AVODAH: Jewish Service Corps

AVODAH recruits young adults ages 21-26 from across the United States to spend a year in Jewish Service Corps working at local antipoverty organizations in Chicago, New Orleans, New York, and Washington, DC. During a year of service, participants live and study together, forming a community of people making a connection between social activism and Jewish life.

Corps members work on issues like immigration, hunger, education, public health, and domestic violence, and we provide them with a leadership skills, learning, and community for a lifetime. 

Bend the Arc COR

The interfaith Community Organizing Residency (COR) is a six-month leadership program for organizers from diverse religious backgrounds who want to strengthen their organizing careers while building a supportive community with other faith-based social justice leaders.

COR is for individuals currently working in community-based organizations, congregations, or unions who are seeking leadership training, mentorship, and an opportunity to explore other faith traditions with a cohort. COR residents should live in one of the following areas: New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco Bay Area, CA; Chicago, IL; or Twin Cities, MN.

COR cohorts begin with an all-cohort opening retreat and end with an all-cohort closing retreat. Between retreats, residents will participate in reflection, mentorship, and gatherings with fellow residents in their regions. COR is the only program of its kind in the country. 

Brethren Volunteer Service

Brethren Volunteer Service is a full time volunteer program , open to members of all faiths who are willing to serve, that places volunteers in a one or two year long assignment in one of 98 locations in the United States and the world. This ministry of the Church of the Brethren has been a major program in this Christian denomination since 1948.

Through BVS, Brethren Volunteer Service, people give their time and skills to help a world in need. Volunteers work at issues greater than themselves, recognizing that their efforts may not immediately solve deep-rooted problems. Yet everyone can be part of the on-going work to advocate for justice, work for peace, serve human need, and care for creation.

Volunteers bring hope, offer food and shelter, and build relationships.

BVS seeks persons willing to act on their commitment and values. We challenge individuals to offer themselves, their time, and their talents for work that is both demanding and rewarding.

Volunteers receive room, board, medical insurance, transportation to project, and a monthly allowance of $100-$150. In most cases, educational loans may be deferred. Depending on the project, volunteers may live alone, with a family, or in a group situation.

Each volunteer must bring a willingness to serve. Working towards peace and justice, and meeting the needs of humanity and the environment calls out for persons dedicated to service. 

Catholic Charities Project SERVE

Affiliation

Catholic Charities of Baltimore, one of the nation’s largest Catholic Charities programs, is proud to provide the opportunity for recent college graduates to serve our neighbors in need through Project SERVE.

Goal of Program

Project SERVE (Service and Education through Residential Volunteer Experience), a program of Catholic Charities of Baltimore, invites young adults into a year of service while living in an intentional community with fellow volunteers. Project SERVE is rooted and grounded in the Christian tradition but we welcome people of all backgrounds. In community, volunteers support one another in a shared commitment to deepening their understanding of social justice issues, deepening their personal spirituality, and living a simple and sustainable lifestyle.

Type of Placement

We provide an array of hands-on social justice opportunities which include serving people who are poor and/or experiencing homelessness, children who are in need, adults living with developmental disabilities, and people who are recent immigrants. Opportunities also include legislative advocacy and volunteer management. For specific examples of typical program sites, see our website.

Service Area

All service sites are in the Baltimore area, a fun and engaging place to spend a year of service. Baltimore has a big city feel, with many small town perks! There are several full-time volunteer programs that call Baltimore home, so there is a built-in support system of people with like-minds and incomes.

Service Length

11 months, end of August through end of July of the following year. 

Christian Appalachian Project

Christian Appalachian Project (CAP)’s volunteer and AmeriCorps positions are available to all without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, disability, substance abuse disorders, gender identity or expression, political affiliation, marital or parental status, or military service. Disabilities will not limit opportunities when it is possible to reasonably accommodate the disability of the qualified person.

Long-Term Volunteers: Make a one-year commitment to Service, Community, and Spirituality and/or personal reflection and address issues such as substandard housing, education, and hunger. AmeriCorps opportunities available.

Short-Term Volunteers: Make a commitment of three weeks or more to help with Summer Camp, home repairs, and more.

Summer Camp: Camp counselors, lifeguards, cooks, office personnel, and medical personnel are needed to serve between one and eight weeks in June and July. AmeriCorps opportunities available. 

Communities of L’Arche

L’Arche communities in the United States provide homes and workplaces where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together as peers, create inclusive communities of faith and friendship, and transform society through relationships that cross social boundaries.

L’Arche USA exists to amplify the voices of people who have intellectual disabilities; provide growth opportunities for people of all abilities; nurture the faith life of local communities; strengthen communities with resources and collaborative leadership; develop strategic partnerships; and found new communities. 

Covenant House

Covenant House is a crisis shelter for homeless, at-risk, and trafficked youth.  We give shelter to youth up to 21 years of age, along with food, clothing, counseling, and other services; and we provide these services with absolute respect and unconditional love.  Faith Community is our service year program, during which members work full-time in our shelters, while living in community with 3-4 other volunteers.  Faith Community members dedicate their year to our program’s three pillars of service, community, and prayer.  Our program is located in Anchorage, AK; Atlantic City, NJ; New York, NY; and Atlanta, GA. 

Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection (DOOR) – Dwell Program

Are you interested in spending a year:

  • Exploring the intersection of faith, calling, and social issues
  • Focusing on spiritual development
  • Engaging in vocational discernment
  • Learning about the urban church from local pastors and leaders
  • Sharing your gifts through a placement at a local agency or ministry
  • Experiencing other cultures while sharing your own with housemates and neighbors

Dwell gives you the opportunity for all these experiences and more! If you are 19-30 years old and interested in dedicating a year to serving at an agency, growing your faith, and learning from housemates, neighbors, and local church leaders, then Dwell is the place for you!

A Dwell year will be stretching, joyful, challenging, and life-giving, sometimes all in one day. The Dwell experience will help you gain a sense of the vastness of God’s kingdom and your place in it. Check out the current Dweller blog links for local stories from the Dwellers themselves!

Through Dwell, all of DOOR’s cities are placement sites for the Young Adult Volunteers (YAV) program of Presbyterian Church (USA) and for Mennonite Mission Network (MMN) of Mennonite Church USA. 

Episcopal Young Adult Service Corps

The Young Adult Service Corps brings young adults into the life of the worldwide Anglican Communion and into the daily work of a local community.  At the same time, it brings the gifts and resources of the church into the lives of young adults as they explore their own faith journeys.

The mission of Episcopal Service Corps is to develop and support a national network of intentional communities in the Episcopal Church. Our communities are marked by young adults:

  • Serving others in solidarity, promoting justice in community
  • Deepening spiritual awareness and vocational discernment
  • Living simply in intentional Christian community

Foundation Beyond Belief’s Humanist Service Corps

The Humanist Service Corps (HSC) solicits applications every winter for the yearlong volunteering commitment beginning the following summer.

HSC volunteers provide a year of service (summer to summer) in support of grassroots organizations working to protect human rights and the environment. HSC provides work-related transportation, housing, travel costs, medical, evacuation, and travel insurance, and a monthly living stipend.

Additionally, HSC organizes language classes, cultural orientations, and professional trainings so that volunteers are adequately prepared to perform in the field. HSC does not pay for visa and visa extension fees, vaccinations, malaria prophylactics, or food. 

Hazon

The JOFEE Fellowship seeks to invigorate the Jewish educational landscape by seeding Jewish communities with a cadre of outstanding Jewish Outdoor, Food, and Environmental Educators. The core of our year-long fellowship and certification program is built around professional placements at host institutions around the country. Fellows will also receive intensive training, mentorship, and support from leading educators and other professionals in the JOFEE field. 

Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC)  

Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) looks for talented and dedicated people who have a desire to answer the call to apostolic service and community as Jesuit Volunteers. Based in four core values – social justice, simple living, community and spirituality – the Jesuit Volunteer Corps offers women and men an opportunity to work full-time for justice and peace in over 250 organizations across the world. JV’s work for and with people who are homeless, unemployed, refugees, people with AIDS, the elderly, street youth, abused women and children, the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled. 

Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest (JVC NW)

Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest (a separate entity from JVC) engages women and men in a transforming experience of full-time volunteer service.

Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) Northwest responds to local community needs in the Northwest by placing volunteers who provide value-centered service grounded in the Jesuit Catholic tradition. Honoring the Divine at work in all things, we envision the Northwest as a sustainable region where all live in dignity, are treated justly, and actively contribute to their own empowerment and positive change in their communities. JVC Northwest strives to live out the four values of community, simple living, social and ecological justice, and spirituality/reflection.

Jesuit Volunteers have the opportunity to live and serve with partner agencies in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. 

Join for Justice

A program offered through the Jewish Organizing Institute & Network, the Jewish Organizing Fellowship is a professional development opportunity for Jewish young adults to become a full-time community organizer for a social justice organization, explore their Jewish identity together, and grow as leaders in pursuit of social justice. It is a year-long, paid fellowship based in Boston.

For more than 15 years, the Jewish Organizing Fellowship has placed young adults between the ages of 21-30 as organizers for change with community-based organizations. Fellows receive high-level training and mentoring in leadership and community organizing skills as well as engage in intensive Jewish reflection and study, connecting their passion to build a more just world with Jewish values. 

JDC’s Jewish Service Corps

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee runs the Jewish Service Corps program for young Jews interested in a year-long, oversees volunteer project. Service programs work to meet real, pressing needs through intensive participation in JDC initiatives and peer-to-peer education. The program is paid and currently operates in Argentina, China, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Israel, Latvia, Rwanda, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. Applicants must have a college degree and show interest in global Jewish affairs. 

Jubilee Urban Service Programs

Jubilee Urban Service Programs looks for young adults with hearts for service and commitment to social justice. They provide an opportunity to grow, give back, and live a year in Los Angeles, California.

Jubilee’s inclusive and diverse service programs provide personal, professional, and leadership development to young adults of all upbringings, races, ethnicities, faiths, and non-religious backgrounds.

Urban Service Programs create leaders through a deep, sustained commitment to service. The Jubilee Urban Intern Program (JUIP) program focuses on personal and professional development while exploring and advocating for Social Justice in service sites across LA. Our Episcopal Urban Intern Program (EUIP) cohort serve at the same sites and in the same capacities while additionally studying and exploring the intersection of Social Justice with one’s Faith/Spiritual Life.

Corps members are matched with some of the most innovative and effective social service agencies in Los Angeles, gaining invaluable knowledge and experience while spending a year building community and enjoying LA. 

Lasallian Volunteers

The Lasallian Volunteers (LV) — a program of the De La Salle Christian Brothers of the Lasallian Region of North America — provides dedicated, well-trained Volunteers for one or more years of service to schools and agencies of the Brothers whose mission is to serve the poor. Acting out of faith, rooted in the Gospel, and sharing community with the Brothers and other Lasallians, the volunteers empower the poor by personalized service primarily through education. Lasallian Volunteers change the world for the better and discover themselves transformed in the process. 

Lutheran Volunteer Corps

Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC) is a one-year domestic volunteer service program founded by Luther Place Memorial Church. It is for people who want to explore their spirituality while working for social justice in various ways, living with other volunteers in Chicago, Milwaukee, Omaha, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Tacoma, Twin Cities, Washington, DC, and Wilmington.

Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC) unites full-time stipended Volunteers with financial supporters, non-profit organizations and ministries to work for peace with justice across the nation. In addition to working for justice, LVC Volunteers live together in intentional household communities of 4-7 people to encourage simple, sustainable living.

Serving alongside those in their placements, LVC Volunteers actively respond to the gifts and needs of their community members. Partnering with their placements, LVC Volunteers provide direct service, community organizing, indirect service, advocacy and public policy. 

Mennonite Voluntary Service

Put your faith into action through Mennonite Voluntary Service. Make a difference on issues like immigration, healthcare and the environment.  Terms last between 1 and 2 years in one of 21 cities and towns across the U.S. You do not have to be Mennonite to apply, but MVS is a faith-based organization, so we do ask that you agree to a statement of faith, are prepared to participate in Christian community, and that you provide us with the name of your home congregation.

Join an intentional community with peers, serve with a local nonprofit, and plug into your neighborhood and local congregation. 

Mercy Volunteer Corps

Mercy Volunteer Corps operates in partnership with the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas and works primarily with the economically poor and marginalized. Participants serve for one year in one of nine U.S. cities and in Guyana, South America, working in education, healthcare or social services. They receive housing, stipends and health insurance and must be 21 years or older and hold a high school diploma to participate. 

Mission Year

Mission Year is a year-long program where Christian young people live in an urban neighborhood volunteering, worshiping, and loving their neighbors. By partnering with a local church, volunteering at a service site, and spending time with neighbors, Mission Year Team Members effectively impact their communities while catching a deeper vision for what the Kingdom of God is like. Sites are based out of Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Oakland, and Philadelphia. 

Notre Dame Mission Volunteers

Notre Dame Mission Volunteer Program, founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1992, has been placing volunteers at sites nationwide to work alongside God’s people, especially the economically disadvantaged. The volunteers accomplish this mission by promoting literacy and education.

AmeriCorps is a federally-funded service program, commonly referred to as the domestic Peace Corps, that brings together citizens of diverse backgrounds to serve communities in the areas of education, public safety, human needs and the environment.

In 1995, NDMV sought a partnership with AmeriCorps to allow for an increase in the number of members, offering greater community service in financially-limited sites. This partnership formed Notre Dame Mission Volunteers-AmeriCorps.

NDMVA creates holistic educational programs for at-risk children and adults in economically disadvantaged communities. We target children in Head Start and school settings as well as adults who are high school dropouts in need of GED, literacy, or parenting skills. Our volunteers are recruited from the local communities and from college campuses nationwide. To further our goals, we develop service partnerships with groups and individuals in the public and private sectors.

Our members work to empower the economically disadvantaged and oppressed through education and personal hands-on support. They tutor children and adults (literacy, GED, and ESL), organize after-school enrichment activities, model and teach conflict resolution and parental effectiveness, and involve community professionals in the learning process. 

Pearlstone Center

This summer, come live, teach, farm, and celebrate on The Pearlstone Campus, —a gorgeous 160-acre ball of light located in Reisterstown, MD – 30 minutes outside Baltimore. Fellows will live in our beautiful new Eco-Cabin, adjacent to our 7-acre working organic farm featuring orchards, vineyard, educational gardens, goats, chickens, and sheep. Fellows will be empowered and supported while leading dynamic experiential youth programs Monday-Thursday in Jewish Outdoor Food & Environmental Education (JOFEE), integrating DIY farm-to-table food, natural building, wilderness skills and forest ecology, low and high ropes adventure course, music, nature art, and more. In May we focus on our immersive Chesapeake Teva program for Jewish day schools; in June we work with underprivileged students from Baltimore City Public Schools; and mid June-August we will knock the socks off of local JCC campers. Prior informal education experience is required. Fellows will receive financial compensation along with room, board, and a life-changing experience. 

Quaker Voluntary Service

Based out of Atlanta, Philadelphia, or Portland, QVS seeks to live four core Values: Community, Service, Transformation, and the Quaker Way. QVS is an experiment in faithfulness in the Friends’ tradition. It is an opportunity to find your gifts, and to help change the world.

Building on three years of discernment, research, and consultation, including working closely with a network of other longstanding faith-based voluntary service programs, a vibrant team of supporters launched the pilot QVS service house in Atlanta, Georgia in the fall of 2012.  This house was the first step in developing a growing network of QVS programs. QVS launched two more houses in August 2013 in Philadelphia, PA and Portland, OR. In 2015 we launched our fourth house in Boston, MA as well as a pilot Alumni Fellowship program in Philadelphia, where first year QVS  alumni can continue programming with QVS and work for Quaker organizations in Philly. We are excited about the continual growth of our programs and reach, and look forward to expanding our network in different ways in the years to come. 

Repair the World

The Repair the World Fellowship is an 11-month opportunity for young adults ages 21 to 26 to engage and challenge the Jewish community to address social justice issues through meaningful volunteering. Fellows will recruit, train, and serve alongside volunteers to bring about real community change around education justice and food justice. Fellows gain skills in volunteer engagement, program planning and facilitation, service learning, and deep knowledge in food or education justice. The Fellowship takes place in four dynamic cities — Detroit, New York City, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Repair the World will provide training, a living stipend, communal housing, health insurance, and other perks. 

St. Joseph Worker Program

The St. Joseph Worker Program is a one-year volunteer experience for women who are passionate about social change. St. Joseph Workers (SJWs) commit to a year of service during which they delve into the core values of justice, leadership, spirituality, and living simply in an intentional community. Program sites in St Paul/Minneapolis MN, Los Angeles CA, Wichita KS and Albany NY. 

Sojourners Fellowship Program

The Sojourners’ Fellowship Program is a leadership and professional development program dedicated to Christian discipleship, community, and vocation. Participants live in an intentional, Christian community and work alongside a departmental team at the Sojourners office in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Celebrating its 36-year history, program alumni have made a lasting impact on the social justice movement in the church, the United States, and around the world. Eight to ten participants are selected into the program each year. People from all life stages and career paths are welcome.

Sikh Coalition Fellowships

The  Sikh Coalition offers several part-time, paid fellowships in social justice and advocacy available to recent college grads and young professionals. Based in New York and California, the programs range from public policy, anti-bullying, community development and more. The Coalition also runs a summer volunteer program for high school students based in its New York City office. 

United Church of Christ Young Adult Service Communities           

An 11-month service program, running from September to August of the following year, Young Adult Service Communities offers community living, service-justice advocacy opportunity, leadership development with local congregations, and faith conversations.

The Urban Adamah Fellowship

The Urban Adamah Fellowship, based in Berkeley, CA, is a three-month residential training program for young adults (ages 21-–31) that combines urban organic farming, social justice training and progressive Jewish learning and living in intentional community. Through the operation of Urban Adamah’s one-acre organic farm and internships with social justice organizations, fellows gain significant skills, training and experience in sustainable urban agriculture, Jewish spirituality, intentional community, social justice and leadership development.

We accept 12–14 fellows per season with admission on a rolling basis. Visit the Urban Adamah website to learn more and to request an application. 

Urban Promise

Urban Promise’s internship program provides college-aged adults with year-round or summertime training in urban youth development and ministry. Interns work in our after-school and summer camps and live in community in the Camden neighborhood in which they work. Their role at Urban Promise is essential to our organization’s operational and programmatic success as they work on a volunteer basis and act as positive role models to the children and teens in their camps. 

US-2 Program

A domestic, 24-month, faith and justice-centered leadership-development and mission-service program for those interested in partnering in solidarity with faith-based organizations. US-2s will integrate faith and justice by learning, walking, and working with communities in their struggles to address systemic injustice and human suffering. US-2s will boldly reexamine their roles and participation in society as they struggle with issues, such as hunger, homelessness, HIV/AIDS, illiteracy, children at risk, substance abuse, racism, domestic violence, and inadequate healthcare throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Westmoreland Volunteer Corps.

This domestic volunteer service program provides opportunities for those interested in social service and social justice to work in Washington, D.C. area agencies helping underserved populations. Sponsored by the Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ, a few steps from Washington, D.C. in Bethesda, Maryland, the program provides a group house for five volunteers whose interests, training and career goals are matched with the needs of agencies doing work in social service, health care, housing, education and more. The volunteers receive a stipend from the agencies at which they work and are charged minimal rent to live in a shared home in an intentional community. A community counselor also works with the group of Volunteers. All persons, regardless of faith, are welcome to apply. 

Young Adult Volunteer Program (Presbyterian – PCUSA)

YAV’s serve for one year in communities of need in the United States and around the world. They meet regularly for prayer and Bible study, work with mentors to explore and grow in their expression of their Chris­tian faith, build each other up as Disciples of Jesus Christ, and are supported in their faith journey through orientation and an end-of-term debriefing event. Sites for service are located both nationally and internationally.


More post-graduation opportunities available to Carleton students.