Community Resource Corps Program to Help Connect Residents to High Priority Resources

Posted by Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service on November 23, 2021

The Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service (MOCEVS) today announced the launch of its Community Resource Corps (CRC) AmeriCorps Program. The CRC will engage community leaders as AmeriCorps members to connect residents with anti-poverty resources. The launch of this program is made possible by the generous $1.5 million grant awarded from the William Penn Foundation and AmeriCorps funding through PennSERVE, the Pennsylvania State Service Commission which will support this new program for the first three years of implementation.

While the City has worked to connect residents in need to high-priority resources — like income-based assistance programs, housing support, digital-access programs, and anti-hunger programs, the pandemic highlighted how issues of poverty are worsened by digital, disability, economic, language, and literacy barriers. In response to the need to overcome these barriers, the CRC AmeriCorps program was created, and it will work toward three objectives:

1. Connecting residents to City resources, including short-term COVID-19 relief and long-term anti-poverty resources.
2. Serving as a workforce development opportunity for its 27 community-based AmeriCorps members.
3. Increasing the City of Philadelphia’s capacity to engage hard-to-reach communities through strategically coordinating outreach efforts and establishing a field team of trusted messengers to more effectively connect with vulnerable populations.

Learn more about the program.