By By Gal Tziperman Lotan, News Staff

For the past year, students, recent graduates and people as old as their grandparents have been able to volunteer in Massachusetts communities statewide through the Commonwealth Corps. Now, the corps is looking to expand.
This year about 270 corps members are working in groups of three to 15 with 36 community service organizations across the state, said Lindsay Snyder, director of external relations and development for the Massachusetts Service Alliance, a private non-profit organization that serves as the state’s community service coordinator and is managing the corps.
Corps members, who must be Massachusetts residents, volunteer for one year, receive a small stipend for everyday expenses and can work with organizations ranging from after-school programs to senior centers.
Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation establishing the corps Nov. 27, 2007. The original fiscal year ’09 state budget allocated $2,384,660 to the corps, but state-wide budget cuts reduced the amount to about $2 million this fall.
Some corps members have managed to make a tangible difference:’ Partly because of help from Commonwealth Corps members, the Boys and Girls Club of Middlesex County Somerville branch has launch another branch of the club in Everett, a community that did not have enough after-school programs, Snyder said.
‘Having extra folks there serving and helping throughout the day really helps these organizations,’ Snyder said.
The Commonwealth Corps requires volunteers to serve 800 hours a year, unlike similar programs including the Peace Corps, which requires between one and two years, and AmeriCorps, which requires either 1,700 hours or 900 for half-year programs, Snyder said.
Corps members vary widely in ethnicities, backgrounds and ages, she said.
‘We have an 85-year-old corps member who is serving the Worcester State College site, which is pretty cool,’ Snyder said.
Some work with the corps full-time, while others serve in conjunction with work or school, she said.
‘Groups of people, whether they are retirees or in college, still, really want to work with organizations to help with their volunteer needs, to help work on something the community needs,’ she said.
Organizations can sign two-year agreements with the Commonwealth Corps, which gives them two teams serving one year each, Snyder said.
Current contracts expire in 2010, and Snyder said the Corps is looking for more organizations to serve.
The Commonwealth Corps may be a better fit for smaller service organization, which do not have the capacity to accept the 10 minimum volunteers AmeriCorps requires, Snyder said.
‘We are much more flexible in terms of smaller organizations,’ she said.
Emily Haber, chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Service Alliance, said corps members help their communities while bettering themselves.
‘I think that it gives people opportunities to serve the Commonwealth and to help meet critical needs in our communities, but at the same time gives them the opportunity to build skills, develop relationships and further their own options,’ Haber said.
Recent college graduates who do not feel ready to enter the workforce can particularly benefit from the program, Haber said.
Through the community service, corps members have the opportunity to work on skills ranging from time management to networking.
‘Particularly for a young person starting out in the general work world, this gives them the opportunity to give back to the community, build skills, and make important connections,’ Haber said. ‘It also helps build in them an ethic for service that I really believe will become part of them … the lessons they learned will become a part of who they are.’
The national community service movement has been gaining steam in places from inner-city neighborhood to Congress, Haber said.
Yesterday, the House of Representatives approved the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act, which would increase funding to AmeriCorps by $6 billion over five years in a 321-105 vote. Six representatives abstained.
‘It is an exciting time, both at the national level and here at the local level,’ she said. ‘There’s a general understanding that we all have a part to play in solving our community’s problems.’