Write a Guest Post!
AmeriCorps Alums wants folks who care about service and volunteerism to submit guest blog posts! To do so, simply e-mail an inquiry to Ken[at]AmeriCorpsAlums[dot]org.
Just think, you could write a post about:
- Your story of service (either current or reflection)
- Chapter Updates – what your chapter is doing, wants to do or is planning on doing
- Reflections on major events and days of service – MLK Day, AmeriCorps Week, 9/11, Katrina anniversary, etc.
- Responses to timely news articles and reports (ie. like this one)
Here are the (loose) editorial guidelines we ask you to follow:
Content: We are looking for personal stories of service – how has service transformed your life or your community? We also accept “how to” posts on service themes (i.e. “9 Tips for Volunteer Recruitment”). We’re also interested in reflections on current events and their intersection with volunteering and service. We do not accept posts promoting goods and services or any advertising at this time.
Length: We prefer posts that are around 500 words in length. We’re not strict about this, but we suggest you use it as a rough guide.
Voice: First person, personal
By Line: Guests posts must have a named author – a person, not an organization. If possible, please send a head shot of the author. We like to put a photo of the author next to the byline.
Style: We prefer posts that tell a story, that are written from the heart. We prefer posts written in an individual’s voice, from that person’s perspective. We prefer writing styles that read more like an individual would talk as opposed to a corporate document or press release. Posts may be serious or humorous, as long as they are authentic, personal and transparent.
Call to Action: Whenever possible, posts should end with a call to action and links to get more involved.
Photos: Photos are encouraged. Guest authors should send suggested photos along with the post text.
Tell us your service story!
My letter to my local congressman:
Dear Mr. Grimm,
I first would like to introduce myself—my name is Jennifer Giangrande, I’m 25 years old and a lifelong Staten Islander. After seeing you at the debate against McMahon at Wagner last year, I had no doubt that you would enter office with anything less than a genuine effort to represent us. I was impressed by your forthcoming demeanor and commitment to fiscal responsibility. I’m writing this letter to you in hopes that what I say here can make some difference in how you vote for the President’s 2011 budget.
I was a member of the Class XIII AmeriCorps NCCC in 2007—I’m not sure if your familiar with this sector of the AmeriCorps, but it is an intensive, project-based service program that has 5 “bases” around the country. I overloaded my credits and graduated SUNY Binghamton a semester early just to enter the campus at Denver, because I had been inspired by the program by other members I’d met while building houses in Charleston a year earlier. I was an English major with a lifelong love for language, books and literacy, but my mother long instilled in me the necessity of volunteerism and service, and to the NCCC I think I was instinctually attracted.
After almost four years of studying about life, I actually got a chance to live it. In 10 months with the NCCC, I encountered hundreds of opportunities to engender the leadership qualities I’d been developing my entire life. I worked with FEMA in a flood disaster in Minnesota (a torrential hurricane had hit the Midwest in late ’07), and remember meeting a man whose basement was completely destroyed by the flood. He was an older war veteran and staunch republican named Bill, and was confused when we told him the mayor of his town sent us to clean up. He said, “This is where my tax dollars are going?” with an angry grimace before he allowed us to descend the stairs. We pulled up his soaked carpeting, washed and dried the cement floor, and removed hundreds of pounds of soaked insulation from his walls in under 2 hours. Before we left, this guy hugged all of us and said “Thanks. Without you guys, I’d never be able to walk down those stairs again.”
Throughout my service year, I had a number of complaints about the program, as many representatives criticize it now. All of my teammates did. We returned home from every project with an entire booklet on what was learned and how we would improve our relationship with the program manager, how more work could be done in less time and with more efficiency. This was something that was on everyone’s mind, as AmeriCorps NCCC has been faced with budget cuts before. I’d been awarded a lunch with the deputy director of my campus, and she asked me how I would change the program. I told her I would make the training more rigorous, but more importantly, cut costs to make the program more fiscally responsible.
I don’t mean to chastise your stance with left-wing rhetoric, nor jar your senses with flowery, emotional speech. If I knew I had more time, I would tell you about every time I looked up at a flood soaked ceiling, or put on an oxygen mask in a post-Katrina residence and said to myself “I can’t believe I’m here”. I think we can agree that absolute need for national service is not a partisan issue, and the AmeriCorps program has one of the best directives to address this, as do many other programs like it—CityYear, Teach for America to name a few.
The proof is in the pudding, Mr. Grimm. I work for a non-profit educational publisher now, and use my AmeriCorps skills at work every day. Friends of mine who are NCCC alums are getting undergraduate and master’s degrees in public policy, social work, international development and teaching; joining the FBI; heading volunteer organizations in response to the Gulf Oil Spill; working in post-katrina response and case management; and even running for office.
Our nation, our cities, our states, our communities NEED people like this. Team players. People who exhibit selflessness. People who think outside the box to form creative solutions to difficult problems. They are valuable in every sector of employment, because of the absolutely diverse array of skills learned in the real life application of intellect and innovation. Have you ever met an female English major who’s started a community recycling program, effectively led over 900 volunteers, and who can build a house from the ground up?
Please take into consideration that a budget cut for the AmeriCorps NCCC will mean a gaping hole in the community service fabric that this program has created for almost two decades. Thank you for your consideration.
Best regards,
Jennifer Giangrande
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead
I’d love to write a guest posting, but I’m not sure where you would like me to send it!
Thanks!
Courtney
Happy New Year, I will be writing a guest post. I really miss my NCCC days! #reminiscing Life isn’t sweet unless I am serving.
Thanks for getting in touch with us Elle! I’d love to connect with you on writing a guest post. Send me an email at Ken[at]AmeriCorpsAlums[dot]org and I can give you more details.
Ken