Author Archives: Amy Potthast

05.15.09
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Wendy Kopp Shares Her Vision at the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship

Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach For America and Teach For All, shares her vision of our mandate to eliminate educational inequities during her Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship acceptance speech.

Teach For America is the AmeriCorps-affiliated program that brings high-achieving college grads to teach for two years in urban and rural schools throughout the United States. Teach For All is a network of Teach For America-inspired programs throughout the world run by independent social entrepreneurs.

According to the Skoll Awards page:

Wendy Kopp was struck by the inequities in the U.S. education system as a freshman at Princeton University where she saw smart, talented public school students struggle academically because of their weak preparation. Continue reading →

05.15.09
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AmeriCorps Week: Challenging and Building Capacity through VISTA

Julia SyllaI hope everyone has had a fabulous AmeriCorps Week, which ends tomorrow. Our series of interviews concludes today. This interview is with  former Idealist.org intern Julia Sylla who is now serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA through Oregon Volunteers. To read more about Idealist.org-involved folks who have also served in VISTA, check out my post on the “V is For __” campaign which features grad school blogger Eileen Gallagher, Idealist staffer Jung Fitzpatrick, and me. But, now for Julia:

Where do you serve?

My site is a nonprofit organization called SOLV, based just outside of Portland, Oregon.  SOLV is a state-wide organization focused on the promotion of environmental stewardship.  In a nutshell, we create opportunities for environmental volunteerism and support restoration and cleanup initiatives in communities throughout Oregon.  The work I do at SOLV is based in a collaboration between SOLV and Oregon Volunteers. I serve both organizations, even though I spend most of my time at SOLV.

What were you doing before you joined AmeriCorps VISTA? Continue reading →

05.14.09
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British Council Hosts Global Service and Active Citizenship Event Tonight

Jody Olsen, Acting Peace Corps Director

Jody Olsen, Acting Peace Corps Director Photo by Kate Anderson

The British Council will host an event in Washington, D.C., tonight that convenes advocates of citizen service.

Tonight’s event celebrates volunteerism and global citizenship. It will features speakers Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) — lead sponsor of the Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009 which is now in the House Foreign Relations Committee. (Read more.) Other featured speakers include Acting Peace Corps Director Jody Olsen, and Professor Mike Hardy, the British Council’s Head of Intercultural Dialogue Programming.

The British Council, which also partners to run Global Xchange, has recently launched the U.S. publication of its book Volunteering: Global Citizenship in Action by Aurelie Brockerhoff and Nick Wadham-Smith which was inspired by the
volunteers’ experiences.

The goal of the event is to bring together pre-eminent U.S. volunteerism and service advocates and to expand the conversation about global action and citizenship.

The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organization for educational opportunities and cultural relations. Read more about the British Council.

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05.14.09
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Citizens Cross Borders to Serve in Diverse Teams with Global Xchange

Global Xchange participantsA partnership between the British Council and the Volunteer Service Organisation (VSO), Global Xchange brings together teams that cross cultures and borders to serve together.

Global Xchange is an innovative, intercultural service exchange opportunity for young people to work together with people of other countries and to develop shared experiences, skill sets, and values.

Every six months, Global Xchange teams up groups of 18 young people, ages 18-25. Nine are from the same overseas partner Continue reading →

05.14.09
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AmeriCorps Week: Learning and Teaching Resourcefulness

Genesis McKiernan-AllenAs part of AmeriCorps Week I’m interviewing some of the Idealist.org-involved people who have served or are currently serving in AmeriCorps. This interview is with former Idealist.org intern Genesis McKiernan-Allen, who served last year with Northwest Service Academy (NWSA) and is currently serving as a team leader with Impact Northwest.

Where have you served?

I served my first AmeriCorps year as the Outreach and Education Assistant at a nonprofit building material reuse center called The ReBuilding Center (TRC) in Portland, OR.  I was placed there through the NWSA. Now I’m serving a different nonprofit agency — Impact Northwest — in a much different capacity. This year I am the Team Leader for a brand new branch of the Impact NW AmeriCorps program.  I’m supporting 10 brand new members in 10 brand new positions. Continue reading →