In many cases, these organizations provide direct assistance to local communities. Here’s a look at some national civic-minded groups that call on Americans of all ages to give back to their communities and help others.
Volunteers With Vision
AmeriCorps is a group of volunteer organizations. More than 1.5 million Americans ages 17 and older are helping others through its various programs. Volunteers with AmeriCorps tutor children, build affordable housing, clean up parks, and help communities after disasters strike.
AmeriCorps’s NCCC traces its roots to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which was founded during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Young adults ages 18 to 26 who volunteer in NCCC can choose from several volunteer options that last from 10 to 11 months. NCCC specializes in hands-on projects related to homeland security and disaster relief. It also offers “summer of service” options. Volunteers can spend up to three months working on environmental issues or affordable housing projects.
Another AmeriCorps group, in 1964, is Volunteers established in Service to America (VISTA). Individuals organize reading programs, improve health services, and assist other community organizations.
After serving with AmeriCorps for a year, volunteers receive an education award that they can use to pay for schooling or to pay back a school loan. To learn more about this organization, go to www .americorps.org.
Homes for the Unhoused
This story is from the May/June 2023 edition of Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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This story is from the May/June 2023 edition of Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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Eye in the Sky
An interview with Joe Piotrowski
Airborne Animals
Humans have taken to the skies in balloons, gliders, and airplanes-but we're not alone among the clouds. Animals of all sorts have evolved to harness wind power.
TAKING OFF
The Wright brothers expected airplanes to “take off,” but even they might be amazed at the way the airline industry has become big business. In the past, it was expensive to send something by plane.
GROWTH OF AN INDUSTRY
After their historic flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright returned to Dayton, Ohio. They spent the next few years making adjustments and building additional versions of their powered aircraft in their bicycle shop.
WHY KITTY HAWK?
The Wright brothers searched carefully for the best place to test their gliders and flying machines. Their main concern was for good, steady winds. But they also hoped to find a remote location to allow them to perform tests away from the public eye.
Two Brothers From Ohio
Most people do not realize that the Wright brothers—Wilbur, born in 1867, and Orville, born in 1871—performed various scientific experiments before inventing their aircraft. For as long as anyone in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio, could remember, the Wright boys had worked on mechanical projects.
A Helping Hand
May 6, 1896. A group of people who had gathered beside the Potomac River, just south of the U.S. capital, grew quiet. Then, it erupted in cheers as a small, unmanned aircraft took to the skies and flew for more than half a mile. The flight came seven years before the Wright brothers’ first manned, powered flight. The inventor of the aircraft was Dr. Samuel Pierpont Langley.
THE IDEA MEN
People dreamed of flying thousands of years before the Wright brothers found success near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. These dreamers, such as Leonardo da Vinci, studied birds flying and imagined how humans might do the same—if only they had wings. Other men developed a more hands-on approach to the topic. Early inventors made wings of cloth, glue, and feathers and tied these creations to their arms in an attempt to imitate nature.
Da Vinci's 4 Designs
Have you ever wondered how a bird flies? Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) did. He thought that understanding how a bird flies would provide the key to human flight. So, what did da Vinci learn from birds?
Silken Wings
Seven hundred years before the Wright brothers began experimenting with human flight, the Chinese had already mastered its secrets—with kites.
