Higher Ed Utah

SALT LAKE CITY – In an effort to support hundreds of Utah’s community organizations, the Utah Commission on Volunteers has awarded Utah Campus Compact a grant of $150,000 to start AmeriCorps Education Award Programs at nine of Utah’s institutions of higher education (eight state colleges and universities and Westminster College). This grant allows students from Utah’s campuses to help with critical community needs by providing services in the areas of education, veteran support, health, and economic opportunity.

Each year, the Utah Campus Compact AmeriCorps Program will involve over 1,200 students and generate an additional 1,200 volunteers from the community. These volunteers will contribute an amazing 500,000 community service hours each year for some of the state’s neediest groups. “Through programs like AmeriCorps, Utah’s colleges and universities have the chance to make an impact by lessening the burden of many social challenges faced by Utah’s communities,” said Betsy Ward, Executive Director of Utah Campus Compact. “We are so grateful for this award, and appreciative that the Utah Commission on Volunteers recognizes the difference this funding makes throughout the entire state.” Participation in this program also provides Utah’s students with scholarships totaling over $1.6 million.

Utah Campus Compact is a coalition of Utah’s college and university presidents and their campuses. It provides leadership to strengthen service-learning, co-curricular service, community-based research, and other civic engagement initiatives statewide. Nationally, AmeriCorps engages 80,000 Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service to meet critical needs. Its members serve through more than 14,000 nonprofit and faith-based organizations in rural and urban communities throughout the nation. Among other accomplishments, AmeriCorps members last year mobilized 2.6 million community volunteers, and tutored, mentored or served more than 2.5 million disadvantaged youth.

For more information about Utah Campus Compact and the civic engagement provided statewide, visit http://www.higheredutah.org/media-center/outreach-efforts/

About The Utah System of Higher Education: USHE includes all of Utah’s eight public colleges and universities: The University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, Southern Utah University, Snow College, Dixie State College, Utah Valley University and Salt Lake Community College. For more information on the Utah System of Higher Education, visit our website at http://www.higheredutah.org.

# # #

To download a .pdf of this news release, click here.