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Congressional agreement on a omnibus spending package will include $1.1 billion for the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that administers service programs, including AmeriCorps.

That will save the proposed cutting of 20,000 AmeriCorps positions that provide help to schools in unprivileged communities. City Year, which has 309 AmeriCorps members in Los Angeles, says that Christmas came early for them.

The agreement in the House and Senate includes an increase of $51 million in AmeriCorps grants. AnnMaura Connolly, president of Voices for National Service and City Year’s chief strategy officer, issued the following statement in response to the agreement:

“This is good news for countless communities across the country that rely on AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our nation. It means we can continue to tap our nation’s most valuable resource – the talent and energy of our citizens. We can continue to put ‘boots on the ground’ to strengthen education from preschool through college, help communities recover and rebuild after natural disasters, support veterans and military families, combat poverty, assist seniors in independent living, and build economic opportunity across the country.”

Voices for National Service is a diverse coalition of national service programs, state service commissions and individual champions, who advocate to ensure Americans of all ages have the opportunity to serve and volunteer in their community.