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USDA [Department of Agriculture]/AmeriCorps Benefit Questions
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311842741-20130661F-Seg3-044-007-2023
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FOIA Number: 2013-0661-F (3) FOIA MARKER This is not a textual record. This is used as an administrative marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff. Collection/Record Group: Clinton Presidential Records Subgroup/Office of Origin: Americorps Series/Staff Member: General Files Subseries: OA/ID Number: 24236 FolderID: Folder Title: USDA [Department of Agriculture]/AmeriCorps-Benefit Questions Stack: Row: Section: Shelf: Position: S 66 1 7 1 Benefits January 31, 1995 SUBJECT: Benefits for Part time AmeriCorps Members TO: Lloyd E. Wright, Director, CARD Joel Berg, Director of National Service USDA ISSUE: Are Part time AmeriCorps members eligible to receive health insurance and child care? BACKGROUND: The legislation states that members may receive health insurance and child caΓe, but we are not required by law to provide these benefits. This question has been raised before and was prompted today by a call from Richard Baird, AmeriCorps Project Director in Maine. They are filling a vacancy with a part time person and called for clarification on member benefits. RECOMMENDATION: I discussed the matter with Joel Berg and proposed that we provide for member health insurance, but not for child care. Joel is in agreement with this as USDA policy. In the case of NRCS, we budgeted for health insurance to accompany each AmeriCorps slot. In addition, providing coverage is consistent with the attempt to provide health care to all Americans. The child care was not included in our original budget. Full time AmeriCorps members have encountered difficulties in acquiring child care coverage. The addition of coverage for part time members would increase the complexity of child care benefits. POLICY STATEMENT: The following should be added to the USDA AmeriCorps operations manual. Part time AmeriCorps members are eligible to receive health insurance during their period of service. Members who are already covered by a health insurance policy, should not drop their coverage and change to the policy offered under AmeriCorps. Project Directors must make sure that health insurance rosters are updated to include members who do not have policies when they enroll in AmeriCorps. (Include address and phone/fax numbers for submitting updates) Part time members will not receive child care coverage. Pauls Cole Jones PAULA COLE JONES time M. ERICORP USDA/AmeriCorps Natural Resources Conservation Service * A 760 South Broadway Salina, KS 67401-4642 SERVICE (913) 823-4500 FAX (913) 823-4540 Subject: PER - AmeriCorps Program - Student Loan Date: December 15, 1994 Benefit Provisions To: Paula Cole Jones, Program Manager, AmeriCorps File Code: 360 NRCS, Washington, D.C. As discussed with you previously by telephone, we are having difficulties with the student loan benefit provisions of the AmeriCorps Program. One member signed up for AmeriCorps with the intention of the educational award helping him pay off his school loan. As it turns out, he has a conventional promissory note loan that he obtained to finish his education. This loan is apparently not a qualified loan under Titles IV, VII, or VIII of the Higher Education Act of 1965. In recruiting for members, we did not make specific the qualifications for student loan benefits. We simply stated the student loans could be paid off with the educational award. Now the member finds out his loan cannot be paid off using the educational awards. One of the main benefits he believed the program would provide is not, in fact, a benefit. Several other members have experienced extreme difficulty with their loan holders regarding the student loans. The loan holders say they have never heard of the program and have been quite uncooperative. These are members who are in the process of paying off qualified Stafford loans. Perhaps a better instrument is needed whereby the loan holders can easily contact the corporation rather than slugging it out with the students. We are requesting an exception be granted in those cases where a loan institution made a loan to a member for the purpose of education, but the loan does not meet the specific requirements set forth in the Higher Education Act of 1965. The details of qualified student loans were not made available to the members until after they had made a commitment. Discussion with the member indicates he is considering pursuing this through his legislative representative. The Natural Resources Conservation Service formerly the Soil Conservation Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER , Paula Cole Jones - 2 - - Thank you for your assistance on this matter. Lanys. Males Larry D. Miles Program Manager CC: Lloyd E. Wright, Director, PRG-CAR, Washington, DC bc: James Habiger Jim Meisenheimer