Benefits of Service
The benefits that individuals serving with an AmeriCorps SC program are eligible to receive are listed below.
Living Allowance
Your living allowance will help cover the basic costs of living, which allows national service to be an option for everybody. Furthermore, living within tight economic bounds encourages AmeriCorps Members to relate more closely with the resource-limited communities they serve. (The amount of living allowance varies by program and term type. Please refer to the application process for each AmeriCorps SC program listed below for more details.)
Health Insurance
Health insurance, which meets Affordable Care Act standards, is provided to those serving full-time as AmeriCorps Members. Coverage varies by program, but general questions are addressed on this website.
Education Award
Following your successful completion of your AmeriCorps term of service, you will become eligible to earn the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. This can be applied to existing student loans or to future education endeavors. Each AmeriCorps Member can earn up to the equivalent of two full-time education awards, totaling over $11,000. Over 180 institutions of higher education will match your AmeriCorps Education Award.
Professional Development / Job Training
Many AmeriCorps Members utilize the valuable job training, professional development, and networking opportunities they participating in while serving in an AmeriCorps SC program to advance their career after their term of service.
Childcare Assistance
Full-time service Members may qualify for childcare assistance. The application process can be completed here.
Loan Forbearance
Your federal student loans qualify for loan forbearance (i.e. payment postponement) during your term of service. Furthermore, the federal government will pay for the interest that your loans accrue while in forbearance during your year of service. You can learn more about applying for loan forbearance here.
Meet Like-Minded Peers
You will get to serve alongside other service-minded peers who seek to strengthen our South Carolina communities. Further, you will join a network of over 1,000,000 AmeriCorps Alum, who can link you to resources and job opportunities following your AmeriCorps service. Register here to start receiving AmeriCorps Alum benefits today.
2023-2024 AmeriCorps SC Programs
Click on each tab below to view our entire portfolio! Each program has a link to apply following the description.
College Advising Corps places well-trained recent college graduates in under-resourced communities to establish a stronger college-going tradition. Emphasis is placed on increasing the rate of college enrollment and completion among low-income, first-generation college and under-represented students. Using the NCAC ‘near-peer’ model, advisers form relationships with students through one-on-one meetings, group presentations, college tours, parent engagement activities related to the college applications process, and financial aid.
City Year operates in schools across Richland and Lexington County providing critical support to students through academic tutoring, mentorship, and after-school programs. Our AmeriCorps Members serve as Student Success Coaches, working directly with students to enhance their educational experience, build essential skills, and foster a positive school environment.
The United Way of Kershaw County Ready Readers Program focuses on lifting lives through the love of literacy. AmeriCorps members serve in Kershaw County Elementary Schools as tutors and classroom literacy leaders. Impacting lives through helping students reach their reading goals.
Teach For America South Carolina (TFASC) is working to recruit, develop, and retain high-quality teachers who transform student outcomes in the state’s most under-resourced schools. Our movement has grown from placing our first corps of 31 teachers in the Pee Dee region to supporting more than 800 teachers who positively impacted more than 70,000 students across the state since 2011. In addition to serving as role models, nearly two-thirds of our first- and second-year teachers achieved over a year’s worth of academic growth in their classrooms and closing learning gaps at accelerated rates.
Through United Way of the Piedmont's AmeriCorps Direct Service program, you can serve as a Teacher Support Specialist at a local elementary schools in Spartanburg, South Carolina, providing opportunities for teachers and students to get the support they need to thrive. Our AmeriCorps Members spend one academic year in an elementary school where they serve teachers and students through providing small group instruction, supporting social and emotional needs of students, enriching family and school relationships, assisting teachers with remote and e-learning opportunities, and supporting students with one-on-one reading and math assistance.
The CISofSC AmeriCorps program will place AmeriCorps Members in elementary, middle school and high school campuses across South Carolina to meet students where they are at and provide wraparound support for students and their families to thrive. Our Student Support Coach position is designed to build deep relationships with the students and families while working with them to remove barriers that impede educational success. CISofSC AmeriCorps members work with students one-on-one and in small groups as an integrated support to campus community, in service of equitable access to education opportunities.
The Palmetto Conservation Corps is South Carolina’s only trail-based state AmeriCorps Program. The Corps completes service work on the Palmetto Trail, through public lands, in communities, and with various organizations throughout the state. The Corps works to improve public lands and communities through conservation projects, community partnerships and outreach, service-learning, and environmental education.
The Environmental Conservation Corps is a service-learning and workforce development program based in North Charleston, SC that engages AmeriCorps members in energy and environmental conservation service experiences in our Lowcountry region. Our goal is to create the next generation of conservation leaders while performing critically needed projects. Members serve in full-time 1700 hour positions and half-time 900 hour positions.
Healthy Learners operates across South Carolina, providing essential health services to school-aged children to improve their overall well-being and academic performance. Our AmeriCorps Members serve directly with schools and communities to ensure children receive necessary medical care and health education. By bridging the gap between healthcare and education, we help create a healthier future for our state's children.
The SCFCA CHW program will increase access to care, increase health knowledge, promote positive change in health behaviors, and improve health outcomes in 1,000 patients annually. AmeriCorps members serving as CHWs will track and improve two quality improvement measures and/or a behavioral/social measure. The quality improvement measures will align with the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) standards for diabetes and hypertension. AmeriCorps members will receive training from Community Health Worker Institute (University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health) and become certified CHWs upon passing the exam.
Financial readiness and education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty in our community. United Way is working to support the education of all young adults and adults in our communities.
Our financial readiness and education for everyone program aims to provide financial literacy tutoring to students in sixth through twelfth grade and adults through service sites in Clarendon, Lee, and Sumter Counties.
AmeriCorps members are dynamic, engaging individuals who commit to intensive service in their community by helping others succeed. In the F.R.E.E AmeriCorps Program, members are 17 years and currently attending high school, 18 years or older with a high school diploma or GED and/or some college, or a retiree and are able to serve 10 to 35 hours per week for one year.
Individuals commit to a one-year term of service by becoming a member of the AmeriCorps Program engaging in small group and one-on-one mentoring. The program aims to educate our youth and adults about budgeting, banking, loans, and many other financial education topics.
@ AmeriCorps SC Alums