Volunteer Maine, the Maine Commission for Community Service, is accepting grant applications under the federal AmeriCorps Public Health competition.

Public Health AmeriCorps is a unique collaboration of the federal AmeriCorps agency and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a news release from the Augusta-based commission.

Interested agencies are encouraged to attend the virtual information session from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1. To register and submit questions in advance, visit mainestate.zoom.us.

AmeriCorps members are expected to serve primarily in state, local, tribal and territorial public health departments or in service to public health departments. AmeriCorps is prioritizing funding of proposals in these areas:

• Efforts to help local communities respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Applicants may propose programming to aid communities in their efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, including public health challenges that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, such as mental health and substance abuse;
• Programs creating pathways to good-quality public health-related careers through onsite experience and training (including pre-apprenticeship or registered apprenticeship programs, work experience and job training programs, and other workforce training and development programs); and
• Organizations leading service in communities with concentrated poverty, rural communities, tribal communities, and those organizations serving historically underrepresented and underserved individuals, including but not limited to communities of color, immigrants and refugees, people with disabilities, people who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, people with arrest and/or conviction records, and religious minorities.

For more information and to download the application instructions, visit volunteermaine.gov. The submission deadline is Thursday, Nov. 17, no later than 11:59 p.m., local time.

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