Category Archives: Corps & Coalitions

06.12.09
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Mayor Bloomberg Appoints a City Year Staffer as NYC’s First Chief Service Officer

Photo by Ed Reed, Office of the Mayor

Photo by Ed Reed, Office of the Mayor

This week, New York’s Mayor Bloomberg announced that Diahann Billings-Burford will be New York’s first Chief Service Officer.

Billings-Burford — who’s coming from an external affairs role at City Year New York — will lead an innovative new municipal effort that Bloomberg launched earlier this year called NYC Service.

The initiative promotes volunteering and service, with the goals of making New York “the easiest place in the world to volunteer,” finding ways for volunteers to address the impacts of the economic downturn, and”setting a new standard for how cities can tap the power of their people to tackle our most pressing challenges.”

Billings-Burford’s work will include implementing the agenda spelled out in the NYC Service Report (PDF).

One new project — sponsored by Big Brothers Big Sisters — is a campaign to bring 2000 new mentors into 51 high needs middle schools through Middle School Mentors. Mentors would spend eight hours a month with a middle school student, “being their friend in Continue reading →

05.24.09
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The British Council Creates Global Connections and Impact Through Dialogue and Service

Professor Mike Hardy

Professor Mike Hardy, Photo by Kate Anderson

Amy Potthast first wrote about the British Council’s event and because I live in the nation’s capital, where the event was held, I had the good fortune of attending.

Admittedly, I was still reeling from Michelle Obama’s visit to CNCS — so the British Council event was yet another highlight on my calendar which made that week unforgettable, to say the least.

An impressive crowd gathered—approximately 50 attendants—at the Rayburn House Office Building for what was absolutely a lovely affair.  Lovely is not a word I usually use to describe a professional engagement, but I think this word comes to mind because of my British, or as I say, Bree-teesh, bias. Yes, I’m a sap for their accents and covet their seemingly inborn urbane manner.

Prior to the event, I was only loosely familiar with the work of the British Council—the United Kingdom’s international Continue reading →

05.18.09
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Talloires Network Committed to Civic Engagement in Higher Education Reaches 100 Members Worldwide

The Talloires Network — an international association of institutions committed to strengthening the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education —reached 100 members last week. Today’s Guest Author John Pollock is the Talloires Network Service Fellow at Innovations in Civic Participation.

CGIU Group Photo

Talloires Network students and President Bacow at Clinton Global Initiative University in 2008

On May 14, 2009, the Talloires Network reached 100 members when the University of Richmond signed the Talloires Declaration on the Civic Roles and Social Responsibilities of Higher Education and joined the Network.

This represents an important milestone for the Talloires Network which began in September 2005 when President Lawrence Bacow of Tufts University convened the Talloires Conference, the first international gathering of the heads of universities devoted to strengthening civic engagement in higher education. The meeting brought together 29 university presidents, rectors and vice chancellors from 23 countries.

These international leaders in higher education drafted the Talloires Declaration on the Civic Roles and Social Continue reading →

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 →

05.14.09
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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 →