ASC Statement on the Nomination of Michael D. Smith as AmeriCorps CEO
Washington, DC (June 15, 2021) — America's Service Commissions (ASC) and the States for Service (S4S) Coalition are pleased to learn of President Biden's intention to nominate Michael D. Smith for the role of Chief Executive Officer of the federal AmeriCorps agency.
As a former leader at AmeriCorps during the Obama Administration and the longtime director of the My Brother's Keeper initiative, Mr. Smith has demonstrated a strong commitment to ensuring that AmeriCorps and civic engagement programming can play an important role in advancing opportunities for youth and particularly young men of color.
We believe that Michael D. Smith shares our belief that national service and volunteerism can play a prominent role in healing our nation and addressing the pressing challenges we currently face—from racial inequities to learning loss, the climate crisis to disaster resiliency, and from long-term pandemic recovery to infrastructure development.
As the national association of the 52 governor-appointed state service commissions and their programs, ASC looks forward to working with Mr. Smith to ensure AmeriCorps is strong in these areas and that the national service network, in partnership with state service commissions, remains strong, equitable, and accessible to every community and individual in America.
About America’s Service Commissions (ASC)
America’s Service Commissions (ASC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit association representing and promoting the 52 state service commissions across the United States with the mission to lead and elevate the state service network. ASC is a peer network of governor-appointed commissioners, along with staff from the state service commissions.
State service commissions are governor-appointed public agencies or nonprofit organizations made up of more than 1,000 commissioners — private citizens leading the nation's philanthropic and volunteer movement — and administering 80 percent of the federal AmeriCorps funds to address pressing community needs. The nation’s 52 state service commissions operate at the state and local level granting more than $300 million from federal national service funds while matching these federal dollars from state and local sources to support citizen service and volunteerism in America. These funds support more than 40,000 AmeriCorps members throughout the country.
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