Author Archives: Amy Potthast

06.14.10
by

Idealist.org Grad Fairs in DC and New York this Week!

For folks seeking graduate school options, check out our first two graduate admissions fairs of 2010 this week on the East Coast.

Both events feature 60 public interest graduate schools and 6 pm panel discussion. Admission is free!

New York City — June 15th

Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (check out the schedule)Fordham University, Lincoln Center Campus, Pope Auditorium
113 West 60th Street, New York, NY (directions)

Washington, DC — June 16th

Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (check out the schedule)
American University, Katzen Arts Center, Main Rotunda, First Floor
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D.C. (directions)

More…

Check out more grad school resources on Idealist!

Also take a look at which grad schools are…

06.08.10
by

Saving Northwest Service Academy

The Pacific Northwest national service community has been rocked this past week with the news that one of our most vibrant AmeriCorps National programs has lost its AmeriCorps funding starting in September of 2010.

Northwest Service Academy‘s AmeriCorps program partners with local agencies, schools, and organizations to tackle environmental projects in the Pacific Northwest.  Its LINKS program works with partnering agencies to directly address education, public safety, the environment and other community needs. It’s sponsored and supported over 4,000 AmeriCorps members.

The funding situation means that as things currently stand, this year’s members will serve out their terms (as late as November) but the 75 placement sites already selected for the coming year will likely not be able to recruit people to fill needed service positions. Continue reading →

06.08.10
by

CNCS Announces AmeriCorps Grants 2010

Yesterday, the Corporation for National and Community Service announced its funding selections after a national competition for $234 million in federal funding. Funding will go to fund AmeriCorps positions across the country in partnership with local organizations, agencies, and schools.

The Corporation is distributing $129 million more through state commissions.

According to the funding announcement, “Together with other positions in AmeriCorps VISTA and NCCC, AmeriCorps is on track to support more than 85,000 members this year, the first step towards the Serve America Act goal of 250,000 annual AmeriCorps members by the year 2017.”

See the funding announcement here, and the complete list of funded groups here.

06.06.10
by

ServeNext Launches Field Corps to Advance Service + Social Innovation

ServeNext is launching Field Corps, an initiative to “build local and lasting grassroots networks to advance service, AmeriCorps, and social innovation…as strategies to tackle our most pressing social challenges and strengthen our democracy.”

To launch the program, ServeNext is recruiting 10 part-time organizers to serve 10 hours a week between August and January, from all around the country. Field Corps organizers will receive “extensive training in organizing grassroots campaigns, communication and social media, legislative advocacy, strategic planning Continue reading →

05.29.10
by

Shirley Sagawa’s New Book Sees Citizen Engagement as a Solution

By Put Barber, editor of the Nonprofit FAQ on Idealist.org.

Shirley Sagawa has been a source of creative energy for the growing national service movement in the United States for 20 years – from serving on Senator Ted Kennedy’s staff when the first tentative steps towards AmeriCorps were accepted by President George H. W. Bush, to cheering on the day President Barack Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in Washington, DC last spring.

Her recent book, The American Way to Change: How National Service and Volunteers are Transforming America, builds on this experience to document the reasons for the success of this idea. It offers accounts of the positive impacts service has had on participants. It shows the ways the rapid growth in their numbers has made possible both expansion of needed services and brave experiments with new ways to address enduring challenges facing individuals and communities. And it talks about a future in which the engagement of active citizens could—and, if she has anything to say about it, will—“solve the seemingly intractable problems holding back this country from achieving its full potential.”

I had a chance to catch a small glimpse of all this a few days ago when I represented Idealist.org Continue reading →