DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announced today that Denver Public Schools (“DPS”) has paid $2,123,811 to the United States to resolve a civil False Claims Act investigation into the operation of its AmeriCorps program and its misuse of AmeriCorps funds. DPS also agreed to pay for any outstanding AmeriCorps education awards yet to be distributed, up to approximately $614,000.

AmeriCorps is a federally funded network of national service programs that address critical community needs like increasing academic achievement, mentoring youth, fighting poverty, sustaining national parks, preparing for disasters, and more. AmeriCorps volunteers—who are referred to as “members”—commit to service for a period of three months to a year in exchange for a living allowance, education awards, and other benefits.

To receive an AmeriCorps education award, each member must complete a specified number of service hours, among other requirements. AmeriCorps grant recipients like DPS are responsible for verifying and certifying those hours to AmeriCorps, which maintains a fund to pay the education awards.

The United States alleges that, for grant years 2015 and 2016, DPS falsely certified to AmeriCorps that a significant portion of DPS’s members had performed the service hours necessary to qualify for an AmeriCorps education award, when in fact they had not.

Specifically, the United States contends that six of DPS’s AmeriCorps programs were not eligible...

Read Full Story: https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/denver-public-schools-pays-over-21-million...