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Dear
Friends and Colleagues,
Welcome to June -- where we’re encouraging everyone to put down their phones, get active, and go outside for Healthy Futures Month to celebrate our great outdoors!
But before you do, check out CNCS CEO Wendy Spencer going way outside, celebrating the impact that AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members are making all the way up in Alaska. Plus, you've got to see the Peace Corps’ new look. And you can’t miss our favorite 107-year-old Senior Corps Foster Grandparent being honored during her first (yes first) visit to a major league baseball park.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the great outdoors!
 Ted
Miller
Chief of External Affairs
Corporation for National and Community Service
  Showcasing National Service in the "The Last Frontier." On Sunday, Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, began her first-ever tour of AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs across Alaska. The trip highlighted the impact that national service programs are making in local communities and reinforced the importance of national service and volunteer programs. Alaska is a strong service state, ranking eighth in the country for volunteering. Currently, more than 600 Alaska residents serve through AmeriCorps and Senior Corps in more than 150 locations across Alaska. They tutor and mentor children, restore the environment, respond to disasters, increase economic opportunity, and recruit and manage volunteers. Wendy joined local leaders and national service members at multiple sites in Yakutat, Anchorage, Hooper Bay, Bethel, and Sitka.
 It's Time to Get Outdoors! June is a special time to celebrate America's Great Outdoors. What started as Great Outdoors Week under President Clinton in 1998 has grown significantly under both the Bush and Obama administrations into a month-long celebration of the outdoors and all the benefits it brings - including annual economic impact of $650 billion nationwide. On Wednesday, President Obama kicked off Great Outdoors Month celebrating new investments in national service programs that “are striving to give more Americans hands-on opportunities to restore, enhance, and give back to the outdoor spaces that have given us so much.”
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A New Look For the Peace Corps. On Wednesday, the Peace Corps unveiled a refreshed logo after more than 40 years. Peace Corps Director, Carrie Hessler-Radelet explained the redesign “is meant to show the world that the Peace Corps has changed with the times, but still retains its core mission and values.” Congrats to our sisters and brothers in service at the Peace Corps! You all are lookin’ good!
AmeriCorps
Student Loan Debt Vexing for Many New Grads, But There Are Options
Minnesota Public Radio (MN), May 30, 2016
Seven out of 10 college students graduate with loans. The average student loan
debt is about $32,000. Most graduates repay their loans, but a report by the
U.S. Department of Education says nearly 16,000 Minnesotans had defaulted on
their student loans in 2012. When students have trouble repaying, there are
options, but they don’t always take advantage of them. That’s possibly because
they don’t know what those options are since they’ve likely never read the
terms of their repayment plans.
AmeriCorps NCCC
Bend Energy Challenge Installs 18,000 LED Bulbs
KTVA-TV (OR), May 27, 2016
The Bend Energy Challenge has installed over 18,000 energy efficient LED light
bulbs over the last six months with the help of two AmeriCorps National
Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) teams. The direct install program will save
Bend residents $136,000 and 3.5 million gallons of water per year, the
organization said. These long-lasting and efficient bulbs will continue to save
energy for about 20 years. Over the life of these installations, this is
expected to save $3.7 million. The most recent NCCC team, known as Silver Two,
is based out of Sacramento, Calif.
AmeriCorps VISTA
No Summer Vacation for Hunger
The Spectrum (UT), May 29, 2016
With Utah schools closed for the summer, there are many children in Iron County
whose parents are wondering how they are going to feed them. Starting Tuesday, those
parents can take their children to three locations for a daily sack lunch
provided through a partnership with Southern Utah University, Community
Presbyterian Church and AmeriCorps VISTA, according to a news release. “The
Summer Lunch Program is funded through the USDA Summer Food Service Program,
which plans to serve more than 200 million free meals to children 18 or under
across the country,” according to the release.
Senior Corps
107-year-old Who Danced with the Obamas Attends Her
First Baseball Game
The Washington Post, May 26, 2016
Moments like these do not come often, the ones that leave a crowd smiling
before anyone realize they’ve started smiling at all. When Dusty Baker put a
Nationals jersey on Virginia McLaurin before Thursday night’s game, the
107-year-old began to dance — like she did with President Obama a few months
ago — and the Nationals manager threw his head back and laughed. The crowd,
watching her moves on the big screen, cheered. McLaurin screamed in delight
when Baker gave her the jersey, her name and the number “107” stitched on the
back, and clutched it tight.
Social Innovation Fund
New Yorkers to Receive Mental Health Support in More NYC
Communities
The New York Amsterdam News (NY), May 26, 2016
Fifteen community-based organizations have been selected to receive grants to
partner with mental health providers, train staff and improve access to mental
health care in their communities through the Connection to Care program, as part
of ThriveNYC. Social service staff in every borough will receive training from
local mental health providers to offer non-clinical mental health support to
clients in three target populations: expectant parents and/or parents of
children up to the age of 4, out of school and out of work young adults ages 16
to 24 and/or unemployed or underemployed adults ages 18 and over.
National Service Blog
AmeriCorps VISTA and Asian Pacific American Heritage
Month
NationalService.Tumblr.com, May 27, 2016
My name is Eileen Lacaden and I am an AmeriCorps VISTA member. My parents and
brothers immigrated to America from the Philippines and ended up in New Jersey,
where I was born and raised. I attended engineering school at Virginia Tech and
graduated with two desires: to live in a vibrant, diverse community and to use
my skills to serve that community. That’s how I found my place as an AmeriCorps
VISTA member serving Hawai‘i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice. My
project aims to facilitate the creation of accessory dwelling units (ADUs),
rental units built on single-family properties, with the overall goal of
creating affordable housing.
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