Initiatives
- 911 Day of Service and Remembrance
The Maine Commission for Community Service shares with the Corporation for National Service responsibility for ensuring that those who lost their lives on 9/11 are remembered through service to others. Throughout the country, a network of states have created a day of service in memoriam to all people who lost their lives in the acts of terrorism committed on the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, as well as those who served countless hours and days in the rescues that followed the attacks. Each year the Commission participates in a day of Service and Remembrance on 9/11 to celebrate the lives of those that were lost.
- AmeriCorps Alumni Ambassador Program
The goal of the Alumni Ambassador program is to increase awareness about AmeriCorps programs to high school and college students and people in career transition. Ambassadors span the state and conduct outreach in a number of ways. Ambassadors have the opportunity to meet new people, share their AmeriCorps experience, network with other Alumni, and serve their communities again!
For more information contact: rochelle.runge@maine.gov .
- AmeriCorps Week
AmeriCorps Week is a recruitment and recognition event designed to bring more Americans into service, salute AmeriCorps members and alums for their powerful impact, and thank the community partners who make AmeriCorps possible. AmeriCorps Week provides an opportunity for AmeriCorps members, alums, grantees, program partners, and friends to shine a spotlight on the work done by members in communities across the country -- and to motivate more AmeriCorps to join AmeriCorps or volunteer in their communities.
- Blaine House Conference on Volunteerism
Since 1986, this statewide conference has focused on professional development for volunteer program staff, board members, funders, and sponsoring organizations.
MCCS board members and staff lead the conference development, planning, logistics, and implementation. Representatives from the field serve on various conference committees. The content focuses on concerns that emerge in an annual survey of managers of volunteers.
- Competencies for Manager of Volunteers
- Like other occupations, a fundamental assumption in volunteer programs is that well prepared and competent
managers of volunteers (both paid and unpaid) are essential to the success of a
program.
In other careers, competency is assessed using a continuum of ability, knowledge and skill sets that range from novice to expert. And the measurement is done in the context of a person’s capacity to use them adaptively in a variety of work settings and organizations.
When the Commission staff set out to identify competency models for managers of volunteers that could be adapted for use with AmeriCorps staff, no fully developed models existed for volunteer managers. The few basic models for volunteer manager competencies were not fully developed and did not describe the difference between someone new to the field (novice) and someone who had 30 years experience.
For two years, Commission staff worked with a consultant at the University of Southern Maine Muskie School of Public Service to develop a complete model of competencies for novice through expert managers of volunteers.
After national vetting and review, the model has been published and is the basis for all Maine work with both AmeriCorps staff and volunteer managers in partner organizations.
As 2007 closed, the competency model was accepted for publication nationally by the federal “Resource Center,” an online library of tools and training materials for volunteer and service programs.
- INVEST
In 2010 INVEST culminated in class offerings at two Maine Colleges. York County Community College announced the Novice level course for Managers of Volunteers and the University of Southern Maine announced the Graduate Level Course for Managers of Volunteers.
For nearly three years, MCCS worked to lay the ground for high quality, competency-based training and technical assistance for managers of volunteers. As a result of that preparation, MCCS obtained one of only four national grants awarded by the Corporation for National and Community Service in 2007. The grant program aims to increase capacity and retention in volunteer programs.
Known as Project INVEST (Increased Nonprofit Volunteer Education & Skills Training), the Maine grant will further MCCS efforts to provide a curriculum and context for volunteer management in the State of Maine. Partners included University of Maine Division of Lifelong Learning, York County Community College, University of Southern Maine Muskie School of Public Service, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, ME Dept. of Education, and Maine Environmental Corps.
- MaineHEARTH (Home Energy Aid & Response Team Help)
Funded with a small grant from the Hands On Network and augmented by AmeriCorps*VISTA positions, Maine HEARTH aims to connect the many generous responses communities have developed to support those trying to stay safe and warm at home. VISTA members convene regional or countywide councils supporting residents’ ability to stay safe and warm in their homes. Councils will foster coordination and replication of successful approaches, identify gaps in responses to local needs, identify emerging needs at the local level, and connect volunteers with opportunities to support local responses.
Sites include: Rural Community Action Ministries (Androscoggin), United Way Tri-Valley Area ( Franklin), HealthReach RSVP (Kennebec), Habitat for Humanity/7 Rivers Maine(Lincoln and Sagadahoc), Healthy Oxford Hills ( Oxford), University of Maine Cooperative Extension Offices(Piscataquis and Somerset), Waldo Community Action Partners (Waldo), United Way of York County (York).
- Martin Luther King Day of Service
- The Martin Luther King Day of Service is an important way for Maine ’s people to experience the significance of service, volunteerism and collaboration amongst their neighbors. Each year the Maine Commission for Community Service provides funding that allows participants to create and implement service projects that will not only impact their communities, but celebrate the legacy of Dr. King and his commitment to service, non-violence, and diversity.
- STEM Service-learning Grants funded by Time Warner Cable
In partnership with Time Warner Cable, the Commission makes grants to school districts that want to initiate service-learning practices or expand adoption of service learning among science, math, and technology classes. During 2009, funds from Time Warner supported teacher adoption of service learning in five school districts.
Service-learning is a method of teaching (K-12 and college) that integrates classroom learning with service focused on community needs targeted by students for action. The Maine
Commission for Community Service promotes service-learning as a K-12 instructional strategy that fosters student academic success and builds capacity among schools that adopt service-learning. MCCS provides training, resources, and technical assistance to school administrators and works to educate community members and leaders about the advantages of service-learning.The Commission makes two types of service learning grants: One type supports district-wide adoption and the award is for one 3-year period. The second helps teachers implement service-learning in a new district and model the benefits and is for a 1-year period. In the 2010-2011 grant cycle more then four grants will be awarded.
- The Governor's Volunteer Service Awards
Since 1987, the Governor’s Volunteer Service Awards have celebrated and recognized the exemplary work of Maine’s most dedicated citizens. This award program, administered jointly by the Maine Commission for Community Service and the Governor’s Office, recognizes and honors the valuable contributions of Maine’s extraordinary volunteers while inspiring others to follow their example.
Each year the Governor’s Volunteer Service Awards are presented at a special ceremony at the State House during National Volunteer Week in April.
- Volunteer and Donations Management
The Commission partnered with the Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) in 2008 to form the Donations Coordination Team (DCT). MCCS co-chairs the DCT with the MEMA Director of Mitigation, Preparedness, and Recovery. The goal of the DCT is to coordinate resources of volunteers and donations on a statewide level to improve disaster preparedness, mitigation, and recovery. In 2010, with the help of the Maine AmeriCorps Alumni, MCCS established Maine’s first deployable Volunteer Reception Center based out of Portland. In 2011, MCCS will devote resources to convening additional Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COADS) across the state.
- VolunteerMaine
The Maine Commission for Community Service initiated the VolunteerMaine Partnership in 2002 as part of its responsibility to be a catalyst in solving challenges faced by Maine’s volunteer sector. Between 2002 and 2007, the number of partners grew from 3 to 14.
The members of the VolunteerMaine Partnership are state, non-profit, public and private agencies that have come together with the sole purpose of promoting volunteerism in Maine and meet the needs of the volunteer programs operating locally so they are able to effectively respond to critical local needs.
VolunteerMaine's Goal:
Build the capacity of volunteer programs and their leadership by addressing the four priority needs identified by Maine’s volunteer sector:
1) professional development/training volunteer administrators,
2) increased sustainability and capacity to meet local needs,
3) increased engagement of citizens as volunteers, and
4) technical assistance for and coordination among volunteer programs.- VolunteerMaine AmeriCorps*VISTA
10 AmeriCorps*VISTA members dispersed across 14 counties are creating volunteer centers without walls, connecting volunteer programs with potential volunteers, preparing volunteer programs to participate in emergency response efforts, and developing resources for new volunteer centers.
Members are based out of VolunteerMaine partner organizations in Bangor, Waterville, Augusta, Lewiston, Bath, Portland, and Kennebunk.
Learn more here.