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Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Earlier this week, President Obama let Louisianans know that "you're not alone."  With the hundreds of AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members deployed to the area, we know this to be true. And more importantly, just as the president said, we will continue to support recovery efforts long after the cameras have left.

But this doesn’t just ring true in disasters. Whether it’s Senior Corps volunteers helping kids prepare to go back to school or AmeriCorps members at work in our national parks, communities from coast to coast are not alone and have the support of the entire national service family. 

If you believe in the work our AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members do, scroll down to see how you can help us secure an editorial about national service in the Washington Post!

Thanks and have a great weekend, 

Ted Miller
Chief of External Affairs
Corporation for National and Community Service

Louisiana Can #CountOnUs. The nation has turned its attention to Louisiana as they begin to rebuild and overcome the historic flooding that took place nearly two weeks ago. Since then, we have deployed more than 649 AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers to take part in relief efforts. With the support of our colleagues across the state and around the country, national service members have begun to help Louisianians get back in their homes through mucking and gutting, as well as supervising volunteers, and collecting and distributing more than 30 tons of food. As Louisiana begins to rebuild, we'll continue to show the country why, especially when it comes to disaster recovery, they can count on national service!

Back to School Bash. Senior Corps volunteers from RSVP of Lake County in Willoughby Hills, Ohio, dedicated 145 hours of service during the 4th annual Back to School Bash, which supplied more than 600 students with a backpack full of supplies to start the year right. The Back to School Bash also provided students with free hair cuts, dental exams, food, and family portraits so students can go back to school feeling good about themselves and prepared to learn. 

Happy 100th Birthday, National Park Service! On August 25, the National Park Service celebrated 100 years of protecting the country’s natural and most historic treasures, while helping Americans create memories across the country. For the past two decades, thousands of AmeriCorps members have served in parks, supporting habitat restoration, trail building, reforestation, and invasive species removal. Join us in celebrating our friends in the park service and be sure to get outside and #FindYourPark. 

VOTE National Service. Recently, the Washington Post asked readers to submit topics they would like to see the editorial board weigh in on. With more than 1,000 submissions on a variety of topics, national service made the list to the top 10 most promising issues. It's now up to you to vote on a topic for the board to report, write, and publish an editorial about. The poll is open until 12:01 a.m. on August 31. Go here and vote now. And tell your friends and family to do the same! 

Inspiring Acts of Service. This week, Lonnie Ali announced a new initiative, “Ali75” to inspire acts of service in honor of  Muhammad Ali on what would have been her late husband’s 75th birthday in January 2017. Through the campaign, Lonnie is calling on individuals to "be like Ali" and engage in service to make our world a better place by volunteering 75 hours throughout the year beginning on January 17. We know our AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members can rise to the challenge, will you? Learn about joining and inspiring others as Muhammad Ali did, check out “Ali in All of Us." 

National Service in the News

AmeriCorps

W.Va. Volunteer Groups Prepare for Long Term Flood Recovery
WV Public Radio, August 24, 2016
Following the flooding in June, thousands of volunteers have been involved in recovery efforts in West Virginia. Long term, there will be more need for volunteers to help flood victims repair their homes and their communities. AmeriCorps is just one organization looking at training volunteers to serve flood victims. The number of West Virginians signing up to join AmeriCorps has increased in the past year. People in this state sign up for AmeriCorps at a higher rate than 47 other states. Part of the reason could be that so many people here volunteer as children, or watch their parents or grandparents helping in their community.

AmeriCorps NCCC

Volunteers Busy Weeding Out Forest Invaders
The Greenville Sun (TN), August 20, 2016
Travelers in the area of the Tennessee/North Carolina state line on the Asheville Highway in the next few days may see some young adults hard at work in the woods along the highway where it passes through the Cherokee National Forest. The group is a team of 11 young volunteers from the AmeriCorps NCCC program, a group sometimes informally described as resembling a domestic Peace Corps, or the old VISTA program that was particularly familiar in the 1960s and '70s. The program is a 10-month commitment program for people ages 18 through 24, who perform a variety of service projects across the country.

AmeriCorps VISTA

Love Thy Neighbor Project, TWU plans mobile food pantry Saturday
The Daily Post-Athenian (TN), August 25, 2016
The Tennessee Wesleyan University Love Thy Neighbor Project will hold a mobile food pantry starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Market Park Pavilion in Downtown Athens. The mobile food pantry partners Love Thy Neighbor Project with the Chattanooga Area Food Bank and United Healthcare to offer food pantries around the region. "The main goal for the mobile food pantry is to simply assist families in need with a substantial amount of food that they may struggle to purchase on their own," AmeriCorps VISTA Chase Freeman said. 

Senior Corps

RSVP Suffolk supports retirees who want to serve
Newsday (NY), August 24, 2016
Pegi Orsino, executive director of RSVP Suffolk, said insurer United Healthcare found in a 2012 study that 42 percent of seniors surveyed did not volunteer because they weren’t asked. That’s not an issue at the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, which has offices in Smithtown and Amagansett. “We have taken it upon ourselves to do the asking,” Orsino said. “Our mission statement says we support older Americans who want to remain active in their communities by offering them opportunities so they can engage in civic activities and make a difference in someone’s life.”

Social Innovation Fund

This Startup Accelerator Targets Social Entrepreneurs Tackling Employment Barriers
Forbes, August 22, 2016
Certainly, there’s a growing number of accelerators for social enterprise startups sprouting up. But it’s hard to find one specifically and solely for ventures aimed at creating jobs for people facing barriers to employment, like former drug addicts or ex-inmates. That’s why the nonprofit REDF, which supports organizations targeting employment, decided to start its own, jobs-focused accelerator. Called SE4Jobs Acelerator, the program, which is partnering with Points of Light Civic Accelerator, is targeting both for-profits and nonprofits. 

National Service Blog

Louisiana Can #CountOnUs
NationalService.Tumblr.com, August 24, 2016
Over the last two weeks, all of us have watched the devastation caused by floods in Louisiana. I am proud of the over 640 AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers who are already part of the relief effort. We are grateful for the quick response from our colleagues at Volunteer Louisiana, as well as grantees from across the state and around the country. Please read the below details because all of us will play a role in executing this deployment and showing the country why, especially when it comes to disaster relief and recovery, they can count on us! We have secured a major $4.5 million Mission Assignment from FEMA and the State of Louisiana.