Sponsor a Preserve WV AmeriCorps Member
​APPLICATIONS DUE April 5, 2024

*Updated 2/20/2024 - The Preserve WV AmeriCorps program is the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia’s (PAWV) statewide national service initiative where AmeriCorps members help main streets thrive, help communities capture their local history, and help preserve beloved West Virginia landmarks.  Preserve WV AmeriCorps is part of AmeriCorps State and National - a National Service initiative founded in the same spirit as AmeriCorps VISTA, the Peace Corps, and other service programs. The Preserve WV program is partially funded by an AmeriCorps grant from the AmeriCorps state agency, Volunteer West Virginia, as well as the AmeriCorps federal agency. 

​Through its Preserve WV AmeriCorps program, PAWV leads a consortium of nonprofit organizations and government agencies that are cultural heritage tourism sites and/or utilize historic preservation to revitalize their communities. AmeriCorps members are placed for one year at consortium sites, and their primary objective is to build the capacity of their sites and preserve West Virginia’s unique cultural heritage for the enjoyment and education of current and future generations.
 
PAWV is seeking site sponsors to host Preserve WV AmeriCorps members for the 2024-2025 service year. To be eligible to sponsor a Preserve WV AmeriCorps, sites must be under-resourced nonprofit organizations or government agencies with historic preservation and/or history-oriented missions. All applications are due Friday, April 5, 2024. Applications can be completed via Google Forms​. An application form is also provided at the bottom of the directions.

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APPLICATION PROCESS & KEY DATES

Friday, April 5, 2024 - Site Sponsor Applications Due
Completed application forms via Google Forms must be submitted to PAWV’s Executive Director, Danielle Parker at [email protected].  
 
June - August 2024 - Site Selection & Recruitment
PAWV will receive notice of funding for the 2023-2024 AmeriCorps program year in June 2023. PAWV will notify sites of their AmeriCorps sponsorship status following the official grant award notification from Volunteer West Virginia. Based on the funding level awarded, PAWV will begin recruiting applicants in June 2023. The recruitment process will take place until all slots are filled and may continue after the initial program start date. For recruitment, PAWV and site sponsors will review applications, interview applicants, and select candidates for the service opportunities. PAWV will administer criminal background checks.
 
Tuesday, September 3, 2024 - Start of Service Year with Mandatory Orientation
PAWV has scheduled a start date of September 3, 2024, for the upcoming program year. All site supervisors and members are expected to attend one virtual orientation to be determined. (If a member has not been assigned to your site by this date, a separate orientation will be scheduled when the member starts and will likely occur at your site.) 

Benefits of Sponsoring Preserve WV AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps members are force multipliers. They build capacity for organizations to do more for more people. In Preserve WV AmeriCorps, members will be serving as the outreach engine for your organization/agency’s mission, increasing access and usage of heritage sites and historic resources, and recruiting and managing volunteers.
 
AmeriCorps members provide direct service. In Preserve WV AmeriCorps, members will improve historic resources. Specific tasks may include, but are not limited to:
 

• Hands-on historic preservation and beautification projects.

• Providing historic preservation technical assistance.
• Volunteer recruitment, management, coordination, and training.
• Program development and event coordination related to historic preservation and heritage tourism, including planning and publicizing the event, coordinating volunteers, and getting funds/donations/sponsorships for the event. 
• Doing outreach for the site – including in-person meetings, relationship building activities, social media, newsletters, brochures, website, etc. 
• Creating educational materials and programming.
• Identifying, surveying, and documenting historic properties. 
• Collections management – such as inventorying, accessioning, and/or properly storing museum artifacts and archival documents. 
• Giving tours of the site to the public, as well as developing tour content. 
• Fundraising, but only with prior approval from PAWV and on a limited basis.  Members can spend 10% of service hours fundraising for their projects. Fundraising may include recruiting event sponsors, finding in-kind or monetary donations for projects, and working on (non-federal) grants for exhibits, heritage tourism events, the site’s preservation needs, site marketing materials, etc.
• Creating organizational/site policies and plans – such as collections management, maintenance/weatherization, disaster preparedness, volunteer or docent handbooks, marketing/social media handbooks, historic district design guidelines, etc.  

AMERICORPS Member benefits

• ​Full-time AmeriCorps Living Allowance for 2024-2025 will be approximately $20,000 per year. Half-time AmeriCorps Living Allowance of $10,000 per year. The living allowance is designed to provide a modest income to cover the member’s expenses.
• An AmeriCorps Education Award. The education award is payable toward tuition or federal student loans and is issued to members upon successful completion of the service term commitment and required service hours.
• West Virginia tuition waiver – for every 600 hours of service members complete, they will receive a tuition waiver for one semester at any West Virginia college or university.
• Subsidized healthcare, if eligible (full-time members only).
• Subsidized child care, if eligible (full-time members only).
• The opportunity to be a part of something bigger than themselves. 
• The experience of bringing history to life and transforming communities across West Virginia. 

 
PAWV is committed to providing the best possible support and management to its site sponsors and to AmeriCorps members.  

Preserve WV Program Responsibilities

• Conducting a national recruitment strategy to identify a high caliber pool of applicants for the Preserve WV AmeriCorps member roles.
• Reviewing applications, contacting applicants, and conducting initial, first-round interviews (typically by phone) with promising candidates.
• Administering payroll for each member in addition to payroll taxes and workers compensation insurance.
• Managing the finances of the grant and submitting monthly expenditure reports to Volunteer West Virginia.
• Serving as the program’s point of contact for Volunteer West Virginia and for AmeriCorps Headquarters.
• Advocating for your organizations/agencies in our work with state agencies and national organizations.
• Providing site supervisors and members with initial training regarding the Preserve WV program, AmeriCorps, etc. during its mandatory Orientation.
• Ensuring the highest possible compliance and effectiveness through monitoring, training, and support to host sites and members.
• Sharing our community partners’ commitment to historic preservation, public history, heritage tourism, and community revitalization. 

What to expect if selected as a Preserve WV Site sponsor

If accepted as a Preserve WV AmeriCorps site sponsor, your organization/agency will be responsible for: 

• Cash match of $6,500 for a full-time member or $3,250 for a part-time member to be used toward the required program match. PAWV will invoice the organization/agency for this grant match payment. It is nonrefundable and typically requested in two installments.
•  Doing local recruitment through your organization/agency’s usual networks for applicants to fill the member role(s) at your site (and, optimally, to fill member roles at other sites in the program as well). 
• Conducting mandatory, second-round interviews with promising applicants.
• Providing an office space and all necessary service materials such as a desk and access to a site-provided computer with internet access and with appropriate computer programs for the member’s duties.
• Providing site-specific training so that each member can fulfill his/her expected duties at the site.
• Providing reimbursement to the member for site-related travel, site-related expenses, and site-specific training (subject to the organization/agency’s policies).
• Serving as the communications conduit and keeping your staff, volunteers, and members informed regarding PAWV and AmeriCorps updates, policies, and deadlines.
• Serving as an ambassador for PAWV and Preserve WV AmeriCorps with your funders and community stakeholders.
• Assigning a site supervisor to provide day-to-day supervision, direction, and support for your site’s AmeriCorps member(s).

 
Site Supervisor Responsibilities:

• Meeting with the member or members regularly and providing tasks, objectives, and feedback to complete projects that benefit the site and the community.
• Being a first point of contact to deal with disciplinary issues, harassment, or other grievances.
• Attending a mandatory orientation for all members and site supervisors, held the last week of August at a location(s) to be determined.
• Completing National Service Criminal History Check requirements. These include going through fingerprint-based, state and FBI criminal background checks and a National Sex Offender registry search.
• Keeping track of the site’s in-kind grant match hours in an online time-keeping system on a monthly basis. Site supervisors are expected to provide at least a $1,000 valued in-kind match in addition to the cash match.
•  Reviewing and approving members’ timesheets twice a month.
• Completing evaluation forms of your member(s) mid-way through the year and at the end of the year;
• Gathering relevant data from the site and submitting timely reports to PAWV, when requested, through data collection forms (typically using SurveyMonkey). 

AmeriCorps Prohibited Activities

​As outlined in 45CFR § 2520.65 and the 2012 AmeriCorps Provisions IV.D.3, staff and members may not engage in certain prohibited activities while charging time to the AmeriCorps program, accumulating service or training hours, or otherwise performing activities supported by the AmeriCorps program or AmeriCorps National.
 
Prohibited Activities Include:
a. Attempting to influence legislation; 
b. Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; 
c. Assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing; 
d. Impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements; 
e. Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office; 
f. Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials; 
g. Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization; 
h. Providing a direct benefit to--
         i. A business organized for profit; 
         ii. A labor union; 
         iii. A partisan political organization;
         iv. A nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions contained in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 related to engaging in political activities or substantial amount of lobbying except that nothing in these provisions shall be construed to prevent participants from engaging in advocacy activities undertaken at their own initiative; and 
v. An organization engaged in the religious activities described in paragraph 3 above unless AmeriCorps National assistance is not used to support those religious activities; 
        i. Conducting a voter registration drive or using AmeriCorps National funds to conduct a voter registration drive. 
j. Providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services; and 
k. Such other activities as the AmeriCorps Federal Agency may prohibit.
 
AmeriCorps members may not engage in the above activities directly or indirectly by recruiting, training, or managing others for the primary purpose of engaging in one of the activities listed above. Individuals may exercise their rights as private citizens and may participate in the activities listed above on their initiative, on non-AmeriCorps time, and using non-AmeriCorps funds.  Individuals should not wear the AmeriCorps logo while doing so.
 
Additional Prohibited Activities Include:
∙ Participating in any fundraising activity that has not been pre-approved by PAWV, or that is for the organization/agency’s operating budget, general fund, or AmeriCorps site sponsor grant match.
∙ Writing or otherwise working on applications for federal grants. 
∙ Replacing paid staff members (even temporarily, such as while a staff member is out sick).
∙ Duplicating existing staff tasks. 

For more information

​If you have any questions, contact Danielle Parker, PAWV Executive Director, at [email protected] or 304-642-0693. Email preferred.