CAN AMERICORPS BUILD COMMUNITIES

One of the most ambitious and simultaneously most controversial progra ms of Bill Clinton's presidency is AmeriCorps, the national service pr ogram authorized in 1993 by the National and Community Service Trust A ct. This article presents findings from an examination of the communit y-building effects of the AmeriCorps program in five communities. We f ocus our attention on AmeriCorps' impact on local community-based orga nizations by examining change in the capacity of the organizations in which AmeriCorps members work and in the degree to which AmeriCorps ha s fostered interorganizational cooperation to achieve community goals. We conclude with a discussion of the findings and ways to enhance Ame riCorps' community-building potential.