Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Corps Members Take Inititiative
One of the best parts about City Year is the room for corps members to launch their own initiatives. City Year relies so heavily on corps members’ ideas and initiatives that we often say instead of working AT City Year, we are all working ON City Year. Even something as big as our Young Heroes program, which spans nationwide at every single City Year site, came from a corps member’s suggestion.
Over the years, corps members have had such amazing ideas, that there is now a program in place to help support innovations people have around the City Year network. They're called the Bill & Hillary Clinton Innovation Awards. Any corps member across the City Year network can apply for one of these awards and can be funded for up to $5,000 to finance his or her idea. This year at City Year DC, a few of my fellow senior corps members received one of these awards for the full $5,000! Their idea was to hold a conference entitled: From Generation Me to Generation We: The Future of National Service.
The day-long conference was a combination of discussing national service and DEMONSTRATING national service. It took place on Friday, April 13th at the Georgetown Law Center. In the morning, there were two panel discussions and then in the afternoon, we painted two murals at a nearby middle school. In addition to all the City Year Washington DC corps members, attendees included other AmeriCorps members from the NCCC, VISTAA , and HeadsUp programs, Howard University ROTC members, Capitol Hill staffers, Georgetown Law Students, and people from other service organizations or people simply interested in the idea of national service.
We heard very engaging discussions from the panelists. The first panel centered on issues such as international models of mandatory civilian service, possible domestic models for mandatory service, and the current generation’s attitude versus the baby boomers’ attitude about serving our country. The panelists were from a variety of backgrounds in the service world including the CEO for Experience Corps - Mr. John Gomperts, one of two Project Coordinators for Innovations in Civic Participation (ICP) – Ms. Katherine Hutter, and Director of AmeriCorps NCCC - Ms. Merlene Mazyck. The thing I liked most about this panel was hearing from Katherine Hutter about different service programs going on internationally. Despite the drastic cultural differences there are in the US and elsewhere, I definitely think there are things that other countries are doing with their national service programs that we could implement here in the United States to improve our national service opportunities.
The second panel was more centered on the relationship between military and civilian service (City Year is an example of a civilian service program). The panelists were Colonel Rob Gordon, who currently serves as City Year Inc.’s Senior Vice President for Civic Leadership, but prior to that co-founded Service America which unites West Point cadets with AmeriCorps members to address unmet needs in underprivileged communities and share ideas on public service and leadership; and Darryl Kehrer who has given 37 years to public service, most notably serving as a staff director for the Committee on Veterans Affairs in the House of Representatives. This panel brought up interesting questions such as: What elements of the military-culture are applicable to civilian service programs? And, what are possible incentives that could enable more Americans to serve their country – either in a military or a civilian capacity?
Both panels were very engaging, but of course the most engaging component was the service afterwards. The entire day was a true testament to a Margaret Mead quote we painted outside the school that afternoon, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Obviously this one event didn’t comprehensively change the world, but no single event will do that. It takes a number of small events building on one another. I am incredibly proud of my fellow Senior Corps members for taking the initiative and following-through on an idea they felt strongly about. Sometimes other similar service programs such as Teach For America or the PeaceCorps are revered more than City Year for the initiative required by their participants since our corps members serve on teams in the classroom instead of individually. However, City Year’s current size and impact relies whole-heartedly on the initiatives taken by corps members every year just like these other great service programs.
Over the years, corps members have had such amazing ideas, that there is now a program in place to help support innovations people have around the City Year network. They're called the Bill & Hillary Clinton Innovation Awards. Any corps member across the City Year network can apply for one of these awards and can be funded for up to $5,000 to finance his or her idea. This year at City Year DC, a few of my fellow senior corps members received one of these awards for the full $5,000! Their idea was to hold a conference entitled: From Generation Me to Generation We: The Future of National Service.
The day-long conference was a combination of discussing national service and DEMONSTRATING national service. It took place on Friday, April 13th at the Georgetown Law Center. In the morning, there were two panel discussions and then in the afternoon, we painted two murals at a nearby middle school. In addition to all the City Year Washington DC corps members, attendees included other AmeriCorps members from the NCCC, VISTAA , and HeadsUp programs, Howard University ROTC members, Capitol Hill staffers, Georgetown Law Students, and people from other service organizations or people simply interested in the idea of national service.
We heard very engaging discussions from the panelists. The first panel centered on issues such as international models of mandatory civilian service, possible domestic models for mandatory service, and the current generation’s attitude versus the baby boomers’ attitude about serving our country. The panelists were from a variety of backgrounds in the service world including the CEO for Experience Corps - Mr. John Gomperts, one of two Project Coordinators for Innovations in Civic Participation (ICP) – Ms. Katherine Hutter, and Director of AmeriCorps NCCC - Ms. Merlene Mazyck. The thing I liked most about this panel was hearing from Katherine Hutter about different service programs going on internationally. Despite the drastic cultural differences there are in the US and elsewhere, I definitely think there are things that other countries are doing with their national service programs that we could implement here in the United States to improve our national service opportunities.
The second panel was more centered on the relationship between military and civilian service (City Year is an example of a civilian service program). The panelists were Colonel Rob Gordon, who currently serves as City Year Inc.’s Senior Vice President for Civic Leadership, but prior to that co-founded Service America which unites West Point cadets with AmeriCorps members to address unmet needs in underprivileged communities and share ideas on public service and leadership; and Darryl Kehrer who has given 37 years to public service, most notably serving as a staff director for the Committee on Veterans Affairs in the House of Representatives. This panel brought up interesting questions such as: What elements of the military-culture are applicable to civilian service programs? And, what are possible incentives that could enable more Americans to serve their country – either in a military or a civilian capacity?
Both panels were very engaging, but of course the most engaging component was the service afterwards. The entire day was a true testament to a Margaret Mead quote we painted outside the school that afternoon, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Obviously this one event didn’t comprehensively change the world, but no single event will do that. It takes a number of small events building on one another. I am incredibly proud of my fellow Senior Corps members for taking the initiative and following-through on an idea they felt strongly about. Sometimes other similar service programs such as Teach For America or the PeaceCorps are revered more than City Year for the initiative required by their participants since our corps members serve on teams in the classroom instead of individually. However, City Year’s current size and impact relies whole-heartedly on the initiatives taken by corps members every year just like these other great service programs.
