Berg Calls For Revamping of AmeriCorps Program

Executive director of the Coalition Against Hunger, Joel Berg, recently published an article, Restoring the Purchasing Power of the AmeriCorps Educational Award, on ideasprimary.com. The Coalition Against Hunger hosts both AmeriCorps Direct and AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers. The AmeriCorps program engages Americans in domestic national service in exchange for financial aid to help with college or graduate school. Berg calls on the next president to restructure the existing AmeriCorps program, which currently offers an education award of $4,725 - a total that was determined in 1994 at the program's launch. The award now only covers about 5% of a four-year private institution's tuition and 21% of a four-year public education.