President-elect Barack Obama has called on American citizens to participate in volunteer service on the Martin Luther King National Day of Service on Monday, and thousands of Washington, D. C., residents are responding to that request. About 15,000 volunteers are expected to converge on RFK Stadium to assemble 75,000 care packages for troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Washington D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives added its voice to the growing call for Americans to serve on the King Holiday by passing a resolution promoting the holiday as a day of national service.

The bipartisan resolution, which passed the House unanimously last night, was introduced by Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA) along with Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Rep. David Price (R-NC).

As economy falters, Americans urged to serve others to honor Dr. King

Washington D.C. – Radio stations across the country will help support President-elect Obama’s call to service by airing public service announcements calling on Americans to serve on the King Holiday and throughout the year.

Washington D.C. – At a packed news conference here today, General Colin Powell, USA (Ret) and the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced President-elect Obama’s plans to call on Americans to serve their communities on the King Holiday and throughout the year.

As part of his “Renew America Together” initiative, the President-elect wants to ignite the spirit of service in our nation by asking all Americans to make a lasting pledge to serve their communities.

Dear National Service Colleagues,

Happy New Year to each of you. I hope you are beginning the year healthy and rested.

Later this month we plan to take another important step towards improving the speed and reliability of our technology environment by moving our production systems to new servers at the Corporation’s headquarters. In order to make this upgrade, our systems – including the My AmeriCorps Portal, Recruitment System, eGrants and eSPAN – will be unavailable from 8:00 PM EST, Friday, January 23 through 7:00 AM EST, Monday, January 26.

AUSTIN, Texas - The Hurricane Ike recovery efforts are proving to be a training ground for a young generation of Americans interested in giving something back to their country.

Teams of AmeriCorps' National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), ages 18 to 24, began arriving in the Gulf Coast area during the first week of October, not long after the Sept. 13 presidential disaster declaration. The teams, of typically 10–12 members, arrived by van from any one of the four NCCC's regional bases, where they receive their initial training.

Dear National Service Colleagues:

Earlier today, the President released his budget request for fiscal year 2009, including $829.7 million for the Corporation and its programs.

Dear National Service Colleagues:

As promised, here are the numbers reported out by the Senate Appropriations Committee in the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2009. The bill provides $888,462,000 for the Corporation and its programs. The numbers break down as follows:

Dear National Service Colleagues:

I wanted to update you on recent activity by House and Senate Appropriators on FY 2009 funding for Corporation programs.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Education held its markup on June 19. This morning, the full Appropriations Committee began its consideration of the bill, but did not complete final action. The Committee will take up the bill after the July 4th recess.