Celebrities, Sports Leagues and Corporations Call on Americans to Participate

Since the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act was passed earlier this spring, there have been many actions taken by individuals, organizations and companies to further promote volunteerism and community service. In the past, there have been numerous celebrities promoting all kinds of causes and charities, but lately a younger generation is demonstrating an unprecedented involvement in promoting volunteerism.

Ann Hathaway was recently selected as a spokesperson for ServiceNation, a coalition of organizations aimed to inspire volunteerism, while Usher made a $1 million donation to launch “Powered by Service,” an international movement to seed youth-led service projects. Even the teenage idol, Miley Cyrus, is working with Youth Service America to promote the new campaign, “Get UR Good On” to encourage young people to volunteer and participate in civic engagement.

Many companies also kicked off campaigns to promote volunteerism in various ways. Disney announced its new “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” promotion will start on January 1, 2010, and continue through mid-December, aiming to inspire one million people to volunteer. In this campaign, people interested in volunteering can search for volunteer opportunities through the HandsOn Network and sign up for a day of service (pre-registration and sign-up is a must). After searching for volunteer opportunities, pre-registering and signing up at DisneyParks.com, participants will be rewarded for their service with a free one-day ticket to one of the participating Disney theme parks.

In addition, Sage Hospitality Resources, a hotel management and development company that works on several major hotel chains including Hilton, Marriott and Starwood, also created a campaign called “Give A Day, Get a Night,” at which people give eight hours of community service and get a 50% discount, or even a complimentary one night stay at one of the participating hotels.

Sports leagues such as the MLB and NBA are also doing their part to promote community service. The 2009 World Series added seven community service focused themes, one for each game of the series. During Game 2, on October 30, 2009, the Roberto Clemente Award was awarded to Derek Jeter for his Turn 2 Foundation and its efforts helping kids. The Award is given in honor of Roberto Clemente, a former Pittsburgh Pirates player who fully devoted himself to community service and was killed in a plan crash en route to a humanitarian mission in Nicaragua.

The NBA held a NBA Cares Week of Service during which teams and players worked with local communities on a series of projects including park clean-up, care package giveaways and food service.

TV stations and shows also played their parts. ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC gathered their stars for public service announcements introducing iParticipate, a new volunteer initiative led by The Entertainment Industry Foundation. During the following week, which was called the “Volunteer Week”, several TV shows had characters volunteering and doing community service in the shows, such as CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Ghost Whisperer and The Mentalist.

The efforts of these many organizations and companies, the Entertainment Industry Foundation and many celebrity personalities, to promote service are a promising effort toward making service a part of everyday life for many Americans. They are further supported by the efforts of the Obama Administration’s call to service and the Kennedy Serve America Act, hopefully providing many more opportunities for Americans across the country to get involved in building their communities

Queen Rania and US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis stress the importance of investing in education

On September 24, during a Plenary Session titled “Creating Good Jobs and Strong Communities,” Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) participants emphasized the importance of education.

Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan said education is a priority during elections, but as a less seemingly dramatic issue it slips down the list of priorities when politicians are in office. Queen Rania said, “Education is an issue of life and death. If you educate a child he is 50% less likely to get HIV/AIDS.”

To create a sense of what is needed internationally Queen Rania said, “We need $11 million to get all children in developing countries into education. That’s about what Americans spend on their pets every month.” Queen Rania believes involving the private sector in efforts for improving education is one way to advance this cause. She said we must “understand that education is not just the government’s responsibility. It’s everyone’s responsibility.”

Speaking about the need to focus on education within the U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said, “The investment is sorely needed in young people. There are a lot of young adults who don’t have the financial ability to enter a four year college.”

Secretary Solis said investment in community colleges is “one step in the right direction,” but work is needed to “allow for four-year universities to make their tuition more affordable.” Speaking to funders and representatives from non-profits Secretary Solis said, “I would encourage people to reach out to this new administration, especially from the NGO side.”

Innovative approaches are needed throughout the education field. In the U.S. teacher retention and shortages are a major challenge in public schools that can impede young people’s ability to access quality education at a young age and create barriers to future academic success. Innovations in Civic Participation (ICP) is partnering with the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) in the creation of alternative pathways to teaching for AmeriCorps members.

This project is aimed at addressing the challenges of teacher shortages and retention in the most challenging schools by tapping an important pool of diverse, talented and committed future teachers—AmeriCorps members whose service focuses on education, children and young people in the most disadvantaged communities throughout the United States.

Given their commitment and experience serving in challenging educational settings, ICP and NCTAF believe that AmeriCorps members are a powerful resource for schools with high teacher shortages and low retention rates, if provided with suitable pathways to obtaining the necessary teacher certification. You can learn more about Pathways to Teaching here.

Usher and Philippe Cousteau create new service-learning initiatives

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of blog posts from ICP’s Summer of Service Fellow, Josh Truitt, from the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting

On September 24 Usher and Philippe Cousteau announced two new service-learning initiatives as part of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting.

Usher’s New Look (UNL), an organization that uses service-learning to help young people become corporate and community leaders, is launching Powered By Service. This new initiative will involve over 5 million youth in service in the US and internationally by giving them access to online toolkits and chances to apply for financial resources to support service-learning projects. Through this initiative young people will be given the tools to identify and respond to community needs including malaria, HIV/AIDS, gang violence prevention and water issues. UNL is collaborating with a number of partners including HandsOn Network, City Year, Public Allies and Service Nation.

At CGI Usher announced a personal commitment of $1 million to Powered By Service. Usher said he wants to make service, “something that’s not handed down as a sentence for youth. It’s not until you really give them the opportunity to give you their take. The reality is becoming more vivid day by day that service is changing the world to be a better place.”

Usher discussed his personal experience with service as a young person: “I can remember as a child being a part of Boys and Girls Club of America and we did service projects… Me and a group of my friends in Chattanooga, TN, came together and became an anti-drug youth group.” Because of his personal experience with service Usher has chosen to use his position as a media figure to create opportunities for youth-led service projects: “We really can make a difference when we put that power in the youth’s hands. Service can make a difference in any issue.” Usher also announced there will be a service project connected to his upcoming tour, though the details are not yet available.

UNL focuses on service-learning because of a belief in the power of youth-led service projects. Malea Murray, a former New Look camper and current Mogul in Training (MIT), joined Usher at the press conference and discussed the leadership role MIT youth have taken in the creation of Powered By Service: “We actually created the grant for Powered By Service and the grant application for Nothing But Nets grants. Now they’re available for youths… to create service projects… that are accessible, diverse and relevant to their issues.” Nothing But Nets is a campaign to end malaria.

Philippe Cousteau, great-grandson of Jacques Cousteau and Co-Founder and CEO of EarthEcho International, also announced the organization’s Water Planet Challenge program. EarthEcho International empowers young people to act to restore and protect the water planet. Water Planet Challenge will make service-learning lesson plans developed by HandsOn Network available to every middle and high school student in the US. EarthEcho International is partnering with UNL to make environmentally themed service-learning curriculum available to young people.

Cousteau said this new program is part of a broad effort to revolutionize international youth service by using the internet to help youth all over the world engage in service-learning. Cousteau spoke in support of service-learning as a strategy for youth education and empowerment. He said, “There’s this assumption that awareness leads to action. In reality action leads to awareness.” By acting on crucial environmental issues through service-learning projects young people become invested in learning more about the issue and staying involved in future action. Cousteau also emphasized the leadership development component of service-learning: “There’s no end to what young people can achieve. We think that by doing good service, giving them the tools and raising the profile of [service] we are creating leaders.”

To learn more about Powered By Service and Usher’s New Look visit http://www.poweredbyservice.org and http://www.ushersnewlook.org. To learn more about EarthEcho International visit http://www.earthecho.org.

President Obama emphasizes the importance of service at the Clinton Global Initiative

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of blog posts from ICP’s Summer of Service Fellow, Josh Truitt, from the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting

I have the honor of spending most of this week at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in New York City. CGI brings together world leaders from government, nonprofits and the private sector to discuss solutions to some of our world’s most pressing challenges. Sixty current and former heads of state, 500 business leaders and 400 leaders of NGOs are in attendance.

President Obama addressed the CGI meeting on Tuesday, September 22 as part of the Opening Plenary. In his introduction President Clinton emphasized President Obama’s experience as a community organizer, telling the room full of philanthropists from around the globe that “It’s a good thing to have a President with an NGO background.”

President Obama’s speech emphasized the importance of service. He told the meeting, “You don’t have to hold public office to be a public servant. Anyone can do it.”

President Obama linked community and national service with the work of philanthropists. He discussed expanding the number of AmeriCorps national service members from 75,000 to 250,000 per year and the creation of the Social Innovation Fund which will leverage federal funding to identify and grow proven and new ideas that address community issues. The President also identified links between efforts to expand national service in the US and the Clinton Global Initiative’s work, which promotes innovation internationally and focuses on supporting service in communities with the most need.

The President continued, “Real progress doesn’t just come from the top down, from government. It comes from the bottom up, from people.” Similarly, at Innovations in Civic Participation, we believe in the power of young people to create innovative solutions to social challenges through engagement in their communities, and that it is the responsibility of governments, private and nonprofit sector organizations to support and promote the most successful approaches. In particular, ICP promotes a positive view of young people that recognizes their potential to create beneficial and lasting social change in their communities through active participation in service opportunities.

Please check back for updates about other inspiring and influential speakers at the meeting as we look forward to discussing the importance of youth civic engagement in solving some of the world’s most critical needs.

Senator Harkin Supports Serve America Act at Hill Day Kick Off

On September 15 national service advocates and practitioners from 40 states participated in Voices for National Service’s Hill Day. They rallied in Washington, DC, to ask their Senators and Representatives to fully fund the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. I attended the kick off event for Hill Day on behalf of Innovations in Civic Participation (ICP).

Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and other service advocates addressed the crowd. The Senator emphasized the need for fully supporting the Serve America Act. The appropriation level he is requesting for the Serve America Act is higher than President Obama’s request and much higher than the House request. He urged participants in the Hill Day to ask their Representatives to support the Senate appropriation levels. To learn more and take action to support national service funding go here.

Senator Harkin spoke positively about working toward expanding AmeriCorps to 250,000 members by 2017 and he hopes that goal can be met sooner. He provided anectdotes about the important work of volunteers during disaster relief and focused specifically on the work of seniors. The Senator discussed increasing education awards and making it possible for SeniorCorps education awards to be transferred to any other person (not only family members) or perhaps individuals from low-income backgrounds.

The Senator was recently named chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee while also chairing the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. At the Tuesday event, Senator Harkin emphasized the importance of the HELP Committee and joked that appropriators and authorizers are always told to talk with each other and now he needs to talk with himself.

Following the Senator’s remarks Voices organizers sent participants off to a day of meetings advocating for national service.

Voices for National Service is a coalition of national service programs and organizations, state commissions and individuals who come together to advocate for national service. ICP is a Voices member. Voices was founded in 2003 in response to major cuts in federal funds for AmeriCorps. Voices members have participated in annual Hill Days since 2005. Thanks to the coalition’s work government support for national service in the US is now stronger then ever.