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Dear Colleagues and Communicators,
We know that service to others is one of the highest forms of citizenship. As President Obama noted in his fifth State of the Union Address, “Citizenship demands a sense of common purpose;
participation in the hard work of self-government; an obligation to serve to
our communities.”
Our news highlights this week underscore the spirit of citizenship that defines the national service community. Take a look at what we saw just in the last five days:
Thanks and have a great weekend,
The External Affairs Team
“60 Minutes” profiled Year Up -- a subgrantee of the Social Innovation Fund, which is a CNCS program. The report includes inspiring examples of how Year Up prepares youth for the workforce. Year Up is funded through three Social Innovation Fund grantees: New Profit, Green Light Fund, and Venture Philanthropy Partners.
Kathy
Hollowell-Makle, who served for two years as an AmeriCorps member with Teach
For America, was a special guest of First Lady Michelle Obama during President Obama's State of the Union Address. Since
completing her AmeriCorps service in 2000, Kathy has continued to teach in the
Washington, D.C. public schools. And last year, she was named the Teacher of the Year.
AmeriCorps Director Bill Basl visited her class on Tuesday morning to congratulate her on representing the national service community.
One day after the First Lady invited an AmeriCorps alum to represent teachers, we announced February as the month of education for the AmeriCorps 20th
Anniversary. We’ve put together a toolkit with some key dates and ideas for getting involved, as well as other helpful information and message points about the breadth of our education-focused work.
CEO Wendy Spencer presented the Corporate Mentoring Challenge Awards at the fourth annual National Mentoring Summit. We are proud to partner with MENTOR for this annual event, which this year attracted more than 800 participants. Did you know: Through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and the Social Innovation Fund, we mentored more than 800,000 children and youth last year.
And this morning, CEO Wendy Spencer joined AmeriCorps members and Super Bowl revelers on NBC's "Today" as Seattle Mayor Ed Murray of Seattle and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced a friendly wager. Both agreed that the winning mayor would host the mayor from the opposing team for a day of service with AmeriCorps members. Service Bowl 2014 is on!
AmeriCorps
Peer tutors help kindergarten students reach big reading
milestone
KSL-TV (UT), January 27, 2014
[VIDEO] Nearly every student learned their letters and sounds before the
break…Educators give much of the credit to KSL's Read Today tutoring program.
AmeriCorps partners readers with volunteer tutors in more than 120 Utah schools.
AmeriCorps VISTA
Learning trails to help prepare children for school;
first one goes to Greenway
Cleveland Daily Banner (TN), January 27, 2014
“Themes such as ‘Follow your child’s
lead’ or ‘Look for shapes in the world around you’ are on each sign, and each
are supported by tips on how to put these suggestions into practice with
children,” explained Sarah Haratine, AmeriCorps VISTA of the United Way of
Bradley County.
AmeriCorps NCCC
AmeriCorps NCCC-FEMA Corps Teams Return To Missouri
Vinton Today (MO), January 30, 2014
After returning from winter break Spruce 4 along with fellow FEMA Corps team Pine 1 returned to Springfield to resume their service work at the Disaster Field Office as a result of severe storms, straight line winds and flooding in Missouri.
Senior Corps
Be Someone Who Matters To Someone Who Matters
Mille Lacs Messenger (MN), January 30, 2014
In central Minnesota, more than 200 foster grandparents are a part of this effort, serving in schools, Head Start, and other local non-profits. The senior volunteers of the Central Minnesota Foster Grandparent Program provide meaningful, supportive relationships for children with special needs that enrich the lives of all involved. In 2013, these foster grandparents invested over 155,000 hours into the children of our local communities.
Volunteering–as good for you as those you help
Concord Monitor (NH), January 25, 2014
Sometimes a friend offers to help; sometimes a family member is available;
there’s the senior transit bus and then there are the RSVP Caregivers volunteer
drivers. RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) is a nationwide effort.
Wanted: Foster Grandparent, Must Be Willing to Get Hugged
Maryland Gazette (MD), January 25, 2014
For four hours each day, four days a week, Severn resident Patricia Garrett gets to do what she does best — be a granny. Garrett is a foster grandparent at Van Bokkelen Elementary School. For the past seven years, she has provided educational support and emotional stability for students in a volunteer position with a job description that includes hugs. “I love what I’m doing,” she said.
Social Innovation Fund
Poverty and Opportunity: Begin with Facts
The Brookings Institution (DC), January 28, 2014
The Obama administration is now in the
fifth year of a program, known as the Social Innovation Fund, to use the
private sector to identify successful local organizations that attack social
problems such as teen pregnancy, delinquency, school dropout, and low school
achievement, and, combining federal resources with local and foundation
matching funds, to expand these successful local programs.
National Service Blog
The Opportunity to Fight Poverty
NationalService.gov, January 31, 2014
When President Lyndon B. Johnson initiated the “War on Poverty” during his 1964 State of the Union address, he described one of the initiatives as “a National Service Corps to help the economically handicapped of our own country as the Peace Corps now helps those abroad.” By the end of that year, the first class of Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) was on its way to helping the poor in our nation’s most underserved areas
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