Current Issue - December - January 2009
(Release Date: January 28, 2009)

Welcome to the Current issue of the monthly NC Campus Compact Digest E-Newsletter. Announcements are posted on this page. Please click on the headings below to link to another section.

Announcements

Awards and Contests

Calls for Papers and Requests for Info

Grants and Funding Opportunities
Job Opportunities

Internship and Fellowship Opportunities

Calendar:  Conferences and Events

VISTA

Resources

Announcements

• A Warm Welcome to Our Newest Members
• It's 2009-2010 AmeriCorps*VISTA Recruitment Time!
• VISTA Host Campus Applications Due February 16, 2009
• NC Campus Compact's "Partnerships" Online Journal Coming this Spring
• SAVE THE DATE: AmeriCorps Week 2009!
• Two NC Universities Awarded Grants to Build Cadre of Community-Engaged Faculty
• Serve America Act
• Service in the Stimulus Plan
• President Obama's Service Agenda

A Warm Welcome to Our Newest Members

Since the November Digest, NC Campus Compact has welcomed two new members! We welcome to our network Barton College President Dr. Norval C. Kneten, and Kelly Thompson, Vice President for External Relations, our primary contact, and Campbell University President Jerry M. Wallace and Faithe Campbell, the Campus Minister, who will serve as the primary contact.   This brings our membership to 41 members; 38 individual campuses and the 3 sector offices. For a complete list, visit this link.

It's 2009-2010 AmeriCorps*VISTA Recruitment Time!

NC Campus Compact has begun recruiting applicants for 2009-2010  AmeriCorps*VISTAs. As we open the search nationally, we are also looking for some of North Carolina’s best. If you know of highly motivated, civically-minded students graduating this spring who may want to spend a year serving in this capacity on your campus or on another campus in the state, please contact Jonathan Romm, VISTA Director at jromm@elon.edu.

VISTA Host Campus Applications Due February 16, 2009

The North Carolina Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA program allows you the opportunity to host a full-time volunteer on your campus for one year to start, enhance and sustain projects that lead to increased campus participation in community and public service. You must re-apply to host a NC Campus Compact VISTA each year. To host a 2009-2010 VISTA, member campuses must complete a Host Site Application and a Volunteer Assignment Description (VAD). Click here to download the host site application and here to download the VAD.

The application and VAD are due to Jonathan Romm, VISTA Program Director, by February 16. Feel free to contact Jonathan (jromm@elon.edu) with any questions you may have about the application process or the NC Campus Compact VISTA Program.

NC Campus Compact's "Partnerships" Online Journal Coming this Spring

The online journal team is on schedule to publish the first issue this spring.   Thanks to editor Tracy Espy, at Pfeiffer University, and the online journal team: Norman Clark and Shari Galiardi at Appalchian State; Liz Henderson, Duke; Sue Steinweg, ECU; and Spoma Jovanovich, UNC-G.

For more information, visit the website at http://www.partnershipsjournal.org/index.php/part/index.

SAVE THE DATE: AmeriCorps Week 2009!

Do you host the NC-ACTS!* AmeriCorps Program or AmeriCorps VISTA?  If so, you understand the benefit and powerful impact of the AmeriCorps program.  Please consider hosting an event during AmeriCorps Week to spread the word about national service!

What Is AmeriCorps Week?

AmeriCorps Week is a recruitment and recognition event designed to bring more Americans into service, salute AmeriCorps members and alums for their powerful impact, and thank the community partners who make AmeriCorps possible.

AmeriCorps Week provides an opportunity for AmeriCorps members, alums, grantees, program partners, and friends to shine a spotlight on the work done by members in communities across the country—and to motivate more Americans to join AmeriCorps or volunteer in their communities.

When is AmeriCorps Week?

The third annual AmeriCorps Week will take place May 9-16, 2009.

What Activities are Planned?

AmeriCorps Week events happen across the country. They include statewide AmeriCorps gatherings, award ceremonies, “AmeriCorps for a Day” events with local VIPs, community service projects, recruitment fairs, and more.

What Can I Do During AmeriCorps Week?

Those with a special interest in AmeriCorps are encouraged to use their creativity to mark the week in any way they see fit. For example, members and alumni could make presentations to students or community groups. Grantees could stage an open house, service project, or volunteer fair. Local officials and leaders could be asked to serve as an AmeriCorps member for a day. And members and programs could “spread the word” about the power of service by writing letters to the editor or blogging about their AmeriCorps service online.

Visit this link for the AmeriCorps Week website.

Two NC Universities Awarded Grants to Build Cadre of Community-Engaged Faculty

Congratulations to North Carolina State University and UNC Chapel Hill who are receiving grants along with Northwestern University, Ohio University, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities!

Faculty for the Engaged Campus is pleased to announce that it has made grants to six universities to design, implement and evaluate innovative faculty development programs that advance community-engaged scholarship (CES).  Each grant is for $15,000 over a two-year period.  The six institutions were among twenty that convened in Chapel Hill, NC in May 2008 for an intensive charrette to design campus-wide, competency-based models of faculty development that support community-engaged careers in the academy.   Institutions participating in the charrette were invited to submit proposals to implement and evaluate their designs. Grantees will share progress and address challenges through conference calls and meetings, access technical assistance facilitated by the Faculty for the Engaged Campus leadership team and consultants, and participate in an evaluation of the process and impact of their programs.

Below are summaries of the projects proposed by our own NC State and UNC Chapel Hill:

North Carolina State University:
NC State's faculty development initiative will increase the visibility of and build faculty capacity for CES through an intensive two-year program called EDGES (Education and Discovery Grounded in Engaged Scholarship). EDGES is a developmentally-structured, competency-based approach to supporting faculty in the design and implementation of CES projects during key transition points (or edges) in their career paths-projects that, in turn, involve students at key transition points in their undergraduate careers. Twenty-four faculty members (6 at each of 4 career stages: graduate students, new faculty, post-tenure faculty, and end-of-career faculty) will undertake a series of professional development activities (both within and across stage cohorts; partly in collaboration with community partners) that will be oriented toward the development of a CES project (teaching or research) to be implemented with undergraduates (in the first or final year of their undergraduate careers). EDGES will support an intergenerational mentoring community of faculty whose CES activities will be explicitly designed for curricular connections and in collaboration with community partners.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:
UNC Chapel Hill will build on existing efforts and interests regarding faculty awareness and competencies in relation to CES.  Presently, the Faculty Engaged Scholars Program is an intensive opportunity for a limited number of faculty who are selected through a competitive process. The proposed activities include enhancing that program as well as facilitating roles for the Faculty Engaged Scholars in broader faculty development efforts including workshops and the annual Tar Heel Bus Tour.  These activities will provide breadth to current efforts by targeting faculty who may be new to the concept of CES and depth by building on the interest of experienced faculty.  The university's goals include increasing knowledge and skills of faculty around CES, both generally and specifically as they relate to issues of promotion and tenure. In addition, they will increase the role of community representatives in faculty development.

For more information visit the Faculty for the  Engaged Campus homepage at http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/faculty-engaged.html

Serve America Act

On January 16, Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced the "Serve America Act," a bill to expand national and community service opportunities for all Americans.  Senators Mikulski, McCain, Dodd, Cochran, Reid, Gregg, Durbin, Wicker, Murray, Snowe, Kerry, Lincoln, Cardin, Rockefeller, Schumer, Whitehouse, Menendez, Bayh and Landrieu are also sponsors of the legislation. 

This is the same bill that was introduced at the ServiceNation Summit in New York City last September. When it was introduced then, it included now President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton as cosponsors. The bill is based largely on the ServiceNation Blueprint, endorsed by  100+ other national organizations.

The higher education service-learning section of the bill includes the following:

• Campuses of Service - to identify and recognize institutions of higher education that serve as model Campuses of Service;
• Service-Learning Impact Study - to conduct a 10-year longitudinal study on the impact of service-learning activities authorized by this Act.

In addition, many of the other parts of this legislation will benefit youth service and service-learning. For example, many of the Education Corps will no doubt engage the students they work with in service and service-learning.

Senator Kennedy, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said,  "The Serve America Act will increase service opportunities for Americans of all ages, from young people helping to improve their own communities, to retiring professionals who can apply the skills they've gained over a lifetime to some of our greatest challenges.  It will enable many more Americans to be part of the solution to major national challenges, such as the lack of health care in our needy communities, the problems in our schools, and the energy and environmental crises that threaten our planet."

Read the full news release.
View the current status of the bill and download the full text when it is made available.

Service in the Stimulus Plan

More than one thousand non-profit organizations, academic institutions, foundations, and corporations sent a letter to Members of Congress and the Administration calling for an "all hands on deck" strategy and urging that a non-profit stimulus package be incorporated into the overall economic stimulus plan because it would create jobs while serving the needs of millions of Americans. 
 
The letter says that "a targeted investment in national and community service and a non-profit stimulus package to match new investments from philanthropy would create hundreds of thousands of low-cost jobs."

On January 15, 2009, the House Committee on Appropriations introduced the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009, stimulus legislation that aims to create and save 3 to 4 million jobs, to jumpstart the economy, and to provide needed services to Americans. Identified as a priority investment in the bill, AmeriCorps programs would receive $200 million to put approximately 16,000 additional AmeriCorps members to work meeting the needs of vulnerable populations and communities during the recession.

The House package directs the AmeriCorps funding be made available to supplement or expand existing grants to programs already operating in the field. The Corporation for National and Community Service will have authority to use the money in either fiscal year 2009 or 2010.

To read the full statement summarizing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009, visit: http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-15-09.pdf
 
Congress hopes to complete a stimulus package by mid-February, and President-elect Obama has identified the legislation as one of his top priorities

President Obama's Service Agenda

President Obama made strong commitments to service during the campaign (signing the ServeNext Presidential Pledge , making a major speech on service in Iowa last December, appearing at the ServiceNation Presidential Forum , cosponsoring the Serve America Act ) . He continued that commitment during the transition, calling the country to service on MLK Day of Service, launching the USAService.org website, and speaking about service at the MTV/Be The Change Youth Inaugural Ball. We expect that commitment to service will continue; at the new WhiteHouse.gov   website, the new Administration's service agenda is outlined, including college-related service-learning items:

Integrate Service into Learning

• Require 100 Hours of Service in College: Establish a new American Opportunity Tax Credit worth $4,000 a year in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year.
• Promote College Serve-Study: Ensure that at least 25 percent of College Work-Study funds are used to support public service opportunities instead of jobs in dining halls and libraries.

Read the complete service agenda of President Obama's Administration at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/service/

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