Bucha020

My Blog Posts

• Bridging Borders: An Americorps Program
  07/01/2008 07:35:41 PM EST
  Today I had the opportunity to meet with the leaders of a small Americorps program in San Jose that is reaching out to ensure that immigrants in the Bay Area get the education that they need. Bridging Borders is a small organization run out of some office space donated by San Jose State University. In Clark Hall room 203, I met with Jessica, the program director, Ricardo, an intern for the program.
• National Service: What can it bring to the table?
  07/01/2008 06:55:45 PM EST
  With so many issues facing our presidential and congressional candidates this year, national service may seem insignificant to some. We are waging wars overseas, the education system continues to leave many children behind, oil and gas prices are reaching all time highs and 47 million people in this country lack health insurance.
• Inspired by Others Commitment to Service
  06/20/2008 03:08:08 PM EST
  Yesterday I had the amazing opportunity to attend the San Jose/ Silicon Valley City Year
  Graduation Ceremony for 2007-2008 corps members.
• The Impact of a Year of Service
  06/19/2008 07:40:56 PM EST
  When we think about committing a year or two to serve – either as a Teacher, and after-school program leader, a volunteer recruiter or a disaster relief responder – we often think about the people that are served. We think about the student that learns to read, the family whose home you construct or the town park that gets rebuilt. However, although we rarely think about it, it would be difficult to deny that committing your time and ability to serve others isn’t just as influential on the volunteer. But the impacts may go far beyond just the service experience. Meaningful Training
  Americorps programs like City Year, National Civilian Community Corps, Teach for America and VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) also provide volunteers with meaningful training that they wouldn’t necessarily receive through other avenues. Teach for America corps members go through an intense teacher education and leadership training before they enter the classrooms. They also get ongoing development and support throughout the two years and after their commitment. City Year corps members develop and lead after school programs for K-12 students across the country. Americorps State and National, VISTA volunteers and Public Allies members work in non-profit organizations often as managers, volunteer recruiters, and communications specialists. They have hands on experience and training working in a non-profit organization. Americorps NCCC have disaster relief training. They are rapid responders to disaster situations across the nation and 15% are also trained firefighters.
  
• National Service and the Next President: What should be done?
  06/18/2008 03:30:15 PM EST
  Both major Presidential candidates (Obama and McCain) have demonstrated a commitment throughout their lives to public service personally and have both publicly committed support to expanding national service programs throughout our nation. The next president must turn this rhetoric into reality. Obama has developed a detailed plan to expand service: http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/NationalServicePlanFactSheet.pdf While McCain hasn’t made national service a central part of his presidential campaign, he has supported legislation in the past to expand Americorps and create opportunities for short term military service. Both men have demonstrated incredible knowledge of how to expand service opportunities in the short term, which is incredibly necessary. They want to work with programs and non-profit organizations that already exist in order to create more service opportunities and fight social problems that are plaguing our country, like the achievement gap in education and affordable healthcare. However, we also need to create systemic lasting change that will create a culture of service in our nation, long after either of these men has left office.