Category Archives: Opportunities

01.08.10
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Where will you Volunteer on MLK Day, Jan. 18th?

A group of City Year Young Heroes during their 2009 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service project at Emery Elementary School in Washington, DC

January 18th is Martin Luther King, Jr., Day — a national day of service. Where will you volunteer your energy and time?

For 15 years, MLK Day has been a national day of service, mobilizing projects that strive to transform Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and teachings into community service that helps solve social problems — strengthening communities, bridging barriers, and empowering individuals.

The day of service, which is known as a “day on, not a day off,” typically enjoys a great deal of support and participation among national service corps—who volunteer for and often organize service projects.

This year organizers are launching a special initiative to connect schools in need with technology support. If you serve in a school that could use tech support — anything from a website facelift to blogging support for student clubs — you can post a volunteer opportunity on AllForGood.org:

When you create your volunteer opportunity, be sure to:

  1. Use a descriptive title and make sure to include the “MLKTech” keyword – the keyword is necessary for search.
  2. Set the date as January 18, 2010

Web professionals can search for opportunities on Serve.gov.

Learn more and find opportunities to serve on the Serve.gov and  MLKDay.gov sites. Also check out yesterday’s Change/Wire post from Service Nation, chock full of MLK Day resources.

Check out Hands On Network’s MLK Day page, including the virtual Town Hall Meeting it will hold on January 18th.

Already planning a project? Be sure to register it so that people in your community will find out how to support it!

Last year, inspired by Barack Obama’s call to service, MLK Day enjoyed the largest turnout in its history. On January 19, 2009, service projects numbered about 13,000 (compared to 5,000 in 2008), and the Corporation for National and Community Service estimated the total number of volunteers at a million.

Check out this video with more information about MLK Day:

01.06.10
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January is National Mentoring Month

It’s January! And though we’re in the midst of a nasty, dreadful winter, it feels a lot like spring…well, if you don’t consider the weather.  January, like March, is a time of rebirth and new beginnings. In the spring, nature beckons and we follow her lead.  In the winter, we don’t have the benefit of nature leading the way so we have to be self-motivated.

Fittingly, January, the first month of the year, is when we make commitments, mostly to ourselves, to be better, improve, to do or not to do.  Ultimately, we “resolve” to be our best selves and our resolutions, when implemented, lead the way. And, if we’re committed, come spring, we’re in full bloom.

January is also National Mentoring Month.  It’s the time of year when Harvard, Mentor and the Corporation for National and Community Service join forces to shine a spotlight on the need for mentors in the lives of America’s youth.

In this new era of service, when Americans are being asked to give of themselves to help make America better, resolving to Continue reading →

12.18.09
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Calling All Applicants! Webinar on Getting into the Peace Corps!

All right, all you prospective Peace Corps applicants I’ve been talking with lately: here is your chance to get expert insider advice on how to ace your Peace Corps application.

Tomorrow, 12/19 at 10 am PST (1 pm EST), Kate Kuykendall — a former Peace Corps Volunteer and recruiter, who is now the Public Affairs Specialist in the Los Angeles Peace Corps regional recruitment office — is sharing her best advice on “Getting into the Peace Corps” via an online webinar.

Here’s the description:

With approximately one in three applicants entering Peace Corps service and the recent 18% increase in applications, applying to become a Peace Corps volunteer is more competitive than ever.

Please join us for a webinar that will suggest ways in which future and current candidates can strengthen their Peace Corps application. A staff member from the L.A. recruitment office will cover general application tips, as well as specific volunteer experiences or language study that will make your application more competitive.

Register here!

Are you attending? What do you want to know about the process?

12.04.09
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New Eli Segal Fellow Announced: Teach For America Alum Iris Dooling

Iris Dooling

Former Teach For America and Indiana Reading Corps member Iris L. Dooling has been named 2010’s Eli Segal Fellow.

The Eli Segal Fellowship annually brings former AmeriCorps members to the headquarter offices of the Corporation for National and Community Service in Washington, DC, to serve in the Office of the CEO. The fellowship is named for Eli Segal, the first CEO of the Corporation and its board founded the fellowship in 2006, the year Segal died.

According to today’s announcement from CNCS:

A native of Hobart, Indiana, Dooling, 26, started her AmeriCorps service with the Indiana Reading Corps-AmeriCorps at DePauw University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude in English Continue reading →

12.02.09
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Giving Thanks and Giving Back: A Family Spends Thanksgiving Volunteering…at a Country Line Dancing Bar

Local church youth group volunteers making some plates to go

This guest post is contributed by Jung Fitzpatrick, a former AmeriCorps VISTA member, and staffer here at Idealist.org.

When I called my mom about going home for the Thanksgiving holiday, she told me she was going to volunteer at the Brandin’ Iron. (You may know the BI from a quick mechanical bull riding scene in Borat.)

BI was going to serve a Thanksgiving meal to the hungry.  What else was I supposed to do but say, “Hey, count me in!” I loved the idea of volunteering with my mom.

On the day, my mom and I along with my brother, Sean, and his friend, Will, all headed to BI.  My mom country line dances every week at the BI and heard about the volunteer opportunity from there.  As it turns out, Continue reading →