All Reports

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) investigated allegations of noncompliance with grant terms and conditions stemming from the AmeriCorps Office of Monitoring’s (OM) review of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program – Volunteers in Service (RSVP-VIS)

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) investigated allegations of fraud, waste, and mismanagement at the Harrison County Council on Aging’s (HCCA) Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) in Bethany, MO. HCCA was unable to produce financial records related to its RSVP program upon request. Information obtained during interviews indicated that HCCA did not provide adequate oversight of its RSVP program.

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) investigated allegations that City Year, Inc.’s Chicago office (CYC) made unallowable charges on its procurement cards. AmeriCorps OIG reviewed CYC’s procurement card expenses and identified nearly $114,000 in questionable and unsupported expenses charged to AmeriCorps funds between 2014 and 2019.

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) investigated an allegation that the Perry County School District (PCSD) in New Augusta, Mississippi enrolled PCSD employees in its Grow Your Own Teacher AmeriCorps program as full-time AmeriCorps members (members) and had them perform the same duties as members that they performed as PCSD employees.

The performance audit of AmeriCorps grants awarded to Serve DC, the Mayor’s Office on Volunteerism and Partnership, and three of its 16 subgrantees (including the Jumpstart for Young Children, Center for Inspired Teaching, and Inspired Teaching Demonstration Public Charter School) identified approximately $1.7 million of questioned Federal and match costs covering three calendar years from 2017 through 2019. The Inspired Teaching Demonstration Public Charter School became the Center for Inspired Teaching and had no claimed costs.

Independent auditors have declined to issue an opinion on AmeriCorps’ financial statements for the seventh year. They issued a disclaimer of opinion reporting 12 material weaknesses and two significant deficiencies. Eleven of the material weaknesses are recurring, four of them since FY 2017, six since FY 2018, and one since FY 2021.

The National Service Trust holds the funds set aside to pay the education awards of national service members who successfully complete their service terms. Responsibility for the education awards that have been earned or will be earned in the near future is the largest liability on AmeriCorps’ financial statements at $315 million. AmeriCorps has been unable to produce auditable financial statements for the last seven years. This year, independent auditors issued another disclaimer of opinion, reporting five material weaknesses and one significant deficiency.

This report identifies three management challenges confronting AmeriCorps in fiscal year (FY) 2024 and beyond: · Improving financial management; · Prioritizing grant fraud prevention and detection in its programs; and · Modernizing and securing information technology. While it does not rise to the significance of a management challenge, we believe that AmeriCorps will be challenged in the future if American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding is not effectively used during FY 2024.

The fiscal year 2023 FISMA evaluation concluded that AmeriCorps’ information security program remains ineffective, assessed as of July 31, 2023. Control weaknesses in the following areas prevent AmeriCorps’ cybersecurity program from maturing: (1) Inventory management, (2) vulnerability and patch management program, (3) unsupported software, (4) authorization packages, (5) incident response plan, (6) logging and (7) contingency planning.