Guidance: Member Service Opportunity Listings
This document contains instructions for entering AmeriCorps Member Service Opportunity Listings in the My AmeriCorps Member Portal in eGrants. All Subgrantees are required to create a Member Service Opportunity Listing in the MyAmeriCorps Portal for every AmeriCorps position whether or not you plan to recruit online. These must be created prior to recruiting individuals for the positions.
Subgrantees must also create a full Member Position Description and submit it to The Corps Network for approval – see guidance in this section. Below are step-by-step instructions for the minimum posting requirements for AmeriCorps program staff to follow, a checklist to help program staff create and maintain strong and accurate member service listings, and a list of common mistakes identified by AmeriCorps.
MEMBER SERVICE OPPORTUNITY LISTINGS CHECKLIST
When uploading member service listings, follow this checklist to ensure all required information is entered for timely approval. Please allow 48 – 72 hours for review. If there are issues with the listing our Program Officer will send an email to TCN with the corrections noted and TCN will pass the email to the Subgrantee. Be sure you allow enough time in the event you have to re-submit the listing
I. Are Prohibited Activities listed/mentioned in the description? ☐ Yes ☐ No
II. Do Member Duties and Service Description sections provide a basic description about what the members will be doing? ☐ Yes ☐ No
III. For full-time 1700 hour members, does the Program Benefits section include:
➢ Education award upon successful completion of service? ☐ Yes ☐No
➢ Stipend or Living Allowance? ☐ Yes ☐No
➢ Childcare assistance if eligible? Required – offer to all FT AmeriCorps members (funded and EAP)
➢ Health Coverage? ☐ Yes ☐No Not required for EAP members
IV. For all other member terms, does the Program Benefits section include the following?
➢ Education award upon successful completion of service? ☐ Yes ☐No
➢ Education award upon successful completion of service? ☐ Yes ☐No
➢ Stipend or Living Allowance? ☐ Yes ☐No
V. For part or minimum time members, does the Service Description or title indicate the amount of hours the position requires (to clarify positions that are less than full time serving in a full-time capacity)? ☐ Yes ☐No
VI. Are the Program Start/End Dates and Accepting Applications dates updated? Note that approved member service listings will not show in the Portal until the first date under “Accepting Applications.” ☐ Yes ☐No Remember, you need to do this step even if you don’t want to recruit online.
VII. Is the Age Requirement section completed? To control for age discrimination, upper age limit must be 99 and above or None for non-Youth Corps programs. ☐ Yes ☐No
FAQs based on questions to our PO from TCN and Subgrantees
Q: We had a couple listings denied due to the term “intern”. Clarify or remove AmeriCorps members being referred to as an “interns” to control for non-displacement. An organization may not displace an employee, partial employee or volunteer by using a participant in a program receiving Corporation assistance. Replace with AmeriCorps appropriate language. Many programs provide internship opportunities and have not had any issues with the term “Intern” in the past. This does not infer displacement, their internships have been historically service opportunities that train and develop members in Natural Resources.
A: The program should communicate positions as “national service opportunities”, since the term “intern” usually implies a specific role at an organization that is different from national service positions.
Q: What is the definition of “Project” vs. “Program”? We are asked for a “Project Name” and a “Program Description” – is a Program Description of our AmeriCorps program or the project per the Project Name? The form has different headings than the actual listing that is produced. i.e. Program Description isn’t on the actual listing but Member Duties and Service Descriptions are. There is also a text box to enter “what will your AmeriCorps members do?” by the example provided by AmeriCorps it appears Service Description is about the actual program not specific duties performed by the member.
A: This is up to you, but you do need to communicate that the position is part of The Corps Network program, so this should be noted somewhere on the listing. You can include both the general TCN program (EAP/OYSI/TIP) description and then the Subgrantee-specific project description in the listing, under the Service Description heading, making it clear that the Subgrantee position is part of the broader program. Member duties should be the specific tasks and responsibilities of that position.
Q: What does each Term of Service mean? There are only three selections (full-time, Part-time, summer).
A: Any terms that are under 1700 hours should be marked as Part-Time. If a member is serving in a parttime slot, but in full-time capacity, they should note this in the position description for the potential applicants and can note under comments for the reviewers
Q: Under the benefits section it lists “stipend” and “living allowance” as options. Should we select both as we don’t see the difference?
A: Either one would work. I would recommend “living allowance” to be consistent with the member agreement terminology.
Q: Will we receive an email when a listing is approved or do we need to check daily? I know it takes 48-72 hours for review so are the programs (TCN) only contacted when the listings are denied? Otherwise they need to check in eGrants after 48 hours to see the status
A: No, approval notifications are not sent out automatically, and the program should check its listings.
Q: Is there a way to filter through all of the listings to see just our listings? Right now we have to search through everyone’s listings dating back to 2008, will old posting be removed or hidden?
A: The hidden listings should not show up on your end either unless you select “Show Hidden Listings” that you see on the screenshot. Unfortunately, if the
portal does not give you the option to sort listings, they just need to go through all the listings to search for theirs. That is not something that can be changed in the system at this point. See page 8 of this doc for guidance on hiding listings.
Go to the Portal Home link located under View MyAmeriCorps Portal heading
Click on Recruitment Workbasket. Click on Service Opportunities tab from the top menu tab selections. Click on Create Opportunity Listing at the top of the page. To modify an existing Opportunity, click Edit next to the desired listing.
Enter required info indicated by red asterisk* or TCN/ AmeriCorps policy
-Project Name
-Project Type
-Program Code
-Start & End Dates
-Term of Service
-Contact Info -State(s) etc.
Note: Info cannot be saved until final submission
To Modify an existing listing click on view/edit
Input the following required information, as indicated by a red asterisk or by AmeriCorps policy:
- Two line description headline • Program description • Accepting applications (Yes/No)
- Application deadlines • Alternate applications (Yes/No)
- Member benefits Optional information:
- Alternate application information • Terms and conditions Input the following required information, as indicated by a red asterisk*or by AmeriCorps policy:
Click Next
Guidance and Problems/Mistakes and Solutions from AmeriCorps
Input the following required information, as indicated by a red asterisk*or by AmeriCorps policy:
• Minimum Age • Maximum Age • Member activities
• Modification comment – if editing a listing • Submitter name
Optional information: • Desired education level • Member skills • Language requirement
• Service areas • Submitter contact Info
Click Save to submit to AmeriCorps
After clicking Save, the screen will display your newly submitted Service Opportunity Listing. Review the Service Opportunity Listing and if changes are required, navigate back to the Servicem Opportunities in the Recruitment Workbasket to edit.Service Listings Status:
- Pending waiting to be viewed by AmeriCorps
- Approved – our PO has viewed approved submission
- Listing is now viewable, if indicated by submitter
- Denied –viewed by AmeriCorps and disapproved submission. Needs to be edited and resubmitted
Note: Every time a listing is edited, it is resubmitted with a new timestamp and listings are reviewed chronologically by AmeriCorps. If you do not wish to edit and adjust the timestamp, select view.
1. Program Benefits for Part Time or summer work schedule members must include at minimum, an education award upon successful completion of service.
2. Must indicate an appropriate minimum Age Requirement of 17 years or higher. 16 year old “out of school youth” are allowed – they may not drop out of school to enroll in AmeriCorps and they may not be on their summer break from high school.
3. Clarify or remove AmeriCorps service being referred to as “work” to control for non-displacement. An organization may not displace an employee, partial employee or volunteer by using a participant in a program receiving Corporation assistance. Replace with AmeriCorps appropriate language.
Consider extending the Accepting Applications date range.
Minimum Requirements for Member Service Opportunity Listings
Two Line Summary
- Be sure to include one or two lines that summarize your program’s mission and vision.
Member Duties and Service Description
- Please provide a basic description of what the member(s) will be doing as a part of service, including dayto-day duties and specific responsibilities that the AmeriCorps member performs.
- AmeriCorps staff are screening for prohibited activities in these sections. Please refer to the list of prohibited activities to avoid any compliance issues. Please also avoid vague verbiage such as, “other duties as assigned” and “etc.”
Program Benefits and Work Schedules
For full-time:
- Program Benefits must include at least health coverage, living allowance (or stipend), childcare assistance if eligible, and education award upon successful completion of service. For part-time and less, summer:
- Program Benefits must include an education award upon completion for all members.
To submit a listing indicating positions that are less than full-time serving in a full-time capacity, please use this method (this will allow grantees to provide the clearest information to potential applicants and AmeriCorps staff to allow timely processing of listings):
- Choose “Full Time” in the Work Schedule section and indicate the exact type or types of member position(s) in either the Service Description or Modification Comments section.
Program Start/End Dates and Accepting Applications Dates
- The end date for Program Start/End Date and the end date for Accepting Applications must be in the future. A listing will be approved on the same day as an end date, but it will automatically remove itself from the Portal once the Accepting Applications end date has passed.
Age Requirement
- Age range must generally fall between a minimum of 17 and a maximum of none or 99 and up.
- Exceptions to this rule are approved Youth Corps and Encore programs.
- The only time the minimum can be lower than 17 is when the program is engaging members who are opportunity youth and were already out of school at age 16. These members mustn’t have left school in order to serve in AmeriCorps.
Modification Comments and Removing a Listing
- If you indicate what edits were made and your site’s program type, it can greatly help AmeriCorps staff understand your intention and make an accurate determination when reviewing your listing.
- Listings cannot be deleted from the Portal, but they can be hidden. Please click “No” when asked “Do you want to make this listing available now?” and indicate in modification comments that you want to remove the listing. Below is an example of what AmeriCorps Staff see with highlights. Please allow 48 – 72 hours for approval.
Example from AmeriCorps:
COMMON MISTAKES
What to Avoid When Posting Member Service Listings Program Start/End Dates and Accepting Applications Dates
PROBLEM: The listing below was reviewed on 11/15/2015. The Program Start/End Date is correct, but the Accepting Applications date is set in the past. SOLUTION: Be sure the Accepting Applications range is updated. The listing will not be searchable in the Portal if it is set in the past.
Prohibited Activities
PROBLEM: Service description includes “members provide youth advocacy”. Advocacy related to political activities or lobbying is an unallowable activity. SOLUTION: Remove unallowable activity and consult with your Program Officer for further clarification. Review Prohibited Activities in this Manual.
Education Award or End of Service Stipend
PROBLEM: Program Benefits says “Choice of Education Award or End of Service Stipend.” State and National members do not have the option to choose an award other than the Segal Education Award. This choice is offered only to VISTAs. SOLUTION: Remove this verbiage and be sure to include “Education award upon successful completion of service” only for all AmeriCorps members
Program Benefits
PROBLEM: This listing does not include childcare assistance if eligible in Program Benefits.
SOLUTION: Be sure to include living allowance (or stipend), health coverage, childcare assistance and education award in Program Benefits for full‐time work schedules (with the exception of EAPs, Partnership Challenge, Professional Corps). Part‐time and less (e.g. summer positions) require a minimum of education award.
Vague Member Duties
PROBLEM: The program used vague language when describing Member Duties such as “other duties as assigned.” This could potentially lead to prohibited activities and to responsibility drift in which members could be displacing employee duties. SOLUTION: Carefully detail what the member will be doing during service and avoid vague verbiage such as “other duties as assigned” and “etc.”
How to Correctly “Hide” a Listing
PROBLEM: I need to know how to delete an old or no longer needed listing. SOLUTION: The Portal doesn’t allow listings to be deleted, but you can “hide” them. Edit your listing through eGrants and click “No” when asked “Do you want to make this listing available now?” This will effectively “hide” the intended listing.
Age Requirement
PROBLEM: The maximum age is set at 55 and there should be no maximum age range. This could lead to potential age discrimination (with the exception of Youth Corps or EnCorps programs). SOLUTION: Please set the maximum age limit at “none” or 99 and above. Also, be sure to save all the way to the end so that the eGrants system records the change properl.
Value of Using Modification Comments
PROBLEM: The program had erroneously entered a maximum age limit and resubmitted the same mistake after follow-up with the Program Officer. SOLUTION: The program used the Modification Comments to articulate their action so AmeriCorps Staff was able to more easily determine if there was a technical issue.
Please allow 48 to 72 hours for review after posting