USA Freedom Corps was a White House office and fifth policy council within the Executive Office of the President of the United States under George W. Bush, who as President served as its chair. Bush announced its creation during his 2002 State of the Union Address, and the Corps was officially established the next day, describing itself as a "Coordinating Council... working to strengthen our culture of service and help find opportunities for every American to start volunteering."
Patrick Joseph Quinn Jr. is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 41st Governor of Illinois, from 2009 to 2015. A Democrat, Quinn began his career as an activist by founding the Coalition for Political Honesty.
National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), or AmeriCorps NCCC is an AmeriCorps program that engages 18- to 24-year-olds in team-based national and community service in the United States. Under the CARES act, however, the maximum age of entry is 26. National Civilian Community Corps teams complete about four different six- to eight-week-long projects during their 10-month term of service. Each team is made up of eight to twelve Corps Members and one Team Leader. Corps Members and Team Leaders are representative of all colors, creeds, states, and economic status. Approximately 1,200 Corps Members and Team Leaders are chosen annually to serve at one of four regional campuses, located in Sacramento, California; Denver, Colorado; Vinton, Iowa; and Vicksburg, Mississippi. Each campus serves as a training center and hub for a multi-state region. Members are required to complete a minimum of 1,700 hours of service, including 80 independent service hours, though members complete an average of 1,850 service hours per term.
City Year is an American education nonprofit organization founded in 1988. The organization partners with public schools in 29 high-need communities across the US and through international affiliates in the UK and Johannesburg, South Africa. City Year teams are made up of 18 to 24 year olds, who provide student, classroom, and whole school support, intended to help students stay in school and on track to graduate high school. City Year is a member of the AmeriCorps national service network, and is supported by the Corporation for National and Community Service, school district partnerships, and private philanthropy from corporations, foundations and individuals.
AmeriCorps is an independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in service through AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps Seniors, the Volunteer Generation Fund, and other national service initiatives. The agency's mission is "to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering." While a government agency, AmeriCorps acts much like a foundation and is the nation's largest annual grant maker supporting service and volunteering. It was created by the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993. In September 2020, the agency rebranded itself as AmeriCorps, although its official name is unchanged.
Miguel del Valle is an American politician and the former City Clerk of Chicago. He was an Illinois State Senator for two decades, representing the 2nd District of Chicago from 1987–2006. Del Valle lost his bid for mayor in Chicago's February 22, 2011 municipal elections, coming in third with 53,953 votes. He took office as the President of the Chicago Board of Education on June 26, 2019, having been appointed to that position by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Kwame Raoul is an American lawyer and politician who has been the 42nd Attorney General of Illinois since 2019. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Notre Dame Mission Volunteers is a faith-based non-profit organization founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1992. In 1995, NDMV sought a partnership with AmeriCorps to allow for an increase in the number of members, offering greater community service in financially limited sites. This partnership formed Notre Dame Mission Volunteers AmeriCorps. The program began with 46 service members placed in four communities: Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, and Apopka, Florida. Building on the initial success of these four sites, NDMVA has continued to systematically extend the range and depth of its AmeriCorps program. Notre Dame Mission Volunteers AmeriCorps members serve in seventeen sites across the United States. Notre Dame Mission Volunteers also has a separate international program in which members currently serve in four international sites in Brazil, Haiti, Nigeria, and Peru. Its National Office is currently based out of Baltimore, Maryland.
Public Allies is an American nonprofit organization that operates an AmeriCorps program and is dedicated to young-adult leadership development. Its mission is to create a just and equitable society and the diverse leadership to sustain it.
CaliforniaVolunteers is the state agency charged with increasing the number and impact of Californians engaged in service and volunteering.
The Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation is a department of the government of Oklahoma within the Tourism and Branding Cabinet. The Department is responsible for regulating Oklahoma's tourism industry and for promoting Oklahoma as a tourist destination. It is the Department which established regional designations for the various parts of the state which are in common use today: Red Carpet Country, Green Country (Northeast), Frontier Country (Central), Choctaw Country (Southeast), Chickasaw Country, and Great Plains Country (Southwest).
ServiceNation was a campaign of Be The Change, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization based in Boston, Massachusetts. Its mission is to rekindle an ethic of civic responsibility in America through universal national service. ServiceNation's goal was to expand opportunities for Americans to spend a year in non-military national service such as AmeriCorps. National service programs like Americorps pay a living stipend and reward volunteers who have completed service with a monetary education award.
Literacy Volunteers of Illinois (LVI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes adult literacy throughout Illinois. It serves families, adults, and out-of-school teens.
The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act or Serve America Act was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on March 9, 2009, by Representative Carolyn McCarthy of New York. Originally titled the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, the bill reauthorizes and expands the AmeriCorps program that was first established in 1993. It passed in the House of Representatives on March 18, 2009. The U.S. Senate debated and approved an amended version of the bill on March 26, 2009, renaming it the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, after Senator Ted Kennedy. The House of Representatives voted on the bill a second time, approving the amended version on March 31, 2009. It was signed by President Barack Obama on April 21, 2009.
The Council on Firefighting Training (COFT) was the agency of the state of Oklahoma which supports Oklahoma's state, county and local fire protection agencies by identifying and recommending training needs.
Robert "Rob" L. Gordon III is a cross-sector leader in the government, military, academic, nonprofit and high tech sectors. Gordon was appointed the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy on July 19, 2010, serving under U.S. President Barack Obama. In the Defense Department he was responsible for defense-wide policy, program execution and oversight of global community support programs to care for, support, and empower 2 million Service members, 1.2 million military spouses, 2 million children, and over 2 million military families worldwide. He oversaw the Department of Defense school system (DoDEA) that serves approximately 90,000 students in 194 schools in 14 districts located in 12 foreign countries, seven states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. He oversaw voluntary education for over half a million active duty military service members; defense resale for over 500 commissaries and exchanges; military spouse education and career advancement for 1.2 million military spouses; child development and youth activities programs; state liaison initiatives; family assistance and non-medical counseling services; and collaborated with Congressional leaders, White House leaders, business and non profit sectors, chambers of commerce, academic communities, and a multitude of federal and state agencies to strengthen the resilience and well-being of the military community.
Youth Volunteer Corps,(YVC), is a non-profit service organization operating throughout the United States and Canada that was created to introduce, encourage, and support the spirit of volunteerism in youth ages 11 to 18 through consistent, well-organized volunteer opportunities. It began in 1987 as a single organization in Kansas City, Missouri, sponsored by the Heart of America United Way and was funded by numerous public and private sources.
Phil Andrews is the Director of Crime Prevention Initiatives for the State's Attorney's Office of Montgomery County, Maryland. From 1998-2014, he served for four terms on the Montgomery County Council. Andrews was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in Montgomery County, MD. He graduated from Einstein High School in Kensington, and earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Bucknell University in 1981 and a master's degree in governmental administration from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992.
The Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL) is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries, especially libraries which serve small and rural communities. It is a professional organization that believes in the value of rural and small libraries and strives to create resources and services that address national, state, and local priorities for libraries situated in rural communities.
The Franklin Project was a policy program of the Aspen Institute from October 2012 to December 2015, that focused on advancing national service in the United States. Walter Isaacson called the project the "biggest idea" to come out of the Aspen Ideas Festival during his tenure as CEO of the Aspen Institute. In January 2016, the project merged with ServiceNation and the Service Year Exchange project of the National Conference on Citizenship to form Service Year Alliance.
