Commonwealth Corps Newsletter Issue 01

OCTOBER 15, 2025

Welcome to the Commonwealth Corps Newsletter!

Welcome to our 2025-2026 CC members!

Greetings Commonwealth Corps Community!

I’m excited to share our first newsletter of the year as we dive into another impactful service term together. The 2025-2026 year is well underway with 17 members serving at 8 host sites across Massachusetts.

You’ll find the full list on our website, and throughout the year we’ll spotlight each site and their members so you can get to know the people and projects making a difference.

You can expect these newsletters every other month, with the next edition coming in December. Each will feature member and host site spotlights, important updates, and resources for members, alumni, and partners.

Members, keep an eye out for details on our November gathering coming soon.

Our theme with members this year is balance; a focus that grew out of orientation and reflects how we aim to approach service. Balancing growth with impact, learning with action, and individual development with community needs.

For host sites and prospective applicants, the 2026-2027 application opens in December, and we expect a competitive cycle. Please sign up for MSA newsletters to stay informed, and remember that attending or watching an informational webinar is now required to apply.

Thank you for being part of this community.

I’m looking forward to a year of growth, connection, and meaningful service ahead.

Warmly, Victoria Tucker Commonwealth Corps Program Manager

OCTOBER 15, 2025

www.mass-service.org

Program Feature

Project Citizenship Get to know one of our Host Sites for the 2025-2026 service term! Project Citizenship works to increase naturalization in Massachusetts, focusing on vulnerable and disadvantaged populations, by providing free legal services to permanent residents seeking U.S. citizenship.

This year, three full-time Commonwealth Corps members are helping expand Project Citizenship’s capacity by conducting eligibility screenings, supporting citizenship workshops, managing data, and engaging new community partners to better serve clients in eastern Massachusetts.

“Through the Commonwealth Corps program, Project Citizenship has grown its reach and impact. Each year, members bring new energy and skills that improve service delivery and connect more immigrants to the resources they need.

Their support helps hundreds of permanent residents take the final step toward citizenship, creating lasting benefits not only for our clients, but also for their families, neighborhoods, and the civic fabric of communities across Massachusetts.”

— Gail Breslow, Executive Director, Project Citizenship Together, Project Citizenship and the Commonwealth Corps are helping build a stronger, more inclusive Commonwealth one new citizen at a time.

OCTOBER 15, 2025

Member Feature

Meet our Commonwealth Corps Members serving at Project Citizenship!

www.mass-service.org

MEET LILY I chose to serve because I want to be at a place where what we do matters, where I can see our real-world impact. By talking to Project Citizenship clients every day, I can see first-hand how important our services are.

Through Project Citizenship, I have been able to help people start and finish their citizenship process, from intake to submission. Citizenship means they can vote, receive benefits, and feel secure in their homes.

Serving at Project Citizenship has allowed me to improve my Spanish in leaps and bounds so that I can better serve our Spanish-speaking clients. Other members of Project Citizenship have been endlessly kind and patient while I have grown my vocabulary to include legal terms and complex ideas. Because of this, I have been able to walk a client step by step through applying for her daughter’s derivation of citizenship.

This has boosted my passion for service immeasurably.

MEET JULIETTE II wanted to join the Commonwealth Corps team because I am passionate about human services and social justice, specifically in the immigration field. Postcollege, I believed the best way to explore these passions was by integrating myself into a community dedicated to understanding and addressing the needs of MA residents.

This past month, our Commonwealth Corps team started assisting with the community outreach and partnership development for Project Citizenship’s citizenship workshops. In early September, me and the other Commonwealth Corps members completed our first N-600 Application Assistance. Helping my client through this complicated process was a wonderful reminder of why I serve: to help our community members feel safe and protected in their neighborhoods.

MEET KEILANY As someone who was involved in volunteerism since high school, I had been keeping up with Project Citizenship for a few months prior to my college graduation looking for more committed ways to contribute to my community. Upon checking Project Citizenship's website, I saw the possibility to complete a service year with them through Commonwealth Corps and decided to apply.

Lily, Juliette and Keilany at Project Citizenship

As Project Citizenship currently has a small team, I have been able to provide language translations for clients, help clients during workshops, and communicate daily with potential clients about the citizenship process. In our Lawrence workshop, I stepped in for two clients without interpreters and worked alongside volunteer lawyers to help them complete their applications.

OCTOBER 15, 2025

www.mass-service.org

Alumni Corner

Luke McKinnon ‘17 After I graduated from college, I worked in elementary schools in Boston, but decided that I wasn't totally sure about becoming a Kindergarten teacher. So I moved out to Western Massachusetts and spent a year, 1,500 hours, serving an organization called NMH Upward Bound. I helped students in Holyoke, Greenfield, Springfield, and Turners Falls apply to college.

The staff of the non-profit were all generous and inspiring professionals who did the tireless work of encouraging teenagers to study, visit colleges, and submit their scholarship applications so that they could go be the first in their families to attend college.

Luke serving at their host site Northfield Mount Hermon Upward Bound

“Because of Commonwealth Corps, I was able to attend graduate school and make a difference in my community.”

After-school tutoring, community events at the various high schools, and long rides to visit colleges with the young scholars were a great way to learn more about parts of Massachusetts I'd never seen.

NMH UB was a federally funded TRIO program that served low income and first generation students helping increase access to higher education. After my year of service, I was hired to continue on as an Academic Advisor.

One part of my work that was surprisingly fulfilling was helping students and their families fill out paperwork like the dreaded FAFSA, (a federal form which measures family income for scholarship eligibility). Even though I was not able to inspire the teenagers to ace every calculus test, I could sit with them and make sure that the paperwork got filled out correctly. In those sessions, when I would help with the forms I was always humbled to see how hard the students were striving towards their future.

They went to school, worked a lot of hours at tiring jobs and even at home took care of things that I had personally never had to do like scheduling and translating doctor's appointments for their immigrant parents.

I graduated from Suffolk University Law School this past Spring and am not yet a licensed attorney, but during my final year I was able to take on clients as a student practitioner in my school's Immigrant Justice Clinic.

My experience in Commonwealth Corps the relationship building, advocacy and communication skills that I learned with Upward Bound helped me to represent my undocumented clients and get their tedious federal applications filled out too.

Unfortunately, funding for TRIO programs like Upward Bound has been delayed and denied by the current administration and there are still too many barriers to higher education for children in our Commonwealth.

However, we recognize that citizenship status should never be a barrier to education and Massachusetts' undocumented youth can now fill out the MASFA to seek in state tuition and scholarships.

OCTOBER 15, 2025

www.mass-service.org

Mark your Calendars

Make a Difference Day Make a Difference Day is coming up on October 25th, a day dedicated to neighbors helping neighbors, celebrating kindness, community, and the power of giving back.

Whether it’s volunteering, helping a neighbor, or connecting with your community, every action makes an impact.

How will you make a difference this year?

You can find plenty of opportunities to make a difference at www.msaconnectsforgood.org, our statewide platform connecting Massachusetts nonprofits with residents to meet critical community needs.

Want to be featured in our newsletter?

We’d love to feature your stories, photos, or reflections in our next newsletter! Help us celebrate the impact of your service across Massachusetts.

Not subscribed yet? Sign up today so you don’t miss future issues!

Reach out to ccquestions@massservice.org for more info!

Lily Freeman

Commonwealth Corps Members at 9/11 Day

Save the Date!

NOV. 04

NOV. 18

NOV. 27

Member Get Together at MSA Office

Info Session on Being a CC Host Site (Webinar)

Thanksgiving - MSA is closed and no service for members

Dec. 03

Dec. 15

Host Site Initial Application Released (required to apply)

Request for Proposals (RFP) and Full Host Site Application released

Dec. 16 Q&A Session for Host Site Applicants (Webinar)

Dec. 19

Host Site Initial Application due to MSA

Note: Dates may vary by subscriber. For questions, contact Sally Kim, Commonwealth Corps Associate Program Manager, at skim@massservice.org. View all Host Site Application dates and materials on our website.