Category Archives: Resources

11.25.08
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New Service Nation Website Launched

Today Service Nation relaunches its website.

Change/Wire blogger Kate Doyle explains the updates:

The biggest change you’ll notice – in both design and content – is our Action Bar, which has the four biggest steps you can take to advance service. What are they?
First: Declare your support for changing our country for the better by signing the Declaration of Service.

Second: Get others involved! Tell your family and friends.

Third: Learn more about how to volunteer in your community by exploring service opportunities.

Fourth: Share your service story and inspire others, and get inspired by reading others!

The homepage’s revolving images and updates will keep you in-the-know with announcements and links to more information about the initiative’s progress in Congress.

11.21.08
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Help a Reporter Out – Questions for Corps Member or Alum

Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out service put out this notice from NYU Livewire student writer Kimberly Anglin at New York University:

To whom it may concern:

Are you a Gen Xer or Yer? Have you ever joined/taken part in any sort of post-graduate volunteer program (Teach for America, Peace Corps, etc)? If so, please share your experiences? Which program? For how long? What were your reasons for joining? If you are a recent graduate, has the troubled economy/job market given you incentive to spend your time volunteering?

FOR ALL: Has your time spent volunteering prompted you to change/rethink your career? If so, how? If you’re a member of another generation, I’d appreciate your input as well.

Also: Please disclose the following information:
Full Name:
Age:
Occupation:
City/State:

Please get in touch with her via email: kpa209 [at] nyu.edu
11.21.08
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Do volunteers make a difference in kids’ lives?

The impact of service on the person who serves may be immediate, but a volunteer might never see the impact he had on the community. I found a story in the NY Daily News about a VISTA from the late 60s named Michael Gaines who has returned to the site where he served to see if he can learn anything about the lives of the children he served. The story has no closure yet, but I will keep my eyes peeled for developments.

11.20.08
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New Echoing Green Podcast – Application Tips

Echoing Green logoEchoing Green’s latest podcast episode highlights tips for applying for one of its prestigious social-enterprise fellowships.

For people who have innovative ideas for solving the world’s most intractable social ills, Echoing Green offers two years of start-up funding, support, and networking. Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach For America, received seed funds from Echoing Green. Chris Myers Asch, founder and leader of the U.S. Public Service Academy movement, is a current Fellow. Read about other 2008 Fellows.

From Echoing Green’s web site:

Applicants should be sure to check out this week’s episode of the Be Bold podcast.  In this episode, Echoing Green’s Lara Galinsky answers questions about the Echoing Green Fellowship including:

  • What is the Echoing Green Fellowship?
  • What are the application requirements?
  • What are common mistakes in the application process?
  • What additional resources does Echoing Green provide to applicants?

Applications to the fellowship are due December 1, 2008 at 5pm EST. The initial application is online. Read more about the application process.

Listen to the Idealist podcast on Echoing Green featuring Lara Galinsky.

Call for stories. Also, Echoing Green has issued a call for submissions to its next verstion of the book Be Bold.

11.19.08
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Podcast! AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps

This month’s Idealist Careers Podcast features Amy Ravis Furey of AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps.

AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps offers young people a chance to affect social change while deepening Amy Ravis Fureytheir commitment to Jewish life by serving for a year at an anti-poverty organization in Chicago, New Orleans, New York, and Washington, DC.

As with other service corps, AVODAH’s corps members earn a basic stipend. They also live in community with other corps members, and work on group building, negotiation, and conflict resolution. In partnership with the American Jewish World Service, AVODAH’s alumni find networking, support and training.

Herself an alumna of Avodah, Amy Ravis Furey serves as New York City Program Director for AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps. After earning her Masters in Social Work from Hunter College with a concentration in community organizing and group work, she served as an organizer for the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and as the Social Justice Coordinator at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Amy is the first Avodah alum to serve on staff as a program director at one of the AVODAH sites.

I speak with Amy Ravis Furey about the influence of AVODAH in her career path, and her mission of lifting up youth to change the world. We talk about the role of Jewish social justice teaching, the alumni nework, and the impact AVODAH has had in the world and on its corps members.

Listen to the show here!

For more information, join AVODAH staff on a conference call tonight (11/19) at 9 pm, or on December 2. The deadline to apply for the 2009-10 year is February 6th, 2009.