We are AmeriCorps in Wisconsin
Serve Wisconsin works with AmeriCorps members and community partners to meet critical needs throughout Wisconsin. We focus on solving tough problems in educational achievement, economic opportunity, childhood obesity, health access, environmental protection, and homeless and runaway youth. AmeriCorps members are given the opportunity to enrich the lives of the people and communities they serve and their own lives through professional and personal development.
As the state’s administrator for federal AmeriCorps funds, we provide grants to nonprofit organizations that have been selected to run AmeriCorps programs. Serve Wisconsin provides training and technical assistance and monitors these organizations to ensure that they adhere to all federal rules and regulations related to their AmeriCorps grants.
Serve Wisconsin currently administers funds to 26 programs throughout Wisconsin. Please click here to see where AmeriCorps members are currently serving in the state.
AmeriCorps members have a big impact! During the 2022-2023 program year, 625 AmeriCorps members served nearly 500,000 hours in Wisconsin communities with the following results:
133 Pre-K students, 19,154 K-12 students, and 1,519 post-secondary students participated in AmeriCorps educational support programing
9,060 students participated in tutoring, academic coaching, extended learning, and after school programs
1,551 students participated in after-school and extended learning programs
900 high school students completed college preparation and academic support programs
1,519 economically disadvantaged college students with unique or exceptional needs participated in an academic support program
3,966 students received nutrition education
8,240 individuals participated in health-based programming focused on health education, healthy living, health care access, community resource navigation, or recovery from substance addiction
8,014 individuals had improved access to medical care
880 individuals with disabilities participated in therapeutic recreational activities
28 veterans and 85 family members participated in weekend camps for veterans and their families
5 single-family homes were constructed and sold to low-income individuals, families, or people with disabilities
899 homeless or runaway youth returned home or to a safe alternative placement and 913 youth facing housing insecurity received face to face crisis intervention services
537 acres of parks or public land and 42 miles of trails and rivers were improved
6,279 individuals received environmental education
74 organizations received capacity building services to make positive changes in their level of competence and/or greater levels of success
Our Mission & History
Serve Wisconsin promotes service, provides training and allocates resources to programs that enrich lives and communities through service and volunteerism.
In September 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 which created AmeriCorps as we know it today and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which oversees AmeriCorps. This Act allowed for better organization and expanded opportunities for Americans to serve their communities. It also allowed for the creation of state National and Community Service Commissions to direct federal resources on the local level.
Serve Wisconsin was established January 28, 1994 as Wisconsin's National and Community Service Commission by Governor Tommy G. Thompson under Executive Order "to encourage service and volunteer participation as a means of community and state problem-solving; to promote and support voluntary citizen involvement in government and private programs throughout the state; to develop a long-term vision and plan of action for community service initiatives in Wisconsin; and to serve as the State's liaison to national and state organizations which support its mission."
