Friends,
National AmeriCorps Week, which ended last Saturday, was an incredible time of service, celebration, bonding, and impact for AmeriCorps Alumni across the country. Points of Light supports and leads AmeriCorps Alums in our portfolio of programs to inspire, equip, and mobilize citizens to create change. More than 36,000 active AmeriCorps alumni engage through 100 chapters nationwide. Thousands of them participated in projects on land and in cyberspace, highlighting the effect that national service has had on their lives and on their communities.
Here are a few highlights:
Planned projects in Nashville, TN., were literally washed out by the flood, so AmeriCorps members and alums waded in to help with the recovery efforts. Austin, TX., accomplished 12 events in six days, including a “Walk for Change” to the Capitol, a flash mob, and Conan O’Brien as a guest speaker!
Portland, ME., one of the newest AmeriCorps Alum chapters, built a nature trail, while Portland, OR., restored river banks, including building 300 feet of split rail fence. Washington D.C. held an AmeriCorps night at the Nationals MLB game, cleared neighborhoods of debris left by record snowfalls this past winter, and held a “speed networking for good”.
The Philadelphia chapter kicked off the week with a large rally with the mayor at city hall, and Chicago organized service projects in community gardens to mobilize community members, no matter their age or abilities. Detroit showcased the power of AmeriCorps to impact the entire city, with mural painting, a free carnival, 40 blocks of neighborhood cleanup, playground rehabs, and rummage giveaways. The Sacramento chapter made Congresswoman Doris Matsui an honorary AmeriCorps member for a day to highlight its work.
Since 1994, more than half a million members have given more than 770 million hours of service, and that total counts just the years they were in the program. From service on MLK Jr. Day to creating more than 3,000 Disney Give A Day Get A Day projects, AmeriCorps Alums are actively engaged year ’round. The ideal of AmeriCorps is the lifetime engagement of national service alumni as a transformational force for change in America’s communities, from youth through old age, and AmeriCorps Week highlights the impact of that ideal.
This past weekend, I had the honor of addressing the graduating class of Wesleyan College in Macon, GA. Service to the community has been an integral part of the Wesleyan experience since the college’s founding in 1836. Two-thirds of Wesleyanstudents are involved in community service and, since 2002, its Lane Center for Community Engagement and Service has helped ensure that service learning is a major part of the school’s environment. To read my thoughts to these graduates about their power to change the world through service, please click here.
As students and AmeriCorps members graduate this spring and become alumni, they enter a world of extraordinary need. They also embody a new generation of citizenship and a passionate commitment to service. It is exciting to imagine the possibilities that they will bring to the critical national and international needs and priorities of our time.
Yours in Service,
Michelle Nunn
CEO, Points of Light Institute
Co-Founder, HandsOn Network