Volunteer Iowa recently announced it has approved federal and state AmeriCorps funding that will leverage private and local matching for a total of $12.5 million in support of nearly 900 AmeriCorps State members for the 2020-2021 program year. These AmeriCorps members will be eligible to earn over $2.9 million worth of Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards to use to advance their education or pay back qualified student loans. The grants provide funding to local organizations for AmeriCorps members to address public health and other critical community needs in the areas of education, disaster services, health, environmental stewardship and economic opportunity. Among the largest grants distributed to AmeriCorps sponsor organizations in Iowa were more than $1.06 million to EMBARC (Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resource Center) Iowa and $1.8 million to United Ways of Iowa for the Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Program. AmeriCorps state members have been involved in recent efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. View the list of grants.