The Case For National Service

The Activists

Resource Guide

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Ashoka
www.ashoka.org
703-527-8300
Funds and supports the leaders of growing, innovative non-profits


AmeriCorps
www.americorps.org
202-606-5000
Network of local, state and national community service programs


Change.org
www.change.org
[no phone #]
The social networking site for activists allows members to build virtual foundations to bundle small donations from individuals into a large lump gift to charities, politicians or social projects


Citizen Schools
www.citizenschools.org
617-695-2300
Apprentices middle schoolers to adult volunteers nationwide


City Year
www.cityyear.org
617-927-2500
Volunteers in the year-long full-time program mentor, tutor and lead community building projects


DonorsChoose
www.donorschoose.org
212-239-3615
Allows prospective donors to search for and fund school projects, materials and activities proposed by individual teachers


Draper Richards Foundation
www.draperrichards.org
415-616-4050
Grants start-up money and business mentoring to social entrepreneurs


Echoing Green
www.echoinggreen.org
212-689-1165
Provides seed and start-up grants and support to social entrepreneurs


Experience Corps
www.experiencecorps.org
202-478-6190
Specifically for 55-and-olders, who tutor elementary school students struggling with reading


Fellows/USA
www.peacecorps.gov
800-424-8580 x1440
Gives former Peace Corps members money for grad school if they work in underserved U.S. communities


Harlem Children's Zone
www.hcz.org
212-534-0700
Comprehensive community program that helps kids at every age, via parenting classes, job training, fighting obesity and lifting grades


Idealist.org
www.idealist.org
212-564-3377
Connects people with organizations, jobs, ideas and resources for social action


Jesuit Volunteer Corps
www.jesuitvolunteers.org
[various phone numbers depending on region]
The country's largest lay Catholic volunteer program works with the homeless and disabled, abuse victims and refugees, among others


Kiva.org
www.kiva.org
[no phone #]
Helps individual donors provide micro-loans to individual developing-world entrepreneurs with specific goals — like buying motorcycle repair equipment or cattle fodder — to earn their way out of poverty


Knowledge is Power Program
www.kipp.org
866-345-5477
Students in this network of 57 open-enrollment college-prep public schools go to school from 7:30 to 5 and have three hours of homework per night; 80% of grads have gone on to college

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Next: Voices of the Volunteers >>

Commentary: Caroline Kennedy

Making a Difference at Home

Inspired by their work abroad, Peace Corps volunteers return to the U.S. as teachers, bringing the lessons they learned to the kids who need them most

Commentary: Michael Kinsley

National Service? Puh-lease

Michael Kinsley thinks TIME editor Rick Stengel's call for compulsory national service is naïve. What we really need is better free-market capitalism

Service Abroad

How Others Serve

Abroad, civilian service ranges from diplomacy to firefighting

Election 2008

What These Presidents Would Ask of You

The candidates push for cash incentives, loan help, new service corps

Influentials On The Ground

The Activists

These nonprofit stars started small but took on big problems, from education to poverty to making volunteers more effective. The clearest sign of their success? The spin-offs built on their bright ideas

Get Involved

Resource Guide

Here, TIME provides a variety of websites to help you get started on giving back

Podcast

A Call For National Service

Caroline Kennedy and Jeff Sachs talk with TIME Senior Editor Jyoti Thottam about the value of community and national service in the U.S. and abroad, their concerns about required national service, and the role of a universal national service program

Interviews

Voices of the Volunteers

Four volunteers, and the founder of Teach for America, talk about what motivates them, and what they have learned

Military Service

Would National Service Be Better Than the Draft?

Some argue that a military option as part of a national service requirement would be good for the country. Others say it would be bad for the military

Talkback

How Do You Serve Your Community?

Now it's your turn to speak up about the value of volunteering and national service. Why do you volunteer? What impact do volunteers make in your community? Do you think the United States should have a national service program?

For the Kids

Young Volunteers, TIME For Kids Wants You!

Nominate an American kid or youth group involved in a remarkable volunteer or service project. Each month, TIME For Kids will choose one project to feature in its pages