Author Archives: Amy Potthast

12.19.08
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Podcast: City Year’s Col. Rob Gordon

Today we’re launching a new podcast series as part of the Idealist.org podcasts. Called “The New Service” podcast, the show will highlight service corps programs, people, and career paths.  It will be included along with the Idealist.org Careers Podcast feed.

Today’s guest on The New Service podcast is Colonel Robert L. Gordon, III, Senior Vice President of Civic Leadership at City Year. City Year is a national service program that enables people aged 17-24 make a difference in the lives of children and their communities. Corps members serve in one of 19 cities within the United States and South Africa. City Year is a national partner of AmeriCorps. It also plays a leadership role in the Voices for National Service and Service Nation.

Colonel Rob Gordon oversees programs that recruit and prepare new corps members, support corps alumni, and engage kids and teens in the work of City Year. He’s a graduate of West Point, Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, the National War College, and the Army Command and General Staff College. As a White House Fellow from 1992-93, Rob helped with the establishment of AmeriCorps.

I talked with Rob about how City Year develops its corps members as leaders; how the program is unique among AmeriCorps programs; and about its long-standing partnership with The Timberland Company. We also talk about Rob’s own career path, involving decades of service to his country.

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12.19.08
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Shays for top Peace Corps post?

picture-21Support emerges for outgoing Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) to fill Peace Corps director role under the new administration.

Shays served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji (1968-70) and has been a career-long advocate of citizen service.

The entire Connecticut delegation to Congress is rallying for Shays to get the post, after Rep.-Elect Jim Hines (D) initially spoke out for Shays. From the blog at TheHill.com:

“As I’ve noted many times, Chris Shays is a man of grace and courage who served the Fourth District well for many years,” Himes said. “As a former Peace Corps volunteer and a strong believer in America’s special obligation to work toward peace and freedom, Congressman Shays would do a wonderful job of representing our country to those nations of the world served by the Peace Corps.”

Himes recently defeated Shays in a re-election bid for Shay’s congressional seat.

Recently the National Peace Corps Association — currently waging a campaign for More Peace Corps — sent an open letter to President-Elect Obama asking for a Peace Corps director with direct experience as a Peace Corps staffer or Volunteer. Read more about their recommendations (PDF).

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12.18.08
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Meaty Internships with Mississippi Teacher Corps

Teacher corps offers interns a chance to serve and learn in substantial ways next summer.

Mississippi Teacher Corps (which I also wrote about here) is recruiting summer 2009 interns. While the positions are unpaid, rising college seniors, juniors, and sophomores may be able to find funding through their college career centers. The corps is looking for 4-8 interns in 2009.

MTC interns offer substantial help with the program’s summer school where new corps members practice teaching, and interns take on meaty projects in MTC’s main office.

Interns are also expected to take on a research project for the summer that they present on before leaving; past interns have tackled topics like the connection between poverty and wrongful imprisonment; the importance of early childhood education; and the experience of several “Lost Boys of Sudan” here in Mississippi.

MTC offers its interns other learning opportunities: a regular speaker series, field trips, and  a two-day visit to the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, where they work on a project of the Institute’s choosing.

Apply here — deadline is March 1, 2009. Check out the video!:

The Mississippi Teacher Corps is a two-year program, designed for non-education majors, recruits college graduates to teach in the Mississippi Delta and other critical-needs areas, and offers a host of benefits, including teacher training and certification, a full scholarship for a master’s degree in education, job placement that includes full pay and benefits and the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of students in one of the poorest areas of the country.

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12.18.08
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Obama site for MLK Day events

President-Elect Obama’s inaugural team invites organizations to post their MLK Day events to the inauguration website.

This coming year, MLK Day falls on January 19th, the day before the 2009 Inauguration. Known as a “day on not a day off” and a popular day for organizing direct-service events, President-Elect Barack Obama is encouraging people to serve in their communities MLK Day and beyond.

Organizers of projects are invited to post their projects on the event registration page on the inauguration site. If you are an organizer and you’ve already posted your event on MLKDay.gov, you are asked to wait to cross post; the aim is for MLKDay.gov events to be migrated to the Inauguration site.

Community members will be able to search for local projects after the New Year. Here is analysis from the Huffington Post; below is the text of the invitation:

Every time our nation faces crisis, our national experience has shown Americans rise to the challenge. While government has an important role to play in helping rekindle our economy and addressing the problems of a distressed nation, President-elect Obama believes each of us, as Americans, have a responsibility to do what we can for our communities and fellow citizens.  We are one nation….

As a tribute to that legacy and the very real needs of our nation, the President-elect and Vice President-elect will launch a national organizing effort on the eve of their Inauguration to engage Americans in service. This national day of service will fall on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 19, 2009 and, unlike past calls to service, President-elect Obama will ask Americans to do more than just offer a single day of service to their cities, towns and neighborhoods.  He will ask all of us to make an ongoing commitment to our communities. …

The call will go to all Americans to organize service projects and join others at events in their communities. As the Co-chairs of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, we invite you and your organization to join other Americans to organize service projects in your communities. The Presidential Inaugural Committee will offer Americans a new website to help promote your events and for Americans to make their commitments, build communities, find opportunities to serve and share their results. These can be events that orient people to your organization’s work, engage people in direct service, or bring people together to reflect on Dr. King’s legacy and how they can commit to becoming more engaged citizens.

The official place to post and search for projects is on the MLKDay.gov site. Read more about resources for running a great project.

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12.17.08
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Indicorps – Opportunities for the Indian Diaspora

Indian service program recruits people of Indian family background, from all around picture-15the world, to commit to service in India. Indicorps is now recruiting interns to start January 2009.

Indicorps encourages aspiring young leaders of the Indian Diaspora to engage in intense grassroots development opportunities that explore the promise of leadership and help leverage their skills and talents to address India’s pressing needs.

The organization encompasses several programs, including Volunteer Ahmedabad (VA!), capitalizing on the spirit of volunteerism of Ahmedabad citizens; Ahmedabad Ultimate, promoting the spirit of fair play and competition through Frisbee; and the flagship Indicorps Fellowship Program. The Fellowship emphasizes public service and personal growth, seeking to nurture and inspire a new brand of socially conscious leaders through structured one – and two-year grassroots service opportunities in India.

Interns — who do not have to be of Indian origin — support the “backbone” of the U.S. and Ahmedabad-based Indicorps, strengthening organizational capacity and growing initiatives, and interacting with many people in the NGO sector in India. While not a field-based internship, interns serve a critical role in supporting fellows, encouraging others to serve, and effecting change. The internship offers weekly, structured learning opportunities, an off-site service requirement in a rural community,  and a chance to work across programs.

Interns receive a one-week group orientation (including housing) and assistance in finding housing for the duration of the internship if necessary. The orientation includes an introduction to the city of Ahmedabad and to the NGO sector.

Internship openings right now include:

  • Marketing and brand management: Indicorps seeks a marketing/brand management professional to assist Indicorps strengthen its inspirational messaging in India through Indicorps and related programs.
  • Alumni outreach: Indicorps seeks an individual to help structure an Alumni Association that functions independently, but is closely linked to Indicorps as a host organization.
  • Technology: Indicorps seeks a self-proclaimed technology wizared to help stay on the cutting edge of operating and outreach technology, using its current resources efficiently.
  • Ultimate Frisbee: Ahmedabad Ultimate seeks four coaches to coordinate, publicize, and host month-long summer camps during school summer vacation from April-May 2009. (Internship lasts 5-6 months, through May.)
  • Publications: Indicorps seeks a publications intern interested in helping the organization self-publish an anthology that inspires people through stories of Fellows’s experiences in the field.

Most internships are flexible, unpaid, last 4-6 months, and do not require special visas. (You may still need a visa to enter India.) Read more Frequently Asked Questions. Look for news about 2009 Fellowship applications, coming soon.

Indicorps founder Sonal Shah co-chairs the Technology, Innovation and Government Reform working group for President-Elect Obama’s transition team. She’s an economist and heads Google.org’s global development efforts. Also serving on that working group are Paul Schmitz, Public Allies C.E.O., and Cheryl Dorsey, Echoing Green executive director.

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