Author Archives: Amy Potthast

04.01.09
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Career Tip, How to List Service Experiences on Your Resume

In addition to talking about your national or international service experience, the job search process forces you to write about it as well. How do you write about your experiences on your resume?

How to craft your resume may raise questions for you. Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and other service programs are often considered a form of volunteering. You may wonder, will employers take a service term seriously as professional experience? Should you include the name of your service program in your title?

For the resume, it’s a good idea to include both your title or role within your host organization as well as the name of your service corps program. For example: “Instructor of College English – Peace Corps Volunteer,” or “Volunteer Coordinator – AmeriCorps Member.”

In the first bullet point, include a brief explanation of your program: Continue reading →

04.01.09
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How to Apply to AmeriCorps

I'm Ready to ServeTo clear up some confusion about how you get into AmeriCorps.

AmeriCorps is a network of programs throughout the United States (and its territories — yes, you can serve in Puerto Rico!) that provide the chance for you to serve in your community full-time for a year on a range of critical issue areas.

Programs also allow nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and schools to host you — in order to extend their capacity to fulfill their mission, and so you can initiate and run new projects that they haven’t been able to get off the ground, and/or to leverage the support of community volunteers whom you recruit and engage.

When do AmeriCorps applications come open?

The short answer is, it’s not too late to apply now and in the coming months.

Because AmeriCorps is a network of programs, the longer answer is that application dates vary by program. Different programs operate on different cycles, with new AmeriCorps members starting at different times.

Most programs that I know of open up their application process in spring and early summer; and incoming AmeriCorps members start in the fall (usually starting sometime between August and October).

Of course some programs, like City Year and Teach For America, offer many deadlines throughout the school year. Continue reading →

03.31.09
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Kennedy Serve America Act/GIVE Act PASSES – On Its Way to Obama’s Desk

Update, April 21, 2009: President Obama signs the Serve America Act into law. To take effect October 1, 2009.

Guest contributor Put Barber is the Editor of the Nonprofit FAQ at Idealist.org.

The drama about a massive expansion in the national service programs is over. The House of Representatives adopted the Senate version of the Serve America Act on a vote of 275 to 149  at about 3 pm EST today. See how representatives voted on the Senate’s amendments to H.R. 1388.

The bill is the same as the version of the bill that passed the House last week, but the Senate version is different in several key ways.

Symbolically, the bill was renamed in honor of Senator Edward Kennedy, one of the original sponsors, who is currently undergoing treatment for a dangerous brain cancer.

Substantively, the restrictive language about advocacy that had been inserted into the House bill at the last minute was removed.

And interestingly, the Senate version includes start-up funding for a program of federal support for state-level nonprofit capacity-building centers across the country.

And, of course, at the headline level, the bill authorizes an increase from 75,000 to 250,000 in the numbers of enrollees in the various programs of the Corporation for National and Community Service — AmeriCorps, VISTA, and several others.

A good introduction to the details of the new programs can be found through the link on this Independent Sector website. Here is the text of the Serve America Act, as passed by the Senate (and approved today in the House) (PDF).

03.30.09
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How Will the National Service Legislation Affect You?

Serve Next asks for your stories about how the Serve America Act, if it passes, will affect you and your community.

Kim Wollner writes on the Serve Next blog:

With the most difficult tasks behind us, we now look forward to the effects the Serve America Act will have on the nation.  The legislation joins together numerous service organizations to increase their resources, numbers, and funding.  But what does that really mean?

I am in the process of collecting stories and expectations for the Serve America Act from these organizations and individuals involved in service at all levels.  These stories will explain how a piece of legislation will improve national service in the very near future.

She invites you to share your personal story, or your reaction to the Serve America Act with her, kim [at] servenext.org.

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03.30.09
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National Service Legislation Goes Back to the House for a Final Vote

Update, April 21, 2009: President Obama signs the Serve America Act into law. To take effect October 1, 2009.

According to Voices For National Service, the House could send the National Service Bill to President Obama this week.

Monday and Tuesday of this week, the House of Representatives will consider the version of the national service legislation that was amended and passed last week by the Senate. The legislation goes by the names The GIVE Act and the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, and is also known as H.R. 1388.

If the House passes the bill, the legislation will be sent to President Obama to be signed into law.

The House is considering H.R. 1388 on the Suspension Calendar, and debate will be limited to 40 minutes. Under suspension, no one can further amend the bill, or recommit it to the House Labor and Education Committee where it originated. The bill must get a two-thirds super majority to pass.

Because the Senate’s bill is more costly than the original bill passed in the House, getting it through the House with a super majority may prove challenging.

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