Statement from Chancellor King and SUNY Board of Trustees on AmeriCorps
September 12, 2024
"As the nation soon concludes its year-long anniversary celebration of AmeriCorps, and as we celebrate the day President Clinton swore in the first AmeriCorps members, we proudly reflect on this 30-year-old program, and the young Americans who have answered the call to serve. AmeriCorps is the backbone of community service and a testament to the spirit of volunteerism and civic engagement. Since its establishment in 1993, AmeriCorps has provided millions with the opportunity to serve—whether by developing afterschool programs, protecting our environment and wildlife, or serving our most vulnerable communities in times of natural disaster.
"Many AmeriCorps members move on to our college campuses after completing their service, and SUNY is proud to help them transition to our academic institutions. We are also grateful for their help in creating a culture of community service across our campuses.
"The AmeriCorps program is truly a blueprint for public service, and it’s a model we are following as we expand programs such as our AmeriCorps FAFSA Completion Corps of paid SUNY interns trained to inform high school students and their families about completing the federal financial aid form, the SUNY Climate Corps, which offers SUNY students paid internships in New York State’s top environmental agencies and SUNY system, and Governor Hochul’s new Empire State Service Corps that provides paid civic and service opportunities for our students.
"We are committed to working alongside Governor Hochul, Lieutenant Governor Delgado, our SUNY campuses, and public and private organizations to expand community service opportunities for our students.
"As we honor this historic milestone today, we look forward to the many more service awards granted, lives changed, and futures shaped."
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.
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Holly Liapis
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