The Service News Digest is a regular feature on the Serve.gov blog. In this series, we showcase articles 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.

AmeriCorps

Conserving, one step at a time
The Citizens' Voice (Pennsylvania), March 18, 2013
Tiffany Welch, 25, is a member of AmeriCorps, a government civil service program that does work in areas such as education, conservation and housing. She and her colleagues clamp into the breaker box and install a transmitter for a wireless energy display that will allow the resident to monitor her energy use, and more importantly, how much money she is spending. Read more>>

School crisis teams ready to respond
UT San Diego (California), March 25, 2013
Buchheit was one of 11 counselors and psychologists from the county office who went to El Camino High School and Cesar Chavez Middle School on March 14. The team augmented the schools' own counselors and psychologists and volunteers from the Promoting Achievement and Student Success (PASS) AmeriCorps program. Read more>>

Low-income families in mountains get boost from Habitat for Humanity
The Denver Post - Online (Colorado), March 25, 2013
Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity is branching out to other areas in the mountains. With three houses being erected in Evergreen and three more in the planning stage, the nonprofit also is in the design phase for a house in Idaho Springs. […] Cyndy Cservenyak, an AmeriCorps volunteer, works on outreach and also coordinates volunteers for build days. Read more>>

Minnesota Reading Corps helps her give back to the community
Park Bugle (Minnesota), March 25, 2013
Minnesota Reading Corps is a research-based AmeriCorps program targeted at Minnesota students from age 3 through third grade with the goal of helping ensure all Minnesota children are on track to reading proficiency by the end of third grade. I work one-on-one daily with my students, monitor their progress weekly and have a file full of graphs to show their growth that I can share with their teachers. It's inspiring to see the number of letter sounds or words they can read in a minute increasing each week. Read more>>

AmeriCorps Project Conserve tours Polk County farms
Tryon Daily Bulletin – Online (North Carolina), March 25, 2013
Project Conserve is an AmeriCorps program unique to western North Carolina, and members are placed at host sites that focus on land conservation, water quality, energy conservation, and local food and farmland initiatives. Read more>>

Two serve Macoupin County through AmeriCorps
State Journal-Register - Online (Illinois), March 24, 2013
Alexandria “Alex” Boles, one of two people serving a stint at the Macoupin County Public Health Department as a member of the AmeriCorps service program, has found her duties to be an eye-opener when it comes to working with domestic violence victims. Read more>>

Homeless role-playing event draws attention to Grand Rapids' housing challenges
MLive.com (Michigan), March 21, 2013
Michigan's Campaign to End Homelessness and AmeriCorps are teaming up for a simulation designed to raise awareness of the challenges many people face in obtaining affordable housing. Read more>>

Rebuild Joplin celebrates opening of 59th house
Joplin Globe - Online (Missouri), March 20, 2013
“Once they got out of that immediate crisis mode, they looked at what was the biggest need, and the biggest need was housing,” she said. Rebuild Joplin now operates with a paid staff of eight to 10, and a volunteer staff from AmeriCorps of about 35 to 40, Finnie said. Read more>>

A Place to Power Up: Technology and Teamwork
Edutopia (California), March 19, 2013
Through one of its many partnerships, PowerUP has teamed with the national AmeriCorps VISTA program to provide two staffers for each new center. These individuals work closely with the staff of partnering organizations to ensure that computer-related activities are coordinated with other programs for youth. Read more>>

Build-a-Bed project responds to needs of county children
Tribune Courier - Online (Kentucky), March 18, 2013
Thirty or more Marshall County children will be sleeping in new beds this year, thanks to the Build-a-Bed project. Debbie Proctor, a reading and math interventional teacher at Jonathan Elementary School, is a member of AmeriCorps. She and other AmeriCorps teachers in the county have selected Build-a-Bed as their service project. Read more>>

AmeriCorps NCCC

Raven 5 team swoops in to do good works
The Meadville Tribune (Pennsylvania), March 25, 2013
The Adopt a Roof program is moving slowly but surely after winter storms grounded National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team Raven 5, expected to complete 15 roofing projects by mid-April. Read more>>

AmeriCorps VISTA

Storm recovery VISTA shares her experiences
The Daily Mountain Eagle - Online (Alabama), March 23, 2013
A month in Walker County wasn't enough for Karen Neupauer. Neupauer, who spoke to the Rotary Club of Jasper this week, is a native of Lancaster, Pa., who is currently assisting with long-term recovery efforts as an AmeriCorps VISTA. Neupauer had a successful career in the construction industry before a slowdown in the economy inspired her to dedicate more time to disaster relief. Read more>>

Senior Corps: RSVP

Help with legal matters readily available
Centre Daily Times (Pennsylvania), March 25, 2013
According to Taylor, the Retired Senior Volunteer Program assists with income tax preparation for low- to middle-income taxpayers. Through the sponsorship of the county commissioners, the RSVP and Penn State, free tax help is available in Centre County. An IRS effort called the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program also offers free tax help to low-to-moderate income individuals/families that generally fall lower than $51,000 combined household income. Read more>>

RSVP celebrates 40th anniversary
The News-Courier - Online (Alabama), March 23, 2013
Dr. Sidney Sandridge, former president of Athens State College wrote the first RSVP grant for Limestone County in 1973. Today, RSVP has 381 active volunteers serving more than 145,000 hours annually working with 55 volunteer stations. Read more>>

Veterans and Military Families

National Guard Kicks Off 'Joining Community Forces'
TheBayNet.com (Maryland), March 24, 2013
The National Guard Bureau recently signed an agreement with the Corporation for National and Community Service to work together to develop and mature a network of support in the three critical areas of employment, wellness, and education. Watson said the CNCS already has dedicated more than 100 members of Volunteers in Service to America to help develop and foster this critical network of support at the local level across the United States. Read more>>

City Year

City Year hopes to improve education in South LA
Intersections South LA (California), March 18, 2013
Over 200,000 South LA residents do not have a high school diploma according to the 2000 census. City Year, a non-profit organization that partners with public schools to help students succeed, hopes to change this. Read more>>

Each generation of Americans embraces the belief that no problem is too big for a determined group of people to conquer. This challenge is central to national service, which gives thousands of Americans a chance to unite with like-minded people and work toward improving the lives of our most-vulnerable citizens.
 

Each year during AmeriCorps Week, we highlight the contributions of our AmeriCorps members and alums, and the impact they are making in communities across the nation.
 

The IRS filing deadline is less than two months away, reviving a task that ranks somewhere near having a root canal for a lot of Americans. However, there are many national service members who are ready and willing to tackle the job, free of charge, through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Who says accountants should have all the fun?
 

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

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

The Service News Digest is a regular feature on the Serve.gov blog. In this series, we showcase articles 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.
 

Americans from all 50 states will join thousands of organizations and commit to service this weekend as the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service coincides with the 57th Presidential Inaugural and National Day of Service.
 

The Service News Digest is a regular feature on the Serve.gov blog. In this series, we showcase articles 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.
 

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.
 

I am no stranger to the great goals and aspirations of Campus Compact. Years ago when Campus Compact got started, I had the opportunity to work with the leadership as the program was developing. While I was the state director for the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) office in Pennsylvania, I worked closely with the Pennsylvania Campus Compact VISTA project, and I was able to watch as the Maryland Campus Compact was launched and grew to become the Maryland-DC Campus Compact.
 

As military deployments became more common for National Guard and Reserve troops, the emotional strain hits children left behind especially hard. Operation: Military Kids (OMK) supports military youth age 5-18 with outreach programs to help them cope with the stresses of being away from their parents serving far from home.
 

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.
 

The transient nature of military life can make life difficult for students in military families, and many are stationed at Fort Leonard Wood for less than two years or experience parental deployment. They often have challenges with making new friends, fitting into social groups, and connecting with the community.
 

AS220 Youth Studio, a Rhode Island program to help troubled youth get involved with the arts to bring positive outcomes in their lives and longstanding AmeriCorps VISTA project, was recognized as one of the nation’s 12 most outstanding arts programs for young people during a White House event hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama.
 

Recently discharged veterans shouldn’t have to struggle to find work when they return home from service, but they often do. AmeriCorps VISTA Heather Hays is helping vets make the most of a program that lets them serve their country in a new way while placing them on a pathway to permanent employment.
 

The formula to improve student achievement doesn’t start and end with the classroom -- talented teachers, committed parents, and engaged communities must also factor into the equation. Earlier this week, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and U.S. Department of Education recognized 31 organizations from across the nation for their pursuit of that goal in the Together for Tomorrow (TFT) Challenge.
 

You will hear the acronym STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) a lot whenever the discussion turns to improving education in the United States, and there is a good reason. Those disciplines are the cornerstones of the jobs that will keep America competitive in the near and distant future, and we have to get our students ready for that future now.
 

Many homeless people face significant barriers to employment, including lack of work-appropriate clothing, limited access to computers or computer skills, and transportation issues. The dilemma is that these challenges are tough to surmount when people with a strong desire to work can’t access the practical tools they need to find and maintain long-term employment.
 

“Believe in something; stand for something; act on something.” These ideas epitomize the career of new AmeriCorps Director Bill Basl as he continues his impressive work in public and national service and takes the helm of the program with more than 80,000 members.
 

At the Corporation for National and Community Service, we hear and learn about amazing things happening through national service every day. But the best way to experience the power of national service isn’t in our headquarters in Washington, DC.
 

One of the major factors that contribute to children falling behind in reading is the learning loss that occurs during summer break. Low-income students, in particular, lose two to three months in reading achievement over the summer.
 

The London 2012 Summer Olympics opens tonight, and we’re feeling the Olympic spirit. With that in mind, we asked visitors to the AmeriCorps Facebook page which events would be included in an AmeriCorps Summer Games. As you might imagine, we received some mighty interesting responses.
 

Nearly half of Ohio’s school children qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, and many of these children do not have access to adequate nutrition during the summer months. This lack of access to adequate nutrition has been linked to poorer academic performance, which can easily perpetuate the vicious cycle of poverty.
 

The Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has a rich heritage in food production, but an increased reliance on processed foods has left them susceptible to America's obesity epidemic. One way to battle this problem is to increase the availability of locally grown, healthy food choices, and the Red Cliff Mino Bi Ma De Se Win (Return to the Good Life) Community Farm is tackling the problem head-on
 

On April 20, Nebraska young people paused for seven seconds of silence. These students and young adults were illustrating the fact that every seven seconds someone in our country is bullied. Together, 61,709 students and youth in communities across Nebraska made a personal pledge to fight bullying and stand up for those who are bullied.
 

Today, I was thrilled to be with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at Memorial Middle School in Orlando, FL to announce Together for Tomorrow, a new initiative to expand community engagement and citizen service to improve low-performing schools.
 

Today, a group of young men and women, many of them veterans, will stand up and pledge to “get things done for America”. They will join a legion of more than 750,000 Americans who have served in AmeriCorps and become the first class to also serve as VetCorps members.
 

On March 16, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made his last visit to the city of Los Angeles. He used that occasion to deliver a speech calling for an end to poverty, and to build support for a Poor People's Campaign to demand jobs, health care and housing for the country's poor.
 

Last week the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) convened more than 200 leaders in the disability and service communities at the 2011 Symposium on Service and Inclusion. Our goal: to discuss strategies to recruit, engage, and support more people with disabilities in national service.