WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency for volunteering and service, today announced the opening of its new office for the North Central Region in Kansas City, Mo.

A grand-opening celebration was held in the new office, which utilizes the General Service Administration’s innovative FlexSpace program at the agency’s Heartland Regional Office. Today’s event gathered representatives from AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs from across the region to hear from CNCS CEO Barbara Stewart and North Central Regional Administrator Michael Laverty.

The new office will serve eight states across the region: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. In total, CNCS provides $119 million in funding to the region and this federal investment leverages an additional $97 million in local, outside investments. The funding provided by CNCS supports nearly 50,000 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members who serve at 7,300 sites across all eight states.

As the nation's top provider of grants to support service and volunteering, CNCS harnesses America's most-powerful resource – the energy and talents of its citizens – to help communities address pressing challenges. These service efforts include tutoring and mentoring children, responding to the opioid crisis, and helping communities recover from disasters.

Working in collaboration with governor-appointed state service commissions, the North Central Region office will connect communities to national service resources through the AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs. Its staff will assist national service applicants and grantees by providing training, technical assistance, and administrative oversight. In addition, they will promote the national days of service on MLK Day and September 11th.

“National service and volunteering have the power to help our country meet its most-pressing needs,” said Barbara Stewart, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “It’s an honor to join our exceptional team as we open the North Central Region office. I am impressed by their talent, skill, and passion for service, and excited for the future of service in the region.”

The North Central Region office is one of eight new regional offices for CNCS and is part of a first phase of regional office openings this fall that also includes the Mountain Region office in Denver and the Northeast Region office in Concord, N.H. Five more offices – located in Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Los Angeles; and Philadelphia – will open during the next year.