New Program Director Training September 8, 2016

1. New Program Director Training September 8, 2016 Lunchtime Presentation: AmeriCorps Prohibited Activities12:15 to 1:15

2. Prohibited Activities Presentation Overview • Allison Weingarten Introduction • Introduce Myself • Ask Question 1: Can anyone list any prohibited activities? • Ask Question 2: Does anyone have any examples of prohibited activities with their programs? • Prohibited Activities Overview • Distribute Prohibited Activities Overview • Summarize Prohibited Activities • Prohibited Activities Scenarios/Group Discussions • Ensuring Compliance • Consequences/What to do if you need assistance • Questions, Thoughts, Comments

3. Introduction • Question 1: Can anyone list any prohibited activities? • Question 2: Does anyone have any examples of prohibited activities that have come up with their programs?

4. Prohibited Activities Overview • Activities that staff, volunteers and members may not engage in while charging time to the AmeriCorps program, accumulating service or training hours, or otherwise performing activities supported by the AmeriCorps program or CNCS • Prohibited Activities are found in 45 Code of Federal Regulations § 2520.65 • 5 Categories:

5. Prohibited Activities • (1) Attempting to influence legislation; • (2) Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; • (3) Assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing; • (4) Impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements; • (5)Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office; • (6)Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials;

6. Prohibited Activities • (7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization;

7. Prohibited Activities • (8) Providing a direct benefit to— • (i) A business organized for profit; • (ii) A labor union; • (iii) A partisan political organization; • (iv) A nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions contained in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 except that nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent participants from engaging in advocacy activities undertaken at their own initiative; and • (v) An organization engaged in the religious activities described in paragraph (g) of this section, unless Corporation assistance is not used to support those religious activities;

8. Prohibited Activities • (9) Conducting a voter registration drive or using Corporation funds to conduct a voter registration drive; • (10) Providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services; and • (11) Such other activities as the Corporation may prohibit. • Individuals may exercise their rights as private citizens and may participate in the activities listed above on their initiative, on non-AmeriCorps time, and using non-Corporation funds. Individuals should not wear the AmeriCorps logo while doing so.

9. Prohibited Activities Scenarios: 1 • The AmeriCorps members serving in a large urban after-school program want to petition the city’s mayor. The members provide academic enrichment activities in an after-school program. They mayor is considering cutting subsidized public transit passes for youth attending after-school programs. • The AmeriCorps members are concerned that their students will no longer be able to participate in their program. They argue that the city’s budget has nothing to do with their AmeriCorps program, and they should be allowed to petition the mayor and earn AmeriCorps service hours for doing so.

10. Prohibited Activities Scenarios: 2 • An AmeriCorps member is serving in an understaffed clinic for low-income women in a mid-western town • The clinic does not provide abortions, but many times referrals to abortion services at other facilities are included in the general information that the clinic provides to patients. The AmeriCorps member assumes that the dissemination of general information is an acceptable member activity.

11. Prohibited Activities Scenarios: 3 • During her free time, an AmeriCorps member has been frequently sharing her political position regarding the upcoming gubernatorial election on social media • The member social media profile shows her wearing the AmeriCorps service gear issued by her program at the beginning of the service year

12. Prohibited Activities Scenarios: 4 • An AmeriCorps member serving at a citizenship program would like to design and lead a democracy in action workshop for program participants. The workshop would include instruction on engaging in all levels of community and political life—including providing instructions on how to register to vote • The member believes that this is an acceptable AmeriCorps Activity since he would not be promoting any particular political party or candidate

13. Prohibited Activities Scenarios: 5 • Following the destruction of a local church, a team of AmeriCorps members would like to volunteer to help clear away debris from the site so reconstruction can begin • The members live in the community, and they serve at a local nonprofit where many of their program staff and clients are members of the destroyed church. The members would volunteer on their own time with their families and friends to help the church

14. Prohibited Activities Scenarios: 6 • After a series of tornados destroyed several small towns along the Mississippi River, a team of AmeriCorps members were deployed by CNCS to engage in disaster response • As part of the disaster response, several members were asked by a local pastor to recruit and manage volunteers who would provide spiritual counseling and prayer groups for the community to help citizens cope with the disaster

15. Ensuring Compliance

16. Consequences • For the AmeriCorps Member • The member’s accrued service hours may not be counted towards the attainment of the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award • For the service program or commission: • The program or commission may be required to reimburse CNCS for all or part of the awarded AmeriCorps grant. They may also be denied future funding opportunities from CNCS • For the field of national and community service: • A violation of public trust may cost the national and community service field credibility, access to future funds, and more

17. If you need help Contact us at the Commission on National and Community Service! Phone: (518)473-8882 Email: NewYorkersVolunteer@newyorkersvolunteer.ny.gov Follow us on Twitter at: @NYersVolunteer Find us on Facebook by searching for: “New Yorkers Volunteer” Fax: (518)402-3817 Address: New York State Commission on National & Community Service 52 Washington Street North Building - Suite 338 Rensselaer, NY 12144

18. Thank you for your time! • Comments? • Questions? • Concerns?

19. Helpful “Prohibited Activities” Resources • All information in these slides was taken directly from the following three sources: • Prohibited Activities Training (including scenarios listed in this presentation): http://www.nationalservice.gov/resources/americorps/americorps-prohibited-activities • AmeriCorps Prohibited Activities Powerpoint PDF: http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/intro_americorps_membersppt.pdf • AmeriCorps Prohibited Activities 1 Pager: http://www.nationalservice.gov/sites/default/files/resource/rr2-ac-prohibited-activities-ho1-4-13-12.pdf