Monthly Archives: April 2009

04.14.09
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College Cost Reduction Act – Basic Facts and New Resources to Help You

Campus building

Update, July 1, 2009! Check out this post about applying for Income-based repayment from your lender!

This July 1st, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA) of 2007 will take effect and includes provisions to make undergraduate and graduate education more affordable for aspiring social-impact professionals.

The CCRAA is a complicated piece of legislation that, if you take advantage of it, can help you retire college and grad school debt early.

The main programs that the CCRAA has created include:

Income-Based Repayment (IBR) — Caps monthly direct and guaranteed (FFEL) student loan payments based on the borrower’s income and family size. According to IBRinfo, “For most eligible borrowers, IBR loan payments will be less than 10 percent of their income – and even smaller for borrowers with low earnings. IBR will also forgive remaining Continue reading →

04.13.09
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Career Tip: Timing Your Job Search and Supporting Yourself During the Transition

April To-DoIf you aim to move onto a salaried job after your service term ends, you may be facing some big logistical challenges — when do you start actively looking for your next job? If you don’t have something lined up when your term ends, how do you support yourself till you land that job?

When to Start Your Active Job Search

Regardless of your service corps, your term probably has a definite end date.  If that is the case, lining up a job can pose tricky questions, such as when do you start applying for jobs? And when, during the application process, do you let the hiring team know your availability limitations?

When to start your active job search—sending in applications—is a little fuzzy. The typical job search takes about six Continue reading →

04.09.09
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Kevin Johnson Settles with the Federal Government – Former Corps Must Repay CNCS

Kevin Johnson

Update 6/12/09: For more background regarding the Corporation’s Inspector General Gerald Walpin’s role in the Kevin Johnson controversy, check out this article in Youth Today.

Kevin Johnson, Sacramento’s mayor, former Phoenix Suns point guard and former AmeriCorps program director, has settled with the Feds, clearing the way for Sacramento to receive stimulus funding.

Last fall, I wrote about Kevin Johnson’s missteps as head of an AmeriCorps program in Sacramento. The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) accused him of wasting its money and directing corps members to do things clearly outside the bounds of AmeriCorps service.

The controversy didn’t end when he left his nonprofit St. HOPE Academy and its AmeriCorps program Hood Corps; nor when he ran to become mayor of Sacramento; nor when he took office as mayor. In fact, his questionable role with the AmeriCorps program threatened to prevent the city of Sacramento from receiving stimulus funding!

Because the Corporation (a federal organization) had named him in the excluded parties system he was not allowed to Continue reading →

04.09.09
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New National Youth Service Programs to Launch in the Philippines

Riverman 72 - Flickr

Riverman 72 - Flickr

Last week, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed an executive order to establish two branches of national youth service.

The programs will include the National Service Corps and the Youth Conservation Corps. Projects will include cleaning up the environment, planting trees, building parks, teaching, and establishing food banks, and more.

Both new programs will recruit people ages 18-24 to commit to two years of service in exchange for a chance to improve their communities, build skills, and earn modest pay.

The National Youth Corps is intended to offer “unemployed or underemployed skilled [Filipino] youth or college graduates a chance to contribute to education and community service programs.”

The Youth Conservation Corps is intended to connect “unskilled or less educated [Filipino] youth” with service Continue reading →

04.07.09
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Call for Actors: A Play Written by a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Is Casting in NYC

RPCV & playwright Damian Wampler

RPCV & playwright Damian Wampler

Guest contributor Erica Burman is the Director of Communications for the National Peace Corps Association, the independent organization of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Follow the NPCA on Twitter. This post is cross-posted from the Peace Corps Polyglot blog.

Twin Towers, a play written by Damian Wampler, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer RPCV), is looking for actors in New York.

The play was written in 2007 and 2008, and was selected to be part of the Planet Connections Theater Festivity. It premieres in New York City this June for six performances. Twin Towers will be directed by Angela Astle, whose sister and husband are RPCVs.

The two main characters, one an RPCV, the other an Iraq war veteran, are reunited in their neighborhood in the Bronx after being separated for years. The play uses music and dance to forward the story of childhood friends reunited in a politically and socially divided America. You can read more about the story on the play’s blog.

A casting call for all roles will be held Sunday, April 12th.

Some roles:

Esther Forde:  Proud, wise woman, mid 60’s; grandmother to Trevor, but has raised him. Continue reading →