11th ANNUAL MLK DAY OF SERVICE:
THOUSANDS PARTICIPATE

Tens of thousands of Americans served their communities on Martin Luther King Day, once again making the annual holiday a day on, not a day off. More than 600 volunteer projects were registered at http://www.mlkday.gov/ this year, an increase of 200 over last year; these included 100 projects registered by Senior Corps programs. The volunteers who participated in these projects in 49 states and the District of Columbia undertook such activities as rehabilitating schools and other facilities, helping homeless people develop resume writing and interviewing skills, and learning about the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. In addition to volunteering on King Day, numerous volunteers pledged to perform additional hours of service throughout 2006. With funding from Best Buy Co., Inc., six grantees were able to expand activities or undertake new projects this year. PennSERVE, the Governor’s Office of Citizen Service, for example, used the country’s largest King Day event in Philadelphia as a model for expanding the day of service into six other areas of the state. David Eisner, Corporation CEO, said, “The King Day of Service continues to grow. Serving on King Day is a fitting way of honoring a man to whom service was an essential ingredient of life. We look forward to doing even more on King Day 2007.”

JETBLUE AND AMERICORPS*VISTA:
DRESSED FOR SUCCESS

Passengers aboard JetBlue this spring will have the chance to enjoy an unusual offering on the airline’s in-flight network: a reality show featuring members of two families competing for prizes by completing various challenges assigned by the producers. In this case, the challenge was to provide a fashion makeover to four AmeriCorps*VISTA members serving with the nonprofit group Dress for Success Worldwide at New York’s Bloomingdale’s department store. Each member received $2,000 in Bloomingdale’s gift cards for their participation, while Dress for Success received $6,000 in gift cards to purchase much-needed shoes and plus-size clothing for the New York City programs. AmeriCorps*VISTA members Erica Grace Nelson, Vanessa Quick, Jenny Pinnick, and Sandy Ordonez participated.

SERVICE HEROES:
SERVICE-LEARNING TEACHER SUSIE RICHARDS

For Susie Richards, service-learning /Learning and Community Engagement coordinator for the South Whidbey School District on Whidbey Island, WA, service-learning is all about getting kids involved in the community. In the six years since the district received its first Learn and Serve America grant, the service-learning offerings have grown from the middle school to a system-wide program. As middle school students moved into their high school years, they requested service-learning experiences to expand on the middle school offerings. The result is projects such as the Island Coffee House, a project of the Community Engagement Center. In addition to providing work experience skills for credit and a place for student poets and artists can showcase their work, the coffee house is coordinating a Youth in Philanthropy program. The program involves youth “baristas” (the student workers) using tips left by customers to fund a variety of community projects. Student-workers are currently reviewing grant proposals to determine which of the community’s youth-oriented projects will receive funding. All students in the district can get involved in service-learning; special education students at the high school level, for example, take courses focusing on civic engagement and community internships so that the students can gain work experience. Richards, who attended South Whidbey schools, enjoys teaching the children of former students, as well as kids of her friends from school. “Relationships and human connections are what service-learning is all about,” she says.

PROMISING PROGRAMS:
LEWIS-CLARK AMERICORPS PROGRAM

The Program: The Lewis-Clark Service Corps AmeriCorps program is based at Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, ID, but that doesn’t mean all the AmeriCorps members are college students. The 75 members include students, recent graduates, and people who have not attended college. The members are placed at about 40 sites throughout the state in a variety of settings: charter schools, public schools, homeless shelters, other colleges and universities, and state agencies such as the Department of Corrections. Each year, members tutor and mentor about 5,000 at-risk students at all levels from pre-school through adult. At university settings, the AmeriCorps members serve in tutoring labs and student support service programs. Through a competitive host-site application process, the Service Corps provides grants to applicants who demonstrate a compelling need and a way to meet it. The program is a combination of two previous AmeriCorps programs that were located in Lewiston, in the northern part of the state, and in Boise, in the south. The two entities served similar populations; merging resulted in statewide service.

The Results: Pre- and post-testing confirms that the program regularly achieves about a 60 percent increase in testing results. Many of the adults reached through the program are in the prison system; Lewis-Clark AmeriCorps members help them obtain high school equivalency degrees.

Why It Works: The Service Corps’ strong partnership with community organizations that host members is a key to success. The Lewis-Clark program stresses training for the sites to ensure that they are ready to take on an AmeriCorps member, then follows up with ongoing member support. Increased success occurred after a highly focused supervisor training program was added to assist site supervisors. Offices in Boise and Lewiston ease the effort of keeping touch with sites across a large state.

Lessons: The program constantly seeks ways to improve and looks for ways to reinvent itself every year. The sites change on a regular basis, and the Service Corps sets standards to hold them accountable. For information, contact Debi Fitzgerald, (208) 792-2084, dfitzger@lcsc.edu.