Learn and Serve Challenge – October 6-12, 2008

Gear Up for the Learn & Serve Challenge

Following are three ways you can gear up now for October’s National Learn & Serve Challenge. The Challenge is a week-long series of events, October 6-12, designed to build awareness and generate support for service-learning. Campus Compact is partnering with the National Service-Learning Partnership, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and others to get the word out about the Challenge.

1. Make an impact before Congress goes on recess: By August 15, tell us what you will be doing during the National Learn & Serve Challenge. To help us track and report on Challenge events across the country, and to see what other people are doing, visit www.learnandservechallenge.org/acceptthechallenge.php.

2. This is a great time to start putting together the pieces for securing a proclamation from your mayor, city council members, governor, state superintendent, or board of education. Allow four to six weeks to complete this process. Click here for step-by-step instructions and tips: http://www.learnandservechallenge.org/proclamation.php. For an example, see the resolution passed by the Michigan State Board of Education during the 2007 Challenge at http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mcsc/Learn_and_Serve_Resolution_209604_7.pdf.

3. Sign up as a National Learn & Serve Challenge partner. Email nslp@aed.org with “Proud Partner” in the subject line of your message to add your campus’s name to the list. Visit www.learnandservechallenge.org/participating.php for the full list of partners.

Free Webinar on out of school time

The LEARNS team is pleased to offer a new online course for tutoring, mentoring, out-of-school time, and other youth-development programs funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service. Designed for both new and veteran program staff, “Youth Impact: Starting and Strengthening Quality Programs” will help you find, prepare, and keep the right members and volunteers to work with youth.

Using interactive elements, audio-visuals, and downloadable documents, the course highlights and puts into your hands best practices used by effective youth-serving programs. It also provides links to additional resources for support and training to help your program succeed.

To access the course, go to the Online Learning Center at the Resource Center at http://my.nationalservice.org/learning/. After you create a free Online Learning Center account (if you don’t already have one), you can browse for and launch the Youth Impact course. If you need assistance accessing the course, or have other questions, contact LEARNS at (800) 361-7890, or learns@nwrel.org.

Thank you, and we hope you find the course useful. 

Best regards,

The LEARNS Partners

LEARNS is a partnership of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory and the Bank Street College of Education. We are funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service to provide training and technical assistance to projects focused on tutoring, mentoring, literacy, and out-of-school time. 

For additional tools, training, and information visit The Resource Center at www.nationalservice.gov/resources.

Volunteering in America

This just in from the Corporation for National and Community Service: Oregon is 16th in the country for our rate of volunteerism! Portland is third in the country for large cities! Eugene is 16th and Salem 23rd for mid-size cities!

Click here for a wealth of current statistitcs on US volunteering rates in addition to states and cities! This is great information.