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Serve Michigan Update
A program of the ConnectMichigan Alliance
Issue #7
December 21, 2005
- Labor – HHS - Education Budget Slated as Last Vote for the Year
- Congress Extends SafetyNET Until 2008
- Voices for AmeriCorps
- Friends of National Service Reception
- Get Involved Campaign Asks 77 Million Baby Boomers to Volunteer
- Study Shows More Americans Are Volunteering
- First Lady Laura Bush Releases Study Showing High Levels of Teen Volunteering
- Invite Your Member of Congress to Join You for MLK Day
- Your Feedback is Needed on Statewide E-grant Portal
- Calendar of Events
Labor - HHS – Education Budget Slated as Last Vote for the Year
Senate leaders have stated that they expect the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill to be the last vote of the year. The House adopted the conference report on the $602 billion bill (HR 3010 – H Rept 109-337) on December 14 th. The bill cuts discretionary spending for programs by about .1 percent from fiscal year 2005 levels, to $142.5 billion. It is expected that the Senate will vote on this bill either Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
Congress Extends SafetyNET Until 2008
Signaling its continued strong support for the SafetyNET background check pilot program, Congress has extended the program through June 2008. President Bush is expected to sign the bill shortly. The extension of SafetyNET is another important step in efforts to make nationwide FBI fingerprint checks accessible, affordable and timely. Additional information is available at www.mentoring.org
Wednesday, February 8, 2006, 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Capitol Hill Complex, Washington, DC
Voices for AmeriCorps is an extraordinary annual event that brings together hundreds of citizens to tell stories of the lives touched and communities transformed by AmeriCorps members. This year, the third annual Voices for AmeriCorps will focus on the ways in which AmeriCorps programs have responded to the call for assistance from the Gulf Coast region. AmeriCorps alumni, Members of Congress, academic experts and others will offer testimony during the day and will participate in panel discussions. For more information visit www.voicesforservice.org
Friends of National Service Reception
Tuesday, February 7, 2006, 6:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.
The Montpelier Room, James Madison Library of Congress Building
101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC
The National Association of Service and Conservation Corps and Voices for National Service will honor America’s Friends of National Service at a reception on February 7 th in Washington, DC. Those receiving awards at the reception include Senator Barack Obama, Stephen Goldsmith with the Corporation for National and Community Service, Robin Roberts of ABC News, and many other distinguished friends of service. RSVP for the reception to info@voicesforservice.org or 202/742-7374.
Get Involved Campaign Asks 77 Million Baby Boomers to Volunteer
To tap the extraordinary potential of America’s 77 million baby boomers (ages 55-60), the Corporation for National and Community Service has launched a multi-year public service ad campaign that urges baby boomers to get involved in their communities. The “Get Involved” campaign is a partnership with many nonprofit organizations including AARP, the American Red Cross, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Habitat for Humanity and many more. The public service announcements will begin running, in English and Spanish, in January 2006. Viewers of the ads will be directed to visit a new website at www.getinvolved.gov or to call a toll-free hotline at 1/800-424-8867, where they can search by zip code and interest area for local volunteer activities.
Study Shows More Americans Are Volunteering
A new study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that an increased number of Americans volunteered in the past year. About 65.4 million people participated in volunteer work at least once during the study period, up from 64.5 million for the similar period ending in September 2004. This marks an increase of more than 6.5 million volunteers since the President’s Call for Service in 2002. The percentage of Americans volunteering during the past year stayed at the same level as 2004 (28.8 percent). The data was collected through a supplement to the September 2005 Current Population Survey, a monthly survey of 60,000 households. For more information, visit www.bls.gov/cps/.
First Lady Laura Bush Releases Study Showing High Levels of Teen Volunteering
A new federal study has found that 55 percent of American teenagers volunteered last year, which is double the adult volunteer rate of 29 percent. The national study, conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service in collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau and Independent Sector, found that 15.5 million teenagers volunteered in 2004 contributing more than 1.3 billion hours of service. Between January and March of 2005, a cross-section of 3,178 teenagers (ages 12-18) were interviewed by telephone. The study, titled “Youth Helping America – Building Active Citizens: The Role of Social Institutions in Teen Volunteering,” is available online at www.nationalservice.org
Invite Your Member of Congress to Join You for MLK Day
The 20 th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service is a wonderful opportunity to invite your Members of Congress and other elected officials to join you in service and to view the important work of your program. To invite your elected officials, simple fax an invitation to their office and then call the office to check on the policymaker’s availability. A sample letter and tips for scheduling your meeting are available at http://www.voicesforservice.org/action.htm Contact information for the Michigan Congressional Delegation and state elected officials is available at http://www.mnaonline.org/excel/LegislatorContactInformation.xls. If you are unsure of the name of your State and Federal elected officials, visit http://givevoice.org/servemichiganupdate/home.html and enter your zip code under “Find Elected Officials.”
Your Feedback is Needed on Statewide E-grant Portal
The state of Michigan has awarded a contract to a vendor to build a statewide e-grant portal. It is the state's goal to eventually have all grants online; allowing individuals to search, find, apply and report online. The system will be implemented in phases. In addition to pilot grants that will be online in the next year, the state is working on a search and find system for all state grants. As they have requested in the past, the Department of Information Technology (DIT) would like to receive feedback from current and future grantees. Specifically, DIT has asked MNA to convene such a group in January to provide feedback on the beginning stages of the search and find portion of the portal. The sessions will be held on January 5, 2006 in Detroit (10a.m. - Noon) and January 6, 2006 in Lansing (10a.m. - Noon). The location for the Detroit session will be YouthVille Detroit. The Lansing session will be held at the Michigan Nonprofit Association. Additional information, including directions, will be provided closer to the date of the sessions. Also, for those unable to travel to Detroit or Lansing, a conference call will be offered on January 5 from 3:00p.m. to 5:00 p.m. A toll-free number will be provided to those who RSVP.
Please RSVP to Arlyn King by December 23rd. When you RSVP, please tell Arlyn which session you will be attending, your name, the name of the organization you represent and your contact information. To RSVP, simply email Arlyn at aking@mnaonline.org or call her at 517/492-2400. The DIT project manager for this project is Viji Jayaraman. You can reach Viji at jayaramanv@michigan.gov.
January 5 and 6: Feedback sessions for Michigan E-grant Portal. January 5 session will be held in Detroit (10a.m. – Noon), the January 6 session will be held in Lansing (10:00 A.M. – Noon). A conference call option is also available on January 5 (3:00 P.M. – 5:00 P.M.). To RSVP email aking@mnaonline.org or call 517/492-2400.
February 7: The 3 rd annual Friends of National Service Reception, co-hosted by the National Association of Service and Conservation Corps (NASCC), will be held at the Library of Congress from 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. To RSVP email info@voicesforservice.org
February 8: The 3 rd annual Voices for AmeriCorps will be held on Capitol Hill from 10:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M. For more information visit www.voicesforservice.org
May 2 and 3: The Michigan Nonprofit SuperConference 2006 will be held at the Sheraton Detroit in Novi. The keynote speaker is Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life hero portrayed in the movie Hotel Rwanda.