WEST VIRGINIA (LOOTPRESS) – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, today announced five organizations in West Virginia will collectively receive $6,555,818 in State and National funding, including grants and education awards from AmeriCorps.

Through this competition, five successful grantees operating in West Virginia will receive $4,877,096 in competitive funding from AmeriCorps to support approximately 531 AmeriCorps members. After successfully completing their service, these AmeriCorps members are expected to earn $1,570,559 in Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards. Volunteer West Virginia, the state service commission, will also receive $1,678,722 in formula funding, which will in turn be awarded to state organizations to support additional AmeriCorps members in the coming months.

“I’m pleased to see AmeriCorps programs across our state receiving resources that can make a positive impact on people and families across our state,” Ranking Member Capito said. “I’ve seen the good work that can be done, for example through my recent visit with the leadership of Grow Ohio Valley in Wheeling, as well as my past participation with the Energy Express program. This funding will help volunteers engage with- and invest in their communities and lift up those who need help.”

These AmeriCorps State and National grants and new AmeriCorps members will help prepare students for college, revitalize cities, connect veterans to jobs, fight the opioid epidemic, rebuild communities following disasters, preserve public lands, strengthen education, foster economic opportunity, and more. They will join the more than 1.1 million AmeriCorps members who have served since the program’s inception in 1994, earning nearly $4 billion in education awards.

Individual awards listed below:

$2,250,111 – West Virginia University Research Corporation (Morgantown, W.Va.)

$1,500,716 – High Rocks Educational Corporation (Hillsboro, W.Va.)

$1,239,485 – United Way of Central West Virginia, Inc. (Charleston, W.Va.)

$1,040,220 – Appalachian Forest Heritage Area, Inc. (Elkins, W.Va.)

$417,123 – Grow Ohio Valley Inc. (Wheeling, W.Va.)