The Voice of Experience
SEPTEMBER 2008
in this issue
MEMBER PROFILE
still seeing
progress

Patsy Stephens, retired classroom assistant, Portland

I joined Experience Corps because: After retirement I discovered that once you have teaching kids in your system, it's hard to shake!

The best part of being an Experience Corps member: When my students understand a new word or concept and I see their little faces light up, there is nothing better.

I like to tell the story about: The boy who lived in more places and has done more things in his short life than I have in mine. He had some great tales to tell.

I'm sticking with Experience Corps because: The kids keep me in touch with the world as it is today.

A Letter from the CEO

The conversation about national service in this country changed dramatically last week – in two ways.

First, national service in the past has been caught up in heated, partisan debate.  Last weekend, national service became decidedly bipartisan, embraced by leading Republicans and Democrats.  Perhaps most significantly, Senators Kennedy and Hatch got together to introduce a national service bill.  And both presidential candidates have signed on as original co-sponsors – a historic first! Whoever wins the election will have already committed to making national service a priority in his administration.

Second, national service has been seen as something just for young people. No more. Each time service was discussed at last week’s extraordinary ServiceNation Summit in New York City, people over 50 were included in the conversation.

And when people mentioned adults and service, they mentioned Experience Corps.

When AARP released a report on boomers and service as a preface to the Summit, they heralded Experience Corps as a “powerful inter-generational initiative,” a model for the nation, and worthy of expansion.

When Laura Bush spoke about national service, she said, “This year, 20,000 students across our country will improve their reading and academic skills with the help of an Experience Corps tutor.”

When TIME magazine’s editors published a cover story on “21 Ways to Serve America,” they cited Experience Corps as part of #10.

When Senators Kennedy and Hatch proposed the Serve America Act, a major expansion of national service opportunities, they included provisions for boomer service. And Senator Dodd introduced the Encore Service Act of 2008, which will offer stipends and educational awards to Americans over 55.

And this Saturday, September 27, the ServiceNation Day of Action will include Experience Corps members across the country.

As national service takes its rightful place on the national stage, experienced adults will be part of the picture. That’s a big victory for those of us in the second half of life and, more important, for the millions more we can and will serve.

It’s been a week I’ll remember for the rest of my life.  Thanks so much for your continued support of Experience Corps and of national service. 

Warm best wishes,
John S. Gomperts
jgomperts@experiencecorps.org

We Are Sevice Nation

P.S.  I hope you’ll take a minute to sign the Declaration of Service.  Your signature will help turn up the heat on proposed service legislation and let the presidential candidates know that we’re going to hold them to their promises.

AARP Cites Experience Corps’ Impact, Calls for Expansion

A report just out from AARP identifies Experience Corps as "extremely successful” in producing “powerful results for at-risk children…while also demonstrably improving the lives of Experience Corps members” and calls for expanding the program nationwide.
 
More to Give: Tapping the Talents of the Baby Boomer, Silent and Greatest Generations was written by John M. Bridgeland, CEO of Civic Enterprises, along with Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, and former Senator Harris L. Wofford, in association with Peter D. Hart Research Associates.  The report, based on data from focus groups and a survey of Americans aged 44-79, finds that tens of millions of people appear ready to increase their civic participation in retirement.



Welcome to Five New Experience Corps Cities

The 2008 school year opens with five new Experience Corps programs in four states.  The new sites will serve thousands of students in Annapolis, MD; Baltimore County, MD; Beaumont, TX; Evansville, IN; and Revere, MA.  

A variety of strong community groups are serving as host organizations – the local Boys & Girls Clubs in Annapolis, Baltimore County Volunteers in Baltimore County, the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission in Texas, the Carver Community Organization in Evansville, and Generations Incorporated in Massachusetts.  For details, click on city links on the Experience Corps homepage, www.experiencecorps.org.


Experience Corps Shows ‘Creativity, Flexibility and Quality’

An ambitious four-year initiative to double the size of Experience Corps in five cities "clearly demonstrates how programs can become stronger, more energized and even more innovative through carefully planned and managed growth,” according to Growing Bigger, Better: Lessons from Experience Corps' Expansion in Five Cities, a report commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and conducted by Public/Private Ventures.

Expansion often poses threats to program integrity and quality, but Experience Corps, researchers conclude, provides a case study in how to do it right. "Experience Corps showed great flexibility and creativity in adapting to the challenges brought by expansion," the report says, citing strong relationships with schools, good recruitment strategies and a focus on site supervision as keys to success.


A Presidential Honor in Tucson

President George W. Bush recently presented Mary Frances Ward, a member of Experience Corps Tucson, with the President's Volunteer Service Award at the city’s Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. “Watching him walk towards me as I stood next to Air Force One was a mountaintop experience,” Ward says.

Ward, a retired teacher, has logged 510 hours as a tutor at Harriet Johnson Primary School since joining Experience Corps in 2007.  This is the fourth presidential award given to an Experience Corps member.  Past awardees include members in Philadelphia, Cleveland and San Francisco.


Experience Corps Wins Continued Support from AmeriCorps

Cities in Crisis report

The Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers AmeriCorps, recently awarded a three-year, $1.6 million dollar grant to Experience Corps, citing its innovative, scaleable, and business-based approach to citizen problem-solving. “We are investing in organizations that have proved their ability to improve lives,” said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation. The funds provide stipends for 546 tutors and mentors in 11 Experience Corps sites. This is the seventh AmeriCorps award for Experience Corps.


America Volunteers

The most comprehensive research on national service ever assembled shows volunteering in America is strong and poised for growth. Volunteering in America, a report released by the Corporation for National and Community Service in partnership with USA Freedom Corps, shows that nearly 61 million Americans volunteered in their communities in 2007, giving 8.1 billion hours of service worth more than $158 billion to America’s communities.

The Corporation for National and Community Service and Freedom Corps also launched a new website, which provides data on volunteering in all 50 states and 162 cities across the country. Included in the web site are volunteer rates, rankings, and area-specific trends as well as additional information and analysis.

Alex Harris´s River of Traps Republished

River of Traps, co-authored by Alex Harris, Duke University professor of documentary studies and Experience Corps photographer extraordinaire, has been re-published by Trinity University Press. The book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and a winner of the Evans Biography Award.  Harris’s work of Experience Corps was exhibited in the Capital Rotunda in 2005.


Experience Corps in the News

About Experience Corps

Experience Corps, an award-winning program, engages people over 55 in meeting society's greatest challenges. Today, in 23 cities across the country, 2,000 Experience Corps members tutor and mentor elementary school students struggling to learn to read. Independent research shows that Experience Corps boosts student academic performance, helps schools and youth-serving organizations become more successful, and enhances the well-being of the older adults in the process. Experience Corps is a signature program of Civic Ventures.

Learn more about Experience Corps in these cities: Annapolis, MD, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, MD, Beaumont, TX, Boston, MA, Cleveland, Evansville, IN, Grand Rapids, Greater New Haven, Marin County, Mesa, Minneapolis, New York City, Oakland, Philadelphia, Port Arthur, TX, Portland, OR, Revere, MA, San Francisco, St. Paul, Tempe, Tucson, AZ, Washington, DC.

Questions or comments? Send an email to info@experiencecorps.org

Experience Corps is a signature program of Civic Ventures.
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