Come join the nation’s premier AmeriCorps program! Spend a year serving rural and emerging communities - you’ll launch your career in a place you're invested in, and you'll start changing this country for the better.

Introduction

The American Connection Corps (ACC) is the flagship program of Lead For America (LFA), a national nonprofit that is building a new generation of public service leaders nationwide. ACC is LFA’s boots-on-the-ground service corps, aimed at building local leaders in rural and emerging communities. Through a year of service, ACC Members become leaders who can tackle critical bipartisan challenges, advance economic prosperity, and spark needed change in the places they’re most connected to. Every corner of America deserves the leadership of great public servants, and ACC brings that vision to life. 

Here's how it works: after an application and interview process, ACC corps members will be placed with a local nonprofit, government agency, or other community organization in the area they’re serving. Placement will occur in summer 2023, and corps members will be placed with an organization whose work advances one of the following ACC focus areas:

• Economic Opportunity
• Health and Social Capital
• Agriculture and Natural Resources

ACC is among the fastest-growing AmeriCorps programs in the country – we’ll have over 100 corps members serving communities across 30+ states this year.

Contact us at accinfo@leadforamerica.org with any questions you may have - we’re here to support you, and we would love to see your application. 

Join us on a journey to bring needed change to every corner of this country!

Key Responsibilities and Activities During the ACC Service Year

After placement, ACC members will get to work in late summer / early fall. Day in and day out, you’ll work for your host organization, building critical knowledge and skills while advancing progress on a critical challenge in your community. You might serve a rural town with a triple digit population, a small city of over 100,000 people, or you might be based in a larger metropolitan area while serving multiple smaller communities statewide. You’ll have a dynamic local supervisor at your host organization - someone who can be there for you and support both your personal and professional growth. You’ll also be supported by your ACC Program Officer on the LFA side - Program Officers are our public service experts who will connect you socially with your peer ACC Members, facilitate a range of professional development opportunities, and support you with any questions/challenges that arise during your service year. 

To give you a sense of the contributions you could be making in your community, here are some examples of ACC Members' past placements, projects, and impact:

• Helping a rural Nebraska county secure $10M in public-private funding to bring high-speed internet access to 1K underserved households statewide.
• Supporting a rural Minnesota community with digital skills training for thousands of high schoolers and senior citizens.
• Developing a greenhouse gas emissions strategy for a Montana tribal government’s operations, allowing the nation to track its environmental footprint.
• Allowing citizens of an industrial, upstate New York town to play an active role in how their local school district allocates their tax dollars. 

Lastly, you’ll have even further opportunity to develop knowledge, sharpen skills, and build connections at ACC’s 2-3 in-person retreats throughout the year. Retreats are week-long experiences that will take you to places like Wichita (KS), Minneapolis (MN), and Washington DC; you’ll put your host site responsibilities on pause while you get to know your ACC cohort and discuss the challenges you’re each addressing in your communities. During each retreat, you’ll get to learn from nationally renowned community leaders, corporate executives, policymakers, and more. And we promise there will be plenty of time for fun too:) 

Skills, Knowledge, and Expertise

We strive to recruit a diverse cohort of ACC Members that reflects the communities we serve nationwide. Our Corps is intergenerational and available to all, without regard to race, color, origin, gender, political affiliation, disability, sexual orientation, or religion.

Eligibility:

• Be a U.S. Citizen, National, or Lawful Permanent Resident.
• Hold a high school diploma or GED equivalent.
• Be 17 years of age or older by the start of service.
• Have not already served four (4) or more AmeriCorps and/or VISTA terms. 

*The ideal ACC candidate will be committed to Lead For America’s values of: Bridge Building, Service & Sacrifice, Love of Neighbor, Innovation in All Things, and Commitment to Place. 

Benefits

• Every full-time (1700 service hours) ACC Member receives: 
  • A $30,000 stipend. 
  • A $6,895 Education Award through AmeriCorps, which can be applied to any education-related expenses after the program concludes (including repayment of qualifying student loans).
  • Comprehensive healthcare coverage.
• All ACC participants are also fully supported by Lead For America staff, including:
  • 1:1 monthly check-ins with an LFA program manager.
  • Monthly "pod" meetings with other ACC members, sorted by state and/or topic focus.
  • Monthly topical plenaries across the full ACC cohort.
  • Quarterly check-ins with their Host Supervisor and LFA program manager to ensure continued project success.
• And ACC Members receive significant training and connections to help propel their careers following the service year, including:
  • Access to 1:1 technical mentors with national leaders, such as the Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft and the VP of Government Relations at Land O’Lakes.
  • Shared platforms and national news and media amplification with ACC partners, such as Land O’Lakes, Microsoft, Heartland Forward, Tractor Supply, American Farm Bureau, etc.

Note: The ACC program may also offer part-time, 900- and 1200-hour service options when appropriate. Contact us if you're interested.