Cutting National Service would hurt leadership development

Max Klau, director of leadership development at City Year, writes in a recent article about the ways National Service creates and fosters leaders. Here's a sample -

"Among the many good reasons why national service should be preserved, here's one case that needs to be made clearly and powerfully: National service represents a critical pipeline for developing the next generation of effective, committed, inspired civic leaders."

To read the whole article click here.

Alums rally voices across the country!

When AmeriCorps Vista alum Caleb Jonas heard about House bill H.R.1 he decided to take action.

The bill, which passed the house and is now on it's way to the Senate, proposes to cut all federal funding for several services including AmeriCorps, City Year, and Habitat for Humanity. That's when Caleb decided to make his voice heard. He created an online petition, encouraged some friends and fellow alums to sign, and before long he had collected the names of over 100,000 people who support funding these important services.

The list of names accompanied a letter given to House majority leader Eric Cantor (R-VA). This demonstrates the passion, pride and commitment AmeriCorps alums as well as our support for well funded and essential national and local services.

Read more about Caleb's story here, make sure to keep an eye on H.R. 1, and call, write or email your Connecticut Representative and Senators Blumenthal and Lieberman and tell them why AmeriCorps is so vitally important to you, the state, and our country!