Celebrate AmeriCorps Week with AmeriCorps Alums!

With AmeriCorps Week (March 10^th – 18^th) quickly approaching, AmeriCorps Alums, the national network for all AmeriCorps Alumni,  is actively partnering with the Corporation for National and Community Service to help celebrate how this year’s theme of AmeriCorps Works  is making positive contributions throughout the country.

As AmeriCorps Alums, we have seen time and time again how AmeriCorps Works in our lives and in our communities. AmeriCorps worked when disaster relief was needed in Joplin. AmeriCorps worked when we were interviewing for that first job right after our service. AmeriCorps worked when we networked with our fellow Alumni in our Life After AmeriCorps.

We want to celebrate and connect with current and non AmeriCorps members to share our stories as Alums and how we continue our Lifetime of Service.

AmeriCorps Alums will be celebrating AmeriCorps Week in these three ways:

• AmeriCorps Week Events – We anticipate our national network of chapters to engage in specific AmeriCorps Week activities and programs.  These local events range from AmeriCorps Night at the minor league hockey rink, to community service projects, to outreach as mentors to current AmeriCorps members. Through AmeriCorpsWeekEvents.org, you can find an event or register your own for others to sign up for.

• AmeriCorps Works Here – With our photo storytelling campaign, Alums will take pictures at their place of current employment to demonstrate the diversity of career paths and instances of leadership that Alums are pursuing.  These photos will be shared through our social media properties (primarily on Facebook and Twitter), with the hastag #AmeriCorpsWorksHere, as a way to profile the diversity of AmeriCorps alumni after their service year. Click here to learn more about the campaign and how you can participate!

• AmeriCorps Online Townhall – Titled, “Inspirational Pathways of Service and Leadership”, this Townhall will take place on Tuesday March 13^th from 3 to 4:30PM ET. AmeriCorps Alums will host a webinar featuring a townhall-style conversation with Five AmeriCorps alumni, who have followed five different career paths from their service year.  Click here for more information and to register for the webinar.  The alumni panelists featured will be working in the fields of higher-education administration, fundraising, AmeriCorps program management, education reform, and social media consultant and share how national service has guided them into their current career paths.

Follow Twitter and Facebook to keep up with #AmeriCorpsWeek Events throughout the country!

Comment and share: how do you plan on celebrating AmeriCorps Week in your local community?

HandsOn Tech Will Boost Sector’s Use of Technology

HandsOn Network, the volunteer arm of Points of Light Institute, is partnering with Google to create HandsOn Tech, an initiative designed to increase the nonprofit sector’s effective use of technology. HandsOn Tech will activate 24 AmeriCorps VISTA members in communities across the country who will be provided with an in-depth technical education program and will then use that knowledge to build robust, long-term relationships with select nonprofits and local community members to help them implement technology tools that support their missions.

“Building nonprofit and community technical capacity, knowledge and adoption will lead to
increased efficiency in nonprofit operations, greater collaboration locally and nationally, and increased communications among organizations and individuals with similar challenges and goals,” said Amy Smith, president, HandsOn Network. “We believe leveraging technology in this way will lead to greater impact in addressing the issues facing our communities.”

In partnership with experts in technology, including Google, HandsOn Tech members will
participate in biweekly educational opportunities to develop replicable nonprofit technology
assessment and skill development tools focused on technology needs, capacity and adoption.

A Collegiate Commitment to Community Service

By Samantha Jo Warfield

This post originally ran on the National Service Blog at Serve.gov May 12, 2011

Colleges across the country are preparing to honor their graduates but six schools have yet another reason to celebrate – they’ve just received Presidential Awards in the

2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll

.

This is the highest federal distinction a school can receive honoring their commitment to service. The six schools, chosen from the 511 named to the 2010 Honor Roll, were honored in three categories:

General Community Service

– considers the scope and quality of an institution’s service-learning, civic engagement, and community service programs.

Promise Neighborhoods Model

– centers on youth-focused services on education and social needs of children.

Summer Learning

– focuses on programs that provide a safe, healthy environment for academic enrichment during summer breaks to help students retain what they learned during the academic year.

This year’s winners are …

·

Augsburg College

, Minneapolis, Minnesota — Students completed more than 191,700 hours of volunteer service last year in projects focused on economic opportunity and promoting healthy futures. Some of the projects addressed low-income housing, community health outreach, and financial literacy; the students also helped establish a free clothing exchange and ran an employment education computer lab.

·

Rollins College

, Winter Park, Florida — Students contributed more than 55,700 volunteer hours last year in education, health, and disaster response projects. These included mentoring elementary-school students, teaching at an elementary school, rebuilding homes, creating hand-washing stations for farm workers, and providing health screenings in Nepal.

·

San Francisco State University

, San Francisco, California — San Francisco State serves one of the most ethnically and racially diverse student populations in the country. The university has increased the number of local minority students admitted by offering after-school, college-level classes to disadvantaged students of color in more than 15 high schools. Through community partnerships, SFSU students volunteer in community projects that provide health education, English language classes for immigrants, violence prevention programs, and educational programs for at-risk youth.

·

Loyola University

, Chicago, Illinois —

Loyola’s Madonna Scholars High School Intervention

program produced a 100 percent college acceptance rate for 80 female at-risk participants; 68 percent of them received scholarships upon graduating from high school.

The Target New Transitions

program provided 4,608 hours of mentoring to middle school students transitioning to high school. Loyola’s Math Tutoring program engaged 253 fourth- to eighth-grade students and improved their confidence and academic performance.

·

St. Mary’s University

, San Antonio, Texas — Students participating in the

Neighborhood Revitalization Project

work through strategic partnerships to improve infrastructure and streetscapes, create urban pocket-parks, build affordable housing, and support a more sustainable business community. The students helped provide resources for the community that address home ownership, credit counseling, and neighborhood landscaping projects.

·

California State University, Monterey Bay

, Seaside, California — Students contribute more than 84,000 hours of service annually to programs aimed at reducing the academic achievement gap. The Increase the Peace Summer Youth Leadership program provides literacy, math, and art classes in the summer for local at-risk middle school students, resulting in increased academic achievement and positive behavioral change.

These institutions will be recognized during the closing plenary of the

National Conference on Volunteering and Service

.

While these schools were the select few chosen to receive the President’s Award, many other schools across the nation received honors. View the complete list

here

, where 511 were named to the Honor Roll, and 114 with distinction.

This commitment to community service has tremendous impact on the nation as a whole. In 2009, 3.2 million college students dedicated more than 307 million hours of service to communities across the country – a service valued at more than $6.4 billion.

The

Corporation for National and Community Service

oversees and administers the Honor Roll in collaboration with the

U.S. Department of Education,

and

the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

as well as

Campus Compact

and the

American Council on Education

.

Honorees are chosen based on a criterion involving scope and innovation of service projects, the extent to which service-learning is embedded in the curriculum, the school’s commitment to long-term campus-community partnerships, and measurable community outcomes as a result of the service.

Turn Your Trash Into Cash!

Todays post comes to you from Patricia Thompson Manager of Training Development with HandsOn University.

Are you looking for a creative way to combine service and fundraising?

Why not consider a serve-a-thon! Similar to walk-a-thons, serve-a-thons use a team-based approach to raise money for a designated cause. Participants secure sponsors who pledge to support their service, usually based on the number of hours served.

Here in Frederick County Maryland, HandsOn Frederick County organizes a serve-a-thon called The Big Sweep every year on Global Youth Service Day. The Big Sweep enables community members to raise money for their cause of interest while participating in a beautification day. Teams collect sponsorships for picking up trash on a county or city road, park, or waterway. Since 2002, The Big Sweep has mobilized 8,103 volunteers, who have picked up over 144 tons of trash and recyclables and raised $380,000 for their nonprofits of choice!

An event like The Big Sweep is a collaborative effort to protect the local environment and “turn trash into cash.” Interested in doing something similar? Well, here are a few steps to guide you in planning an environmental serve-a-thon:

Step 1. Develop a plan – Form a committee to help manage the neighborhood cleanup project.

Step 2. Build your team – Team leaders recruit 6-12 friends, family members, coworkers, or others for their teams.

Step 3. Set a location – Identify an area to clean up – a road, a series of roads, a park, a school, etc.

Step 4. Secure resources. Buy or get in-kind donations of needed supplies, including trash bags, gloves, and hand sanitizer.

Step 5. Keep your fundraising goal in mind – Make sure all teams are well informed, empowered, and equipped to fundraise. You want them to feel comfortable asking for pledges.

Step 6. Review last minute details and communicate with volunteers – Ensure volunteers have project details, such as time and location, and that materials are ready.

Step 7. Collect donations and trash – Have teams collect all donations so they can be compiled and given to the cause or organization of choice.

Step 8. Recognize volunteers and celebrate- Thank volunteers for their work and for the donations collected.

Step 9. Reflect and learn. As with any service project, take time to reflect on the experience, the impact of the project on the community, and what you learned about yourself, the issue, or the community.

Want to learn more? Join us for our webinar on March 30 at 3:00 EST, facilitated by Eve Shafi with HandsOn Frederick County, or download the project playbook!

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not. ~ Dr. Seuss from The Lorax

AmeriCorps Alums: “Pulling out all the stops” for the National Conference on Volunteering and Service!

The 2009 National Conference on Volunteering and Service is almost upon us, and AmeriCorps Alums is using the occasion to showcase and highlight the amazing service movement and those who have made it possible.

And what will AmeriCorps Alums be doing, you ask?

For starters, we’ll have our signature booth set up in the exhibition hall, but this year, we’re pulling out all the stops. There will be a red carpet, cameras and a video camera…everything needed to capture the stories of folks committed to a lifetime of service! AmeriCorps Alums will also be rolling out our new line of apparel, as well as giving away some fantastic gifts to Alums who stop by to share their stories.

We’ll also be convening a workshop — “AmeriCorps Alumni and Local AmeriCorps Programs – a Perfect Marriage,” as well as a series of ‘Tweet-ups’ (or social networking info sessions) that focus on de-mystifying all those icons, sharing best practices and discussing the pros and cons of diving into the online waters.

To cap it all off, AmeriCorps Alums will be hosting the After-Party at a gorgeous local gallery called 111 Minna. The AmeriCorps Alums After-Party will feature hot local bands The Attack Plan and Monte Casino, as well as delicious seasonal cuisine and beverages for all sets. Get your discounted tickets to the soiree here:
http://www.americorpsalums.org/events/event_details.asp?id=62152

Now is the time to celebrate the historic passage of the Serve America Act and connect with leaders and changemakers from around the country. So, please join us June 22-24 in San Francisco for the 2009 National Conference on Volunteering and Service Conference—we guarantee you won’t be disappointed!

Whitney Soenksen
AmeriCorps Alums