The Idealist.org Podcasts

Today we're launching a new podcast series as part of the Idealist.org podcasts. Called "The New Service" podcast, the show will highlight service corps programs, people, and career paths.  It will be included along with the Idealist.org Careers Podcast feed.

Today's guest on The New Service is Colonel Robert L. Gordon, III, Senior Vice President of Civic Leadership at City Year. City Year is a national service program that enables people aged 17-24 make a difference in the lives of children and their communities. Corps members serve in one of 19 cities within the United States and South Africa. City Year is a national partner of AmeriCorps. It also plays a leadership role in the Voices for National Service and Service Nation.

This Idealist.org Careers podcast features an interview with Meg Busse, co-author of the Idealist.org Guide to Nonprofit Careers. The Guide walks job seekers through all the steps of the nonprofit job search, from describing the nonprofit sector and self-assessment to developing a stellar resume and interview skills. The book is available in two versions — for the first-time job seeker, and for the sector-switcher— for free on our website.

Meg Busse is the Coordinator of High School and College Career Transitions at Idealist.org. Along with creating resources, she works with career professionals and guidance counselors to connect students with careers in the nonprofit sector.

Amy Potthast interviews Meg about Chapter Four of the career guide, "Networking." They discuss the value of building relationships to begin and sustain a nonprofit career through volunteering and through informational interviews.

Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps offers young people a chance to affect social change while deepening their commitment to Jewish life by serving for a year at anti-poverty organizations in Chicago, New Orleans, New York, and Washington, DC.

As with other service corps, Avodah's corps members earn a basic stipend. They also live in community with other corps members, and work on group building, negotiation, and conflict resolution. In partnership with the American Jewish World Service, Avodah's alumni find networking, support and training.

Herself an alumna of Avodah, Amy Ravis Furey serves as New York City Program Director for AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps. After earning her Masters in Social Work from Hunter College with a concentration in community organizing and group work, she served as an organizer for the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and as the Social Justice Coordinator at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Amy is the first Avodah alum to serve on staff as a program director at one of the AVODAH sites.

Idealist's Amy Potthast speaks with Amy Ravis Furey about the influence of Avodah in her career path, and her mission of lifting up youth to change the world. They talk about the role of Jewish social justice teaching, the alumni nework, and the impact Avodah has had in the world and on its corps members.
 
For more information, join Avodah staff on a conference call tonight (11/19) at 9 pm, or on December 2. The deadline to apply for the 2009-10 year is February 6th, 2009.

In recent years, communities across the five boroughs have become more concerned with eating "locally" and developing a sustainable food system for all New York City residents.  Community Supported Agriculture--the model of pairing groups of community residents with small local farms--continues to gain in popularity all over the city as an alternative to supermarket shopping.  But how exactly does CSA work?  What does membership in a CSA model mean for community residents?

In the latest Idealist.org Community Podcast, guest contributor Cambra Moniz-Edwards follows Fort Greene CSA Coordinator Jen Datka as she explains the ins and outs of one of Brooklyn's newest CSAs.  For more information on CSAs in the five boroughs, and on developing a sustainable agriculture system in New York City, visit JustFood.org.





Click here for more information on Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE) and the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project (MARP).

In this episode Amy Potthast speaks with Nikki Roehling, Associate Director of the Catholic Network of Volunteer Service or CNVS.

This week, the Catholic Network of Volunteer Service will gather its program directors in Portland, OR, for a multi-day conference and retreat. CNVS is a national membership association of 200 faith-based domestic and international volunteer programs, some of which are either AmeriCorps-funded, or which offer the Eli Segal AmeriCorps Education Award to its members upon completion of service. It publishes a directory of its programs called The Response Directory in print, and as a searchable directory on its web site, www.cnvs.org.

Nikki and Idealist's Amy Potthast talk about the range of CNVS volunteer and lay mission programs, the Response Directory, international volunteering, self-reflection, and the Eli Segal AmeriCorps Education Award that some of its volunteers are able to earn.



Tune in again next month for the public service careers podcast Faith and Service Pt. 2: Avodah, the Jewish Service Corps.

"The poor will always be among you" is a biblical quote often cited by Christian leaders as a reason to not focus on poverty work. Some Christians, however, believe the quote means the exact opposite and that although 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day, poverty can end.

In this latest Community episode, our summer podcasting intern Alison Killeen explores the beliefs of the Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She speaks with co-founder and coordinator Liz Theoharis, along with the formerly homeless scholar-in-residence Willie Baptist, about the work of their organization and the importance of teaching a new generation of Christian leaders to address poverty in a new light.

This episode features Shane Endicott, Founder and C.E.O. of Our United Villages, the organization that runs Portland's environmentally sound The Rebuilding Center. The Rebuilding Center recycles used building and remodeling materials (everything from a door knob to the kitchen sink to church pews to siding) by re-selling them to builders for up to 90 percent less than market value.

The show is guest-hosted by intern Alicia "Lish" Ng, who is leaving the Portland Idealist office for graduate school at the the London School of Oriental and African Studies.  Lish and Shane talk about the value of having such a innovative resource in the community, his early years, what it means to be a community leader, and how The Rebuilding Center will benefit the community as greening becomes ever more mainstream.

Lish, we thank you so much for your sound editing on this year's

After the tragedy of September 11, 2001, some people began thinking about how two cultures could misunderstand each other so much.  How could one group hate another enough to attack them?  Though we live in a time of ever-increasing communication and modern technologies that connect us across continents, we still don't seem to understand each other very well.

In the latest Idealist.org Community Podcast, our guest contributor, Eric Hanser, tells the story of a group called Cultures in Harmony.  This NYC-based nonprofit organization is bringing back an old means of cultural understanding—long ago abandoned by the United States government—by performing music in venues around the world. Set to the backdrop of beautiful global melodies, Eric explores how Cultures in Harmony fosters dialogue, friendship and diplomacy.

In the latest Community Podcast, we look at an organization that's working to bring the internet to all New Yorkers, in and outside of their apartments.  Most of us think of using the internet as a solitary, indoor activity.  NYCwireless thinks differently.  By "lighting up" public parks with free wi-fi access, they're allowing New Yorkers to connect outdoors and helping everyone to create and participate in a new community.

We talk with Dana Spiegel and Laura Forlano from NYCwireless about their mission and projects. We also look at the challenges they face as they work to make internet access an accepted public service.



Click here for a transcript of this episode.

More information on NYCwireless.

Today's guest is Bob Grimm, Director of Research and Policy Development & Senior Counselor to the CEO at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) in Washington, DC. He speaks with Idealist.org's Amy Potthast about the study design and outcomes, and about some of the people who have served in AmeriCorps.



Solid evidence now exists to show that participating in a term of service program (like AmeriCorps, Teach For America, and Peace Corps) really is an effective launching-off point for a public service career.  Idealist has long held this belief, and has been formalizing its support of these programs since 2007.

Earlier this year the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) published an eight-year longitudinal study of people who participated in AmeriCorps programs in 1999-2000, as well as of people who considered participating but chose not to during the same year. It turns out that two-thirds of AmeriCorps alumni (including AmeriCorps*NCCC alumni) from that year are currently engaged in nonprofit or government careers -- outnumbering the group who didn't participate in AmeriCorps.