U.S. National and Community Service. Utah Taxonomy

U.S. National and Community Service

Scope note

The Corporation is the nation;s largest grantmaker supporting service and volunteering. Through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps , and Learn and Serve America programs, it provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to express their patriotism while addressing critical community needs. The Corporation has a Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate reporting to the U.S. Inspector General.

VolunteeringInAmerica.gov hosts the most comprehensive collection of data on volunteering and civic engagement ever assembled, including data for every state and almost 200 cities. The data is collected through a partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and has been released annually since 2005.

The 2013.volunteeringinamerica.gov website is is an official website of the U.S. Government and is the result of the partnership between the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and the Congressionally-chartered National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) and partnered with All For Good.

Historical note

The National and Community Service Act of 1990 created a new independent federal agency, the Commission on National and Community Service. The National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) was created as a demonstration program to explore the possibility of using post-Cold War military resources to help solve domestic problems here at home. The NCCC, enacted as part of the 1993 Defense Authorization Act, is a residential service program modeled on the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps and the United States military.

CNCS was created by the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 as an independent federal agency to connect Americans of all ages and backgrounds with opportunities to give back to their communities and their nation. It merged the work and staffs of two predecessor agencies, ACTION and the Commission on National and Community Service. For the two decades, ACTION administered VISTA and the three programs which make up the Senior Corp RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program), Senior Companions, and Foster Grandparents which engage nearly a half million older Americans in service to their communities. ACTION was authorized by the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 as amended.

In 2002 President George W. Bush announced the creation of the USA Freedom Corps. Chaired by the President, USA Freedom Corps was a coordinating council that worked to strengthen our culture of service and helped find opportunities for service.