National Service Alums Pull an “All-Nighter” for AmeriCorps

At 7 AM on Saturday morning, September 6, a tired but determined band of national service alumni reached in to the center of a football-style “break,” and shouted “Save AmeriCorps!” Every member of this diverse and passionate group had just stayed up all night to protest the recent cuts in the AmeriCorps national service program. Each also gave public testimony to the positive effects of the program on their own lives, and on the lives of people in their communities.

Attendees represented historically AmeriCorps-funded programs such as the Student Conservation Association, Teach For America, the National Civilian Community Corps, City Year, and Volunteer Maryland. Non-AmeriCorps national service alums from the Peace Corps and Jesuit Volunteer Corps also came out to show their support. As night turned into day, the group shared stories and built a community of national service alumni committed to making our country a better place.

The event, created by the National Service Alumni Network (NSAN), represented 12 hours of a broader, 100-hour-long effort called Voices For AmeriCorps. Voices For AmeriCorps was created by the Save AmeriCorps Coalition (www.saveamericorps.org) to demonstrate the overwhelming public support for national service programming, and to demand the restoration of $100 million to the AmeriCorps budget.

NSAN is the nonprofit membership association for people who have done a year of full-time national service. NSAN also works in partnership with service organizations to build meaningful programs for alumni.