Americorps, Alumni, and Action Communities

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-08-03 09:58:00 UTC
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Alumni communities are a fascinating phenomenon. In many ways, they represent the most powerful latent resource networks to which one has access. The challenge is that they are latent, and it takes more than nostalgia to convert that potential into opportunity.

AmeriCorps has one of the strongest alumni communities of any civic organization. With more than 550,000 alumni who have served as AmeriCorps volunteers, the AmeriCorps Alums group works to make sure that it's members have access to the support and resources they need to tranform their years of service into an ongoing, lifelong commitment.

When it comes to alumni, it's all about giving people meaningful opportunities to re-engage with the network. Right now, AmeriCorps is doing just that with its Design For Change competition. The competition is basically a crowdsourced approach to updating the logo and branding of the AmeriCorps Alum community. The competition is both an opportunity for existing alums to engage, as well as for creative professionals and design amateurs to be a part of AmeriCorps good work improving communities and lives.

The contest is open till September 14th and can be entered here.

I think it's just one example of the way that community conveners and organizers are using technology to give the members of their networks more opportunities to participate and work with one another. I think that this sort of network intrapraneurship - in which people better assemble the latent power and resources they have all around them  - will be the dominant force of social organizing in the next ten years.

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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