On Thursday May 14 from 1 to 1:15 p.m.., ChangesBrooklyn will host a radio show on Blog Talk Radio. Call (646) 595-3504 or click here to listen. Noelle Gentile, creator of the Facebook group “YES WE CAN-VOLUNTEER!!!” will talk with us about the enthusiasm of Brooklynites for volunteering – and how it’s taking shape since President Obama took office. We hope you can join us.

Last week was commemorated as National Volunteer Week by the Points of Light institute, an organization that promotes volunteerism and civic engagement. Both nationally and locally, volunteer-related developments made headlines. Bloomberg unveils new volunteer initiative At a rally in Washington Heights on Monday, April 20, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a new program, NYC Service, designed to encourage New...

An item in this morning’s Daily News says that the four New York schools participating in the Experience Corps program will likely lose city funding to renew it this year.  The program places people over age 55 in schools to tutor children with reading. Apparently private money has been hard to get as well, so the New York schools will probably lose their tutors soon. According to the Daily News article,...

Not all Americans believe it’s a good idea for the government to encourage volunteerism. Don Watkins, a writer for the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, weighed in on President Obama’s calls for people to give back to their communities: “When the government, instead of protecting individual rights, starts forcing us to cater to the needs of others, it sets us on a course at odds with freedom....

More volunteers on the horizon for Brooklyn.... There are 450 Americorps volunteers serving at 25 organizations in Brooklyn, and soon that number may grow. On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a bill to increase funding to the Corporation for National Service and similar organizations. I’ve been wondering how the Obama administration would tackle this, and I’m not surprised to hear the...

Throughout his campaign and since his inauguration, President Obama has called for a greater commitment to community service in America. What does that mean for a country suffering through an economic crisis? Who are the people stepping up to volunteer? Who benefits from their service? And how does volunteerism make Brooklyn what it is? We’ll explore these issues through your stories. Jim Flood and Valerie...