Guidance: AmeriCorps Member Enrollment Process

Step by Step Instructions for Completing the AmeriCorps Online Enrollment Forms

Per the Grant Terms and Conditions, the AmeriCorps Enrollment form must be completed online by all applicants. Programs must request a waiver if this is not possible. *

Please read this document carefully before inviting members to enroll. Guidance for members on creating an acceptable My AmeriCorps password is on page 8.

*The Corps Network has requested waivers in the past for valid reasons but the waivers were not granted.

All Subgrantees are also required to post all Member Service Opportunities in the Portal. All members must be fully enrolled in the eGrants Portal within 8 calendar days of their start date. Therefore, members must complete their portion of the form as soon as possible to enable the Corps staff to complete their part, have the members verified as eligible, run all three Criminal History Checks (CHC), receive the results and submit the enrollment form on time.

An individual is officially an AmeriCorps member on the start date recorded in eGrants. Prior to this start date, individuals should not accrue any service hours.

Prior to Enrollment

  •  Set up Service Locations in eGrants
  •  Submit Member Service Listings in MyAmeriCorps Portal (see VI. 3 in Manual)
  •  Complete all CHC – NSOPW website, state repository or Truescreen checks (NSOPW and State) and Fieldprint checks (if state repository does not conduct these)

Receiving Applications

Applicant Screening

  •  All applicants are required to be screened for eligibility and criminal history. Programs should refer to Section VII of this manual for guidance.
  •  Programs should build in as much time as possible to complete the Natioanal Service Criminal History Checks (NSCHC) and determine eligibility
  •  Applicants must have their eligibility verified before they can start service
  •  For second term members, a program can confirm member eligibility by confirming their verified status for SSN and Citizenship in the My AmeriCorps platform.

Failure to conduct timely and compliant NSCHCs will delay member enrollment and may result in cost disallowances.

Gather Applicant Information

• In order to be enrolled in e Grants and the National Service Trust, programs must gather  information that is consistent with the Social Security Administration Records. This include:

  •  Applicant Name
  •  Social Security Number
  •  Date of Birth
  •  Additional recommendations for information gathering:
  •  Citizenship Verification Documents (e.g. birth certificate, passport, certificate of citizenship, green card, etc.)
  •  Contact information (phone, email, address, etc.)

AmeriCorps recommends using their approved vendors to conduct the National Service Criminal History Checks. These vendors are Truescreen and Fieldprint. Detail on how to utilize these vendors can be found on the NSCHC resource page. AmeriCorps selected these specific vendors to help ensure NSCHC compliance.

Please become familiar with our NSCHC requirement. Failure to conduct timely and compliant National Service Criminal History Checks may delay enrollment and can also result in sometimes significant cost disallowances to your program.

Remember: Always check this Manual for full guidance on NSCHC, Member Service
Listings, and more.

Selecting your Applicant in eGrants
There are two ways to select an applicant in eGrants

Selecting an applicant who applied via MyAmeriCorps

  •  If an individual is serving with another program immediately before your program, be sure the applicant has been fully exited before enrolling them into your program (check with supervisor or the Ed Award status)
  •  Date of Birth and SSN must be entered correctly to avoid delays

Applicant Invitation

Enter applicant’s data and select the program, grant year, and service location from the dropdown lists. Once you have entered the information, you have 2 options:

Invitation to Enroll: Program staff will submit the member’s information online through the eGrants Portal “Invite Members”. This will generate an email inviting the member to complete the Enrollment Form. Members should be able to enroll on a smart phone if needed.

Invitation and Acceptance – timing will vary based on program design and recruitment timeline

Once applications are reviewed:

  •  Programs send invitations to serve in AmeriCorps to prospective members.
    Be sure to use the member’s name as it appears on their Government Issued ID
    You are not required to include a middle name
    Be sure the member provides a valid email address, accurate social security number and date of birth (they should provide documents with this eligibility information)
    Ensure they are aware of the timeframe for completing their portion of the online form to avoid prolonging the process and affecting their start date
    Members accept their service assignment by clicking on a link in the invitation email that will enable them to complete the registration.

Member Acceptance via MyAmeriCorps

Enter applicant’s data and select the Program Year, Program Title (operating site name), and Service Location from the drop-down lists. Important: make sure this information is entered correctly

Click add another to send the current invitation and enter another
Click save and then send to complete the invitation. The applicant will be notified via email

You can check in Pending Invitations to see if the member has accepted the invitation yet.

Member Enrollment Form

Member applicant must click Save Information button to submit the form. Once the individua clicks “save information” to submit the form, the eligibility verification is initiated. The enrollment form will automatically move to Pending Enrollments workbasket.

A few tips to avoid start date delays or changes:

When inputting address, if the member doesn’t know the 4-digit Zip Plus, they should be able to enter 0000. The system should find and suggest the correct zip plus when they save information at the end.

Note: this function doesn’t always work so members should have their full zip +4 ready before enrolling. Staff cannot complete their portion of the form and approve it without the zip+4 and they cannot fix it themselves.

  •  For the permanent address section members should enter their home address – not their campus/school address unless they are the same.
  •  For the mailing address section members should only enter their campus/school address, if different from their permanent address. For the Mailing Home Phone, they should provide a current cell phone number.

Member Self-Enrollment – Complete the Enrollment Form – Create username and Password

The last portion of the member portion of the enrollment form requires members to create a username and password. See password restrictions below. This guidance is not provided in advance online.

SAVE YOUR USERNAME AND PASSWORD, as you will need log-in again!

Your new password must comply with the following rules:

  • Must be at least 12 characters long.
  • Must contain at least one number.
  • Must contain at least one special character (e.g. ! $ % ^ % & etc.).
  • Must contain both upper and lower case letters.
  • Must not repeat any of your previous passwords.
  • Must not contain your user name.

Members can access their MyAmeriCorps account at any time using the username and Password they created. Remember, this is the same site where they will submit the Exit Form, once they complete their required hours and other program service requirements, and where they will track and access their education award(s). Please encourage all members to also complete the AmeriCorps exit survey within 30 days of exit.

The Corps Network and Corps Staff DO NOT have access to Member Passwords and CANNOT provide a new one.
https://my.americorps.gov/mp/login.do

Slots – before enrolling a member, be sure you have an available “standard” slot.

Refill slots automatically show up on the Slot Info chart in your Operating Site when if a member exits with no award and completed less than 30% of their term hours. They become available when all other slots in that term type have been filled. If additional slots are needed contact the The Corps Network.

EAP refills require advance approval by The Corps Network.

  •  All EAP granted slots across the entire program must be filled before we are allowed to use refill slots.
  •  Check your Slot Info chart before enrolling members to ensure you have enough available standard slots. If you need additional slots or a conversion, contact The Corps Network immediately.

Other programs may fill refill slots but may want to contact The Corps Network prior to doing so.

It is the Subgrantee’s responsibility to check available “standard” slots before inviting members to enroll. Subgrantees with grants other than EAP should check with The Corps Network’s AmeriCorps team for guidance on refilling slots.

Social Security Number (SSN)/Citizenship Verification timing for this – before member start date

  •  The MyAmeriCorps portal submits the record to the Social Security Administration (SSA) as soon as the applicant completes and saves their section of the enrollment form.
  •  The SSA will then follow their process to verify applicant’s citizenship status and SSN
  •  Within 3 business days My AmeriCorps will be updated with either “Verified” or “Returned” for both the SSN and citizenship status.

Manual Verification

  1.  If not automatically verified by SSA, the staff inviting the member receives an email notification to submit additional documentation via Secure File Transfer for manual verification of the applicant’s citizenship or Social Security Number or both. The Corps Network staff also receive a copy. If there is no Corps staff listed, The Corps Network staff will do their best to ascertain to which Corps the applicant belongs and forward the email to appropriate staff.
  2.  To submit documentation, the program must request a secure link from the AmeriCorps Hotline (see next page).
  3.  Program submits additional documentation – refer to 45 CFR 2522.200 for documentation guidance https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/textidx?SID=1cdddd4ad4d72234ffaa8e34d95c1ddd&mc=true&node=se45.4.2522_1200&rgn=div8
  4.  AmeriCorps Hotline forwards submitted documentation to the National Service Trust.
  5.  If the submitted documentation is sufficient to verify eligibility, the record in eGrants will be updated within 3 business days. The manual verification process is then complete.
  6.  If the submitted documentation is not sufficient to verify eligibility, the program staff will receive another email notification to submit sufficient eligibility documentation to continue the manual verification process until the documentation is sufficient.
Note:

• The verification process, for some individuals could take 7 days to a couple of weeks to complete. Programs must factor that into their enrollment planning.

  •  The member’s start date cannot be any earlier than the Manually Verified date (or NSCHC
    completion date).

• Be sure to retain all documentation in the member’s file. If there are issues with the process i.e. the compliant documents were submitted but the Hotline has not acknowledged them or are asking for resubmission, The Corps Network and our Program Officer may be able to help change the member’s start date with the entire process documented.

  •  To receive the secure link, contact the National Service Hotline/Help Desk through eGrants (link at the bottom of each page) or at 1-800-942-2677.
  •  The email you receive with the link will include additional submission instructions.
  •  If calling the Hotline for any reason, be sure to ask for a “ticket number” and that a confirmation email be sent to you to capture your conversation and so there is a record of your inquiry in case you, The Corps Network staff or our Program Officer needs to check up on the incident.
  • The Help Desk is closed on Fridays in February, March, April, October, November, and December and all Federal holidays, so plan accordingly.

Steps for Staff to complete the enrollment form

  1.  Confirm SSN/Citizenship are in “Verified” Or “Manually Verified” status
  2.  If the applicant will be 18 or older as of the start date entered on the enrollment form, enter the date on or before which the NSCHC was completed and adjudicated. You can enter a date that is in the past. This date can be corrected if needed prior to enrollment; however, once the individual is enrolled, the NSCHC certification date cannot be changed.
  3.  When you click “Save,” the date entered in the box and the name of the certifying individual will appear below the certification statement.
  4.  Complete the placement information
  5.  This includes the start date, program year, program title, service location and slot type. The entered start date needs to be on or after the date of SSN and citizenship verification and after the date of NSCHC certification in order to enroll. You can enter a start date that is in the past as long as it is within the program’s enrollment period. However, per AmeriCorps policy, enrollments should be certified within 8 days of the member’s start date.
  6.  Check the certification box to certify the form.

Once you have entered in all information correctly, the “Enroll member” button will become active. All information can be entered ahead of time except the start date and slot type, so if you save information and leave this page, the next time you log on you will have to re-enter this information.

Note: Sub grantee will be considered compliant if the date the enrollment action is taken in the portal is within the 8-day (calendar days) enrollment window following the member start date. For example, if you have a member starting on January 4th, the enrollment would be counted as compliant only if the applicant was enrolled on or before January 12th which is within the allowable 8 day window to get the member fully enrolled in eGrants.

  • All information can be entered ahead of time except the start date and slot type, if you save info and leave the enrollment page.
  • When you return to complete the enrollment, you will need to re-enter the start date and slot type.
  • Filling in the other info ahead of time may save you some time throughout the process.

Programs wishing to enroll a large number of applicants at one time can use the Group Enrollment option in eGrants.

For a program to use the Group Enrollment feature, there are a couple of extra requirements that need to be fulfilled. Specifically, AmeriCorps applicants need to be associated with the correct Program Year and Program Title during the invitation process. (Program Title is another term for the operating site name). This slide shows where these two key fields are located on the applicant invitation screen in the My AmeriCorps Portal.

Program Year must be selected correctly by the program on the applicant invitation

Applicants who applied via MyAmeriCorps will need to have the program year entered manually on their individual Enrollment Form, and so cannot participate in group enrollment (i.e., they will not appear on the Group Enrollment tab)

Program Title (Operating Site) must be selected correctly by the program

Applicants who applied to/were invited under a different operating site mush have the Program Title changed manually on their individual Enrollment Form, and so cannot participate in group enrollment (i.e., they will not appear on the Group Enrollment tab)

Be sure to invite members to the correct grant program.

Group Enrollment Screen: The placement of the fields is different, but program staff will still enter the same information, make the same certifications, and take the same actions. The key difference: on the individual enrollment form you enter info for only one applicant at a time, for Group Enrollment you can enter information for up to 20 applicants at a time and enroll those individuals simultaneously.

Group vs. Individual Enrollment: In both, the applicant’s SSN & citizenship status must be verified on or before the applicant’s start date. Applicants will not show up on the group enrollment screen until this verification is complete. Individual – verification status and dates show directly on the enrollment form. Group – if you need to find out the date of SSN/citizenship verification for an individual, you can view it on their enrollment form. NSCHC rules are the same for both group and individual enrollment. For those 18 years or older, staff must enter the date on or before which the three-part NSCHC was completed and adjudicated. The date is a legal certification that these actions have been completed and recorded in the My AmeriCorps Portal. The date of certification is not visible on the group enrollment screen but can be viewed on the applicant’s individual enrollment form.

Step 2: Select the Program Title (PT) – (Operating Site) for individuals you wish to enroll. There will be a brief pause after the PT is selected, then the Program Year (PY) will automatically populate on the tab. The PY that will appear is for the enrollment period currently open for that particular subgrantee or site.

Applicants associated with that particular PT/PY will automatically appear in the list at the bottom of the tab. The list displays up to 20 individuals at a time. If there are more than 20 associated with this PT/PY, you will be able to use the navigation tools on the right side of the screen to move to subsequent pages.

Remember, applicants will only appear on the Group Enrollment tab if (1) they have the correct PT/PY prepopulated from the invitation form; (2) they have completed their portion of the Enrollment Form; and (3) their SSN and citizenship are already verified. If there are individuals you wish to enroll who do not appear on this tab, you can find them on the Pending Enrollments tab and use the individual enrollment process instead. Applicants who appear on the Group Enrollment tab also appear on the Pending Enrollments tab.

The next step is to enter the date by which the CHCs were completed for Shannon, Annabelle and Samantha. Remember that by entering a date, you are providing a legal certification that you have completed and adjudicated the required NSOPW, State, and FBI checks on or before that date. Also remember that, just like on the individual enrollment form, you must enter a start date for the applicant that is AFTER the date in the NSCHC Certification section.

In the example on this slide, enter dates in the NSCHC Certification section for Shannon, Annabelle, and Samantha. The NSCHC certifications were completed on different dates for each applicant, so you will need to ensure you have proper documentation to reference when entering this date.

Next, select service locations. For the correct service locations to show up in the drop-down list for these applicants, they need to have been set up previously in the MyAmeriCorps Portal.

Note that the service locations can be different for each individual in the group enrollment process. In this example, Shannon is being assigned to VYCC while Samantha is being assigned to North Country Hospital.

In order to enroll an applicant, the correct start date must:

  •  Must be within member enrollment period
  •  Must be on or after the SSN/citizenship verification dates
  •  Must be after the date entered in the NSCHC Certification field

Annabelle & Samantha will start on 4/5/21. Shannon is supposed to start on 4/1/21. But CHC certifications were on 4/5/21, after the selected start date, so you need to violate the third bullet. i.e., a 4/1 start date is not actually going to be possible for Shannon. But let’s leave it there for now and see what happens. Per AmeriCorps policy, member enrollments should be certified within 8 days of the member start date.

The next step will be to check the “Select to Enroll” boxes since these are the applicants you want to enroll in minimum slots under this Program Title and Program Year. Only the applicants whose “Select to Enroll” boxes are checked will be affected when the “Enroll” button is clicked at the bottom of the tab.

The form needs to be certified at the bottom of the tab. This legal certification confirms that all the information provided on the form is correct and complete, including the CHC certification dates.

The next step is to click the “enroll” button at the bottom of the tab to attempt to enroll the applicants. The key word here is attempt – clicking this button is not a guarantee that all the enrollments will be successful. The next tab will show you what happens if one or more of the enrollments does not go through.

As a reminder: up to 20 individuals can be enrolled at one time using the group enrollment process. If you have filled out information on this tab for one or more applicant but aren’t yet ready to take the “Enroll” action, click “Save information” instead.

If one or more of your enrollment attempts was not successful, you will see a red error message at the top of the tab. The message will tell you which applicants were not enrolled, and why. Applicants that were successfully enrolled will disappear from the Group Enrollment tab, while applicants who were not successfully enrolled will continue to be visible.

In this example Annabelle and Samantha’s enrollment was successful, so they are no longer displayed on this tab. However, as predicted, Shannon’s enrollment was not successful because the start date entered for them was before the NSCHC certification. So, Shannon still appears on the Group Enrollment tab. Program staff will need to correct Shannon’s start date, check the “Select to Enroll” box again, and try again to enroll them.

  •  There are several reasons why member enrollments might not be successful; some of the possibilities are listed on this tab.
  •  It could be that the program doesn’t have enough slots available to enroll all the selected applicants in that particular slot type.
  •  It could be that the start date was entered wrong, or that the program staff forgot to select the applicant’s service location.
  •  It could be that the applicant has not yet been exited from a current full-time service term.
  •  Or it could be that the applicant themself was not eligible to serve: they may have previously served four terms with AmeriCorps State and National or received an unsatisfactory performance rating from a prior service term.
  •  Whatever the reason, the error message will provide you with details about what went wrong and, if possible, what you can do to correct it. The member enrollment WILL NOT be complete until the error is corrected, and program staff successfully take the Enroll action again.

Partial Award Acknowledgement

  •  There is an additional step that a few of you may need to complete. If you click enroll for an applicant who has previously received the equivalent of two full time education awards, or as a result of the slot type that you entered, will now exceed 2 full time slot awards a notice will show up when you click enroll that is highlighted here.
  •  The note indicates that an email notification was sent to the applicant to request acknowledgement of the partial award.
  •  You will also see in your pending enrollments workbasket that the enrollment status is now in “pending partial award acknowledgement.”
  • Because this applicant has an additional step, the individual is not yet enrolled even though you hit the enroll button. The applicant must follow the next steps before you are able to enroll the individual.

Below is an example of what the applicant will see if they need to acknowledge a partial award. The email will indicate the value of ed awards they previously received and provide the partial amount they are still eligible for. This will equate to a specific dollar amount. Applicant must click on the link provided in the email which will bring them back to their enrollment form in My AmeriCorps.

Once the applicant clicks the link in the email they received, they will be taken to the My AmeriCorps portal where they will need to log in. They then need to click on Enrolment Form on the left-hand side of the screen.

  •  At the bottom of the enrollment form, applicant is asked to either accept or decline the partial award. If declined, this shows that the individual is choosing not to be enrolled into your term of service.
  •  If they accept, eGrants will automatically update the applicant’s enrollment status to “partial award acknowledged” as shown here in the second image.
  •  Once this is complete, you will be able to go back into their enrollment form in eGrants, enter the slot type and start date again because these two items are not able to be saved, and then click enroll.

Check your work!

  •  There are multiple ways to ensure that you are completing the member enrollment properly. You can run reports and click on each member’s service information within the portal to make sure changes/updates you made were saved properly.
  •  Check all details needed for enrollment to ensure that everything is correct to avoid error messages.

Note: Members who previously served in AmeriCorps must ensure that they are exited from their
previous program in MyAmeriCorps

Per the Grant Terms and Conditions, the Enrollment Form must be completed by the member

  •  Programs must request a waiver if this is not possible

To facilitate successful enrollment, members who have previously served in AmeriCorps must:

  • Ensure that they have been exited from their previous program by verifying with their previous supervisor

Run Reports to Check Enrollments

S&N Reports

You can always check your work by running a report in the portal. Under ‘portal home’ select ‘S&N Reports’ to run a report. Two reports from this tab that are helpful for you during enrollment are the Enrollment Approval Cycle Time report and the Member Download Report.

SSN and Citizenship Status Report

You can also run a report on SSN and Citizenship which will show the Trust Enrolled Status, Citizenship Status, and SSN Status of members.

How to Update a Start Date in eGrants – in-service members only

  •  If a situation occurs that requires you to update a member’s start date, you can make that change for in-service members as long as the change is within the allowable enrollment parameters discussed in this training. Please note that if this change is made more than 8 days after the member start date, it may affect a program’s compliance with 8-day enrollment requirements.
  • To update a start date in eGrants, select “Manage Members”
  •  From there a list of members will appear on your page. Search for the individual who requires the start date change and click on their name. This will take you to their member information screen. At the bottom, under Service Information, you will see the original start date that was entered. Click “View” to open their service term information.

Now that you are in the view service term information page, you can see that you have the opportunity to correct the member’s service term by clicking “Correct” at the right-hand side of your screen.

Step 4: After opening the “Correct Term of Service” screen you can see the member’s current start date is listed in the “Effective Date” field.

The dates of SSN and citizenship verifications and NSCHC certification are also displayed for you to reference and ensure that the newly entered start date meets the requirements of enrollment.

Step 5: Enter the corrected start date in the “Effective Date” field, ensuring that it is:

  •  Within the member enrollment period
  • On or after the dates of SSN and citizenship verification
  •  After the NSCHC certification date

Step 6: If the corrected start date is within these parameters, the “Save” button will become active. Click “Save”

NOTE: entering a start date that is more than 8 days in the past will affect the program’s compliance with 8-day enrollment requirements.

What to do if the “enroll” button isn’t active

If your enroll button does not become active, here is a list of items for you to check:

SSN and citizenship status NSCHC certification- remember, date must be before the entered start date

Check the start date And finally,

if you determine that all the above is correct, and you are not sure why eGrants would be preventing you from enrolling your applicant, contact the AmeriCorps Hotline.