National Service News: I Want My National Service TV

You're gonna like what you see [] Having trouble viewing this email? [View it as a Web page](. [I want my National Service TV! (This is a re-imagining of MTV's moonman bumper from the channels debut in 1981.)]( I Want My National Service TV When MTV launched on August 1, 1981, the new cable network changed the way we think about music. The channel cemented a sea change – especially for music’s biggest stars – that moved music from a primarily audio medium to a visual one as well. Singers can tell incredible stories through their music, but, frankly, we wouldn’t want to live in a world without the “Thriller” zombie dance. Everybody has a story, as the saying goes, and our AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Social Innovation Fund programs have many of their own to tell. We don’t always set them to music, but they still make a great impression. Today, [we are sharing a new video]( about the [AmeriCorps Urban Safety Corps program in Detroit](. (You should watch it. [It’s a really cool story.]( Through a collaboration with Wayne State University, and the governor’s and mayor’s offices, this unique crime reduction model has made a significant impact on several Motor City neighborhoods by reducing blight, boarding up vacant homes, creating safe routes to schools, and expanding neighborhood watch groups. The results? This AmeriCorps team boarded up 1,660 vacant homes. They started 179 block clubs while engaging 19,504 residents, increasing community involvement. They installed deadbolt locks for homeowners. They served more than 600 domestic violence survivors. Their actions reduced crime in AmeriCorps service areas by 26%, saving the city of Detroit $302 million in police costs. Even better, because we work with local leaders to provide local solutions, 98% of the AmeriCorps Urban Safety Corps members came from Detroit. One of those AmeriCorps alums, David Wiggins, used his experience to discover a career as a police officer. The Detroit native has taken the lessons he learned in AmeriCorps to his new job in Pearland, Texas. “A lot of police work is reactive, but the Urban Safety Program is proactive in increasing public safety,” said Wiggins. “The results speak for themselves. It could be applied anywhere in any community.” As we mentioned earlier, we have a lot of stories to tell at CNCS. From video explainers about how our programs work; to the ways we served in places touched by disasters like [the tornado in Joplin, Mo.]( and [Hurricanes Katrina]( and [Sandy]( [to the children who love our Foster Grandparents]( (who love them right back); to the many other ways we’ve served around the country, going back more than 50 years in some cases. And [sometimes we even sing about it, bravely]( without the help of Auto-Tune. (You’ve been warned.) We created a [National Service TV playlist]( on our YouTube channel to gather some of our favorite video stories in one place. Skip the summer reruns and watch some stories about service that matters. You might even feel like dancing when you're done. In service, CNCS Office of External Affairs P.S. Fun facts: The image above is a re-imagining of the MTV moonman bumper from the network's debut in 1981. The first video ever played on MTV was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles. The video hasn’t aged well, but it remains iconic because of the place it holds in pop culture history. The Impact of National Service [Melissa Dunson, an AmeriCorps member with Michigan’s Campaign to End Homelessness, is hosted a photo shoot for graduating homeless students. ]( [AmeriCorps Member Helps Homeless Students with Senior Pictures]( As the school year comes to a close, graduating seniors across the state are celebrating their successes and planning their futures. For many students, though, graduation isn’t all pomp and circumstance. For teens experiencing homelessness, senior year doesn’t look quite the same. Senior pictures and graduation parties can be a struggle, but fortunately, there are many people who want to help. Melissa Dunson, an AmeriCorps member with Michigan’s Campaign to End Homelessness (CTEH), saw the problem and decided to make a change. Recently, Dunson hosted the first annual photo shoot for high school seniors experiencing homelessness. [Read more]( [Deputy Kayla Juliet is the second woman to graduate from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office K9 program. (By Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times)]( [Pinellas sheriff’s K9 unit welcomes first female deputy in 35 years, second in agency history (AmeriCorps)]( Kayla Juliet didn't know much about the tryout, but she did know about the infamous 80-pound bag. The duffle, stuffed with two bags of dog food taped together, was supposed to symbolize an injured dog to help prepare the K9 deputy hopefuls for a worst-case scenario. So Juliet added a bag of concrete of the same weight to her workouts in the month leading up to the tryout. It was grueling — "it's hard to imagine something that rough," she said. But she made it through, graduating alongside her partner, Jace, on May 30. [Read more]( [Karen Giner hugs student Nadia Peterson during their first meeting after being pen pals for a year. (Photo by Chuck Miller/Winona Daily News)]( [Mail Day: Students, Older Adult Pen Pals Meet (RSVP)]( When Carolyn Lutz would tell her fourth-grade class at Washington-Kosciusko Elementary School it was mail day, she said, the room would erupt with clapping and cheers because that meant they had heard from their pen pals again. On Monday afternoon, as the fourth-grade students lined up in the school gym, their pen pals greeted them with cheers and applause. It was mail day, again, but this time they were going to converse in person. Throughout the school year, older adults from the Winona Senior Friendship Center and Pleasant Valley Church have been corresponding with fourth-grade students in Carolyn Lutz’s class at the Winona Area Public Schools elementary school. Monday afternoon the pen pals met and enjoyed refreshments, gifts and a student performance. The Reasons to Write program, through the Winona Catholic Charities’ Common Good Retired Senior and Volunteer Program (RSVP), pairs elementary students with older adults in the area and has them write letters back and forth. [Read more]( Watch It: AmeriCorps Urban Safety Program [Watch the new video about the AmeriCorps Urban Safety Corps program in Detroit.]( Each week, we will provide a social media shareable to use on your networks, but this week you get to watch and share. The [AmeriCorps Urban Safety program]( has had a major impact on the Detroit communities it serves by improving blighted areas and reducing crime. [Watch the video]( and share the link to this video on your social media networks. --------------------------------------------------------------- National Service in the News [Love: It's What Foster Grandparents are All About]( The Dover Post, Delaware If grandmotherly affection could be packaged, it’d end up in a spritely 5-foot 1-inch package labeled Jane Schneider. Schneider is 75 years old, but she still goes to school every day as part of the federal Foster Grandparent Program. Established 50 years ago by President Lyndon Johnson, the program was designed to help reduce isolation among the nation’s senior citizens by providing them a small stipend in exchange for volunteering between 20 and 40 hours a week. But the stipend -- $2.65 an hour for 20 hours a week -- isn’t why Schneider shows up every day at North Smyrna Elementary School. The woman known to everyone as “MeMom” does it for love: it’s a chance to help low-income kids and those with some sort of learning disability keep up with their peers. “I get a real big satisfaction when I see kids are catching on to what we’re teaching them,” she said. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Military-Civilian Partnership Brings New Oyster Reef to Northwest Florida (AmeriCorps)]( National Geographic The air reverberated with clinking noises and the whoosh of oyster shells sliding off giant piles into waiting buckets. Volunteers, Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance (CBA) staff and their AmeriCorps team gathered the shells in mesh bags, slowly building another mound of new reef material. As they worked, a truck pulled in with even more shells, collected from nearby restaurants as part of CBA’s shell recycling program. It was reef building time. The oyster shells were destined for Alaqua Bayou as part of a 1,700-foot reef to protect the shoreline from erosion and provide wildlife habitat. Tweet this The reef would rest within Eglin Air Force Base Reservation property, and Eglin airmen had come to help with the build. Rachel Gwin, Restoration Coordinator for CBA, is in charge of the effort. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Eastern Florida State College Program Helps Women 50 Plus Get Back to Work (SIF)]( The Space Coast Daily, Florida Eastern Florida State College, a proud sub-grantee of the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) program under a grant provided from the Corporation for National and Community Service to AARP Foundation, the charitable affiliate of AARP, is partnering once again with Career Source Brevard, welcoming more participants to training sessions for women 50+ that teach new job skills and can help them find jobs. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Groups prepare for World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (AmeriCorps VISTA)]( The Inter Mountain, West Virginia Community organizations are combining efforts to shed light on the issue of elderly abuse in recognition of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day next week. On Monday, members of YouthBuild visited businesses in downtown Elkins to distribute fliers to spread awareness and encourage people to advocate for abused elderly Americans. According to a news release provided by Madalyn Humprey, AmeriCorps VISTA community health worker with Healthy Homes Program at Randolph County Housing Authority, 10,000 people turn 65 in the United States every day. For the next 20 years, this trend is expected to continue. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [More fresh food options are coming to Helena Food Share (AmeriCorps)]( KXLH-TV, Montana More fresh food options are coming to Helena Food Share. AmeriCorps State/National, Americorps NCCC, and AmeriCorps VISTA members donned fruit outfits today to raise donations for Helena food share’s new Farm Stand. The new Farm stand was built so that Food Share can distribute more healthy food to their customers. Helena Food Share Development Director Daneal Lightner said that one of the problems they face is not having enough nutritional balance for their customers. Adding that Fresh Food is a luxury for many who need food the agency's services. “The families that we’re feeding are up against a variety of struggles. Housing, medical bills, low income,” said Lightner, “If we can give them a healthy meal with fresh foods that are going to support seniors and kiddos who are trying to grow. That’s one less problem that our customers have to face.” [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Valley Veterans Visit Not Forgotten Outreach (AmeriCorps NCCC)]( The Valley Courier, Colorado “I can’t stop wars and there will always be soldiers, but I can do this little bit,” declared Kym Sanchez, founder and president of Not Forgotten Outreach (NFO) as she gazed out at 10,000 garlic plants growing tall. This garlic and other produce finds its way onto Taos community tables such as the Farmhouse Café school lunch and garden program, which provides school children with approximately 300-500 pounds of fresh vegetables a week in 2016. Sanchez was “NCIOC” of Casualty Assistants for the Army, a daunting task without the added heartbreak of finding her beloved husband incoming for body preparation to be returned home. Sanchez has never fully recovered from this experience and wanted to provide a respite and healing place for veterans and their families to come, feel safe, feel celebrated and to get involved in the healing aspects of farming and nature. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Thanks for Tax Help]( (RSVP) The LaCrosse Tribune, Wisconsin The La Crosse Public Library thanks the AARP Foundation and Coulee Region Retired Senior Volunteer Program for partnering on another successful tax season. More than 50 skilled volunteers from our three agencies collaborated to provide free federal and state tax preparation for more than 1,620 people. Thanks to this teamwork and the incredible dedication of our shared volunteers, the La Crosse Public Library was the third-largest AARP Tax-Aide site in Wisconsin. We are grateful for this ongoing partnership. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Hundreds of volunteers participate in United Way hurricane food packing event (RSVP)]( The TC Palm, Florida Just a few days after the official start of hurricane season, more than 150 volunteers gathered during United Way of Martin County’s hurricane food packing event to assemble 3,500 hurricane food kits for our neighbors in need. “For individuals and families who are struggling to make ends meet, preparing for hurricane season can be an additional financial burden,” said United Way of Martin County President/CEO Carol G. Houwaart-Diez. “By providing these families with a hurricane food kit, we’re helping alleviate that burden and ensuring they will have easy access to necessities in the event of an emergency.” [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- National Service News updates To keep up with the latest in National Service News, click the links to our bulletins below: - [June 6-7, 2017]( - [June 8-12, 2017]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Questions? [Contact Us]( SUBSCRIBER SERVICES: [Manage Preferences]( [Unsubscribe]( [Help]( This service is provided to you at no charge by [Corporation for National and Community Service](. --------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to {EMAIL} using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: Corporation for National & Community Service · 250 E. Street SW · Washington, DC 20525 · (202) 606- 5000 · (800) 833-3722 [GovDelivery logo](