About Us | AllForGood:
All for Good is a hub for volunteerism and community service on the Internet, and a service of Points of Light. We envision the site as a meeting place for organizations and individuals, providing a communal platform that allows people to see where change is needed, and makes it easy for them to engage. Powered by the largest online database of volunteer opportunities, All for Good is connecting Americans with nonprofits both large and small.
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Why Helping Others Makes Us Happy | Case Foundation:
Helping our fellow man has long been seen as an altruistic behavioral model. But it turns out that more selfish motives—pleasing friends, doing what you want—are more successful causes of effective volunteering. Whatever the motive, volunteering improves the health, happiness, and in some cases, the longevity of volunteers
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National Service:
CNCS (Corporation for National and Community Service) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), through its Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), are entering into a strategic partnership to increase national service while facilitating the effective and efficient adjudication of immigration proceedings involving certain children who have crossed the border without a parent or legal guardian.
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The True Value of Employee Volunteerism | Points of Light:
As the economy recovers, we might expect companies to revert back to conventional giving strategies that are easier to coordinate and execute. But in fact the opposite is happening: employee volunteerism is becoming more prevalent. Why? Because it's a mutually beneficial and sustainable option for companies, nonprofit organizations, individual employees and most importantly, those in need.
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National Service:
As President Obama has said, “There are a lot of kids out there who need help, who are getting a lot of negative reinforcement. And is there more that we can do to give them the sense that their country cares about them and values them and is willing to invest in them?” The “My Brother’s Keeper” Mentoring Campaign will connect youth and young adults to caring mentors who will not only “give them the sense that their country cares” but will also help them to believe in themselves, aspire to new dreams, and climb the ladders of opportunity that President Obama is committed to creating in every American community.
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The Weird, Wild World of Citizen Science Is Already Here | The Governance Lab @ NYUThe Governance Lab @ NYU:
"If you ask a university researcher, they’re likely to explain citizen science as a way for the public to contribute data points to larger, professionally run studies, like participating in the galaxy-spotting website Zooniverse or taking part in the annual Christmas Bird Count with the Audubon Society. It’s a model on the scientific fringes; using broad participation to fill the gaps in necessary data."
There’s power in this diffuse definition, though, as long as new interpretations are welcomed and encouraged. By inviting and inspiring people to ask their own questions, citizen science can become much more than a way of measuring bird populations. From the drone-wielding conservationists in South Africa to the makeshift biolabs in Brooklyn, a widening circle of participants are wearing the amateur badge with honor. And all of these groups–the makers, the scientists, the hobbyists–are converging to create a new model for discovery. In other words, the maker movement and the traditional science world are on a collision course.
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National Service Agency Announces $205 Million in AmeriCorps Funding | Corporation for National and Community Service:
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) today announced $205 million in grants to put AmeriCorps members on the ground to tackle critical challenges in communities across the U.S.
The grants will allow more than 43,000 Americans the opportunity to serve their country through AmeriCorps. These AmeriCorps members will serve from coast to coast, strengthening education, providing disaster services, fostering economic opportunity, assisting veterans and military families, preserving the environment, and expanding health services.
In addition to the grant funding, CNCS is making available $163 million in education scholarships for AmeriCorps members serving under these grants. After completing a full term of service, members receive a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award of $5,645 to pay for college or to pay back student loans.
In addition to the $205 million in competitive AmeriCorps funding, CNCS is also awarding $115 million in formula funding to governor-appointed state service commissions. These funds will be awarded this summer to organizations in their states to support additional AmeriCorps members.
Get a Jump on Your Career by Helping Others Get a Jump on Theirs | Points of Light:
"Points of Light is searching for 50 people, who believe in the power of volunteer service to change lives, to serve with us as AmeriCorps VISTA members for one year in one of 10 cities – Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark, San Francisco, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.
"You’ll be helping us launch ServiceWorks, a new AmeriCorps VISTA program that will engage low-income 16- to 24-year-olds in training and service to increase their employability and prepare them for college and careers. ServiceWorks – powered by the Citi Foundation, AmeriCorps and Points of Light – will deploy 225 national service members over three years. You’ll be getting in on the ground floor!"
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Building Blocks of Citizenship: 50 Ways to Be a More Engaged, Active Citizen This Year | Citizenship on GOOD:
- While we routinely spend our entire lives becoming good family members and our adulthood becoming good parents, when it comes to being good citizens, we’re stuck in a prolonged infancy.
- That’s why we’ll be sharing essays, reports, and provocations over the next 50 weeks to reinforce 50 key building blocks to citizenship. Play around with them, experiment, stack them up, DO them—hopefully, by the end, we'll have learned to walk.
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Donna M. Butts: Civic Engagement Alive And Well With Older Adults:
- In a recent study of civic engagement among midlife and older adults, AARP found that the spirit of volunteering is alive and well among our older generations. Since the turn of the century, volunteer engagement has jumped 14 percent with 76 percent of those 45 and older saying they have volunteered in some capacity over the last 12 months. Although volunteerism dipped during the economic downturn in 2007-2008, it has since rebounded to pre-recession levels.
- When so many adult volunteers choose to give their time to programs serving children and youth, it says tremendous things about our future. Not only are we taking the time to share our wisdom and expertise with future generations, but we're also instilling the importance of giving back and sharing -- two core American values on which many fear we're losing ground.
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President Obama Expands National Service Opportunities for Americans | Corporation for National and Community Service:
- Today at the White House, President Obama honored President George H.W. Bush’s lifetime of public service and announced new steps to expand opportunities for Americans to solve problems and strengthen communities through national service programs like AmeriCorps.
- Building on a longstanding tradition of bipartisan Presidential support for service and volunteerism, the President announced an interagency task force led by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). The task force will develop strategies to expand national service to meet national needs through partnerships with other Federal agencies and the private sector.
- Among other activities, the task force will make recommendations on polices to expand national service opportunities, recommend ways to coordinate volunteering and service programs across the Federal government, develop opportunities for interagency agreements between CNCS and other federal agencies, and identify public-private partnerships to expand national service.
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America's Commitment to Volunteerism and Service | Points of Light:
- President H. W. Bush was the first president in U.S. history to institute a daily presidential recognition program from the White House, conferring 1,020 Daily Point of Light Awards between 1990 and 1993. And President Bush helped launch a nonprofit – Points of Light – that has become the largest organization in the world dedicated to volunteer service.
- President Obama built on this commitment to service when he signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in 2009, which will increase the size of AmeriCorps from 75,000 volunteers to 250,000 by 2017. In 2012, the President created the FEMA Corps program, which established a FEMA-dedicated unit of AmeriCorps members to work solely on disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts -- and he launched the Serve.gov platform to make it easier for Americans to find and post local volunteer opportunities.
- On Monday, the White House also announced plans to establish an interagency task force led by the Corporation for National and Community Service to develop strategies to expand national service to meet national needs through collaboration with other Federal agencies.
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Doing good is good for you « Blog Archive « Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship Blog:
- ... volunteering is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. In our study with the Optum Institute, Doing Good is Good for You: 2013 Health and Volunteering Study, we found that people who volunteer feel better – physically, mentally and emotionally. And volunteers tell us that they are convinced their health is better because of the things they do when they volunteer. Doing good is good for you!
- It’s true – volunteering makes us feel better. And while we’re feeling better, we’re also helping other people who benefit from our efforts feel better, too. Everybody wins.
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