VIII.1: AmeriCorps Member Feedback on Their Service

Provide reliable data on members’ AmeriCorps experience, including their levels of satisfaction with supervision, training and support received while serving in AmeriCorps State and National, VISTA and NCCC.

Other Information:

The primary purpose of this data collection is to provide reliable data on members’ AmeriCorps experience, including their levels of satisfaction with supervision, training and support received while serving in AmeriCorps State and National, VISTA and NCCC. This effort is the next phase of a pilot member data collection that started in 2004 with a sample of members serving in national and community service programs. The information from the pilot has been used for agency and program reporting, to inform the budget and program processes, responding to Congressional and White House inquiries, and to assess program outcomes. Beginning in July 2009, all AmeriCorps members have been invited to respond to an online version of the survey as part of the Close of Service process in the My AmeriCorps Portal. Because we are offering the survey to a census of members, the data should more effectively help gauge what aspects of members' experiences they rate high, give programs constructive feedback, and provide a measure of program and grantee accountability (identifying where a program is doing well in providing a service experience for our members and where there is room for improvement). Low scores are intended to trigger training and technical assistance for programs. The Corporation plans to provide national, state and grantee level data. We also plan to develop a report card for programs, projects, and NCCC campuses on their performance (depending on sample sizes and response rates for each program and project). Most importantly, as part of the open government effort, we will make the results publicly available to allow prospective members to see the results of programs where they may serve to make more informed decisions about potential programs and service opportunities. In the same way Amazon.com provides users with feedback and comments on products submitted by other users we hope to provide information to the public on the AmeriCorps programs that provide the best experiences, supervision, training and support to their members. We believe the data will not only help the public make more informed decisions regarding their choice of programs, but will also assist programs to identify and focus on areas of need to provide a better service experience for members. In order to encourage members to take the survey, we will make the results available publicly on our website as part of our open government effort and AmeriCorps will dedicate resources to ensuring members are fully aware of the opportunity to participate in providing valuable information on their program experiences. Our goal is to have preliminary data for major programs available for the website by the end of calendar year 2010, with more information for all programs starting in 2011.

Stakeholder(s):

• AmeriCorps Members

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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