About Homes for All AmeriCorps

Mission of AmeriCorps
To improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering.

What is AmeriCorps?
AmeriCorps is a national service program that provides thousands of Americans with an opportunity to give back to their communities. AmeriCorps members serve in nonprofits, public agencies, and faith-based organizations. Since the program was created in 1994, over 270,000 individuals have served their communities and country as AmeriCorps members. AmeriCorps members receive a modest living allowance, student-loan forbearance, health coverage, end of service education award, and child care for those who qualify.

What is Homes for All?
Homes for All is the only AmeriCorps program primarily focused on housing and homelessness in Kentucky. Led by the Homeless & Housing Coalition of Kentucky (HHCK), the mission of the Homes for All program is to provide housing-related services to individuals and families across Kentucky who are experiencing homelessness, housing insecurity, or in search of affordable homeownership opportunities.

What can Homes for All members do?
Our Homes for All members serve at nonprofits, public agencies, and government institutions. Our direct service AmeriCorps members serve at housing nonprofits around the state, providing housing and homeless services. Services include new home construction, home repairs, housing-focused case management, homelessness prevention, rapid rehousing, homeownership counseling, and housing navigation.

Our capacity-building AmeriCorps VISTA members address issues affecting individuals living at the poverty level. They focus on activities such as grant writing, fundraising, program development and improvement, identify new systems, community outreach, volunteer management, volunteer recruitment, and volunteer training. This indirect work helps organizations build their capacity to provide services that are more effective and efficient or reach more people.

AmeriCorps Webinar Recording + Materials from February 2025:
Addressing Homelessness and Housing Insecurity in Kentucky Through National Service

Homes for All AmeriCorps Is a Smart Investment

In 2024, AmeriCorps commissioned an independent Return on Investment study of the Homes for All program. The analysis indicates that Homes for All continues to be a strong investment for members, participating organizations, and funders.

Key Findings

  • The ROI analysis estimated the HHCK Homes for All program’s ROI to be between $3.14 and $8.68 per funder dollar, depending on how long individuals served by Homes for All and AmeriCorps members experience increased earnings as a result of the program. 

  • The return on each dollar of federal support for the program is between $3.85 and $10.65. 

  • These results are driven by decreased government expenditures due to reduced homelessness and favorable employment and education outcomes for AmeriCorps members following their service.

Research Brief
Full Report
Addressing Homelessness and Housing Insecurity in Kentucky Through National Service

“We would not have the capacity to serve as many folks through our repair and new homeownership programs if it weren’t for the service of our AmeriCorps members. Their service has also allowed us to respond to the devastating floods of 2021 and 2022 in the counties we serve.”
— Homes for All Site Supervisor, 2024

Evaluation of Homes for All for Organizations and Members

In 2024, the McNary Group published a process evaluation of the Homes for All program, focusing on the member and site supervisor experience during the 2023-2024 program year. The evaluation found that:

  • Our evaluation indicates that the Homes for All member experience positively impacted the partnering organizations and the clients served by the Homes for All member.

  • In the logic model, we predicted that stable housing for clients of HHCK would be in part determined by AmeriCorps members’ experiences with HHCK and at their specific placements. There was nearly universal positive feedback by both members and supervisors; each group reported considerable benefits of having AmeriCorps members placed at the HHCK sites. Homes for All AmeriCorps program shows promise in delivering stable housing.

AmeriCorps Service Can Lead to New Careers or Employment!

AmeriCorps experience helps individuals develop new skills and strengthen existing skills that are essential for organizations and companies when they look to hire. National service alumni are strong leaders who are motivated, flexible, innovative, and outcome‐oriented. They learn quickly and work well within teams.

Each year, a number of our AmeriCorps members are hired by their service site or an outside company because of the advantage their AmeriCorps experience provides them.

For more information, check out Employers of National Service - a search engine that connects you with organizations that give special consideration to AmeriCorps alum.