March 10-16 was AmeriCorps Week in New Hampshire, per proclamation of the Governor. We were proud to celebrate our members and uplift the work of our programs throughout that week and continuing forward into the rest of the month. On Wednesday, March 13th, we gathered members together at the State House in Concord to hear from local elected officials, participate in a panel on civic engagement, and take a tour of the building. In the morning, we were presented with a commendation from House Speaker Sherman Packard to mark the AmeriCorps 30th anniversary. We also heard from Welcome Center direc ..read more

Granite State Education Corps (GSEC) is an AmeriCorps State program under the portfolio of Volunteer NH. We spoke to their program director, Scott Hardy, and a member, James Colarusso, about what the program does and what service looks like. Learn more by visiting this website: https://goodwillnne.org/programs/americorps/positions/goodwill-granite-state-education-corps/. Scott Hardy, Program Director When did Granite State Education Corps start as an AmeriCorps program? Granite State Education Corps started in 2012 and operated as such until 2017. The name of the program changed to Granite Sta ..read more

Our newest New Hampshire AmeriCorps program is the RISE Program, the Refugee and Immigrant Social Empowerment Program, hosted by IINE, the International Institute of New England.  The International Institute of New England’s mission is to create opportunities for refugees and immigrants to succeed through resettlement, education, career advancement, and pathways to citizenship. We offer humanitarian relief, English language learning, employment, skills training, and immigration legal services to more than 10,000 people from 70+ different countries. Paul Vyizigiro (he/him) is Burundian, b ..read more

Manchester Excels is a partnership between Goodwill AmeriCorps and Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU): a 36-credit, 16-month clinical Master’s in Education program with a focus in secondary education STEM teaching and AmeriCorps service hours through a student teaching placement in greater Manchester schools. Members take coursework and engage with students in grades 5-12 from the start of the program, spending a full school year serving alongside practicing educators in local schools. During the summer, members develop project-based learning activities, and then work with middle and hig ..read more

March 12-18 was AmeriCorps Week in New Hampshire, per proclamation of the Governor. We were proud to celebrate our members and uplift the work of our programs throughout that week, culminating in an event at the State House in Concord. Watch our video interview with two Lakes Region Conservation Corps members on their experience with service and why they chose AmeriCorps: On Friday, March 17th, we gathered members together at the State House in Concord to hear from local elected officials, participate in panels on civic engagement and life after AmeriCorps, and take a tour of the building. &n ..read more

Volunteer NH is hosting focus groups over Zoom in September to dig deeper into the issues identified by the public within our State Service Plan survey.   You’ve already indicated in the survey your interest in participating in one of our focus groups, or you’ve received a personal invitation from Volunteer NH.  The next step is registering for one of four available time slots for a session. This meeting will take no longer than one hour, and participants will be divided into breakout groups based on their regional affiliation. This will be an opportunity to share your thoughts ..read more

Volunteer NH is launching a new Excellence in Volunteer Management series! We have begun interviewing some exceptional volunteer managers to find out how they approach the work and what volunteerism means to them. This post kicks off the series, and we are starting with our 2022 Governor’s Outstanding Volunteer Manager of the Year awardee, Ann Vennard of Cornerstone VNA. Click here to learn more about her award. Watch Ann’s awardee highlight video, below, and scroll down to learn more about her story. Interview with Ann Vennard How has volunteering factored into your life up to this point? I ..read more

 Take me to a full-screen version of the survey instead!   The post Take Our Survey on Community Needs appeared first on Volunteer NH ..read more

Ana received the Outstanding Volunteer Service Award for the Youth/Young Adult category at the 2021 Spirit of NH Awards for her service with the Meelia Center for Community Engagement at St. Anselm College in Manchester. During her time as a student at St. Anselm and volunteering with the Meelia Center, she’s worked with students, community members, and peers to explore ways to address economic, digital, and racial inequities in education while increasing access to educational resources and college for Manchester students. We followed up with Ana this month– read on to learn more about her exp ..read more

Cheryl received the Outstanding Volunteer Service Award for the AmeriCorps category at the 2021 Spirit of NH Awards for her service with the NH Senior Companion Program. Last year, nearly 2,000 individuals age 55 and older served across the three AmeriCorps Seniors programs in New Hampshire. 64 of those, including Cheryl, served in the Senior Companion Program – which is a volunteer program providing friendly visitation and respite services to homebound adults. Since September 2018, Cheryl has provided vital transportation services, resource referrals, companionship, and enrichment to seniors ..read more