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According to a 1998 report from Citizens Against Government Waste, AmeriCorps' operational cost amounted to $27,000 per volunteer per year.^[11]

In 2003, it was reported that AmeriCorps violated federal law by hiring more people than Congress had authorized, and had spent more money than was legally allowed.^[12]

In 1995, AmeriCorps gave a $1.1 million grant to an organization called Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). The grant eventually had to be returned. ^[11][12]

In 1999, President Bill Clinton claimed that AmeriCorps members have "taught millions of children to read." However, in an article by libertarian pundit James Bovard, one unnamed official said the real number is probably less than a dozen, and Robert Sweet, the former director of the National Institute of Education, labelled it "a fraud." Bovard noted that some AmeriCorps volunteers are themselves GED students and welfare recipients, but did not say if any were found tutoring children in reading. One reading tutor did tell Bovard, "We're not teaching them to read... You just want them to think they're doing a good job." Much of the time where literacy teaching was supposed to be taking place was instead spent putting on puppet shows.^[13]

In an article entitled "AmeriCorps: Six years of waste and fraud", Bovard reported that "in Indianapolis, AmeriCorps recruits busied themselves painting a giant mural on the side of a pawnshop." The article also states that as of 2000 nearly half of all AmeriCorps members quit the program before finishing their term of service.^[13]

Articles suggest that AmeriCorps volunteers assist citizens with applying for welfare, food stamps, and public housing, and one organization who works with AmeriCorps also lobbies the government for more rent control and public housing.^[12][13]

AmeriCorps gave a grant to an organization called Mississippi Action for Community Education, or MACE, which is located in Greenville, Mississippi, one of the poorest cities in the United States. Bovard described MACE's headquarters as "one of the fanciest buildings in town. The plush leather chairs in the waiting room were in stark contrast to the shabbiness of the neighborhood. Uncle Sam has obviously been good to MACE, which has received money from several federal programs over the years."^[13]

The Los Angeles Times reported in 1994 that AmeriCorps funded a project that used the program's recruits to protest "third-strike" legislation. AmeriCorps gave a grant of $2.5 million to the Casa Verde Builders Program to build energy efficient homes in Texas. At that time of writing, only 23 of the 64 AmeriCorps members who signed up completed their work. However, the Casa Verde Builders Program was still allowed to keep the entire grant for its ongoing program, and is still active and recruiting volunteers today.^[11]

There have been a number of criticisms leveled against AmeriCorps. Some have alleged that the program diverts some young people participating in the program from further education, or delays the start of their careers. It has also been argued that AmeriCorps sends the wrong message by implying that volunteers should be paid for community service work.^[14]

Because it is a federal program, AmeriCorps is criticized for overshadowing the community service organizations it "partners" with. In 1996, for example, it was estimated that more than one-fourth of AmeriCorps volunteers were placed in federal, state, or local government agencies, "where they would reinforce the bureaucratic state, not rebuild the voluntary sector." The program also draws criticism for channeling tax dollars to liberal advocacy groups and activities that conservative groups find morally questionable, such as sex-education training and "self-esteem" enhancement projects.^[15] There are concerns about AmeriCorps' economic model,^[16] as well as its hiring practices.^[17][18]

In June 2009, President Barack Obama removed inspector general Gerald Walpin who was investigating AmeriCorps from his position after he [Obama] had lost confidence in him. The Presidents' decision came after an investigation by Walpin's finding of alleged "misuse of federal grants by a nonprofit education group led by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson". Walpin was criticized by the U.S. attorney in Sacramento regarding the way he handled an investigation of Johnson and St. HOPE Academy.<sup>[19]

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Mirek