Volunteerism Grows; Americorps Seeks Input

A new reportfrom the Corporation for National and Community Service shows that the number of volunteers nationwide has held relatively steady over the past couple of years and even increased last year.  That matters to organizations serving community needs, who have had to rely more and more on volunteers as their budgets tighten.  Training officer for the Kentucky commission on community volunteerism and service Melissa Newton says Kentucky’s Americorps program will be able to step up efforts to meet those needs.“We’re also seeing people heed the call to help out.  More people are applying to become Americorps members and more nonprofits are looking to host Americorps members at their organizations to help meet the increase in needs," says Newton.Newton says she’ll be holding community forumsacross Kentucky over the coming months to gather input from those interested in volunteering as well as nonprofits that could use the help.