Idaho State, U of I and other organizations receive $4.3 million in AmeriCorps grants

About 370 AmeriCorps members are funded to work for a year in Idaho through $4.3 million in grants, according to a news release sent Wednesday by the Idaho Department of Labor.

The bulk of those members — 224 — are headed to serve at Idaho State University on health care projects. 

The college, based in Pocatello, received $1.6 million for a project called Gem State Public Health, which will involve 82 AmeriCorps members boosting community partnerships to offer more mental health services and train more people as suicide prevention gatekeepers.

ISU also received $903,110 and 142 members to work in the Idaho HealthCorps AmeriCorps Program. Those members will provide health screenings and education to low-income Idaho children and families in rural underserved parts of the Gem State.

Thirty AmeriCorps members are funded through $603,821 to help south central Idaho elementary students learn to read through reading interventions.

University of Idaho Extension will see 46 AmeriCorps members work with offices in 38 counties on improving academic engagement or workforce readiness skills on children age 5 and older. That project received $552,097.

The Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute, based in Moscow, is receiving 14 AmeriCorps members to educate Idahoans about the environment and restore Idaho lands. That project received $340,717.

Twenty-seven AmeriCorps members are funded through $27,000 to teach for two years in southwestern Idaho low-income and under-resourced schools. 

The members, set to work part- and full-time from 2023 to 2024, are funded through the federal AmeriCorps agency through the Governor’s Commission on Service and Volunteerism, called Serve Idaho.