Category Archives: Corps & Coalitions

09.10.09
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Service At Home and Abroad: A Joint Peace Corps and AmeriCorps Web Chat

A live, online chat to help you sort out the differences among several service corps.

You knew that Peace Corps Volunteers serve abroad and AmeriCorps members serve in the States. But…

Did you know that Peace Corps Volunteers receive a readjustment allowance at the end of their term totalling around $6,000 — but that AmeriCorps members earn an Education Award (around $5,000) that can be used for tuition and student loans?

Did you know that some AmeriCorps VISTA terms are as brief as 8 weeks, while Peace Corps lasts around 27 months?

Did you know that AmeriCorps members can take on part-time jobs during their term, but Peace Corps Volunteers and VISTAs can’t?

Prospective participants in these programs can get the inside scoop on the differences and similarities among these service corps tomorrow. In honor of the September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance, Peace Corps and AmeriCorps are coming Continue reading →

09.01.09
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Inner City Teaching Corps Volunteer Teachers Gear Up for the New School Year in Chicago

Brittorf (left) and Tiffany Watson are teachers with the Inner City Teaching Corps of Chicago

Pat Bittorf (left) and Tiffany Watson are teachers with the Inner City Teaching Corps of Chicago

Jim Conti contributed this post — an interview with two teachers in the Inner City Teaching Corps (ICTC) of Chicago‘s Volunteer Teaching Corps (VTC). Jim is the program’s Recruiting Coordinator and Associate Director.

It’s that time of year again! Retailers have penny sales on notebooks, pencils, and scissors. School buses are being swept out and shined up. The collective groan of school-age children can be heard across the country as the 2009-2010 school year starts up. As students dread the end of summer, teachers are gearing up for what promises to be a new and exciting year.

Tiffany Watson and Pat Bittorf, members of the Inner-City Teaching Corps’s Volunteer Teaching Corps, are no exceptions. Having graduated from the University of Scranton and Boston College respectively, Tiffany and Pat arrived in Chicago in early June to move into their community on Chicago’s south side.

After completing an intensive summer institute, they both stepped foot in St. Malachy Elementary School to face their new classrooms for the first time. Tiffany is teaching a self-contained second grade class while Pat has a sixth grade homeroom, where he teaches Reading and Religion, as well as instructing sixth through eighth grade Language Arts.

In the midst of classroom setup and the first few days of school, we sat down with these two new teachers to talk about where they are coming from, what’s going on now, and what might be in their future.

Jim: Good morning! Let’s start with something broad. What brought you to the classroom? Continue reading →

08.28.09
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Australian Volunteers International Offers Opportunities for Australians at Home and Abroad

Thanks to intern Ceyhun Arslan for contributing this post. Ceyhun is researching service opportunities throughout the world open to non-U.S. citizens.

Australian Volunteers International recruits permanent residents of Australia who wish to volunteer overseas or in remote regions of Australia for a variety of projects.

Founded even before the U.S. Peace Corps and the British Volunteer Service Organisation, Australian Volunteers International (AVI) cooperates with local organizations overseas and within remote Australia, which request volunteers from AVI.

Short-listed applicants interview with an AVI representative. Participants can choose among 70 new programs in Asia, the Continue reading →

08.20.09
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Quick Survey: Have You Volunteered Abroad?

From Flickr user Adamina via Creative Commons

From Paul Nauert, an intern in our Portland office, originally posted on the Idealist.org homepage blog.

Have you volunteered abroad? Do you have thoughts on where to find funding or how to decide between going with a program or going solo? If so, we’d love to hear from you.

Since the start of this decade, more and more people have been going abroad to volunteer, getting involved in an ever-expanding and more diverse range of places, types of work, and social and environmental causes. Lately at Idealist we’ve been delving into several projects to better understand what is going on in the burgeoning world of international volunteerism and how we can help provide more resources for folks interested in becoming part of it. Continue reading →

08.19.09
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AmeriCorps St. Louis to Launch Career Corps in September — and Seeking Applications

Picture 1More stimulus-funded AmeriCorps members to hit the ground running.

A partnership between the Missouri Department of Economic Development and AmeriCorps St. Louis — with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — will put 32 AmeriCorps members on the ground throughout Missouri to assist job seekers visiting the state’s career centers.

According to the St. Louis Beacon, the AmeriCorps members will extend the human resource capacity of the job center staff by helping job seekers use computers to find online job boards and to create resumes. They may also offer workshops, hold mock interviews with job seekers, and hold career fairs.

From the position announcement, corps members will serve in teams of up to six members at Career Centers across the state of Missouri:

Members will provide one-on-one and small group support in accessing and entering information. In addition, members will provide one-on-one assistance in resume writing and interviewing skills.

Over the course of the 10.5 month term of service, in addition to their regular daily assignments, each team of Members will be expected to organize at least one community event (e.g. job fair), enlist creative resources in the community that results in expanding or enhancing the capacity of center staff (e.g. media), and engage a minimum of five additional volunteers (per team Member) who will contribute an average of 10 hours in a done-in-a-day or on-going service (e.g. job mentors for those recently released from prison and/or displaced workers who are beginning new careers).

Interested in applying to be part of Career Corps? Learn more and apply!