The following post appeared on the White House Blog on Aug. 19, 2012.

On August 17, we held a Google+ Hangout to highlight the difference AmeriCorps, a national service opportunity that has logged more than 1 billion hours of service since 1994, is making in communities across the country.

The Hangout was moderated by White House Director of Digital Strategy (and AmeriCorps VISTA alum) Macon Phillips and Corporation for National and Community Service CEO Wendy Spencer. They were joined by four people actively engaged in the AmeriCorps community. They talked about what made AmeriCorps such an impactful program, and took questions that came in from Twitter and WhiteHouse.gov about the work AmeriCorps does.

The Hangout was part of a day-long White House focus on AmeriCorps: 150 AmeriCorps alumni came to the White House for a day-long briefing, and later that afternoon 12 of them were honored as Champions of Change, a program to honor ordinary Americans doing great work in their communities.

Watch the conversation, below, and be sure to follow us on Twitter at @WhiteHouse for more opportunities to engage.

To learn more about AmeriCorps, visit AmeriCorps.gov or follow them on Twitter at @AmeriCorps.