Let’s Read. Let’s Move.” Initiative is being launched in New Mexico as part of the Southwest Youth Services 4^th Annual Indigenous Soccer Cup and Native Youth Leadership Conference to be held at the Santa Fe Indian School, July 20-24, 2010. Southwest Youth Services, in partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service and the New Mexico Commission on Community Volunteerism, is jointly participating to emphasize the multiple benefits sustained physical activity achieves when playing team sports and how engaging kids in summer reading activities better prepares them for a new academic year!

Heinrich to join UNM Service Corps for project

U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich will receive the first-ever New Mexico Distinguished AmeriCorps Alumni Award for his leadership. Rep. Heinrich is the only member of Congress to have graduated from the national AmeriCorps service program since it took its current form, and he is one of more than 6,300 New Mexico residents to have completed a year-long stint since 1994. The award will be presented Monday, May 17 at a ceremony along with representatives from the Commission for Community Volunteerism, Center for Philanthropic Partnership and other special guests.

Senator Cynthia Nava, recipient of the State Farm Service-Learning Champion Award, was born and educated in Illinois but has made New Mexico her home since college.  During her 18-year tenure in the New Mexico State Senate, she has advocated for and sponsored numerous legislative initiatives that have encouraged and expanded service-learning opportunities for students.  Among  these efforts are the establishment of regional service-learning centers, various appropriations, and the creation of the Next Generation Fund.  Currently, she also serves as superintendent of the Gadsden Independent School District, the fourth largest in the state, where she has worked for the past 30 years.  On a national level, she served as a member of the National Assessment Governing Board from 2004 until 2008.  In recent years, she has received the national Ancor Foundation Community Builder Award and the Albuquerque Journal Sage Award, "Twenty Years... Twenty Women Making a Difference."  Cynthia considers herself a lifelong learner.  She is completing her dissertation work at New Mexico State University and is learning to play the piano.

The 2010-2011 AmeriCorps Program Orientation will take place July 20 and 21, 2010, in Albuquerque. This is a mandatory training event for all State funded 2010-2011 AmeriCorps Programs. The Commission staff will send out the facility location and agenda later this month.

New Mexico Business Weekly - Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The number of Americans volunteering in 2009 jumped by 1.6 million, the biggest increase in six years, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Its annual Volunteering in America report says 63.4 million Americans volunteered through a formal organization last year, giving more than 8.1 billion hours of volunteer time worth an estimated $169 billion.

"Americans have responded to tough economic times by volunteering in big numbers," said CNCS CEO Patrick Corvington. "What we're seeing is the depth of the American spirit and generosity at its best."