AI Is Coming for Entry-Level Jobs: AmeriCorps Can Help

It has the potential to create major skill gaps in the broader workforce without opportunities for novice professionals to learn durable skills that position them for higher-level, human-centered, and AI-resilient jobs. Trying to stop AI from replacing functions it can do faster and, in many cases, better than humans is a futile exercise, but that doesn’t mean all is lost for young professionals. We’re at a turning point where  it is crucial to create alternative opportunities for young people to gain durable skills traditionally learned through entry-level jobs, as well as competencies that set them up for success in AI-resilient roles.

A recent white paper from the EDSAFE AI Alliance, City Year, the Partnership for Student Success, and Voices for National Service delves into these and other challenges currently facing the labor market. We argue that the answer to this displacement is not to attempt to stop AI from replacing entry-level tasks or to create entirely new, untested government programs and agencies from scratch. Instead, a crucial component of this lies in maximizing and modernizing an existing, bipartisan infrastructure: AmeriCorps.

For over 30 years, AmeriCorps has functioned as a large-scale engine of national service focused on serving local communities. Today, it can be reimagined not just as a vehicle for service, but as one of the nation’s primary workforce development vehicles. It can be a driver for young people to gain the experience and human-centric skills they need for success in professional life. Additionally, it will be vital for the future of work, including discourse, community building, metacognition, and cross-functional teamwork. 

AmeriCorps grants are administered at both the federal and state levels, allowing for programs to be tailored to meet local needs. Not only does it meet local community needs and solve local challenges, it has a phenomenal return on taxpayer dollars. Research indicates that for every taxpayer dollar invested, AmeriCorps produces a $17 return on investment. Not only does AmeriCorps build durable skills in young professionals, it also provides crucial support to communities across the country in education, disaster relief, public health, veterans’ support, preservation of public lands, and more. This structure creates a win-win for young professionals and communities. 

For example, in the field of education, AmeriCorps deploys tens of thousands of members annually to support children and youth in schools and out-of-school time programs with demonstrated positive impact. Rigorous research indicates that national programs such as City Year and Reading and Math Corps result in gains in student academic achievement, student engagement, and other outcomes. Each of these national programs places AmeriCorps members in schools full-time to provide tutoring, mentoring, and coaching to K-12 students The same is true of locally-run programs such as Minnesota Alliance with Youth’s Promise Fellows, who improve student engagement in school through targeted attendance and academic supports. 

These programs typically recruit diverse groups of novice professionals and provide valuable early-career work-based learning experiences that build career readiness skills – skillsets traditionally developed through entry-level jobs that are rapidly being displaced by AI. These experiences also help develop durable skills such as cross-functional collaboration, communication across lines of difference, adaptability, and civil discourse, which AI cannot easily replicate. This, in turn, helps prepare AmeriCorps members for a range of AI-resilient jobs once their service year ends. There is enormous potential for more young people to benefit.

For this opportunity to be realized, the AmeriCorps agency must be modernized and expanded to accommodate more young professionals and better align with other workforce development structures. This includes:

• Making changes to the Segal Education Award to improve its usefulness for participants;
• Aligning AmeriCorps service with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), establishing an AmeriCorps Apprenticeship Corps, and removing barriers to professional development during AmeriCorps service;
• Establishing a credential for AmeriCorps service to demonstrate key skills for AI-resilient jobs; and 
• Strengthening systems to support transitions from member service to employment.

The rapid displacement of entry-level roles by AI is not just a technological shift. It is a fundamental challenge to how we prepare the next generation of leaders. We cannot afford to wait for the labor market to self-correct while a generation misses out on learning the essential, human-centered skills that no algorithm can replicate. By making updates to AmeriCorps, we can leverage a proven, bipartisan infrastructure to bridge this gap—transforming a season of service into a premier pathway for professional readiness. As AI continues to reshape the economy, investing in national service is no longer just about civic duty. It is a strategic necessity to ensure our workforce remains resilient, our communities remain supported, and our young people remain indispensable. Let’s make a smart investment in young people and in our future. 

Kate Cochran is Managing Director of the Partnership for Student Success, a national coalition expanding evidence-based and people-powered supports for K-12 students. She previously ran the National Partnership for Student Success, a partnership between AmeriCorps, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Johns Hopkins Everyone Graduates Center, which successfully supported the nation in recruiting over 400,000 additional adults into tutoring, mentoring, and coaching roles between 2022 and 2025.