The AmeriCorps program is hosting a Carver Community Clean-up and Cook Out event on May 16th from 12:00-4:00 to celebrate AmeriCorps Week. We are looking for volunteers to work beside AmeriCorps and community members. If you are interested in volunteering please contact 828-8850.
Members of the VCU AmeriCorps program were able to meet Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine at the 2008 Virginia Conference on Volunteerism and Community Service held April 23-25.
Need a job? Come to the AmeriCorps Informational Session on May 1st at 4:00. Located at the Marshall Street Annex at 1103 W. Marshall St. Call 828-8850 for more information.
On Saturday April 26, the VCU AmeriCorps program will host a Global and National Youth Service Day event. For more information or if you would like to volunteer contact 804-828-8850.
The first-ever Robert E. Wone Award for Exemplary Service was awarded Oct. 18 to Cheryl Jennings of Hampton. Ms. Jennings is a returning AmeriCorps member who has served with the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) - AmeriCorp and America Reads program since September 2006. As a single mother of three, she has continued to work full time for the last five years while attending college to obtain a bachelor's degree in social work. As an AmeriCorps member, she has completed more than 1,700 hours of service and was selected as "Team Leader of the Year 2006-2007" for providing a high level of service to her community as a team leader, reading coach, and student mentor at Richmond's Woodville Elementary School. Despite a serious ongoing physical condition, Ms. Jennings led five team members to successfully complete their service terms and earn education awards. She led her team to help increase state literacy test scores while also serving to plan events and recruit new members. The Robert E. Wone Award for Exemplary Service has been established in honor of Robert Wone, a member of the Governor's Commission on Community and National Service from 2002-2006. Wone was a tireless activist and volunteer who actively advanced the interests of many charitable organizations and provided many hours of pro bono legal services to help others. R
Excerpt from Volunteer Virginia Newsletter
Franklin Wallace has always been dedicated to serving his community-from founding a nationally-recognized nonprofit to serving on the Governor's Commission for Community and National Service (GCCNS). His career in community service began in 1995 when he co-founded a nonprofit small business incubator and training facility. During this period Wallace also completed two AmeriCorps service terms with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) AmeriCorps. As an AmeriCorps team leader, he coordinated member service activities at several nonprofit community service sites throughout Richmond. After his AmeriCorps service, Wallace returned to VCU's Office of Community Programs as Director of Project Tutor, an academic partnership for court-referred juvenile offenders between VCU and the City of Richmond's 13th District Juvenile Court. Soon afterward, Wallace became Field Coordinator for the VCU AmeriCorps and America Reads programs. In 2001, he became Director for these programs, helping to establish the program's successful legacy (VCU AmeriCorps received the Governor's Community Service and Volunteerism Award for Outstanding National Service Program in 2002). Wallace was also honored in 2002 for his outstanding commitment to service receiving special recognition by Governor Mark Warner for his coordinating efforts as the Director of Volunteer Liaisons for the Governor's Partnership for Achieving Successful Schools (PASS) Program for Richmond Public Schools. Today, Wallace remains a senior administrator in VCU's Division of Community Engagement, serves as the first two-term President of the VCU African American Alumni Council. He is also the inaugural Chairman of the Virginia Service Foundation, and this year, began his fourth term with the GCCNS, serving as Vice Chairman, and chair of its Resource Committee.
Excerpt from Volunteer Virginia Newsletter
JOIN VCU AMERICORPS!
Serve our community while receiving a monthly stipend and access to a tuition award. For more information please contact us at 804-828-8850 or click on the VCU AmeriCorps link.
Program is Virginia’s oldest and largest
Mike Porter
University News Services
(804) 828-7037
mrporter@vcu.edu
5/10/2007
Members of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Americorps program have much to be proud of as the current school year winds down. They’ve supported revitalization efforts in Richmond’s Carver neighborhood, worked with boys and girls clubs throughout Central Virginia and landscaped the grounds of Brook Haven Rest Home while socializing with the people who live there.
That’s in addition to the daily support they offer students from 16 Central Virginia elementary schools who struggle with learning to read.
Americorps is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, an independent federal agency that connects Americans of all ages and backgrounds in worthwhile community and national service projects. VCU’s Americorps program was launched in 1995 and is the oldest and largest in Virginia.
VCU Americorps is made up of members who are undergraduate and graduate students, VCU graduates and area high school students. Membership each year consists of seven full-time team leaders and 50 part-time reading coaches who work with local schools and community service agencies in a one-year term of service.
In addition to offering ongoing literacy support at elementary schools in the city of Richmond and Henrico and Chesterfield counties, members participate in three major events during the year: “Make a Difference Day” in October, “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day” in January and “Global Youth Service Day” in April.
While Americorps provides a living allowance and education awards to members, organizers say those who participate are motivated by much more than financial rewards.
"What really drives the majority of our members is a commitment to helping someone in need, to share personal and professional experiences that can lift other people,” said Franklin Wallace, VCU Americorps program director.
Since 1995, 615 VCU Americorps members have provided nearly 400,000 hours of community service in the Richmond metropolitan area. More than 4,400 local elementary students have received reading support since 1999. And the program has received $4.3 million in grants directly from the Corporation for National and Community Service.
The statistics are impressive, but members recognize that behind every number is a person in need. That connection shows up in the evaluation forms members fill out at the end of their terms of service.
Visit http://www.vcu.edu/ocp/programs/americorps/index.html to learn more about VCU’s Americorps program.
http://www.news.vcu.edu/vcu_view/pages.aspx?nid=2081