Category Archives: Corps & Coalitions

08.19.09
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Service and International Exchange through Canada World Youth’s Youth Leaders in Action

This post has been contributed by my summer intern Ceyhun Arslan, who is researching service opportunities around the world for non-U.S. citizens.

Canada World Youth (CWY)’s Youth Leaders in Action offers youth from Canada and partner countries a chance to participate in a six-month exchange and service opportunity.

Canadians and citizens of select partner countries, aged 17 to 24, join this six-month bilateral program — spending three months in Canada and three months in the partner/host country.

Volunteer work varies from farm work in a village to teaching English to elementary school students.

Partner countries have included Indonesia and Ukraine, as well as countries in the Caribbean, Africa and Latin America. Volunteers cannot choose their destination, but CWY considers their preferences. The participants stay with host families away from their homes both at their Canadian placement site and overseas. Continue reading →

08.11.09
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The United Kingdom’s Community Service Volunteers Offers a Range of Opportunities to Serve

CSV logoThis post has been contributed by my summer intern Ceyhun Arslan, who is researching service opportunities around the world for non-U.S. citizens.

Community Service Volunteers (CSV) offers a plethora of volunteering opportunities in the United Kingdom to British and non-British citizens of all ages.

Founded in 1962, CSV is today the United Kingdom’s largest volunteering and training organization, which involved nearly quarter of a million people last year.  Below is the essential information for some of its main programs.

Full-time volunteering

A full-time volunteer term lasts between 4 and 12 months. All volunteers work in the United Kingdom, and British citizens have to volunteer far away from their home town. Volunteers work in a range of fields, including health care, Continue reading →

08.10.09
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Lutheran Volunteer Corps: Living and Serving in Community

Colleen O'Connor, Lutheran Volunteer

Colleen O'Connor, Lutheran Volunteer

An interview with Colleen O’Connor, an exiting Lutheran Volunteer in St. Paul, MN.

I wanted to get a perspective from a current service participant who is preparing to move on in life, as the term of service wraps up. And I wanted to get the perspective on a non-AmeriCorps program, since there are so many!

Tell me about your program – Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC). How is it different from AmeriCorps or Peace Corps? Why did you choose it?

What makes LVC different from many AmeriCorps programs is that LVC is meant to be a holistic, whole-life program. LVC isn’t just about our job; it encompasses the rest of our lives, as well. I live with other volunteers in an intentional community, participate in retreats and social events, and am asked to explore social justice, community, spirituality, and simplicity. In some ways LVC is definitely more restrictive because I can’t always do whatever I want with my out-of-work life.

I am asked to spend weekly time with my housemates, attend trainings and retreats, and not have an outside job or class for credit. But this is also why I chose LVC, because I wanted to live in community and really get everything possible out of this experience.

There are other similar programs (such as Jesuit Volunteer Corps and Mennonite Volunteer Service), but LVC is one of only two such programs in the Twin Cities, and I knew I wanted to be here. The other (the St. Continue reading →

08.03.09
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The British Council Calls All Young Activists to Apply for Global Changemakers Program

2007 Global Changemakers Group

2007 Global Changemakers Group

From 1-21 August The British Council is accepting applications from people all over the world ages 16-19 to become Global Changemakers at the Fourth Annual Global Youth Summit, which will take place in the United Kingdom, November 15-21.

A Global Changemaker, according to the British Council program, is a

“young activist operating through a range of national and international networks, who is able to influence his or her community as well as speak to authority with confidence and passion. Changemakers are not afraid to challenge either accepted ways of thinking or their convictions. Changemakers are forward looking, they take their ideas and put them into practice. A Changemaker accepts difference, is flexible, is able to take on new ideas and skills and will communicate them to others.” Continue reading →