<aside> ⭐ This case study spotlights how to leverage Federal Work Study (FWS) in AmeriCorps programs.
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Next Steps AmeriCorps logo
Founded in 2014, the Next Steps program engages up to 60 college students a year in part-time service. The program fosters college completion and success by engaging students with financial need (Pell eligible* and/or first generation) in community service, mentoring, training, and leadership development. Students enrolled at partner campuses in the Philadelphia area choose their own service placements and commit to completing 300 hours of service. In addition to service completed at their service sites, corps members also mentor one to two incoming first-year students. The living stipend for these positions is paid out of a college or university’s Federal Work Study (FWS) allocation, rather than through an AmeriCorps grant, but all hours count towards the total required for members to receive an education award. All students who complete 300 service hours receive a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award.
Next Steps also recruits several full-time corps members to serve as team leaders at each of their partner campuses. The team leaders, who are usually recent graduates, support the undergraduates serving with Next Steps. They are paid a full-time living stipend and receive a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award after completing 1,700 hours of service.
The Next Steps program was created by Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (PHENND), a consortium of approximately 25 colleges and universities in the greater Philadelphia area. It is housed in the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania. PHENND “works to build the capacity of its member institutions to develop mutually beneficial, sustained, and democratic community-based service-learning partnerships. The consortium actively seeks to revitalize local communities and schools and foster civic responsibility among the region’s colleges and universities.”