Comments for Dennetmint on Corps

Comment on Peace Corps or AmeriCorps? That is the question by Mario

Mario — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:23:02 +0000

hi!
i’ve been looking into either joining peace core or americorps but i am just not sure yet!
which have you prefered?
thanks!

Comment on Trade Community Service For Education or Debt Relief? by Anthony Bass

Anthony Bass — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:45:26 +0000

Hello,
I am in the embryonic stages of proposing a community service program for my state. State budgets are decimated and services being cut, while financial institutions force individuals into bankruptcy, further adding to state cost. Theory is to transform some debt into community service thereby allowing debtors to repay debt while working for state and local communities, hospitals, schools — replacing lost services at no $ cost to the governments. Financial institutions get the same write-off as with unpaid debt, spend less on collections, donate “work chits” in their name to communities. Banks regain some of their lost prestige, re-invest in their communities. NEED IDEAS, ESPECIALLY FROM BANKERS LOOKING FOR AN ALTERNATIVE FORM OF DEBT RESOLUTION.

Comment on Training by User links about "trainings" on iLinkShare

User links about "trainings" on iLinkShare — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:48:19 +0000

[...] 29 days ago6 votesTrainings continue for legal observers at DNC>> saved by 4u 30 days ago6 votesTraining>> saved by Mattychan 33 days ago3 votesBonuses For Man Transformation…>> saved by metalcontact 49 [...]

Comment on Trade Community Service For Education or Debt Relief? by Ben

Ben — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:05:01 +0000

[sarcasm] well, considering Obama is supposed to make government work sexy again, they shouldn’t need *any* perks or inducements [/sarcasm]

The real issue: when people talk about offering a “living wage”, whether in government or private sector, do they factor in the massive student debt repayment required to qualify for those very jobs?

IMO, the branding issue with “community service” is that so few people do it as a discrete act: it’s part of your church, or your child’s school, or just daily life (making dinner for your elderly neighbor). I think a healthy society is intrinsically considerate of the needs of others and the commons—the problem is that relatively few people are aware that our society is not healthy. So when someone “dedicates” a majority of their time to service, it forces people to either change their worldview (wow, people *are* suffering through no fault of their own) or attack the person doing service (they’re deluded/just wasting their time/fair punishment).

Comment on Support by Morgan

Morgan — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:07:31 +0000

totally. I think asking for support is equally important. There’s been many a time when I’ve had to ask for support or rely on my networks. The cool thing about CTC VISTA is that you kind have a support network ‘built in’. BTW, I actually recommended yr blog to someone considering either AmeriCorps or PeaceCorps:) Say hi to the other VISTAs.

Comment on Portland Speaks: What I’ve been doing as a CTC Vista by dennetmint

dennetmint — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:30:21 +0000

I thought I’d share that Knight Foundation has now reviewed all the applications, and PCM has been invited to submit a full, blown-out grant proposal! This is really exciting! We’ve made it to the next round! I’m not sure how many groups were invited to submit, but there were 1,560 applications. Apparently, PCM has submitted many apps to Knight in the past, but this is the first one where we’ve been invited to submit a full proposal! Yay!!!

Comment on Workplace by Professional advantages « Dennetmint on Corps

Professional advantages « Dennetmint on Corps — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 04:40:55 +0000

[...] At this point, you’re probably wondering how this applies to the two corps. PCVs have more of an explicit role in sustainable progress than AmeriCorps volunteers, although I would wager they have equal opportunity for that. The reason PCVs as change agents is so explicit is because of the stark contrast between Third World countries and the Western world. Not to say that what PCVs should be doing is to bring Third World countries up to First World standards (note that I didn’t use the term “developing” countries). But it is simple things like finding a local solution that becomes a grassroots movement for clean drinking water or helping community leaders develop a program to bust myths on HIV/AIDS and sex. It’s empowering community members to come up with solutions to local problems instead. In the case of PCVs, they really and truly are the resource. Everything should be approached from the idea that the PCV won’t be there in two years, and presuming that there will be no PCV after, how will the community initiate change on its own? It really isn’t that locals aren’t creative enough to come up with this on their own, but that they may have never been empowered to think beyond what’s directly in front of them. Ben Sheldon put it this way: [...]

Comment on Benefits by Professional advantages « Dennetmint on Corps

Professional advantages « Dennetmint on Corps — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 04:27:38 +0000

[...] Jessica posed a fantastic question about a week ago under the “Benefits” entry that I’ve given a lot of thought to [...]

Comment on Benefits by dennetmint

dennetmint — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:22:58 +0000

Hi, Jessica Sorry about the tardy response; i've been out of town for the last several days. You posed a great question, one i'm not completely certain how to answer except to say Peace Corps has a certain prestige that surrounds it that comes from a quilted veil of foreign cultures, lack of familiar amenities and the time commitment. Also consider that since its inception in 1961, there have been 190,000 PCVs while AmeriCorps can boast a number many times this size (500,000 since Clinton started it in 1993). I can say that people are impressed if you've been in Peace Corps for any amount of time. In terms of how easy it is to get a job following, I'm not even sure that I'm the best person to answer that. I didn't finish the full two years, although I wouldn't necessarily say that influences anyone's decision. It really depends more on how you interpret and what you extrapolate from your experience. I'm also uncertain of this simply because I moved to Portland, OR immediately after returning, right as the economic downturn began to avalanche. Even though I've been out of college for more than a year, I'm still a recent college graduate, and Portland is a very young town. PDX is also home to the biggest returned Peace Corps Volunteer population in the U.S., so I'm not sure that Peace Corps on a resume will necessarily get you more than an initial "wow" in this town during the application process. I know this isn't an adequate answer. I thought about your question while flying from place to place, and now that I've recovered from my trip, I'm going to write a more in-depth entry addressing your question. Be sure to look for it in the next two days.

Comment on Benefits by Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:20:03 +0000

From what you can tell what are the long term (professional) benefits of the peace corps and americorps?