Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the first installment of the Service Year + Higher Ed Newsletter. We hope to use this space to build community, share resources, and celebrate the great work you are doing in the field.
As you may know, the Administration has proposed to eliminate the Corporation for National and Community Service which administers AmeriCorps. Service Year Alliance is activating our policy team on Capitol Hill and mobilizing a growing team of advocates on the ground in target districts and states to build the grassroots infrastructure we need at the local level to protect funding for national service. It’s more important than ever to think creatively about ways to fund service year programs while we all work to ensure that important federal programs like these continue to receive support. Higher Education can play a key role in these efforts, and you can learn more by visiting our Service Year and Higher Education page.
I look forward to seeing many of you this spring at the American Gap Association Conference in May and the Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Meeting in June. Please let me know if you’ll be there as well.
Thank you for all that you do to incorporate service on your campus and within your organizations. Please feel free to share this newsletter with your colleagues, invite them to join our mailing list, and keep reading to hear the latest on service years in higher education.
Very best,
Jenna Dell, Ed.D.
Associate Director for Higher Ed Partnerships
As we approach commencement, we have a couple of resources we hope you’ll find useful in advising students. You can view our recent webinar with the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) on “Cultivating the Next Generation of Service Year Members” through Friday, May 19, 2017. Our higher ed toolkit provides sample language and programming ideas to advise students on service year opportunities. As always, please consider directing students to ServiceYear.org and help them search for service year opportunities that fit their areas of interest.
Service Year Alliance is excited to be launching a series of awards to recognize and collect best practices related to service years across a variety of sectors. This spring we are offering two higher education specific awards to recognize innovative approaches to connecting service years and higher education.
The first award is for Innovative Career Services Programming/Advising on service year opportunities that will recognize career services offices that demonstrate excellence and innovation in their approach to advising students on service year opportunities. The prize is $1,000.
The second award is for Innovative Campus-Corps Partnerships that will recognize institutional partnerships with area service year corps. This award also offers a $1,000 prize.
Submissions for both awards are due on May 15th. These awards will help us to collect and disseminate information about successful, replicable programs and practices, and further support campus efforts to improve their institutions.
The PATHways to STEM (PATHS) program will launch at UC San Diego in Fall 2017. This innovative 1+4 year pilot program will investigate the impact of a bridge year on the success and retention of underrepresented students in STEM. The unique model for the PATHS Program’s Bridge Year will include enhanced academic preparation, mentorship, and professional development. Students will participate in a variety of internships, some of which employ the service year model. These opportunities will position students from underserved communities within San Diego to matriculate into UC San Diego undergraduate majors in STEM and bridge academic, industrial, and cultural resources to enrich the landscape of the San Diego community. PATHS Scholars will receive four years of scholarship support, during which time public service will be a required component.
Service Year Alliance has several internship opportunities available this summer, including one on our team that works with higher education institutions. Please feel free to share our internships with your students and encourage them to apply.
Service Year Alliance is going on tour with Vans Warped Tour, and we're looking for volunteers ages 18+ to join us! Participants will help us raise awareness of service year opportunities and inspire festival attendees to serve. Encourage your students to learn more here.
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The Big Idea: A Service Year | Lumina Foundation
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Spare service programs from budget ax | Commonwealth Magazine
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Readers Tell Us: Is a Gap Year Worth It? | NY Times
Interested in learning more about incorporating a service year on your campus? Please contact Dr. Jenna Dell, Associate Director for Higher Ed Partnerships.
