Biden signals equity focus with new AmeriCorps leader choice

President Biden plans to nominate Michael Smith to lead AmeriCorps, sending a strong signal of an intent to focus on racial equity at the organization.

Smith currently is executive director of the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance. He also is director of youth opportunity programs at the Obama Foundation. His appointment as CEO of AmeriCorps will require Senate confirmation.

Previously, Smith was director of the Social Innovation Fund under President Obama before Obama tapped him to lead My Brother’s Keeper. He also was a senior vice president of social innovation at the Case Foundation.

Smith will take over AmeriCorps at a time when the agency is on the rise. The stimulus bill enacted in the spring included a funding boost of nearly $1 billion over three years to expand national service programs. That was a big boost: AmeriCorps budgets in recent years have hovered around $1 billion a year.

Smith indicated that his work with My Brother’s Keeper would deeply inform his leadership at AmeriCorps.

“For the past eight years, I’ve had the privilege to work alongside President Obama and our My Brother’s Keeper family to reduce barriers and expand opportunity for boys and young men of color and their families,” Smith said in a statement released by the White House Tuesday. “No matter where I go, the proudest title I will ever hold is My Brother’s Keeper. I have never been more optimistic about how this mantra that became a movement will continue to grow.”

Shirley Sagawa, a visiting senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and former CEO of Service Year Alliance, said Smith’s appointment would help expand the participation of men of color in national service. “Michael’s appointment signals not just a commitment to equity and innovation, both very welcome, but also that...