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Dear Colleagues and Communicators,
November just started, and national service is already making headlines. Here's the latest:
Michigan Announces Governor-Mayor AmeriCorps Partnership
CEO Wendy Spencer joined Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing in Detroit this week to announce the launch of the AmeriCorps Urban Safety Corps program, a unique public-private partnership designed to improve public safety throughout the city. The innovative program has proven successful for the past three years, showing a 44 percent reduction in crime in its targeted areas.
Veterans Day
In honor of Veterans Day, we're highlighting the inspiring stories of veterans serving in AmeriCorps and Senior Corps. We're posting more on the blog this weekend, but you can visit now to read about:
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David Gosling, an AmeriCorps VISTA member with Got Your 6 who provides much-needed services to fellow veterans,
including free mental health counseling, military scholarship information, and
alternative housing options in their respective communities.
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Cal Verdin, an AmeriCorps VISTA member who has worked with Team Rubicon to support impoverished and homeless veterans, join the Hurricane Sandy recovery effort, and provide counsel to injured veterans.
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Randy Hindert, an AmeriCorps member in Florida who helps children improve their reading skills with Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Meanwhile, AmeriCorps Director Bill Basl will go to Chicago to unveil a first-of-its-kind resource for veterans. A veteran serving in AmeriCorps is making this possible. Stay tuned for the announcement!
Have an excellent weekend, and please remember to take a moment on Monday to honor our military service members and their families.
The External Affairs Team
 Gov. Snyder announced the launch of the AmeriCorps Urban
Safety Corps program alongside CNCS CEO Wendy Spencer and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. The program will expand the successful program to
five new communities surrounding Detroit public schools. (Tanya Moutzalias / MLive.com)
National Service in the News
AmeriCorps
Colorado tutor corps boosts elementary reading scores
The Denver Post (CO), November 4, 2013
Colorado Reading Corps hinges on roughly 50 AmeriCorps volunteer tutors who read with 15-18 students for 20 minutes each school day. Students enter the program on a rolling basis because demand is high. When one student meets their grade trajectory, another student fills that spot. In the inaugural year of Colorado Reading Corps, program data showed 208 of 472 kindergarten through third-graders who did not meet state reading standards last fall read their way to program completion and literacy competency by the end of the school year.
AmeriCorps VISTA
Class Creates PhotoVoice Project for Tampa Homeless
Brown University News and Events (RI), November 7, 2013
The Homeless PhotoVoice project allows students to interact with homeless or formerly homeless people by documenting their everyday lives in photographs. While the photos are being taken, students have the task of collecting photo captions and quotes to accompany each picture called the “Photo Capture” process. Darren Steptoe, an AmeriCorps VISTA member at the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County, is the current leader of the PhotoVoice Project. “I was doing research on ways to engage the community through the arts and a friend, and fellow VISTA, suggested I look into developing a PhotoVoice project around homelessness. This particular project was developed with college students, specifically Professor Winston’s students, in mind,” Steptoe said.
AmeriCorps NCCC
AmeriCorps provides service opportunities for Texas State graduates
The University Star (TX), November 5, 2013
Jill Ament put thermal clothes, toiletries, a journal and photos of family and friends into her green duffel bag provided by AmeriCorps before embarking on her 10-month “intensive community service work” across the Midwest. Ament is one of thousands of volunteers recruited to take part in AmeriCorps, a full-time, team-based residential program for people ages 18 to 24. AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) provides a unique opportunity for students and alumni to perform intensive community service work in various states across the country. AmeriCorps serves communities in every state in partnership with nonprofit organizations, state and federal governments, national and state parks, Native American tribes and schools.
Senior Corps
RSVP volunteers coming to Lakeview Elementary School
Delaware County News Network (DE), November 7,
2013
Lakeview Elementary School principal Gloria Goldey to host America Reads/RSVP
(Retired Senior Volunteer Programs) at the school. America Reads is a group of
senior volunteers who work with small groups of students in schools during
independent reading to help them improve reading fluency and comprehension. The
volunteers are trained and have undergone appropriate background checks. Two
volunteers will visit the school at least twice a week.
Board weighs early advancement policy
The Patriot-News (PA), November 2, 2013
Melissa Gabel, director of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP),
reported the program, which currently has 108 students involved, will be
participating in an online engineering project called “put a lid on it,”
sponsored by the Museum of Science in Boston. The program assesses the
effectiveness of safety helmets particularly for bicyclists. The RSVP
program is funded by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s
21st Century Community Learning Initiative. Gabel stated the program’s funds
likely will be exhausted by the end of April and she is seeking other sources
of funding.
Social Innovation Fund
Social Finance: A Primer
Center For American Progress (DC), November 5, 2013
The Social Innovation Fund
invites applications from external organizations - sometimes called
intermediaries - with strong track records of finding and funding effective
social service organizations. Through a competitive process, the Social
Innovation Fund makes grants from $1 million to $10 million per year for up to
five years to these intermediary organizations.
National Service Blog
The Challenges of Service and the Opportunity to Serve
NationalService.gov, November 7, 2013
National service comes in many shapes and sizes. Tens of thousands of men and women answer the call to join the Armed Forces each year, and quickly find themselves inundated with the unique demands and expectations of their respective military branches. Many others choose to serve via Peace Corps or AmeriCorps programs, which offer their own unique challenges, not dissimilar from the military. I have had the unique experience of serving in both and have come to believe in the value of both.
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