National service and volunteerism enjoy a rich history in the United States and an emergent future in other parts of the world. However, there remains relatively scant evidence of overall impact of national service programs and volunteer effectiveness. This condition continues to threaten national service and volunteer programs with the risk of defunding and/or the risk of not investing sufficiently from the start. This book brings together a selection of diverse chapters written by a combination of academicians, students, and practitioners from three countries and across multiple states in the United States. Each chapter approaches its topic uniquely but links with all others in identifying the impacts of service and volunteerism for volunteers, for beneficiaries of service, for the institution of volunteering, and/or for whole communities. The book is divided in five sections: (1) developing volunteer initiatives to achieve impact, (2) impact for and by youth volunteers, (3) impact in social or policy areas, specifically economy and financial success, education, and emergency response, (4) international perspectives with focus on Chile, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, and the post-communist states of Lithuania and Romania, and (5) conclusion with summary and suggestions for future research and practice.

National service and volunteerism enjoy a rich history in the United States and an emergent future in other parts of the world. However, there remains relatively scant evidence of overall impact of national service programs and volunteer effectiveness. This condition continues to threaten national service and volunteer programs with the risk of defunding and/or the risk of not investing sufficiently from the start. This book brings together a selection of diverse chapters written by a combination of academicians, students, and practitioners from three countries and across multiple states in the United States. Each chapter approaches its topic uniquely but links with all others in identifying the impacts of service and volunteerism for volunteers, for beneficiaries of service, for the institution of volunteering, and/or for whole communities. The book is divided in five sections: (1) developing volunteer initiatives to achieve impact, (2) impact for and by youth volunteers, (3) impact in social or policy areas, specifically economy and financial success, education, and emergency response, (4) international perspectives with focus on Chile, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, and the post-communist states of Lithuania and Romania, and (5) conclusion with summary and suggestions for future research and practice.

Food and the systems that produce, disrupt, prepare it are central to all human life. Yet, scholarly analysis of the food systems that support human life are highly fragmented across a variety of disciplines. Public administration, with its focus on the doing of public policy, would seem to be a logical home for analysis of food systems in action. However, food is largely ignored by public administration scholars, and scholars from other disciplines can unintentionally draw up established public administration literature. The chapters in this edited volume highlight where the lenses and languages of public administration can and should be used to analyze food systems. Viewed collectively, the editors argue that the lenses and languages of public administration can and should become a common ground for scholars and practitioners to discuss food systems.