AmeriCorps 30: Celebrations Across the Nation to Recognize the Impact of National Service

Since September 2023, AmeriCorps and hundreds of thousands of Americans have been celebrating the agency's 30th anniversary.

From recognizing the first Harris Wofford Joint Service Award recipients to welcoming the inaugural cohort of American Climate Corps members and celebrating the anniversary with former President Bush, AmeriCorps continues to set new milestones.

AmeriCorps Recognizes the Nation's First Harris Wofford Joint Service Awardees

During the annual Points of Light Conference, AmeriCorps and Peace Corps awarded the first Harris Wofford Joint Service Awardto more than 200 individuals in Houston, Texas. The award honors the legacy of the late Senator Harris Wofford, who helped establish both the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. Wofford served as the special representative to Africa, director of operations in Ethiopia, and later, as a Peace Corps associate director. As a senator from Pennsylvania, Wofford helped pass the 1993 National and Community Service Trust Act, which created AmeriCorps, where he later served as agency CEO for five years.

The Harris Wofford Joint Service Award recognizes individuals who, like Wofford, have committed to a life of service. These individuals have chosen to serve their country at home and abroad through AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps. AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith joined Peace Corps Director Carol Spahn and Wofford's nephew Chris Wofford to present the awards.

AmeriCorps Swears-in the First Cohort of the American Climate Corps

AmeriCorps also celebrated the first class of the American Climate Corps. On June 18, 2024, AmeriCorps joined the Biden-Harris administration to swear in the first cohort of President Biden's landmark American Climate Corps.The groundbreaking initiative modeled after Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps will put a new, diverse generation of young Americans to work fighting the impacts of climate change today while gaining the skills they need to join the growing clean energy and climate-resilience workforce of tomorrow.

With this first swearing-in, more than 9,000 AmeriCorps members are expected to join the American Climate Corps across the nation, serving to help conserve and restore our lands and waters, bolster community resilience, deploy clean energy, implement energy-efficient technologies, advance environmental justice, and more.

President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush Celebrate AmeriCorps' 30th Anniversary

Every day, AmeriCorps recognizes that a legacy of bipartisan leaders helped build the foundation for national service and volunteerism, uniting Americans across divides under a shared purpose - to lift up our communities. To celebrate the positive impact of AmeriCorps members and alumni, President and Mrs. Bush joined the agency's ongoing celebrations, recognizing their service where need is greatest.

President Bush created the USA Freedom Corps in 2002, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. In the days, weeks, and months following the attacks, hundreds of thousands of people in the nation volunteered to help support the rescue and recovery efforts. AmeriCorps members and volunteers were among those who stepped forward to help, offering emergency assistance to the injured, serving as family caseworkers, and helping those displaced from Ground Zero find housing, among other services. Through the Freedom Corps, President Bush called upon Americans to serve their community and the nation to foster a spirit of unity and a culture of service.

This year, hundreds of thousands of Americans will once again join and lead community service projects on September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance. These civic champions will cross divides, differences, and ideologies to make a difference in our communities, rekindling the spirit of unity and service that swept our nation after that tragic day.

Join the National Service Movement

We're grateful to our members, AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers, alums, grantees, partners, and champions who continue to celebrate our milestone and help strengthen national service across our country.

Stay tuned as we keep this momentum going until September 2024. Find out how to join our movement to empower our communities every day.