08.25.09
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New Director Aaron Williams Posts Video Greeting to Peace Corps Community

The newly sworn-in director of Peace Corps — RPCV Aaron Williams — issued this message on Youtube (transcript below):

Transcript:

This morning I was sworn in as the 18th Director of the Peace Corps. While preparing for this day, I decided that the first thing I wanted to do was to take a moment to introduce myself to the Peace Corps community and thank you for everything you have done and continue to do.

As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, this is quite an emotional moment. When I was in that small town in the Dominican Republic, I was consumed by the same daily thoughts: How was I going to master another language? What did it mean to be a 20 year old, training rural school teachers, many twice my age? How would I make a life in a community so far from my home? In 1967, I couldn’t have imagined all of the people who had worked so tirelessly to allow a Volunteer like me to help in this small community – a community that most staff would never get the chance to see or experience.

Today, the rolls are slightly reversed. I have spent most of my career working in developing countries – but now I will have the extraordinary opportunity to work with the staff in the U.S. and abroad to ensure that the next generation of Volunteers will have the same quality experience that I had in the Peace Corps. Everybody’s service is unique, but I know that no matter where or when someone served – being a Peace Corps Volunteer is a life changing experience. We all tried to make a difference every day.  We accomplished a lot with very little. And most importantly, we had the opportunity to recognize what we can achieve when given the tools to succeed. As President Kennedy envisioned, we learned to understand, respect and admire our host communities and countries.

This is my first day at Peace Corps headquarters since my nomination in early July. I am truly excited and honored to be here. In these first few weeks, I will be spending time getting to know many of you, listening to your ideas, and getting reacquainted with this agency that has meant so much to all of us. We’ll immediately move forward addressing the challenges — both old and new – the agency faces.

At this historic moment, America is now led by a President committed to renewing the call to service and the Peace Corps is on the cusp of our 50th anniversary — I believe there could be no better time for us to work together to capture the imagination of those Americans interested in serving. I can’t do this alone. I look forward to working with you to maintain the high standard that has been set by all of those who have come before us. Together, in the 21st century we will build on this legacy and grow a stronger Peace Corps that continues to champion world peace and friendship.

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!

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 →

08.18.09
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Northwest Service Academy Offers Shining Examples of What AmeriCorps Gets Done

Achievements of some outstanding local AmeriCorps members and their projects.

Today, AmeriCorps members from the Northwest Service Academy (NWSA) graduate from their term of AmeriCorps service — I want to congratulate them and to share what I learned about the work of some members at their recent Achievements Symposium.

A few weeks ago I listened to presentations by several NWSA members about their work. I was stunned not only by the calibre of experience the members brought with them into their service, but also the degree to which they used their term of service to develop innovative new programs, that will have a lasting impact in their communities.

I want to highlight two of the projects I heard about here:

Kids sorting trash in the cafeteria.Save Organic Scraps • Gregg Hayward

Gregg Hayward has been the School Recycling Coordinator for Clark County Solid Waste. Clark County is in southern Washington state, just north of Portland. Gregg has been operating a program called Save Organic Scraps, or S.O.S., teaching K-12 students about recycling and composting, and giving them the opportunity to create significant waste diversion at their schools and at home.

Composting — turning food waste into rich black soil for use in gardening and other endeavors — creates healthier soil for people and fish, that decreases the need for polluting chemical fertilizers. Diverting food waste from landfills also reduces the Continue reading →