FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jul 29, 2010

National Service Agency CEO Joins community leaders to encourage youth to take back their communities by volunteering

Washington, DC – Patrick A. Corvington, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, will deliver remarks at HOPE worldwide's Englewood: “Lots of Change” Student and Community Volunteer Service Day Rally in Sherman Park on Friday, July 30. Corvington will congratulate more than 2,000 student service leaders for answering President Obama's national call to service and encourage them to continue to use their passion for change to make a difference in local communities.

The rally will follow a service project led by students from across the country to clean 2,000 vacant lots littered with trash and debris in the Englewood Community on Chicago's Southside, an area marked by increased violence over the past year. Corvington's address will focus on ways that volunteering can transform neighborhoods suffering from high poverty, unemployment and youth violence – and those who serve.

Prior to the rally, Corvington will meet with Governor Pat Quinn to discuss ways that the agency can support the state and city's efforts to engage more residents in service that solve pressing community problems.

The Corporation has provided more than 116 AmeriCorps members to expand HOPE worldwide's efforts to deliver sustainable, high-impact, community-based services to the nation's needy this year. Working with AmeriCorps members, HOPE worldwide is helping to enrich the lives of more than 40,000 Englewood residents. Across Chicago, over 2,700 AmeriCorps members support 159 national service projects that provide a range of services focused on preparing families for success from tutoring and mentoring at-risk students to providing financial literacy counseling to Head Start parents.

Corvington will be joined by Mayor Richard Daley, Ward 16 Alderman JoAnn Thompson, City of Chicago Chief Service Officer Jenne Myers, Freddie Mac Foundation President Ralph Boyd, and other community and faith leaders.

Friday, July 30, 2010

WHAT:Corvington delivers remarks to more than 2,000 student leaders at the HOPE worldwide's Englewood: “Lots of Change” Student and Community Volunteer Service Day Rally

WHEN:2 p.m. CST

WHERE:Sherman Park

51st and Racine

Chicago, Illinois

OPEN PRESS

AmeriCorps, a federal agency, brings people together to tackle the country's most pressing challenges through national service and volunteering. AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers serve with organizations dedicated to the improvement of communities. AmeriCorps helps make service to others a cornerstone of our national culture. Learn more at AmeriCorps.gov.