Updates from Effective Practices Collection

Posted by on April 22, 2005

The Effective Practices Collection
http://nationalservice.gov/resources/

Please visit the Effective Practices Collection to read more about any of the content described below.

Our newest effective practices:

Creating a roadmap to civic engagement The Roadmap to Civic Engagement, created by the Washington Service Corps in collaboration with Service-Learning Northwest, is a seven-unit curriculum that uses the vehicle of service-learning to help participants develop a personal understanding of the behaviors, attitudes and actions that help define civic engagement.

Improving neighborhoods with web-based community mapping
“Neighborhood improvement and recovery is not just for the experts!” That is the motto of Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles, a community outreach program of UCLA’s Advanced Policy Institute. NKLA has demonstrated the value of involving community residents in the process of monitoring neighborhood conditions and mapping community assets.

Holding a celebrity waiter fundraising event
An annual fundraiser can be a boon for any nonprofit. Soroptimist International of Santa Cruz has held a celebrity waiter fundraising dinner since 1991. Each year the event has generated increased funds and greater community support, with less planning and labor required. This effective practice outlines steps any organization can take to host a successful celebrity waiter dinner.

Providing emotional support for volunteers in disaster situations
Volunteers and members who are deployed to help during disasters may need additional support, due to the psychological impact of serving during these scenarios. This effective practice discusses how to help mitigate negative stress reactions, what to look for and how to intervene. Submitted by Deborah Burr, AmeriCorps Program Director, Florida State Parks, Department of Environmental Protection.

Incorporating evaluation data into newsletter articles
There are many methods for developing an evaluation reporting plan. Results can be reported not only in a text document, but also in oral reports, videos, press releases, or newsletters. For reporting to be effective, it should be tailored to address the issues that the user of the report is most interested in. Excerpted from the User’s Guide to Evaluation for National Service Programs, developed by Project STAR.

Please visit the Effective Practices Collection for more information about any of the aforementioned content, as well as hundreds of more effective practices.

http://nationalservice.gov/resources/