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, including a new initiative to place AmeriCorps members in underperforming schools across the nation.

AmeriCorps

New AmeriCorps Program Boost Turnaround Schools
Serve.gov, Feb. 25, 2013
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and U.S. Department of Education announced a new collaborative effort today to strengthen and accelerate interventions in our nation's lowest-performing schools. The new School Turnaround AmeriCorps program will support a dedicated unit of AmeriCorps members that will provide additional support and resources in persistently underachieving schools. Read more >>

College Forward mentoring program encourages student self-advocacy
The Daily Texan (Texas), March 1, 2013
Receiving both funds and educators from AmeriCorps, a federal program designed to subsidize community service organizations, College Forward set out to tackle this discrepancy in education for disadvantaged students. High school juniors and seniors who qualify for free or reduced lunch, or are recent immigrants to the United States, can apply for the program's free mentoring services. Read more >>

Students benefitting from early-intervention program
Bemidji Pioneer (Minnesota), Feb. 28, 2013
Response to Intervention, or RTI, is a program that evaluates and identifies students who need early-intervention services. …The Reading Corps, an AmeriCorps program that provides tutors to schools, follows an RTI model. Tutors meet with their students 20 minutes a day, building phonics, phonemic awareness and fluency skills. Read more >>

YouthBuild builds futures and hopes to build even more
South Coast Today (Massachusetts), Feb. 28, 2013
Andrade is the AmeriCorps coordinator. He said that on Fridays students explore opportunities for service, taking up the issues dearest to them. If local groups are already working on these initiatives, they will engage with existing projects. If they don't exist, students look at ways of getting involved on their own, with the backing of the AmeriCorps coordinators. Read more >>

New Report Highlights Role of Nonprofits in Over Educational Effects of Poverty
MSN Money, Feb. 25, 2013
A unique combination of nonprofit, specialized organizations that leverage all community assets by deploying community volunteers and full-time national service members can make full use of the available assets. AmeriCorps programs like Jumpstart, Citizen Schools, Playworks, City Year and others can work in partnership with a district for this purpose. Read more >>

AmeriCorps NCCC

Volunteers to help fix roofs of needy area residents
Meadville Tribune (Pennsylvania), Feb. 22, 2013
Roof rehabilitation is often too expensive and labor-intensive for the scope of Make a Difference Day (MADD), says organizer Dave Roncolato, but he refuses to let limited resources hinder complete service to the community. In conjunction with the United Way of Western Crawford County, MADD organizers have secured special help to fix the roofs of locals in need. AmeriCorps and local civic groups are stepping forward to complete these expensive and complicated projects. Read more >>

AmeriCorps VISTA

A Jobs Solution Worthy of Replication
The Huffington Post, March 4, 2013
In the last seven months, I have been fortunate to serve as a full-time AmeriCorps VISTA for a non-profit Brooklyn-based workforce development organization called Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, which provides sector-focused skills training to poor and low-income men and women in New York City. Read more>>

Let's Talk with Sarah Gay
The State (South Carolina), Feb. 23, 2013
Columbia College students are adding to community efforts to combat homelessness. … The homeless outreach was coordinated by Sarah Gay of AmeriCorps VISTA, a national service program designed to fight poverty. Gay spoke Friday about the outreach and ongoing efforts to address homelessness in the community. Read more >>

Senior Corps

Foster Grandparents

Woman, 93, beloved as ‘class granny' to children in Corpus Christi kindergarten
Corpus Christi Caller- Times (Texas), Feb. 18, 2013
While some nonagenarians play bingo at retirement centers, one Corpus Christi woman goes to kindergarten five days a week. She's been the class granny for 15 years. "Our granny is a ball of energy," said Melissa Garcia, teacher at Galvan Elementary School, about the 93-year-old foster grandparent in her classroom each day. "She's my right hand and my left hand." Read more >>

RSVP

Disaster preparedness training for Monroe seniors
Pocono Record (Pennsylvania), March 4, 2013
The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, whose mission is to enrich the lives of seniors by tapping into their experience and talents and involving them in community service, is developing two new programs this year. Training for the Disaster Preparedness for Seniors program began in February and a training program with Compassionate Care, a local hospice, begins on March 6. Read more >>

Other CNCS News

New program to help local veterans
Brattleboro Reformer (Vermont), Feb. 28, 2013
Military servicemembers and veterans, and their families, often fight with conditions brought on by the demands of their lives -- from post-traumatic stress disorder to substance abuse to domestic abuse. With this mind, the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, in partnership with the National Guard Bureau's Prevention, Treatment and Outreach Program, with funding assistance from the Corporation for National and Community Service, created the VetCorps project to make sure military families have access to the services they need. There is a special emphasis on serving the needs of National Guard and Reserve families. Read more >>

Hearts full of charity
Daily Herald (Utah), Feb. 25, 2013
Utahns consistently top national studies for having the highest percentage of residents who volunteer. For the past seven years, in fact, Utah has been listed in the No. 1 slot, according to a report from Volunteering and Civic Life in America. Read more >>

Hurricane Isaac

FEMA releases its ‘snapshot' of Isaac recovery
KNOE (Louisiana), Feb. 22, 2013
400- More than 400 AmeriCorps, Senior Corps and FEMA Corps members assisted Louisianians in shelters, volunteer centers and neighborhoods, and helped survivors and communities clean up and rebuild after the storm. Read more >>

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) today announced the five institutions that are the Presidential Awardees in the 2013 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. This designation is the highest honor a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement.
 

So, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and florists will be scrambling to fill orders and chocolate consumption is expected to rise by maybe a jillion percent. Suppose we take this day dedicated to love and use it to show that we have big hearts by serving or giving to others?
 

One of the greatest things about the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is that when we pause to celebrate the life and accomplishments of the civil rights leader, we are also inspired to answer what he called life’s most persistent question: “What are you doing for others?” We can respond with action via MLK Day projects and National Day of Service activities surrounding the upcoming inauguration.
 

The new Volunteering and Civic Life in America report gives researchers at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) a chance to examine some of the trends in these two important areas of life in these United States. This data from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 51 cities provides a snapshot of how Americans are coming together to improve our communities and who is leading the way.
 

Our friends weigh in often on our Facebook page with comments, opinions, and all kinds of interesting observations.
 

Twenty-five years ago, Ferris Bueller skipped school to spend a day of frivolous fun with his friends. He had little regard for authority, responsibility or the rules. We all wanted to be Ferris – slightly cynical, charmingly irreverent, and clever. Ferris – and the movie he starred in – defined a generation – my generation, Generation X.
 

Every day, volunteers are giving their time and talents to help better their community and their country. Last week, we released our annual Volunteering in America report -- data critical for understanding volunteer trends and demographics, including who is serving, where they are serving and where community needs still exist. This data is vital for elected officials and nonprofit leaders as they develop strategies to mobilize more Americans to address local needs through service.
 

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. In this edition, take a look at some of the great stories that featured the recent Volunteering In America report.
 

As the nation works to tackle some of its toughest challenges and expand opportunity for all Americans, volunteers are resolute in their commitment to their neighbors and communities, with 62.8 million adults serving almost 8.1 billion hours in local and national organizations in 2010. This is just one finding from the Volunteering in American 2011 report.