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Glossary of Terms
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| A | C | D | E | G | H | I | L | N | P | S | V |
- Advisory Board on National and Community Service
- - established by the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to coordinate and fund service activities nationwide. The Advisory Board became part of the Corporation for National and Community Service in October 1993.
- Campus Compact
- - Campus Compact is a national coalition of more than 900 college and university presidents committed to the civic purposes of higher education. To support this civic mission, Campus Compact promotes community service that develops students' citizenship skills and values, encourages partnerships between campuses and communities, and assists faculty who seek to integrate public and community engagement into their teaching and research.
- Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL)
- - anational nonprofit organization that promotes and enhances campus based volunteer service and service learning. Virginia COOL operated from 1990 through 2001, when it became Virginia Campus Compact. Campus Compact is a similar program.
- Capacity building
- - creating the infrastructure necessary to support needed programs and services in communities. Helping a nonprofit housing program establish a volunteer network and creating a community watch program to reduce crime are examples of capacity-building activities. Other examples include providing funding or helping an organization develop management systems.
- Charitable donation
- - a tangible gift in the form of money or goods to a public or private nonprofit organization. A biennial survey commissioned by the Independent Sector consistently reports a high correlation between giving and volunteering in the United States.
- Civic education
- - the multiple processes through which children and young adults acquire the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed for effective democratic citizenship. Civic knowledge and participation are not passed down through the genetic code — they require that each generation of students learn civic facts, explore democratic ideals and connect such concepts to the responsibility of citizenship.(From the website of the National Alliance for Civic Education (NACE), http://www.cived.net)
- Community service
- - within the context of the National Community Service Trust Act, "encompasses any human act serving the common good; in the interest of the community."
- Community-based agency
- - a private nonprofit organization (including a church or other religious entity) that is representative of a community of a significant segment of a community; and is engaged in meeting human, education, environmental, or public safety community needs.
- Corporate volunteer program
- - a volunteer program based in the workplace. Employers may demonstrate a major or minor commitment, through having a volunteer coordinator to plan activities or simply allowing employees to participate in community service on company time.
- Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)
- - chartered by Congress in 1993 through the National Community Service Trust Act (NCSTA) to provide a broad range of opportunities to Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve the community and the nation. CNCS administers AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, the National Senior Corps, and others.
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