FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sep 09, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Days before Americans volunteer at events across the country in observance of the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) announced $1.7 million in grants to support service events nationwide.

“The organizations receiving these awards have impressive plans for inspiring Americans to participate in the national days of service,” said Barbara Stewart, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “These organizations will create opportunities for Americans to give their time to improve the places where they live and work, reinforcing the bonds that make our nation strong.”

Congress has designated the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday and September 11th (Patriot Day) as national days of service and charged CNCS, the federal agency that leads service and volunteering, with heading this effort. Twenty-one organizations are receiving funding to advance this mission.

The 2020 September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance grants will mobilize more Americans to engage in service activities that meet vital community needs and honor those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, or who rose in service because of that tragedy.

The 2020 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service grant funding is similarly intended and encourages those who serve on this holiday to make a long-term commitment to community service, and to bring people together to focus on service to others.

In addition, CNCS increased continuation funding to MyGoodDeed, the nonprofit dedicated to promoting the 9/11 Day of Service. With these funds, the organization will be able to hold meal-packing events in three additional cities.

It was a highly competitive year, with demand far exceeding the available funding; nearly $9 million in grant funds were requested. 

2019 September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance Augmentation Continuation Grant

  • MyGoodDeed, New York, $149,824: MyGoodDeed will expand planned large-scale meal-packing events from to nine cities, to include Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas. These efforts are in addition to MyGoodDeed again supporting the New York City Meal Pack for 9/11 Day, assisting in promoting AARP's Meal Pack in Washington, D.C., and providing free downloadable K-12 lesson plans to encourage service-learning in observance of the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance ("9/11 Day").

2020 September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance Grants 

  • Youth Service America, Washington, D.C., $367,376: Youth Service America will organize 15,000 youth volunteers who will participate in youth-led projects on the September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance in at least 10 cities.
  • Global Game Changers Children's Education Initiative, Inc., Louisville, Ky., $160,483: The Global Game Changers Education Initiative, Inc. will engage 7,200 student volunteers, supported by 216 community volunteers, to learn about the significance of 9/11 and the real-life superheroes they inspired, as well as complete 15,912 total volunteer hours on 9/11-focused service projects.
  • Michigan Community Service Commission, Lansing, Mich., $125,289: The Michigan Community Service Commission will organize 1,200 volunteers who will serve a total of 24,000 hours in their communities in times of disaster and/or the causes they are passionate about on September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
  • Read to Succeed Buffalo, Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., $72,094: Read to Succeed Buffalo, Inc. will organize 100 volunteers for September 11th who will participate in up to three days of pre-service training (18 content hours) either as veteran literacy tutors or as new volunteer literacy tutors who will be deployed to 100 Title I Buffalo Public School classrooms. 
  • Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, Niagara Falls, N.Y., $31,500: Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center will organize more than 4,000 volunteers who will plan, promote, and participate in September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance activities that will be held throughout Niagara County.
  • DOROT, Inc., New York, $68,421: DOROT will organize 1,000 volunteers who will visit isolated older adults, participate in intergenerational discussion groups, assemble packages, receive volunteer training, cook for homeless seniors, assist with on-site programs and make cards for current first responders as part of 9/11 Day of Service activities.
  • On Point for College, Syracuse, N.Y., $110,394: On Point for College, Inc. will organize 100 volunteers who will be trained to become mentors and drivers for low-income college students in Onondaga, Cortland, Cayuga, Oswego, Madison, Oneida, and Herkimer counties on the September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance in 2020.
  • Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock, Pa., $20,356: Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania's (SRU) Office for Community-Engaged Learning (OCEL) will organize 600 volunteers who will participate in a Community Service Day in Butler and Lawrence counties for the September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance.
  • Tusculum University, Greenville, Tenn., $45,000: Tusculum University will organize 800 volunteers who will serve with 35 community agencies in Greene, Hamblen, Knox, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington counties, as well as in the following cities: Greeneville, Mosheim, Tusculum, Morristown, Knoxville, Bristol, Erwin, and Johnson City on the September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance. On the 9/11 Day of Service, 800 volunteers will be responsible for meeting immediate, large-scale needs in the community.

2020 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Grants 

  • The Arc of the United States, Washington, D.C., $204,587: The Arc of the United States will engage 600 volunteers who will work with food pantries, food banks, soup kitchens, and other local hunger-focused organizations to provide emergency food aid to families and individuals in urban and rural food deserts in counties and communities to be selected (for example Florida, South Carolina, Oklahoma, New York, Washington, Oregon, and Michigan) on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
  • Hands on Atlanta, Inc., Atlanta, Ga., $36,892: Hands on Atlanta, Inc. will engage volunteers who will tutor and mentor students, pack and distribute food and basic needs kits, and beautify schools and parks at partner locations throughout Atlanta and across Fulton, DeKalb, and Cobb counties on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, the weekend prior and throughout January. Approximately 1,500 volunteers will be responsible for completing service projects across 30 sites.
  • James Parish Library, Lutcher, La., $12,200: The St. James Parish Library will engage 50 volunteers who will build, install, and fill little free libraries in locations on both the East Bank and West Bank of St. James Parish on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
  • Montgomery County Volunteer Center, Germantown, Md., $50,000: The Montgomery County Volunteer Center will engage 3,000 volunteers on MLK Day to complete a wide variety of projects, including packaging food, assembling toiletry kits, donating blood, and creating items that will benefit those in need at multiple locations throughout Montgomery County, Md.
  • Literacy New Jersey, Edison, N.J., $40,472: Literacy New Jersey (LitNJ) will engage 250 volunteers who will provide instruction in basic skills, high school equivalency preparation and English as a Second Language to more than 600 adult students at 10 sites throughout New Jersey on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, and who will continue tutoring weekly for at least one calendar year.
  • Center for Food Action, Englewood, N.J., $16,243: The Center for Food Action will engage 250 volunteers who will be responsible for packing more than 2,000 healthy, kid-friendly and easy-to-prepare snack foods on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 20, 2020, for local children facing food insecurity.
  • New York Cares, Inc., New York, $34,385: New York Cares, Inc. ("New York Cares") will engage 500 volunteers and execute 14 service projects to support low-income, needy children, seniors and families in New York City on Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
  • United Way of the Dutchess-Orange Region, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., $8,900: United Way of the Dutchess-Orange Region will engage more than 250 volunteers who will participate in volunteer events such as tax preparation training, a Super Refund Saturday tax return event and at least eight other nonprofit volunteer projects throughout Dutchess and Orange counties on and around MLK Day.
  • Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio, $15,545: On the MLK Day of Service, 600 volunteers will be responsible for packing spring break food boxes, snow day food boxes, and critical needs toiletry packs for local nonprofits; providing administrative and hands-on help to local nonprofits; and writing notes of encouragement to children in hospitals, U.S. service members, and local elementary school students.
  • Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas, $8,000: The Stephen F. Austin State University Office of Multicultural Affairs will engage 500 volunteers who will spend the day performing community service in various locations in Nacogdoches, Texas, on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
  • NewStories, Spokane, Wash., $150,000: The overall goal of the Compassion Games Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service project is to foster compassionate cities with an increase in yearlong civic engagement whereby corporations, public agencies, individuals, community foundations, and faith-based institutions bolster, reinforce, and sustain essential life-affirming charity endeavors. During the MLK Day of Service, the Compassion Games plans on engaging 20,000 volunteers throughout the country in service projects that support and engage the well-being of veterans, military families, and low-income families.

AmeriCorps, a federal agency, brings people together to tackle the country's most pressing challenges through national service and volunteering. AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers serve with organizations dedicated to the improvement of communities. AmeriCorps helps make service to others a cornerstone of our national culture. Learn more at AmeriCorps.gov.