Reports: Investigations

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) investigated allegations that the City of Oakland, Office on Aging (City of Oakland) paid Senior Companion Program (SCP) and Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) volunteers full stipends when volunteers either did not serve or document the hours claimed following the end of AmeriCorps’ authorization for grantees to pay volunteers a temporary allowance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) conducted an investigation that found evidence that the Axiom Education and Training Center (AETC) in Machias, ME, included false information in its AmeriCorps grant application to Serve Maine, and that AETC mismanaged its AmeriCorps Digital Inclusion Initiative program.

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) conducted an investigation that found evidence that the Axiom Education and Training Center (AETC) in Machias, ME, included false information in its AmeriCorps grant application to Serve Maine, and that AETC mismanaged its AmeriCorps Digital Inclusion Initiative program.

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) received allegations that a grantee falsely reported elevated numbers of active volunteers in its Senior Companion Program (SCP) and failed to produce required match funds. The investigation found insufficient evidence to support the allegations. However, during a self-inspection of its fiscal records during this investigation, the grantee discovered $8,434.69 was inappropriately charged to its grant between July 2020 through March 2021 and reported its findings to AmeriCorps OIG.

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) investigated allegations that The New Teacher Project (TNTP), New York, NY, improperly exited five AmeriCorps members (members) with 1700 hours and thus certified full time education awards for the members, despite previous denials from AmeriCorps State and National to TNTP’s request to retroactively backdate the members’ enrollment in the MyAmeriCorps Portal.

Following the receipt of a complaint that an AmeriCorps member was simultaneously enrolled in two AmeriCorps programs at different grantees without the grantees’ knowledge, AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) initiated a proactive review of members with multiple service terms during the same timeframe.

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) investigated allegations that AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) members at Heal the City Free Clinic (HTC), located in Amarillo, TX, were engaging in prohibited activities. HTC was a VISTA service site for the Lone Star Association of Charitable Clinics, also known as the Texas Association of Charitable Clinics (TXACC).

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) conducted a proactive review of AmeriCorps employees who may have improperly applied for and received unemployment insurance (UI) payments while actively employed. AmeriCorps OIG developed a list of potential matches of AmeriCorps employees and individuals who had applied for UI benefits. AmeriCorps OIG identified ten potential matches for further investigation.

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) investigated an allegation that AmeriCorps members serving at the Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO) in Burlington, VT, were directed to alter previously approved timesheets. The investigation foundevidence that CEDO’s AmeriCorps Program Director had directed five members to alter previously approved timesheets, including altering timesheets weeks after the end of their service terms in order to raise the hours served to meet the minimum threshold to earn Segal Education Awards.

An AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) investigation found that AmeriCorps was inconsistent in how it handled allegations of misconduct by senior management and that AmeriCorps hired a third-party contractor to investigate allegations of financial mismanagement on the part of a senior manager without notifying OIG as required by AmeriCorps Policy 102.