Change Notes: The Eli J. Segal Entrepreneurship Award

Friends,

Eli Segal was an architect of the modern national service movement and an extraordinary civic entrepreneur.

An aide to President Bill Clinton, Eli was instrumental in driving several of the Clinton administration’s most praised projects. He helped create AmeriCorps – the national service program that today deploys Americans to serve in communities across the country – and he went on to serve as the first CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the agency established to run federal service programs. Nelson Mandela turned to the “father of AmeriCorps” for uniting post-apartheid South Africa through service. Eli and President Clinton helped realize Mandela’s vision of black and white youth serving side by side through the creation of City Year-South Africa. During the overhaul of the federal welfare system, he was the “chief implementer” – finding 20,000 companies to move one million Americans from welfare to work.

Since his death in 2006, Eli’s spirit of service has been embodied by the community impact made by the more than 700,000 current and alumni members of AmeriCorps. To celebrate his legacy, AmeriCorps Alums, Points of Light’s national network for all AmeriCorps national service alumni, annually awards the prestigious Eli J. Segal Entrepreneurship Award.

This year, the award will honor two outstanding AmeriCorps Alums who demonstrate the essence of citizen service that Eli so well embodied. This is the highest honor awarded by AmeriCorps Alums. Along with lifetime membership in the Eli J. Segal Citizen Leadership Program, winners will also receive $5,000 to be used to continue their citizen leadership efforts and/or community initiative, and be recognized at a special AmeriCorps Alums event.

If you or someone you know is an AmeriCorps Alum with the entrepreneurial vision and leadership to create change, now is the time to share your story. Applications for the award are due by Feb. 29, 2012.

Yours in service,

Michelle Nunn

CEO, Points of Light