Serve Colorado operates under the Governor’s Commission on Community Service, tasked with distributing and managing Colorado AmeriCorps State funding from AmeriCorps, the federal agency. It seeks to enhance lives, solidify communities, and promote civic engagement through service and volunteering.
AmeriCorps Planning Grants aim to assist organizations in creating new programs to meet community needs, with a funding cap of $150,000. These grants support projects within key focus areas: Education, Economic Opportunity, Disaster Response, Environmental Stewardship, Healthy Futures, Veterans & Military Families, Workforce Development including Quality Credentialing, Health Care, Green Infrastructure, Advancing Racial Equity, and Economic Mobility. Programs are encouraged to advance initiatives that increase access to healthcare, develop green infrastructure in response to environmental challenges, promote economic mobility, and address systemic racism to foster equitable communities. Additionally, AmeriCorps places importance on projects that support underserved groups and enhance the AmeriCorps member experience with additional benefits. Planning grants operate on a fixed term of no more than 365 days, determined by various factors, including the applicant's familiarity with AmeriCorps, organizational capacity, and proposed project timeline.