• Funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).

• Administered by The Bonner Foundation in partnership with The College of New Jersey.

• Offered at on college campuses and at community partner organizations.

AmeriCorps in New JerseyBonner AmeriCorps

• Educate communities about their environment

• Renovate and rebuild abandoned homes

• Provide mentoring during non-school hours

• Recruit volunteers

• Bridge the digital divide

• Assist the homeless

• Provide support to people with disabilities

• Support immigrants through a variety of human and educational services

As part of the National Service Movement, Members take action and find solutions to address community needs while learning new skills and sharing talents to make a difference across the country.

AmeriCorps Service:AmeriCorps Members Do...?

- Perform a job

- Work in a job program

- Participate in an internship

- Provide free labor

- Become a staff builder

AmeriCorps Service:AmeriCorps Members Don’t...?

- Perform only clerical work

- Answer phones

- Perform janitorial duties

- Supervise other Members

- Manage paperwork or financial issues

AmeriCorps Service:AmeriCorps Members Don’t...?

• Individuals who serve in National Service Programs are referred to as Members; they are not volunteers, participants, or employees.

• AmeriCorps members serve; they do not “work.”

• Members receive a Living Stipend; they do not receive a “salary” or “wage.”

AmeriCorps Service:Common Myths

Member Eligibility

Program Policies & Procedures

✓ Must be 17 years of age or older.

✓ Must have a high school diploma or equivalency, or must be working towards obtaining the G.E.D.

✓ Must be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Legal Resident of the U.S.

✓ Must successfully complete a 3-part criminal history check with no record of committing sex offenses, arson, or murder.

Member Eligibility: Requirements

Member Benefits


➡Living Allowance

➡Education Award

➡Loan Forbearance & Interest

Accrual

➡Health Benefits

➡Childcare Benefits

Member Benefits:Breakdown

Full-Time Members

Half-Time Members

Minimum-Time Members

1700 Hours of Service



Living Allowance Living Allowance Living AllowanceEducation Award -

$5,550Education Award -

$2,775 Education Award

- $1,175 Loan Forbearance

& Interest Accrual

Loan Forbearance & Interest

Accrual

Loan Forbearance & Interest

Accrual Health Benefits

Childcare Benefits

(if applicable)Childcare Benefits

(if applicable)

Member Benefits:Breakdown (Cont.)

• Living allowance must be paid in equal increments (i.e. $16,000/26 pay periods = $615.38 per pay period).

• Amount should not fluctuate based on the number of hours served, unless the Member is suspended.

• Can be withheld if the Member does not turn in hour logs by the deadline.

• Cannot be distributed if the Member exits the program before his/her agreed upon Exit Date.

Member Benefits:Living Allowance

• Applicable Federal and State taxes, including FICA, ARE withheld.

• Unemployment taxes, NJ Family Medical Leave, and NJ Disability taxes ARE NOT withheld because Members are not eligible for these benefits.

Member Benefits:Living Allowance & Taxes

• Vacation or holidays (no credit for service hours)

• Sick time (no credit for service hours)

• Bereavement time (no credit for service hours)

• Jury duty (credit for service hours)

Member Benefits:Living Allowance & Time Off

• Members should contact their case manager for specific information as to how the AmeriCorps stipend may impact public benefits such as TANF, food stamps, etc.

Member Benefits:Living Allowance & Public Benefits

• The Education Award can be used to:

1) Pay back qualified student loans.

2) Pay current educational expenses at a qualified institution of higher education.

• Persons over the age of 55 can transfer the Education Award to a child or grandchild.

• Members have up to 7 years to use the Education Award.

• Education Award is managed through the My AmeriCorps Portal.

• Members can earn no more than the aggregate value of two full-time education awards.

Member Benefits:Education Award

• Received only upon successful completion of term.• May be used to pay qualified educational expenses.• May be used to repay qualified student loans.• Taxed in the year in which it is used.

Member Benefits:Education Award (Cont.)

Term Full-time Half-timeMinimum-

time

Hours 1700 900 300

EducationAward

$5,550 $2,775 $1,175

• Health benefits provided through the Corps Network/Willis Group/Summit America to full-time members. Members must serve full-time hours (+30 hours a week).

• Members enrolled in comparable coverage through a parent, spouse, etc. may decline.

• Members enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid must enroll in health benefits coverage provided.

• Coverage begins on the first day of service.

• No cost to the Member.

• No continuation coverage is available.

Member Benefits:Health Benefits

• Childcare benefits are available to full-time Members through Gap Solutions, Inc.

• Childcare benefits must be paid to a NJ State Licensed Childcare Provider.

Member Benefits:Childcare Benefits

• Members may be eligible to postpone the repayment of their qualified student loans through an action called loan forbearance.

• Request loan forbearance through the My AmeriCorps Portal.

Member Benefits:Loan Forbearance

• Members who have successfully completed a term of service in AmeriCorps are eligible to have the National Service Trust pay all or a portion of the interest that accrued on their qualified student loan during their term of service.

• Request interest accrual benefits through the My AmeriCorps Portal.

Member Benefits:Interest Accrual

Acceptable Service & Training


At no time may a Bonner AmeriCorps member:

•Spend more than 20% of their term of service in training and enrichment activities.

•Spend more than 10% of their term of service engaging in fundraising activities.

•Devote any of their service hours to fundraising for any purpose other than directly supporting their service activities.

Acceptable Service:Rules of Conduct

Acceptable Service:Fundraising Provisions

1.AmeriCorps members can spend no more than 10% of their hours on fundraising activities.

2.Members can raise resources to support projects related to their issue area/site's direct service activities.

3.Members cannot raise resources for an organization’s general operating expenses or endowment.

Acceptable Service:Fundraising Provisions (Cont.)

4.Members cannot fundraise

for their own living

allowance.

5.Members cannot write a

grant application to any

Federal agency, including

the Corporation for National

and Community Service.

Acceptable Service:Fundraising Provisions (Cont.)

7.Members cannot engage

in any fundraising where

the beneficiaries are

international. If the goods

or funds collected will be sent

to an international

community, the fundraising

time cannot be approved for

AmeriCorps.

Acceptable Service:Prohibited Activities

1. Participating in efforts to influence legislation, including lobbying for your program;

2. Organizing a letter-writing campaign to Congress;

3. Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office;

4. 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;

5. Printing politically charged articles in a Corporation-funded newsletter or discussion list;

Acceptable Service:Prohibited Activities (Cont.)6. Taking part in political demonstrations

or rallies;7. Engaging in any efforts to influence

legislation, including state or local ballot initiatives;

8. Voter registration drives;9. Organizing or participating in protests,

petitions, boycotts, or strikes;10.Assisting or deterring union organizing;11.Impairing existing contracts or

collective bargaining agreements;12.Religious activities, including engaging

in religious instruction; conducting worship services; providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship; constructing, operating, or maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship; or engaging in any form of religious proselytization;

Acceptable Service:Prohibited Activities (Cont.)

13.Activities that pose a significant safety risk to participants;•Assignments that displace employees;•Placement of Members into internships with for-profit businesses as part of the education and training component of the program;•Providing assistance to a business organized for-profit17.Raising funds for an AmeriCorps living allowance;•Raising funds for an organization’s operating expenses or endowment;•Writing grant applications for AmeriCorps funding or for any other funding provided by the Corporation for National and Community Service;


20.Writing grant applications for funding provided by any federal agencies;21.Administrative work, unless it benefits the Members approved direct service activities;22.Activities providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services;23.Activities that pose a significant risk to AmeriCorps members or others;24.Internships with a for-profit business as a part of the education and training component of the program;


25.Medical research;

26.Activities (service or trainings) performed internationally;

27.Activities performed that serve or educate about individuals residing outside the US and US territories; and

28.Serving hours at home.

Suspension & Release


• The Program may suspend the Member’s term of service for the following reasons:

1.Compelling personal circumstances (e.g. illness)

2.A violation of the Rules of Conduct

3.If during the term of service the Member has been charged with a violent felony or the possession, sale, or distribution of a controlled substance.

• During the suspension from service, the Member will not receive credit for service hours or benefits. The Member may resume his or her term of service once the circumstances supporting the suspension have been resolved.

Suspension & Release:Suspension

• If a Member has a compelling personal circumstance and has completed at least 15% of his/her service commitment, the Member may receive a portion of the education award.

This means that the situation is absolutely beyond the Member’s control (e.g. illness)

Documentation provided by Member is MANDATORY

• Compelling Personal Circumstances do not include:

• (1) enrolling in school

• (2) obtaining employment (other than moving from welfare to work)

• 3) dissatisfaction with the program.

• A Member leaving for any other reason other than compelling personal circumstance will not receive an Education Award.

Suspension & Release:Release

Personnel Policies


In the event that informal efforts to resolve disputes are unsuccessful, AmeriCorps members, labor unions, and other interested individuals may seek resolution through the grievance procedures detailed in the Member Contract. These procedures are intended to apply to service-related issues, such as assignments, evaluations, suspensions, or release for cause, as well as issues related to non-selection of Members, and displacement of employees, or duplication of activities by AmeriCorps members.

Personnel Policies:Grievance Procedure

Participation in AmeriCorps is based on merit and equal opportunity for all, without regard to factors such as race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, political affiliation, marital or parental status, military service, or religious, community, or social affiliations.

It is also unlawful to retaliate against any person who, or organization that, files a complaint about such discrimination. Each campus and/or service site that receives the services of an AmeriCorps Member agrees to abide by Federal laws and CNCS policies on Equal Opportunity.

Personnel Policies:Nondiscrimination Policy

Programs and activities must be accessible to persons with disabilities, and the Bonner AmeriCorps Program at your campus must provide reasonable accommodation to the known mental or physical disabilities of otherwise qualified members, service recipients, applicants, and staff.

All selections and project assignments must be made without regard to the need to provide reasonable accommodation.

Personnel Policies:Reasonable Accommodation

Consistent with the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988, The Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation and The College of New Jersey are committed to providing a workplace that is free from the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensation, possession, or use of controlled substances.

• The Member must notify the Bonner Program in writing, within five (5) calendar days, if he or she is convicted of a criminal drug violation in the workplace.

• Violations of the Drug-Free Workplace policy will result in personnel action against the Member, up to and including, dismissal pursuant to The College of New Jersey procedures relating to Member discipline.

Personnel Policies:Drug-Free Workplace

With the Member’s consent, the staff of the Bonner Foundation, The College of New Jersey, the Campus, the Service Site, and the Corporation for National and Community Service may:

•Release the Member’s name, interests, and any training received.

•Write a recommendation or give a verbal recommendation for employment, etc. at the end of the term of service.

•Photograph the Member at the service site for recruitment/promotional purposes. (The Member may opt out by checking the appropriate section in the Enrollment Workbook).

Personnel Policies:Informed Consent

• The Program requires that Members hold in complete confidence all information about clients and/or their families. Discussion about any client information, with anyone other than the designated staff of the service site, is prohibited. Members who violate this policy are subject to disciplinary action, up to and including, termination.

Personnel Policies:Confidentiality

Term of Service


While completing the Enrollment Workbook, please remember to:

• Sign in ink and date on all required signature lines (signature date must be on or before the requested Start Date).

• Initial any cross-outs, overwrites, etc.

• Not use pencil or correction fluid.

Term of Service:Enrollment

Once enrolled in Bonner AmeriCorps, the Member is required to report regularly using the Bonner Web-Based Reporting System (BWBRS):

• Create a Community Learning Agreement (CLA) each semester.

• Log service and training hours each week.

• Sign hour logs bi-weekly, along with the site supervisor and campus administrator.

Term of Service:BWBRS

• Log Hour Entries into BWBRS every week.

• Log hours according to:

➡CLA service

➡Non-CLA service (i.e. one-time opportunities)

➡Training & Enrichment

➡Fundraising

Term of Service:Hour Logs

Term of Service:Hour Logs (Cont.)

• If the time was spent in fundraising, the Member must check the box “this time was spent fundraising.”

• Entries may not exceed a 16-hour maximum per day

Bi-weekly:

•eSign an Hour Log from BWBRS

•The Member, Site Supervisor, & Campus Administrator must all eSign hour logs on or after the last day of service logged.

•The eSignatures must be signed in this order:

• Member

• Site Supervisor

• Campus Administrator

Term of Service:Hour Logs (Cont.) - eSignatures

• Your supervisor will conduct a Midterm Performance Evaluation (for 900 and 1700 hour Members only) and an End of Term Performance Evaluation (for all Members) as part of your Bonner AmeriCorps Exit process.

Term of Service:Evaluations

If (1) you have logged enough hours to complete your term, or (2) you are withdrawing from your term:

•You must submit an AmeriCorps Exit Form to the Foundation within 14 days of your last day of service. Please be sure all hour logs are up to date and fully signed.

•Exit Forms must be signed and dated on or after your last day of service.

•Exit Forms are processed by the Foundation, and BWBRS will notify you once you have been exited.

Term of Service:Exiting

Once you have been officially exited from your AmeriCorps term, you can begin the process of accessing your Education Award.

Register with www.my.americorps.gov to access your Education Award online. The online system allows AmeriCorps alumni to request Education Award payments to a qualified institution of higher education or a student loan holder.

Members are also able to update their contact information and view their account information or the status of their Education Award payments.

Term of Service:Education Award

http://www.myamericorps.gov/

Need more information?

•Read through your Enrollment Workbook.

•Visit the AmeriCorps website: my.americorps.gov.

•Read the Bonner Network Wiki: bonnernetwork.pbworks.com.

•Explore BWBRS: www.bwbrs.org.

Resources

Documents

New Jersey BonnerAmeriCorps Orientation. National Service Program that is funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). Federally