More grads opt to serve the poor - USATODAY.com: Recent college graduates, including tens of thousands graduating this spring, are seeking community service jobs, where they can learn marketable skills while doing work they find meaningful. For many, it offers a chance to test out a career before settling into one.
But as interest in service grows, some organizations are getting more selective; others are feeling the squeeze of a competitive market for idealistic young adults.
•AmeriCorps, a federal program that offers stipends of about $10,000 a year and a $4,725 education award in exchange for a 10-month term of service, has seen enrollments among college graduates climb to 13,447 this year from 7,608 in 1999. Numbers are based on a one-day snapshot taken in February each year.
•Teach for America, which places recent graduates in public-school teaching jobs in low-income areas, accepted about 2,400 of its 19,000 applicants in 2006. That's up from 13,500 applicants in 2004.
•The Peace Corps, which sends volunteers overseas, has seen applications rise to 12,242 in 2006 from 8,917 in 2001.
But Eckerd Youth Alternatives, whose programs include a wilderness program for troubled youth, has seen applications for counselors slip to fewer than 8,000 this year from about 11,000 in 2002. Because the position requires a special person, Eckerd no longer advertises in mass media but instead recruits at targeted events such as "Life After AmeriCorps."
