SENATE PASSES NATIONAL SERVICE BUDGET: VA/HUD APPROPRIATION On October 12, the Senate approved the VA/HUD appropriations bill, containing $458.5 million for national service, including AmeriCorps and Service-Learning programs. This is an increase of $26 million over the FY 2000 level, including $3 million more for AmeriCorps*NCCC and $2.5 in additional funds for the Points of Light Foundation, $7.5 million to support America's Promise and level funding for Service-Learning Programs. Final Congressional action on the bill is expected this week. Congress is still working on the Labor/HHS appropriation, which funds Senior Corps and AmeriCorps*VISTA.

"PAY IT FORWARD": AMERICORPS AT THE MOVIES" Pay It Forward" is a new Warner Bros. Pictures film starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment. Based on a Catherine Ryan Hyde novel, the movie tells how an eleven-year old boy responds to a social studies assignment by imagining an idea to change the world and then puts it into action. The stars joined AmeriCorps members at last week's Los Angeles premiere. Thee film opens throughout the country on Friday, October 20. Haley Joel Osment made an AmeriCorps PSA and Warner Bros. is providing support for member recruitment. For more information, visit AmeriCorps.

AMERICORPS MAKES A DIFFERENCE: ABT READING STUDY While swearing-in several hundred new AmeriCorps members in Philadelphia, President Clinton released an independent study that shows reading scores are up among children tutored by AmeriCorps members. The study, by Abt Associates, Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., examined AmeriCorps members' tutoring of more than 100,000 students in grades 1 - 3 last year and found the students at all grade levels improved their reading during the year more than the gain expected of the average child. The findings were described as statistically significant. The study concluded, "It is our belief that AmeriCorps tutoring has had a positive effect." Harris Wofford said, "These results are a remarkable achievement. Reading is vital to success in school and in life, and I'm delighted AmeriCorps is on the front lines helping meet this challenge." President Clinton noted bipartisan support for national service and urged Congress to reauthorize the Corporation for National Service and all its programs for five years. Visit National Service to read the President's remarks and go to the AmeriCorps Research section for the Abt Associates, Inc. study.

SERVICE HERO: AMERICORPS*VISTA MEMBER LINDA FLEWELLEN Linda Flewellen serves with the statewide RSVP/VISTA America Reads initiative in California, a cross-stream intergenerational effort to improve children's literacy. She coordinates volunteers at the RSVP of South Bay in Los Angeles County. Linda has been a volunteer for over two decades, starting by serving women who were victims of domestic violence. Having experienced domestic violence herself, Linda found her true passion in serving others, and eventually found working with seniors to be her forte. Linda says, "It gives me tremendous inner rewards to work with seniors; motivating them to get out and be productive enhances their lives and the children's lives as well. It can be devastating for children if they cannot read." Linda has been asked to continue with the project for an additional year to sustain the America Reads sites she has been serving through the RSVP of South Bay.

WHAT WORKS: SOMALI FOSTER GRANDPARENTS IN BOSTON The Program: Six recent immigrants from Somalia serve with the Action for Boston Community Development Foster Grandparent Program. They assist Somali children at the Somali Development Council located in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston. The Results: The Foster Grandparents serve 30 children at the Center, ten in daycare and the other twenty with an after-school program. Daycare Foster Grandparents mentor the children, many of whose families lived until recently in refugee camps, helping them adjust to American life. The Grandparents also assist in regular learning activities including story telling, completing puzzles, playing games, and coloring. The after-school program's Grandparents provide computer instruction and assist children with their homework. The Somali Foster Grandparents make a major impact on the ability of the children to adapt to a total change in their lives. They all wear traditional Somali clothing which provides a familiar, comforting presence, and play a critical cultural role as surrogate grandparents for children who often are no longer part of traditional multi-generation households. Because the Foster Grandparents are there, parents have the time to get settled, take English classes and seek jobs. The Grandparents sometimes meet with the parents and assist fellow adult immigrants with their transition to living in the United States. Why It Works: The Boston Foster Grandparent Program has long-time experience with Grandparents from diverse ethnic backgrounds, including recent immigrants from Russia, Chinese-Americans and Latinos. The Somali Development Center, which has been a Foster Grandparent site for three years, provides an interpreter to ensure communication between the Grandparents and FGP program staff. The Somali Grandparents show tremendous commitment, participating faithfully at all in-service sessions, bringing Somali delicacies, dance, and music to share with other Foster Grandparents. For the volunteers, being a Foster Grandparent is in important part of their own adaptation to America, even as they make a difference in the lives of children while keeping ties with their cultural identify. Lessons: Recent immigrants to the United States are an important part of the national service story, whether as members and volunteers, or as recipients of service but most frequently simultaneously giving and receiving through participation in service. The Boston Somali Foster Grandparents are colleagues in service with AmeriCorps members, service-learning students, RSVP volunteers and Senior Companions who come from China, the Americas, Africa, Russia and other lands to participate in the American experience through service to their communities and the nation. Contact: Project Director Ruth Blackman (617) 357-6000 ext. 340 or Ruth Blackman

Making a Difference

Students at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington who are enrolled in the Sociology of Aging intergenerational service-learning program helped area seniors cope with the devastation of last year's Hurricane Floyd floods while providing social workers and emergency response personnel new insights into helping communities respond to disasters.

The 34 students conducted 167 interviews of older adults on how they were affected by the floods and what could be done better to help other seniors in future emergencies. The service-learning students also recorded 20 life history videos, which are a therapeutic way for the seniors to leave a legacy and as evidence that not all was lost in the floods.

FROM THE FRONT "I wish I had a Foster Grandparent for every classroom in my school. The care and loving they give to our children is a joy to see." Ellie Willingham, director of the Arbor Hill School in Albany, N.Y.

"The accomplishments of the AmeriCorps* VISTA members far exceed expectations. Their presence is a significant catalyst for change." Gary Broman, president of Minnesota Habitat for Humanity.

"Service-learning was a chance for me to step out of my own little world and jump into the community, offering my abilities as a gift." Reflection of a student at Northwest Arkansas Community College