Monthly Archives: February 2009

02.20.09
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Rolling out stimulus AmeriCorps members

I listened to an open conference call hosted by Corporation for National and Community Service Chief of Program Operations Kristin McSwain. I am not going to post the more technical aspects of the call, but here are a few points I found interesting.

“Stimulus” members will serve alongside traditional members in existing programs (VISTA might be an exception). Stimulus members will address mostly these areas (though everything is still up in the air) :

1. Winterizing homes, housing access, keeping people in homes
2. Access to health care and providing health care
3. Nonprofit capacity building
4. Youth corps/development

Keep in mind, this is still separate from the Kennedy-Hatch “Serve America Act.”

Here’s the link to the page that will document the changes to national service through the Recovery Act. At the web site, you call a toll-free number to listen to a recording of the call.

02.19.09
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Idealist Nonprofit Career Fairs Coming to a City Near You

picture-91The 2009 season of Idealist.org Nonprofit Career Fairs launches next Tuesday in Boston.

Looking for a job? An internship, full-time service opportunity, or part-time volunteer gig?

Check out this spring’s Nonprofit Career Fairs taking place in cities across the United States:

  • Boston, Feb. 24
  • Washington, Feb. 27 at the PowerShift 09 Conference
  • Philadelphia, Mar. 26
  • Los Angeles, Apr. 6
  • Cleveland, Apr. 8
  • Minneapolis, Apr. 14
  • Chicago, May 19

In addition to the nonprofit organization representatives (and even some grad school admissions staff) that you’ll meet, you can participate in workshops that run concurrently with the event. Workshops usually touch on topics of career transitions into the nonprofit sector.

At next week’s events in Boston and Washington, DC, I’ll be offering workshops on questions to ask if you’re considering full-time national or international service.

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02.19.09
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Service symposium

This blog goes out to reader all over the country (and way beyond borders) so I don’t usually post items that are local. But I would like to take a moment to showcase a contest and event coming up in Portland, OR this May. It’s open to national service participants from Oregon and Washington although it draws interest nationally.

It’s called the Northwest National Service Symposium, and the idea is to encourage service participants to reflect on their experiences and create literary, visual, and/or performing arts from them. Projects are first submitted in a contest setting, and then gathered and shared at the event in May. First-year national service alums are also encouraged to participate.

This year, more that ever, we are diving into Web 2.0 resources to get the word out. These include:

  • A symposium blog
  • A Youtube channel
  • A Facebook group
  • And of course, an official page with contest rules

    • Amy wrote one of the winning papers a few years back, and I submitted a project to the first symposium back in 1996 and have been on the coordinating team since 2002.

    If you have any questions or thoughts on the symposium, drop me a line. There are any number of ways to reach me, including through The New Service blog, but you can always try servicesymposium at gmail dot com.

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    02.19.09
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    National Service and Volunteerism on the Radio

    Service is the topic on a call-in show today, on American University radio station WAMU 88.5 FM.

    Today, starting at 1:06 EST, Kojo Nnamdi will spend an hour speaking with guests about national service and volunteerism.

    Guests will include:

    • AnnMaura Connolly, Senior Vice President, City Year, Inc.; Lead Organizer with Service Nation Coalition
    • William Hauser, Colonel, U.S. Army (ret.); Co-author of the article, “Bring Back the Draft” in Foreign Policy Magazine
    • Jerome Slater, University Research Scholar, State University of New York at Buffalo; Co-author of the article, “Bring Back the Draft” in Foreign Policy Magazine
    • Michael Lind, Whitehead Senior Fellow, New America Foundation

    Learn more details of the show.

    Listen live.

    Kojo Nnamdi show takes calls and e-mails from listeners.  To join the show: call 1-800-433-8850 or e-mail kojo[at]wamu.org.

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    02.19.09
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    Tracking upcoming national service moves

    CNCS has a established an official page dedicated to how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will affect national service.

    The plans are still a bit vague, but the dollars roll out quickly. I imagine existing programs will see an influx of members serving in economy-related areas pretty soon here.

    For anyone with a keen interest in this, CNCS is hosting an open conference call on Friday, February 20. Anyone who misses the call will be able to hear a reply by dialing a toll-free number. All the details are on the web page.