Monthly Archives: May 2009

05.20.09
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City Year Final Application Deadline – May 31

City Year app deadline - May 31The application deadline for City Year — the team-based AmeriCorps program that focuses on youth development and mentoring — closes in a little over a week. Today’s guest blogger is Michael Messina, from City Year.

So what are you doing next year? Thinking about making a difference?

The final application deadline for City Year is May 31. If you are interested in serving with the 2009-2010 City Year corps, we recommend that you apply as soon as possible. City Year has received a record number of applications this year – part of a larger trend of young people volunteering in record numbers. Applications to the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps have soared while organizations like Teach for America and Public Allies have also seen a significant spike in applications.

“Volunteering is not such a casual thing anymore. It’s part of our lifestyle…giving back is our own way of being empowered to Continue reading →

05.19.09
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New Podcast: Cross Sector Relationships, Corporate Responsibility and Citizen Service: An Interview with Alan Khazei and Shannon Schuyler

The New Service podcast from Idealist.org takes a look at a new national partnership.

Corporate social responsibility and citizen service are increasingly becoming two sides of the same coin, as more business-sectoemployees and clients demand opportunities to improve their communities as part of their workplace culture. Exemplifying the beneficial opportunities of cross-sector alliances is the new national partnership between the nonprofit Be The Change, Inc., and the business network Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC).

Alan Khazei

Alan Khazei

Today’s guests on The New Service podcast from Idealist.og are Be the Change, Inc’s Alan Khazei and PwC’s Shannon Schuyler. Link to the podcast.

Alan Khazei is the founder and CEO of Be the Change, Inc, the lead organizer of the Service Nation campaign that has galvanized support throughout the country for passage of the Kennedy Serve America Act. Alan is Co-Founder & former CEO of City Year, the youth service corps that helped to inspire the development of AmeriCorps.

Shannon Schuyler

Shannon Schuyler

Shannon Schuyler is the Managing Director responsible for PwC’s U.S. Corporate Responsibility. As such she is responsible for fostering meaningful partnerships with national non-profits, including a new national relationship with Be the Change, Inc.

The collaboration between Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Be the Change Inc is aimed at inspiring a new era of voluntary citizen service. PwC will also serve as a Lead Sponsor for ServiceNation’s participation in the upcoming National Conference on Volunteering and Service.

I spoke with Alan and Shannon about their evolving partnership, about how corporate responsibility strengthens communities, and about how groups can — and must — come together across sectors to solve our most pressing social problems.

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05.19.09
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Michelle Obama Visits the Corporation for National Service-Through My Lens

Michelle Obama speaking last week

Michelle Obama speaking last week Photo by Katrina Mathis

A first-hand account of encountering the First Lady.

“I shook her hand.” I can’t recall the number of times I uttered or texted those words exactly a week ago today. “I…SHOOK…HER…HAND!”  “I shook Michelle Obama’s hand.”  I am still elated. But that’s how the event ended.  Let’s start from the beginning.

I arrived early to ensure a good seat.  It was a closed affair, just for us—Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) employees, but that wasn’t going to guarantee prime seating, so I made my way to the venue, down 13th street as fast as my wedges would allow.

I was excited about the First Lady’s visit, but was a little anxious because I wasn’t as familiar with my camera as I would have liked. Buying a Nikon D-40 had been on my To-Do list for a while and news of the First Lady’s visit made it a-night-before-the-big-event purchase. Thus, I had less than 24 hours to learn to use it. Yikes!

I scored a great seat: second row center. It was like being in the orchestra section at the Kennedy Center, sans the price of admission. As more CNCS Continue reading →

05.18.09
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Talloires Network Committed to Civic Engagement in Higher Education Reaches 100 Members Worldwide

The Talloires Network — an international association of institutions committed to strengthening the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education —reached 100 members last week. Today’s Guest Author John Pollock is the Talloires Network Service Fellow at Innovations in Civic Participation.

CGIU Group Photo

Talloires Network students and President Bacow at Clinton Global Initiative University in 2008

On May 14, 2009, the Talloires Network reached 100 members when the University of Richmond signed the Talloires Declaration on the Civic Roles and Social Responsibilities of Higher Education and joined the Network.

This represents an important milestone for the Talloires Network which began in September 2005 when President Lawrence Bacow of Tufts University convened the Talloires Conference, the first international gathering of the heads of universities devoted to strengthening civic engagement in higher education. The meeting brought together 29 university presidents, rectors and vice chancellors from 23 countries.

These international leaders in higher education drafted the Talloires Declaration on the Civic Roles and Social Continue reading →

05.16.09
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Med School Tuition Help for Former Corps Members

601TV's Flickr StreamIn response to the projected shortage of doctors in the coming decades, and the prohibitive costs of medical education, Rep. Michael McMahon (D-NY) has introduced a bill to make medical school affordable for former civilian service corps participants.

The Future Physicians Serving America Act of 2009, co-sponsored by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD), would grant tuition assistance for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and former AmeriCorps members studying medicine.

According to the proposed legislation, for each year of service, former service participants would earn two years’ worth of tuition assistance. The assistance would amount to between 50 and 100 percent tuition costs. For former AmeriCorps members, the amount of the med school assistance would replace the amount of the regular Education Award. Also, Continue reading →