The Service News Digest is a regular feature on the Serve.gov blog. In this series, we showcase news highlights that feature national service, and Corporation for National and Community Service programs. Take a look at some of the great stories that had people talking recently

Inauguration weekend festivities will include National Day of Service fair on the Mall
Washington Post, Jan. 4, 2013
The committee, whose inaugural theme is “Our People, Our Future,” has teamed up with the Corporation for National and Community Service and hired staff around the country to help organize events for the National Day of Service. Read more >>

AmeriCorps

Clearview Grad Erika Schnatz Makes a Difference with Portland Mentoring Program
South Jersey Times (New Jersey), Dec. 31, 2012
Clearview graduate Erika Schnatz has taken her talents across the country and is currently working with AmeriCorps in developing and maintaining a mentoring project aimed at keeping at-risk college students in school and succeeding. Read more >>

2013 Looks Promising for Education Matters
Herald-Dispatch (West Virginia), Dec. 31, 2012
Through the help of the Education Alliance on the Frontline, we were able to provide five AmeriCorps volunteers to mentor middle schoolers all across the county. Currently we have one mentor serving 20-30 students in each middle school. As we look back across the last few months and prepare for the future, we are proud of all that we have accomplished. Read more >>

Born into poverty: Persistent path imperils another generation in Memphis
The Commercial Appeal (Tennessee), Dec. 23, 2012
Using AmeriCorps volunteers and more recently, hiring 16 full-time trainers, Price's Cornerstone team beats the bushes across poor Memphis neighborhoods to find young moms who need help with child rearing. "Most are teens, most are single, and many don't know what to do,' Price said. Read more >>

AmeriCorps NCCC

Heat Comes to Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services
Sacramento Press (California), Jan. 3, 2012
Who doesn't love a situation where everybody wins? Through a four-way team effort between the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), United Way and the Sheet Metal Workers Union: Local 104 (SMWIA), future AmeriCorps NCCC teams who serve at Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services(SFBFS) will have a warm house to call home, while members of the Sheet Metal Workers Union Apprenticeship Program will gain valuable labor skills. Read more >>

AmeriCorps VISTA

Brooklyn ‘A' kicks off new years with arrival of new staff
Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Connecticut), Jan. 3, 2012
Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, more commonly known as “Brooklyn A,” the long-term provider of free legal services to low-income residents and community organizations in the neighborhoods of North and East Brooklyn, is celebrating the new year with the arrival of an extraordinary group of nine VISTA volunteers and law graduate fellowship winners. Read more >>

Senior Corps

‘Angels' Bring Hope, Sunshine to Others
ABQ Journal (New Mexico), Jan. 1, 2013
Retiree Richard Chong, 65, stays busy with the city of Albuquerque's Foster Grandparent Program, which places folks 55 and older with at-risk or special needs children in schools, hospitals, correctional institutions, Head Start, and daycare centers. Read more >>

RSVP Volunteers Warm the Community
Norwalk Citizen (Connecticut), Dec. 31, 2012
Once again Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) volunteers have been knitting hats, scarves, mittens and other items all year for children in our area. Read more >>

RSVP Helps Seniors Find a Niche
Wadena Pioneer Journal (Minnesota), Dec. 29, 2012
Since the 1970s, seniors in the Wadena area have been getting help from an organization that places them in volunteer positions around the county and aids them in staying a part of the community. It's called RSVP, or the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, one of three programs under the federal Senior Corps. Read more >>

4-H Does More Than Projects, Fair Animals
NTR News (Wisconsin), Dec. 24, 2012
Sharon Klapperich,an AmeriCorps VISTA with Marathon County UW-Extension, shares her experiences working with the 4-H program in the column linked above.

4-H has truly been one of the best experiences I could have ever hoped for in my life. It will stick with me in whatever I do. In the future I hope to highlight one Marathon County 4-H club each time, and write a little bit about what they are up to and about some of the things they like to do as a club. Read more >>

Nonprofit Career Pays Off for Family
Des Moines Register (Iowa), Dec. 22, 2012
Dan Cataldi first volunteered as an AmeriCorps VISTA worker after graduating. He worked in the Rebuild Iowa office based in Des Moines to help with the state's long-term recovery efforts after the floods of 2008. Read more >>

Social Innovation Fund

Scaling Smarter, Scaling for Keeps
Stanford Social Innovation Review (California), Dec. 28, 2012
In his first term, President Obama committed to “seeking out creative, results-oriented programs … and helping them replicate their efforts across America.” In 2011, the federal Social Innovation Fund (SIF) made one of its first awards to theLocal Initiatives Support Corporation(LISC), a national community development intermediary dedicated to the revitalization of low-income neighborhoods, to expand its Financial Opportunity Center(FOC) program. Read more >>

Each new year draws millions to make resolutions designed to change their lives. And while the focus on self-improvement is fine, the arrival of National Mentoring Month gives us an opportunity to recognize men and women who channel their energy to helping and inspiring young people toward a brighter future.
 

Did you know that some of the programs under the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) banner have been in existence for nearly 50 years? We’ve created a new national service timeline to show how we got to where we are today.
 

On Saturday, Dec. 1, the global community observes World AIDS Day as the march continues toward creating an AIDS-free generation. AIDS United, a Social Innovation Fund and AmeriCorps grantee, is one of many groups supporting the work on the front lines of this epidemic.
 

The Social Innovation Fund is a Corporation for National and Community Service initiative that transforms lives by catalyzing broader impact of effective nonprofits. We’ve told its story in many ways, but sometimes a picture -- or in this case, a video -- is worth a thousand words.
 

Arriving in the United States is just the start of the journey for refugees like Alaa, an engineer from Iraq. Unable to find a job, his first few months in America were a struggle, as he tried to cover his most basic needs. Alaa was eager for a job – any job – to become self-sufficient while he studied to resume work as an engineer in a new country.
 

I am thrilled to announce that the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) has selected four outstanding new grantees. These grantees will expand the impact of nonprofit programs with evidence of strong results by implementing exciting programs that will transform lives and communities.
 

Sarah had been living with HIV for 10 years when she discontinued her treatment. After witnessing a murder in her neighborhood, she was afraid to leave her house for care. She was isolated, suffering from post-traumatic stress, and had to cope without HIV treatment for more than three years.
 

Travis is a single father of two from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since 2008, Travis had bounced between part-time and temporary jobs. His wages had peaked at around $10 per hour, though he needed at least $12-$14 an hour to support his family. With limited interviewing and workforce experience, he didn't think he would ever find full-time work – let alone have a career.
 

Josh, 45, was one of the millions of Americans suffering from a mental illness, but he was not receiving treatment. He was unemployed and living in a halfway house, and he could hardly find the motivation to do the dishes or leave his room.
 

Alison's daily struggles while raising two young children made her dream of a college degree seem unobtainable. But things began to turn around when the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) in Washington, DC connected her with a Promotor.
 

This week, I had the pleasure of attending the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in Chicago, IL. This annual gathering of the nonprofit sector brings together activists and organizers, government officials and nonprofit leaders from around the country.
 

The Social Innovation Fund is excited to announce the applicants to the 2012 grant competition. We received 31 applications by the due date of March 27, of which 25 were compliant and moved on to the full competition.
 

The Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO), a New York City-based Social Innovation Fund (SIF) grant recipient, recently won Harvard University's noteworthy Kennedy School of Government Innovations in American Government Award for its powerful approach to fighting poverty in New York and across the country.
 

More than a quarter of Colorado's third-graders are not reading at grade level, a concerning statistic as early childhood literacy is one of the most important predictors of school success and high school graduation. Stakeholders across diverse sectors including federal, state, and local governments, educators, nonprofits, business leaders, and foundations have teamed up to improving childhood literacy as a top priority for the state.
 

February 10, we announced the 2012 Social Innovation Fund Grants Competition and we encourage all qualified grantmakers to consider applying. Applications will be due by Tuesday, March 27, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time.