Design Your Program
Once you have demonstrated the need for your program, as well as developed champions and made the case, the work of designing the program details begins.
Since 2015, NYC Service has built a solid infrastructure for the City Service Corps program. It has a clear mission, vision, and theory of change, it has developed clear performance measures that comply with the regulations established by CNCS, and it has clearly laid out the roles and responsibilities of multiple stakeholders.
Establishing the core of the program
Before you can launch your AmeriCorps program, you must establish a mission, vision, and theory of change that will drive the design and operations of the program.
City Service Corps’ Mission: Partner with City agencies to address priorities through direct engagement with residents, developing new programming and managing aspects of resident-facing programming.
- City Service Corps’ Vision: City agencies will more effectively and efficiently carry out their mission to make our city a more equitable place for all New Yorkers.
- City Service Corps’ Theory of Change: City Service Corps will engage participants in meaningful community-based opportunities. The program will develop a workforce of highly skilled individuals, improve the communities in which they work, and create a new generation of civic leaders who prioritize community & civic engagement.
- Through its innovative public-private funding model, City Service Corps will serve as a model for other cities to create their own municipal corps programs.
Specifying Stakeholder Roles & Expectations
NYC Service has delineated specific roles and expectations for each of its stakeholders: AmeriCorps members, host sites, CNCS, the State Commission, as well as NYC Service itself. In addition, the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City has a specific role to play as nonprofit partner managing private funds to the program. The Mayor’s Fund is a nonprofit that works with City agencies, foundations, and community-based organizations in New York City to advance initiatives that improve the lives of New Yorkers from all walks of life and across all five boroughs.
Role & Expectations of City Service Corps AmeriCorps Member
- Serve a minimum number of AmeriCorps required hours.
- Fulfill position description requirements and host site expectations
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Attend and participate in mandatory monthly professional development trainings
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Complete weekly timesheets, accurate monthly reports, evaluations, surveys and other program requirements
- Be an ambassador for AmeriCorps, NYC Service, City Service Corps, and host site
| AmeriCorps State and National Designation | Hour Requirements |
|---|---|
| Full-Time | 1,700 |
| Three Quarters Time | 1,200 |
| Half-Time | 900 |
| Reduced Half-Time | 675 |
| Quarter-Time | 450 |
| Minimal-Time and Summer Associate | 300 |
| AmeriCorps Affiliate | 100 |
Role & Expectations of Host Site
- Sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and cover member living stipend – members cannot start at the host site until MOU, which includes budget transfer codes, has been received by NYC Service
- Create position descriptions and corresponding performance measures
- Assign a City Service Corps supervisor who is responsible for the daily supervision of Corps Member(s) including approving timesheets, approving monthly reports, and maintaining open and continuous communication with NYC Service
- Ensure City Service Corps member is provided with the materials that allow for successful service (organizational ID, email address, outreach documents, dedicated desk space, etc.)
Role & Expectations of NYC Service
- Develop the operational plan for City Service Corps and oversee the implementation and management of the program
- Ensure that the City Service Corps program follows all rules and meets all regulations set by CNCS and the State Commission
- Select and agree upon any agency, contractor, or partner involved with City Service Corps
- Oversee the outreach, recruitment, selection and onboarding process for Corps Members
- Lead City Service Corps supervisor orientation, send regular supervisor updates, hold site visits with supervisors, and conduct quarterly * nings with supervisors
- Manage all reporting to CNCS, including host site performance measures, the State Commission and any other funders
- Plan and provide monthly member professional development trainings
- Maintain all member files including all AmeriCorps compliance documents
- Validate and verify metrics collected at host sites
- Provide monthly MetroCard to Corps Member(s) & oversee member payroll
- Monitor service of members including conducting check-ins with City Service Corps members and host site supervisors quarterly
Role of Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City
- Nonprofit partner that builds partnerships, procures funding for promising, evidence-based models, evaluates the efficacy of new programs and policies; brings innovative solutions to scale which are responsive to the emerging needs of the city.
- Manages procurement and contracting with all consultants for professional development trainings, evaluations, and projects funded through private funding.
Role of Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS):
- Oversee AmeriCorps (City Service Corps members are AmeriCorps Members)
- Provide oversight and guidance as well as disperses the Segal Education Awards which are administered through the National Service Trust
Role of NYS Commission on National and Community Service (State Commission)
- The State Commission administers programs funded by CNCS, including AmeriCorps State and AmeriCorps Education Awards programs
- Monitor compliance with AmeriCorps rules
- Provide training, and technical assistance, and support for NYC Service
City Service Corps has allowed for our agency to expand its outreach efforts in educating New Yorkers about how to be prepared for emergencies. Our members have worked on various outreach strategies that have allowed for us to reach out to populations such as Spanish-speaking seniors, landlords, and nonprofit community members. The members each brought their own passion to the communities they were serving, and have created lasting partnerships. To this day, our agency remains in contact with the partners that our members have worked with.
- Katelyn James, New York City Emergency Management
How to: Develop and Report on Performance Measures
AmeriCorps programs, including City Service Corps, are required to meet and report on specific AmeriCorps performance measures (outputs and outcomes) in mid- and end-of year reports to CNCS.
In the initial Partnerships Challenge grant with the Corporation for National and Community Service, NYC Service selected specific performance measures that covered several, but not all, host sites. These included measures around environmental sustainability awareness, student tutoring progress and workforce development training.
The performance measures have evolved. In recent cycles, the performance measures have broadened so they capture all the service members are doing. This also has the benefit of better aligning with the AmeriCorps national performance measures.
1. Develop outputs and related outcomes.
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has a specific list of national outputs and outcomes that programs can use when applying for an AmeriCorps grant. However, programs can also apply to use custom outputs and outcomes, upon approval from CNCS.
City Service Corps uses a mix of custom and national performance measures for its program. For instance, for the custom output number of low-income New Yorkers made aware of services, the related outcomes are: number of low-income New Yorkers who were more likely to use services (custom) and number of agencies who exhibited expansion of effectiveness, efficiency, scale or reach because of a member’s service (national performance measure).
As part of the City Service Corps program, host sites also create specific performance measures for each member so NYC Service can collectively tell the story of impact at the member/host site level.
2. Create a standard system of reporting.
As a centralized administrator of the AmeriCorps program, NYC Service needs to ensure that agencies and members are reporting the same type of information. City Service Corps participants submit reports via an online service called America Learns to NYC Service on a monthly basis. Each host site supervisor is then required to verify and validate the member report each month. These monthly reports ask members to provide qualitative accounts of the successes and challenges they have faced throughout the past month of service, along with quantitative progress made on performance measurements.
3. Train host site supervisors and members on how to report.
NYC Service conducts an in-depth three-unit training series for members around data collection, verification and validation and how to utilize data to tell the story of impact of their specific agency placement. NYC Service also trains supervisors in measurement techniques and best practices in reporting at supervisor orientation each summer before the member term begins.
To ensure that the sites and members understand the measures and report them accurately, NYC Service explains and reviews the measures at orientations, member trainings, and supervisor meetings.
4. Review submitted performance reports.
Monthly, NYC Service staff reviews the data at the member, host site and program levels to spot trends, celebrate successes and address challenges seen in the report. NYC Service staff also checks data collection at the site visits, with a random set of members selected for each set of site visits to review data and data collection based on the reviews of the monthly reports. AmeriCorps programs can be audited up to 7 years after a program year has finished, so it is important to verify host sites are submitting valid data and have a way to store source data for this extended period of time.
Managing Director, Service Year Programs
Navigate the unique challenges of managing AmeriCorps programs
AmeriCorps has specific rules and regulations that programs are required to follow, whether they receive funding from the federal program or not. It is crucial that program staff have
a deep understanding of these rules, what aspects of their program put them at risk of potentially violating these rules, and what safeguards they are putting in place to ensure rules are not being violated. This should be clearly explained to and reviewed with host site supervisors and members of the program at several points throughout the program year.
Those regulations are extensive and include ensuring members do not work on programs that influence legislation. In practice, city government agencies often work to set and influence policy. Additionally, AmeriCorps members cannot exactly duplicate any work the agency is already engaging in and cannot displace the work of any staff, volunteers, or interns the agency was planning to hire. To ensure that members are properly assigned at their agencies, City Service Corps carefully vets position descriptions during the host site application process to confirm that they do not violate AmeriCorps regulations. Additionally, program staff ask open ended questions about the member’s service and major projects they are working on during host site visits to check that members are actually working on approved projects.
