For Immediate Release

June 7, 2004

REP. DICKS ANNOUNCES AMERICORPS GRANT
TO KITSAP COMMUNITY RESOURCES

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said Monday that an AmeriCorps grant has been awarded to a local organization that sponsors educational and outreach activities for low income residents, supporting the addition of up to 60 new positions at Kitsap Community Resources (KCR).  

            The Corporation for National Service, which sponsors the AmeriCorps national service program, informed Rep. Dicks today that it had approved a grant of $545,204 to increase substantially the efforts of Kitsap Community Resources in assisting area residents by placing support staff in various community based sites.  AmeriCorps members serve in hundreds of non-profit organizations in rural and urban communities nationwide.  Among other activities, they tutor and mentor youth, build affordable housing, teach computer skills, clean parks and streams and operate after-school programs.

            “This grant represents a tremendous boost for Kitsap Community Resources, which serves a needy population of families in our area and benefits all of Kitsap County,” Rep. Dicks said.  He added that the KCH grant was one of 120 grants awarded around the nation by the Corporation for National Service, which received more than 300 applications for assistance.

           Rep. Dicks was part of a coalition of Congressmen and Senators who helped increase funding for the AmeriCorps program in the federal budget this year.  Congress authorized the program to support 75,000 positions nationwide, the largest number in the program’s 10 year existence.  

            The AmeriCorps program enlists Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service to meet critical needs in education, the environment, public safety, homeland security and other human needs.  Volunteers receive an educational award after their term of service in the program, which they can use to pay for college or to pay off student loans.  In Washington State, the program is coordinated by the Washington Commission for National and Community Service.

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