AmeriCorps is a network of national service programs, funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service that engages more than 75,000 Americans annually to meet educational, environmental, public safety or human service needs in nonprofits, public agencies and faith-based organizations throughout the United States.

Over the past 12 years, more than 4,500 people have served as members in the AmeriCorps program in North Carolina. Nationally, more than 500,000 individuals have served as AmeriCorps members since the program's inception in 1993. Members tutor and mentor school-aged youth, work with preschool children in childcare centers, build houses for low to moderate income homeowners, protect the environment, assist individuals with disabilities and provide North Carolinians with interpretation and translation services.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, based in Washington DC, administers AmeriCorps and many other federally funded service initiatives, including Senior Corps, which utilizes older Americans as volunteers. Together these programs engage more than two million Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service each year.