01.13.09
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Inclusive Service Projects for MLK Day

From the National Service Inclusion Project:

MLK Day LogoToday, more than ever, projects are designed using principles of universal design, accessibility and accommodation strategies so that all people can serve. For example:

In Morrisville, NC the “Building a Ramp Into the Community” project will be underway.  The Durham County Affordable Housing Coalition (DAHC) and Durham Habitat for Humanity and Merck have partnered with triangle MLK Day of Service to build ramps in the Durham community. Service members include 12 seniors and people with disabilities. 

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service sponsored by the University of Iowa’s Civic Engagement Program encourages the participation of people with disabilities and publicizes the availability of accommodations on their “Days of Service” website. 

For a helpful resource on inclusive days of service, please see:
Effective Practices Guide To Inclusive And Accessible Days Of Service

NSIP would like to know what inclusive service activities you are planning and or participating in!  Please contact NSIP email at: NSIP [at] umb.edu, or call 888-491-0326 (V/TTY).

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01.13.09
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Service Nation Brings Leaders Together in Honor of Dr. King

Political leaders and celebrities will join Service Nation organizers and coalition members in breakfast honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy of service. picture-12

On the morning of January 19th — MLK Day — the Service Nation movement will convene its second large-scale, high profile event to call attention to the need for expanded national service.The event will take place at a public high school in Washington, D.C. After the event guests are invited to participate in a service project.

Celebrities in attendance at the breakfast will be Tobey Maguire (who also attended the Presidential Candidates Forum at the Service Nation Summit in New York last fall), and Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. Moore and Kutcher will premiere the “Presidential Pledge,” a Web-based video message from entertainment luminaries pledging service commitments.

Other speakers will include Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, Martin Luther King III, and TIME Managing Editor and Service Nation champion Richard Stengel.

Since the September 11, 2008, Service Nation Summit in New York City, a lot has changed. It was just after that event that Lehman Brothers fell, and the economy began to slide out from under us. With the second major gathering of Service Nation, the conversation will turn to policy advances, and the progress that the Serve America Act and The GIVE Act are making in the House and the Senate.

To volunteer in your community on MLK Day, check out the listings on the MLK Day site, or on USAService.org.

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01.12.09
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Combining Grad School and Citizen Service

Programs offer opportunities to ambitious public servants to combine graduate education with national or international service.

Last week I wrote about choosing between grad school and service if you are a rising college senior and facing the worst job market of your lifetime.

Some programs are specially designed to let you participate in both, simultaneously.

Consider the Master’s Community Development Program at SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, VT, to serve as an AmeriCorps*VISTA as partial fulfillment of a graduate degree program. After completing the program’s coursework, students can participate in a VISTA year to fulfill practicum requirements–while paying 50 percent of the usual practicum fees. Students are responsible for ensuring the VISTA placement is relevant to their graduate degree (and an appropriate practicum).

Another prominent grad school – service partnership is that of Peace Corps’ university programs (of which SIT is also a partner). Peace Corps offers the Masters International program that allows incoming Volunteers to study for a year or two at a partner graduate institution, and then to participate for two years in Peace Corps in partial fulfillment of the graduate requirements. To learn more, check out the Peace Corps website, or listen to the Idealist podcast show featuring Peace Corps’ Eileen Conoboy on the topic.

Many teaching corps, such as Mississippi Teacher Corps, Chicago’s Inner City Teaching Corps, and NYC Teaching Fellows offer access to grad school — master’s degrees in education-related fields — to their participants.

If you are weighing your options and decide you truly want it all, go for it! Through these programs (and probably others — let me know) you can have the best of graduate education and service.

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01.12.09
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Alan Khazei on The Colbert Report – Wednesday 1/14

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Wednesday, January 14th, Alan Khazei is slated to guest on The Colbert Report.

Khazei is Be The Change, Inc‘s founder and CEO, the leader of the Service Nation movement, and co-founder of City Year.

Read more on the Service Nation blog, ChangeWire.

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