Category Archives: Service News

07.21.09
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Eli Segal Fellowship 2009-2010: Accepting Applications through July 31

Presigious fellowship is open for a former AmeriCorps member to serve one year at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Eli Segal

Eli Segal

Eli Segal Fellows help to advance the mission of national service and the strategic goals of the Corporation. One Fellow will be selected each year who will work closely with the CEO on projects that benefit the national service field, advancing their career development and gaining a first-hand understanding of national service and the workings of a federal agency. Fellows serve for one year and earn $27,079 with full benefits, including health insurance, leave, and retirement benefits.

The Eli Segal Fellowship was established by the Corporation for National and Community Service, to

“Honor Eli Segal… a key architect of the 1993 national service legislation and served as the first CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. As CEO he successfully launched AmeriCorps and managed the creation of a new federal agency that united the Continue reading →

07.20.09
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Applications to AmeriCorps Increase, but a House Committee Doesn’t Come Through with Funding

While AmeriCorps applications are seeing a steep rise, the Corporation for National and Community Service is climbing an uphill battle for funding.

According to an unpublished Corporation report, discussed by Tim Zimmerman on today’s Change/Wire, the blog of the Service Nation campaign:

•    In June 2009, [the Corporation for National and Community Service] received 34,373 online AmeriCorps applications, nearly triple the 11,814 online applications received in June of 2008. Continue reading →

07.17.09
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Yellow Ribbon Program Makes School More Affordable for Vets

Military service member saluting the U.S. flagThe Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 created a new way to help members of the military pay for school.

Currently the the Post-9/11 GI Bill pays up to the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition and fees. However, if you’re heading to a private college, going to grad school, and/or are not qualified to pay in-state tuition, your expenses may exceed the GI Bill benefit. The Yellow Ribbon Program — taking effect at participating schools on August 1st, 2009 — attempts to close the gap between GI Bill education benefits, and the true cost of many educational opportunities.

As part of the Yellow Ribbon Program, schools can volunteer to contribute up to 50 percent of that gap between their own costs and the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition and fees. The government then matches the school’s Continue reading →

07.14.09
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Obama Picks RPCV Aaron Williams as the Nominee for Peace Corps Director

Update August 7th, 2009: RPCV Aaron Williams (Dominican Republic 67-70) has been confirmed to become the 18th Director of the Peace Corps.  The United States Senate unanimously confirmed his nomination today in one of its final actions before a five week recess. Read more.

President Obama today announced his pick to become the new Peace Corps Director, Aaron Williams, a senior vice president in international development and a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Dominican Republic, 1967 – 1970).

Aaron Williams, Obama's new Peace Corps pick

Aaron Williams, Obama's new Peace Corps pick

Williams’s bio, from today’s White House press release:

Currently a Vice President for International Business Development with RTI International, Aaron Williams has over 25 years of experience in the design and implementation of worldwide assistance programs. As a senior manager at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where he attained the rank of Career Minister in the US Senior Foreign Service, and as Executive Vice President at the International Youth Foundation, Mr. Williams established innovative public-private partnerships around the world.

As USAID Mission Director in South Africa, Mr. Williams led a billion dollar foreign assistance program during President Nelson Mandela’s administration. In addition to his work in South Africa, he has extensive experience in the strategic design and management of assistance programs in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East; including long-term assignments in Honduras, Haiti, Costa Rica, and Barbados and the Eastern Continue reading →

07.13.09
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Roosevelt Scholarship Would Offer Students Funding in Exchange for Public Service Commitment

New College, photo from Anne.Oeldorf's Flickr stream

New College, from Anne.Oeldorf's Flickr stream

Update, July 30, 2009: Representatives David Price (D-NC) and Michael Castle (R-DE) introduced the Roosevelt Scholars Act of 2009 in the House.

The Roosevelt Scholars Act aims to create a new pipeline to public service careers for graduate students who are developing skills desperately needed by the federal government.

The Roosevelt Scholars Act, which was introduced last year in the House of Representatives but not yet during this year’s 111th Congress, would create a scholarship program to fund graduate education for students who demonstrate outstanding potential for a career in a mission-critical occupational area within the federal government, and who in turn would commit to three to five years of service in a federal government agency. The scholarship would would be similar to ROTC, but instead of committing to military service, students would commit to Federal government service.

Rep. David Price (D-NC) is planning to introduce the legislation in the House before the August recess. (Last year, he and RPCV Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) introduced the legislation; Shays was not reelected last November.)

The Act would establish a small foundation called the Theodore Roosevelt Scholarship Foundation to administer the scholarships, including tuition and living expenses. Scholarships could amount to as much as $60,000 per student per Continue reading →