Michigan volunteerism + new Obama push to service = more people working to fix Detroit?

The News had an article showing how Michiganians are already more likely to volunteer than people from other places. Perhaps Obama's expansion of the national service corps (http://freep.com/article/20090422/NEWS15/90422005) will help put more volunteers on the ground in the area. God knows we need them.

Here are some highlights from the News:

"After graduating from college in Ohio, Ava Jackson decided there was something more valuable waiting for her than earning lots of money: helping out back home in Michigan.
" "In corporate America, you don't have a chance to touch someone's life this way," explains Jackson, 25, who opted for a second year to help youths from low-income families. "I have 30 years to make money." "

"Jackson was answering the call to service that President Barack Obama repeated Tuesday as he signed the Serve America Act expanding the AmeriCorps program. "

"Michigan has 1,060 AmeriCorps workers and that number will increase by at least 250, with money earmarked from the federal economic stimulus bill. "

"Marilyn Barber of Detroit, who was laid off from her job as an employment counselor at Wayne State University in 2007, is in her second year as an "urban agriculture apprentice" at the Greening of Detroit, a nonprofit group that plants trees and runs the D-Town Farm. "

"Michigan is a big-hearted state, Census data show: 2.4 million Michiganians volunteered in 2007, nearly one-third of the state (30.5 percent) versus an average national volunteer rate of 26.2 percent. Still, there's a demand for more help."

"VolunteerMatch.org, an Internet resource that links volunteers to charities, lists more than 1,300 positions in Michigan awaiting helping hands"