IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v28y2009i3p394-416.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inside national service: AmeriCorps' impact on participants

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Frumkin

    (Professor of Public Affairs, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and Director, RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, both at the University of Texas, Austin)

  • JoAnn Jastrzab

    (Principal Associate, Abt Associates)

  • Margaret Vaaler

    (Received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas, Austin)

  • Adam Greeney

    (Doctoral student in economics, University of Texas, Austin)

  • Robert T. Grimm

    (Director of Research and Policy Development, Corporation for National and Community Service)

  • Kevin Cramer

    (Deputy Director of Research and Policy Development, Corporation for National and Community Service)

  • Nathan Dietz

    (Research Associate|Statistician for the Office of Research and Policy Development at the Corporation for National and Community Service)

Abstract

This study examines the short- and long-term impact of AmeriCorps participation on members' civic engagement, education, employment, and life skills. The analysis compares changes in the attitudes and behaviors of participants over time to those of individuals not enrolled in AmeriCorps, controlling for interest in national and community service, member and family demographics, and prior civic engagement. Results indicate that participation in AmeriCorps led to positive impacts on members, especially in the area of civic engagement, members' connection to community, knowledge about problems facing their community, and participation in community-based activities. AmeriCorps had some positive impacts on its members' employment-related outcomes. Few statistically significant impacts were found for measures of participants' attitude toward education or educational attainment, or for selected life skills measures. Within a subset of community service programs that incorporate a residential component for members, the study also uncovered a short-term negative impact of participation on members' appreciation for ethnic and cultural diversity, which disappeared over time. The implications of these findings for future research on national service are discussed. © 2009 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Frumkin & JoAnn Jastrzab & Margaret Vaaler & Adam Greeney & Robert T. Grimm & Kevin Cramer & Nathan Dietz, 2009. "Inside national service: AmeriCorps' impact on participants," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 394-416.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:28:y:2009:i:3:p:394-416
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.20438
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/pam.20438
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pam.20438?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ho, Daniel E. & Imai, Kosuke & King, Gary & Stuart, Elizabeth A., 2007. "Matching as Nonparametric Preprocessing for Reducing Model Dependence in Parametric Causal Inference," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 199-236, July.
    2. Sascha O. Becker & Andrea Ichino, 2002. "Estimation of average treatment effects based on propensity scores," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 2(4), pages 358-377, November.
    3. William Morgan & Matthew Streb, 2001. "Building Citizenship: How Student Voice in Service‐Learning Develops Civic Values," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 82(1), pages 154-169, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bhanot, Syon P. & Crost, Benjamin & Leight, Jessica & Mvukiyehe, Eric & Yedgenov, Bauyrzhan, 2021. "Can community service grants foster social and economic integration for youth? A randomized trial in Kazakhstan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Patrick Christian Feihle & Jochen Lawrenz, 2017. "The Issuance of German SME Bonds and its Impact on Operating Performance," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 18(3), pages 227-259, August.
    2. Anna Haskins, 2013. "Mass Imprisonment and the Intergenerational Transmission of Disadvantage: Paternal Incarceration and Children’s Cognitive Skill Development," Working Papers wp13-15-ff, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    3. Jones A.M & Rice N, 2009. "Econometric Evaluation of Health Policies," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/09, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    4. Sean Richey & Ken'ichi Ikeda, 2009. "Institutional Incentives and Trust: Marginalized Groups and the Creation of Trust in Local Government," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(4), pages 911-926, December.
    5. Francesca Gastaldi & EugenioPalmieri & Maria Grazia Pazienza & Fiorenza Venturini, 2021. "Mitigare i divari regionali negli investimenti: un?analisi del credito di imposta per il Mezzogiorno," PRISMA Economia - Societ? - Lavoro, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2021(1-2), pages 38-63.
    6. Christian Hopp & Francis J. Greene & Benson Honig & Tomas Karlsson & Mikael Samuelsson, 2018. "Revisiting the influence of institutional forces on the written business plan: a replication study," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 68(4), pages 361-398, November.
    7. Hutchinson, Paul & Carton, Thomas W. & Broussard, Marsha & Brown, Lisanne & Chrestman, Sarah, 2012. "Improving adolescent health through school-based health centers in post-Katrina New Orleans," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 360-368.
    8. William D. Duncombe & John Yinger & Pengju Zhang, 2016. "How Does School District Consolidation Affect Property Values? A Case Study of New York," Public Finance Review, , vol. 44(1), pages 52-79, January.
    9. Federico Biagi & Daniele Bondonio & Alberto Martini, 2015. "Counterfactual Impact Evaluation of Enterprise Support Programmes. Evidence from a Decade of Subsidies to Italian Firm," ERSA conference papers ersa15p1619, European Regional Science Association.
    10. Matthew Blackwell & Stefano Iacus & Gary King & Giuseppe Porro, 2009. "cem: Coarsened exact matching in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(4), pages 524-546, December.
    11. Tien Thanh, Pham & Bao Duong, Pham, 2022. "The economic burden of non-communicable diseases on households and their coping mechanisms: Evidence from rural Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    12. repec:gig:joupla:v:4:y:2012:i:2:p:63-87 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Díaz-Cayeros, Alberto & Magaloni, Beatriz & Ruiz-Euler, Alexander, 2014. "Traditional Governance, Citizen Engagement, and Local Public Goods: Evidence from Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 80-93.
    14. Hohenleitner, Ingrid & Hillmann, Katja, 2019. "Impact of welfare sanctions on employment and benefit receipt: Considering top-up benefits and indirect sanctions," HWWI Research Papers 189, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    15. Paul L Hutchinson & Dominique Meekers, 2012. "Estimating Causal Effects from Family Planning Health Communication Campaigns Using Panel Data: The “Your Health, Your Wealth” Campaign in Egypt," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(9), pages 1-14, September.
    16. Pilar Garcia-Gomez & Hans van Kippersluis & Owen O'Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2011. "Effects of Health on Own and Spousal Employment and Income using Acute Hospital Admissions," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 11-143/2, Tinbergen Institute.
    17. Andrea Pufahl & Christoph R. Weiss, 2009. "Evaluating the effects of farm programmes: results from propensity score matching," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 36(1), pages 79-101, March.
    18. Zhang, Yingjie & Zhang, Tianzheng & Zeng, Yingxiang & Cheng, Baodong & Li, Hongxun, 2021. "Designating National Forest Cities in China: Does the policy improve the urban living environment?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    19. Amarendra Sharma, 2019. "Indira Awas Yojana and Housing Adequacy: An Evaluation using Propensity Score Matching," ASARC Working Papers 2019-05, The Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre.
    20. Hirota, Haruaki & Iwata, Kazuyuki & Tanaka, Kenta, 2022. "Is public official training effective at reducing costs? Evidence from survey data on Japanese municipal mergers," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 145-158.
    21. Kalaj, Ermira Hoxha, 2009. "Do Remittances Alter Labor Market Participation? A Study of Albania," MPRA Paper 48271, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:28:y:2009:i:3:p:394-416. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.