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Ask your Senator to Sign Letter in Support of CNCS Funding by March 28 Thanks in part to your efforts, the National Service Congressional Caucus delivered a letter signed by 34 members of the U.S. House of Representatives to the Appropriations Committee leadership urging their colleagues to reject the Administration's proposed budget cuts to the Corporation for National and Community Service. Click here to read the House letter and see if your Representative signed-on:
http://www.voicesforservice.org/NSCC/031808HouseCaucusLtr.pdf
A Senate version of the funding letter will remain open for signatures until March 28. Please contact your Senators today and ask them to sign the National Service Congressional Caucus letter and show their support for the 3.9 million Americans of all ages and backgrounds who are serving their communitie s through the federally-supported national service programs.
Click here for the Senate National Service Congressional Caucus Letter, an effort being led by Senator Edward Kennedy (MA).
http://www.voicesforservice.org/legis_update/031408SenateFY09ltr.pdf
If your Senator agrees to sign, instruct them to contact
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Action Steps
1. Call the Senate Operator at 202-224-3121 and ask to be transferred to the office of your Senator. Once transferred, ask to speak to the staff person responsible for national service and education funding issues.
2. Deliver the following message: "My name is _____. I'm a constituent from ____, calling to urge and remind Senator ______ to sign Senator Kennedy's letter concerning fiscal ye ar 2009 funding levels for Learn and Serve America, AmeriCorps and the other programs administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The deadline to sign this letter is Friday. Please sign on by contacting Emma Vadehra in Senator Kennedy's office."
Below is a list of Senate Signatures as of March 25:
Sen. Barbara Boxer (CA)
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (CT)
Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH)
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (MD)
Sen. Benjamin Cardin (MD)
Sen. Barack Obama (IL)
Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY)
Sen. Bernard Sanders (VT)
Sen. Christopher Dodd (CT)
Sen. Charles Schumer (NY)
Sen. Edward Kennedy (MA)
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI)
Sen. John Kerry (MA)
Give Students A Voice in the Presidential Election - My 2 Cents for Change Teacher/Facilitator Guide Available Through My 2 Cents for Change, created to give teens ages 13-17 a voice in the presidential election, teens add their thoughts on the issues they feel most passionate about, from education and healthcare to war and genocide. The animated site features links for teens to find out more information on the issues and candidates before directing them to "give their 2 cents," which the site then bundles and sends to the presidential candidates of the teens' choice. Also available for download is a “Give Your 2 Cents in the Classroom!” Teacher/Facilitator Guide to use the website as a catalyst for group discussion. View the website and download the guide at http://www.servicevote.org/my2cents
YouthBuild Hosts Our America Event on April 1 YouthBuild USA, is hosting the “Our America” event April 1st in Washington, D.C., as a gathering of young people who have been raised in low-income communities in the U.S. and who want to change the conditions of poverty that they have experienced and witnessed.
The event is being held in partnership with MTV, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and more than 40 national non-profit organizations that care about youth, education, community development and ending poverty in America. The main goal of the event is to lift up the voices and concerns of low-income young people during this election campaign and beyond and to mobilize low-income young adults to become active in the electoral process.
Selected young leaders will present their views of reality in their communities and members of the audience will also speak out. These young people will be asked to present their proposals for change. Everyone will be introduced to the web site: http://www.think.mtv.com, designed to mobilize young people. The event will be held on Tuesday, April 1, from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C., 1215 U Street NW. For more information, visit the YouthBuild USA web site at http://www.youthbuild.org/site/c.htIRI3PIKoG/b.3945261/
Tell Your AmeriCorps Story During AmeriCorps Week - May 11-18 A great way to participate in AmeriCorps Week is to talk about your AmeriCorps experience to a school or community group. People love hearing about AmeriCorps, and who better to tell them about it than YOU! To make the process as fun, as easy, and as stress-free as possible, we've put together a free AmeriCorps Presentation Kit that includes: Tips on speaking to groups, Facts and figures on AmeriCorps, A DVD with a PowerPoint slideshow on AmeriCorps and a video of AmeriCorps members in action, and Fun handouts, such as stickers, bookmarks, and posters that you may choose to hand out at your talk
Go to www.AmeriCorpsWeek.gov or call 800-942-2677 to find out how you can order your AmeriCorps Presentation Kit. Quantities are limited. Kits must be ordered by April 15, 2008 to ensure that they arrive before AmeriCorps Week. Most materials will also be available online.
Service Learning United at the National Service Learning Conference Members of Service Learning United will present two workshops at the National Service Learning Conference in Minneapolis. If you'll be at the conference, stop by and check them out! Thursday, April 10th at 10:45 am
"Advocating for Service-Learning in Your Backyard: Building Local Support"
Friday, April 11th at 2:30 pm
"Advocacy 101: Fundamentals to Educate and Inform Policymakers about Service-Learning"
Mobilize.org to Issue Democracy 2.0 Report Late Spring Mobilize.org, the national youth civic engagement organization, issued today the Executive Summary for Democracy 2.0: Millennial-Generated Change to American Governance, a reported slated for release in May 2008.
The report was developed by members of the Millennial Generation in an effort to reflect the six years of Mobilize.org’s civic engagement work, focusing on the last eight months of research and experience in the field with members of the Millennial Generation, from July 4, 2007 to December 31, 2007.
Maya Enista, Chief Executive Officer of Mobilize.org, spoke about the importance of the Democracy 2.0 Report: “The Democracy 2.0 Report creates the blueprint for how to genuinely involve young people, my generation, in identifying problems in their communities and coming together to not only identify solutions and implement those solutions, but create long lasting change by institutionalizing their work within the frame of government. Our experi ences over the past 6 years have shown us that young people are really looking for that creative, fulfilling opportunity of seeing change enacted in their communities.” For further information, please visit Mobilize.org’s website at http://www.mobilize.org or contact Mobilize.org’s Senior Vice President, Policy and Strategic Communications, Christina Gagnier, at 510.717.3022.
Constitution Translated for Kids Teacher Resources Available
Constitution Translated for Kids, a simple translation of the entire U.S. Constitution, written at the 5th grade level, with the original 1787 text alongside a very easy-to-understand translation, is the first ever side-by-side look at our most supreme legal and political document. To learn more, visit http://www.constitutionEZ.com. A free teachers’ guide for classrooms is also available on the website at ht tp://www.constitutionez.com/files/live/upload/teachers_guide_2006.pdf as well as a Constitution Day Toolkit of free, online resources for educators to teach the U.S. Constitution, pursuant to federal law, on Constitution Day in September: http://www.constitutiontranslatedforkids.com/files/live/upload/3-11-08_Constitution_Day_TOOLKIT.pdf
Save the Date: 2008 Campus Progress National Conference Mark your calendar now--on July 8, 2008, the fourth annual Campus Progress National Conference will be held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. The conference is a dynamic one-day event that brings more than 1,000 young people from across the country together to discuss issues that matter, connect with each other, and hear from prominent politicians, activists, journalists, scholars, and artists. The conference is free for all attendees, and a limited number of travel and housing scholarships will be available. If you want even more Campus Progress, you can make it a two- or even three-day event. Save July 7, 2008, for our annual grassroots training event, and save July 9, 2008 for our annual Campus Progress -The Nation Youth Journalism Conference.
To make sure you get all the latest updates on the 2008 Campus Progress National Conference, sign up at CampusProgress.org.
Alliance for Justice Offers Resources for Nonprofit Organizations Engaging in Advocacy at the State Level In response to the demand for a knowledgeable and diverse community of advocates working at the state level, Alliance for Justice (AFJ) is pleased to announce a comprehensive tool for understanding the rules surrounding state campaign finance, ballot measure, lobbying disclosure and voter registration efforts, advocates can be sure they have the most up-to-date and relevant information as possible to create a successful game plan.
How do you access these FREE resources? Visit Alliance for Justice’s State Law Resources page at www.afj.org/stateresources, request a pass code, and one will be provided via e-mail within 1-2 business days. It’s as simple as that. These resources are currently available for: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Me xico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. More states will be added in the coming months.
5000 Dreams. 20 Finalists. Your Vote Helps Decide the Final Four of Case Foundation's Make It Your Own Awards The Case Foundation has announced the Top 20 Finalists in the Make It Your Own Awards. Now, it’s up to the online community to vote and decide which of these finalists will become the Final Four and receive an additional $25,000 to make their community dreams come true.
Get $2,500 for Your Charity - If you are one of the first ten people to choose the four projects that become the Final Four, you will receive $2,500 for the charity of your choice!
Vote today and tell us who’s in your Final Four!
Visit http://miyo.casefoundation.org/vote?source=partnerYPACTR
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Civic Engagement News 
