A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

   EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE                 CONTACT:  Kathryn S. Kahler    JUNE 20, 1994 - 1:30 p.m. (EDT)                    (202) 401-3026

STATEMENT BY U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION RICHARD W. RILEY ON THE PRESIDENT'S ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW AMERICORPS SPONSORS

AmeriCorps education awards deliver on the President's promise to provide educational opportunities to Americans of all ages and backgrounds who make a substantial commitment to service.

This great nation has a pressing need to reconnect our families with their schools and our schools with their communities. We must reinvent a sense of community if we want our schools to achieve their full potential, bringing together adults, children, teachers and other members of the community in an effort to improve student learning, responsibility and citizenship. AmeriCorps will respond to this need by placing thousands of participants in direct service to our schools and communities.

To ensure that AmeriCorps education programs will complement our national effort to provide a world-class education for all children under the recently enacted Goals 2000 legislation, the Department of Education worked closely with the Corporation for National Service as it defined its AmeriCorps education priorities. The Department also worked closely with the Corporation to help it establish the administrative provisions for AmeriCorps Education Awards under the National Service Trust. We have been pleased to loan staff and provide expertise to the Corporation for this purpose. The Department and the Corporation will continue to work together to ensure that AmeriCorps education awards complement and augment the Department of Education's student loan and grant programs, so that each student will receive the maximum amount of financial aid for which he or she is eligible.

Since the Department of Education has been closely involved with the administration of the Corporation for National and Community Service as it defined its education priorities and established the AmeriCorps education award provisions, it would be inappropriate for the Department to be a direct applicant to the Corporation, and the Department of Education did not apply for an AmeriCorps grant.

The Department of Education has formal partnerships with several of the new AmeriCorps sponsors and it was pleased to be able to provide technical assistance to several other sponsors as they developed their proposals to the Corporation. They include:

• The Department of Justice, for an AmeriCorps grant that includes safe school and safe-haven after-school projects in the Weed and Seed program, which has been a joint initiative of the Department of Justice and the Department of Education.
• The Department of Labor, for placements of AmeriCorps participants in its new Youth Fair Chance program, which furthers the joint initiative of the Departments of Labor and Education under the recently signed School-to-Work Opportunities Act.
• The National Center for Family Literacy, which responds to the school readiness objectives of Goals 2000 by placing AmeriCorps participants in family literacy projects where they can teach literacy and other basic skills to parents of young children so that they can help their children learn. These family literacy projects receive additional support from the Department of Education's Even Start program funded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
• The National Council of Educational Opportunity Associations, who will receive a planning grant to prepare for the possibility of future placements of AmeriCorps participants in Educational Opportunity Centers funded under the Department of Education's Higher Education Trio Programs. These programs prepare low-income students for school success by providing them with encouragement, support, and assistance to complete high school and enter postsecondary education.
• The Council of Great City Schools, in partnership with Recruiting New Teachers Inc., and the Great City Schools of Education. They will receive a planning grant for possible future placement of AmeriCorps participants as teacher interns in large urban schools receiving funding under the new Title I program being considered by Congress as it reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
• The National Institute for Literacy, which will become an AmeriCorps sponsor placing participants in community based literacy projects designed to achieve school success by improving the educational achievement of school-age youth and adults who lack basic academic skills.