November 17, 2011

Volume 18, No. 46

Circulation: 39,950

National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week
November 12-20, 2012

YSA is proud to join our partners - the Sodexo Foundation, Share Our Strength, and the National Coalition for the Homeless - in raising awareness of our joint efforts to end childhood hunger during National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week. This week's NSB features news, grants, and resources to help you engage youth in ending poverty, hunger, and homelessness, including:

Youth, ages 5-25, can apply for a $500 Sodexo Youth Grant from YSA to organize a childhood hunger service project for Global Youth Service Day (April 20-22, 2012).

If you're planning any hunger & homelessness activities or events this week, register them with the National Coalition for the Homeless - or find an event near you.

Learn more about the programs and resources available from Share Our Strength, including the brand new No Kid Hungry 2 Online Youth Action Center.

Do you know a young person who has done extraordinary work to fight childhood hunger in their community? Work with them to apply for a Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Scholarship.

Learn more at www.YSA.org/hunger

Connect with YSA

YSA Funding Partners

Corporation for National and Community Service

News From the Field

November 17 is World Prematurity Day

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. The March of Dimes will join organizations in Europe, Africa and Australia on Nov. 17 to hold the first-ever World Prematurity Day and call on governments worldwide to reduce death and disability caused by premature birth. Worldwide, 13 million babies are born early every year, including more than half a million in the United States. In the United States, premature birth is the leading cause of death among newborns. Around the world, more than a million babies die each year after being born too soon. "Like" facebook.com/worldprematurityday and change your Facebook status to tell all your friends about the global issue of preterm birth, and invite them to get involved. Find out what you can do to host an event in the Youth Planning Guide: http://bit.ly/voYun3 To learn more about premature birth and how to fight the problem, go to www.marchofdimes.com

National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week Events

Each year, one week before Thanksgiving, National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness co-sponsor National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. During this week, schools, communities, and cities take part in a nationwide effort to bring greater awareness to the problems of hunger and homelessness. Participating in National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week not only brings greater awareness to your community, but also helps to promote the national endeavor to end hunger and homelessness. Learn more, download a 2011 Awareness Week manual, and register your events at: http://bit.ly/tWWKBL
Learn more about events taking place across the country this week at: http://bit.ly/vCojrX

Join the Movement, Help Build an Engaged Nation - Partner with NCoC

The National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) is now accepting new partners for the 2012 Civic Health Initiatives. NCoC currently works with cross-sector partners in over 25 communities across the country to use civic health data to enhance the prosperity and vitality of our communities and our nation. We are excited to continue these partnerships while growing this network to include all 50 states, 50 largest metropolitan areas, and other issue-based communities. Our partnerships have produced reports, infographics and initiatives that create a deeper understanding of civic health, generate dialogue and catalyze action. They have been used to inform public policy, develop community initiatives, and direct resources and investments. You are invited to join this growing effort, by partnering with NCoC on Civic Health Index reports and initiatives for 2012. Learn more at: http://bit.ly/soe6YM

26 Seconds BMOR Project Continues

Every 26 seconds in America, a student drops out of high school. In an effort to encourage high school students throughout the country to be more (BMOR) than the statistic, the 26 Seconds campaign is asking the nation's youth to participate in the BMOR Project. The BMOR Project will run throughout the school year and offers monthly activities and prize opportunities. Youth can complete each month's activity at: www.facebook.com/26seconds .

New posters to help raise awareness of the issue in your school are available each month, along with many other resources at: http://bit.ly/uVn91S

People from across the country are posting messages of support for you and your friends at BoostUp.org. Help inspire students like you to stay in school. A simple message of encouragement can make a real difference. Take a few seconds and submit a video or written message, and help other students BMOR than a statistic. http://bit.ly/sMTF7n

Grants & Awards

MLK Day Lead Organizer Grants

Deadline: November 18

YSA and CNCS are proud to support up to 16 MLK Day Lead Organizers with $4,000 planning grants to coordinate Martin Luther King Day of Service (January 16, 2012) activities. This grant program is open to nonprofit organizations, K-12 schools, and colleges & universities in all 50 states and DC. Grantees will be required to engage at least 3,000 volunteers in community service or service-learning projects on MLK Day, build or strengthen partnerships with at least 5 partner organizations, and address one or more strategic issue areas. Learn more: www.YSA.org/grants/MLKDay

Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Scholarships

Deadline: December 5

The Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Scholarships recognize and reward students who have made a significant impact in the fight against hunger. The scholarship recipients each receive $5,000 for their education as well as a $5,000 matching grant in their name for the hunger-related charity of their choice. Sholarships are open to students (Kindergarten through graduate school) enrolled in an accredited educational institution in the United States. Applicants must have demonstrated on-going commitment to their community by performing unpaid volunteer services impacting hunger in the United States at least within the last 12 months. http://bit.ly/qImcz3

Sodexo Youth Grants

Deadline: January 17

YSA will award 100 Sodexo Youth Grants of $500 each to support youth-led service projects in the United States that address the issue of childhood hunger on Global Youth Service Day (April 20-22, 2012). We're looking for projects that engage your peers, friends, families, neighbors, Sodexo employees, and other community members in creative, youth-inspired solutions to ending childhood hunger in your community. Over 17 million children in the United States live at risk of hunger. YSA and Sodexo are calling on young people, ages 5-25, to help make sure your peers don't have to worry about where their next meal will come from. Learn more at: www.YSA.org/grants/sodexoyouth

2012 AmeriCorps Grants

Deadline: January 18

AmeriCorps awards grants to organizations to implement programs that utilize AmeriCorps members to engage in evidence-based interventions to strengthen communities. In the 2012 competition CNCS expects to invest a significant amount of available funding to programs working in the six Focus Areas of Disaster Services, Economic Opportunity, Education, Environmental Stewardship, Healthy Futures, and Veterans and Military Families. In particular, CNCS seeks to target its AmeriCorps grantmaking in the Education, Disaster Services and Veterans and Military Families Focus Areas. http://bit.ly/pBIpCw

Everyday Young Heroes

Rachel Shuster

Dix Hill, NY

YSA recognizes fifteen year old Rachel Shuster of Dix Hill, New York, as one of our Everyday Young Heroes for her efforts to engage her peers in service that addresses real community issues and problems.

She started a local chapter of KidsCare, a GenerationOn program that works to inspire a spirit of volunteering in elementary and middle school children. Over the past five years under Rachel's leadership, KidsCare HHH, with over 40 members ranging from ages 12 to 15, has cooked for the local Ronald McDonald House residents, cleaned up local farms and historical sites, taught lessons at the local head start school, and done arts and crafts and played games with the residents at a local senior residence. Rachel and other KidsCare members have walked in support of numerous causes, including The American Cancer Society and the fight against breast cancer, and raised over $2,000 for a local day camp for children with cancer and their siblings. Rachel organized all of these events beginning with contacting the appropriate leaders of the necessary organizations and facilities, determining what the needs were, organizing the service project and engaging the members of KidsCare HHH.

Rachel and KidsCare HHH has put smiles on the faces of children and elderly, provided funding for many children with cancer to go to day camp for the summer and cleaned up historical sites in her town. She has demonstrated a special ability to engage her peers by showing them how important contributing to their community is and how service should be a priority in their lives. Rachel truly embodies her mission of teaching kids that service can be rewarding and fun when done together. For her work to promote a culture of volunteering among her peers, we honor Rachel as an Everyday Young Hero.

To nominate a young person who has improved their community through service to be recognized as an Everyday Young Hero, please visit www.ysa.org/awards/hero.

Resources & Trainings

Share Our Strength Launches No Kid Hungry 2 Online Youth Action Center

As part of its No Kid Hungry® Campaign - a national effort to end childhood hunger in America by 2015 - Share Our Strength recently launched an online youth action center: No Kid Hungry 2. This online resource center is a great tool for young people from across the United States that are passionate about solving hunger issues in their community, as well as for teachers and parents. It has age- appropriate ideas and resources to help young leaders, parents and teachers organize volunteer activities and advocacy efforts to raise awareness in their schools and neighborhoods. No Kid Hungry 2 will be integrated with other social media outlets that are commonly used by young people and will help to build a shared community of interests and activities supporting anti-hunger youth advocacy. http://bit.ly/rXpVoD

Points of Light MLK Day Webinar: The Community Blueprint: A Model for Communities

November 29, 2011 at 2:30pm Eastern

As a community, veterans and military families are suffering disproportionately during the current economic climate, and we are asking you to make them a priority this MLK Day of Service! The Community Blueprint is a guide to help communities add military support services to their public sector infrastructure, utilizing volunteers as the backbone resource to support veterans, active duty military and their families. It helps communities better understand their strengths and weaknesses in military support services and to be responsive to those needs. Come learn more about this great initiative and how you can kick off your Community Blueprint MLK Day 2012! http://bit.ly/uQH7Rw

MLK Day Webinar: Raising Resources & In-Kind Donations

November 30, 2011 at 3:00pm Eastern

The next MLK Day webinar, Raising Resources & In-Kind Donations, will cover the following topics:
- Roles for the fundraising committee
- Identifying your resource development goals
- Where to look for resources and in-kind donations
- Who will make the ask?
- What mechanisms might be used in asking for donations?
- What are the appropriate lead- and follow-up times?

NYLC Webinar: State Policies for Service-Learning: Opportunities and Obstacles

December 6, 2011 at 3:00pm Central

What's happening with service-learning and education in state policy across the United States? Join NYLC for a conversation with Ann Rautio of the Education Commission for the States' National Center for Learning and Citizenship, lead author of ECS's new state service-learning policy scan - the first in a decade. Discover trends, explore what the elimination of Learn and Serve America might mean for service-learning in your state, and talk about how to promote policies that better support service-learning. http://bit.ly/t8lsRG