The Corporation receives appropriations to fund program  operations and the National Service Trust. The number of  AmeriCorps participants increased by nearly 20,000 from 1998 to 2001. Three Factors Contributed to the Need to Suspend AmeriCorps Enrollments

Three factors contributed to the Corporation’s need to suspend  enrollments in AmeriCorps. Inappropriate Obligation Practices

The Corporation did not appropriately record or track its obligations for  education awards to program participants. Lack of Communication

Corporation executives we interviewed said that there was little if any  coordination between the AmeriCorps program office and officials  responsible for the management of the Trust about the number of  positions that the Trust could support. New Policies Established, but Additional Changes May be Needed

In response to concerns that the AmeriCorps program may have enrolled  participants without adequately providing for their education awards, the  Corporation has developed several new policies. Other policy  changes are directed to improving communication among key executives,  limiting grantees’ flexibilities and requiring more timely information on  participants. While the Corporation may unilaterally  reduce the number of authorized positions awarded to a grantee prior to  participant enrollment, from the time of grant award until the Corporation  acts to reduce the approved number of positions, the grantee and its  subgrantee, not the Corporation, will control the number of participants  who may enroll, up to the maximum number of participants the  Corporation has approved in the grant agreement.
Why GAO Did This Study

In November 2002, the Corporation for National and Community Service suspended enrollments in the AmeriCorps program due to concern that the National Service Trust may not contain enough funds to meet the education award obligations resulting from AmeriCorps enrollments. This testimony reflects GAO's preliminary review of the factors that contributed to the need to suspend enrollments and GAO's preliminary assessment of the Corporation's proposed changes.

What GAO Found

The number of participants enrolled in AmeriCorps increased by about 20,000 from program year 1998 to program year 2001. However, the number of AmeriCorps participants was not reconciled with the number of education awards that the National Service Trust could support. GAO identified several factors that led the Corporation to suspend enrollments. The factors included inappropriate obligation practices, little or no communication among key Corporation executives, too much flexibility given to grantees regarding enrollments, and unreliable data on the number of AmeriCorps participants. The Corporation has established new policies that may improve the overall management of the National Service Trust if the policies are fully implemented. However, the Corporation has not made policy changes to correct a key factor--how it obligates funds for education awards.