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Study: volunteer work boosts poor teenagers

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 9, 2007

WASHINGTON

Volunteer work gives poor teens a boost in confidence that can propel them to college, but other teens are more likely volunteers, a federal study finds. Youth from low-income backgrounds have a volunteer rate of 43 percent, compared with 59 percent for other youth, the Corporation for National and Community Service said Sunday. It also found they are more likely to volunteer with religious organizations than with youth civic or leadership groups. By volunteering, poor youth are 40 percent more likely to believe they can make a difference in their community and 50 percent more likely to say they probably will graduate from a four-year college, the report said.

NEW YORK

Staten Island fire damages homes

A brush fire that was pushed by strong winds toward Staten Island's Midland Beach neighborhood damaged several homes Sunday and injured at least eight people, including six firefighters. The fire forced the evacuation of about 10 homes. The cause of the fire was under investigation, Fire Department Deputy Chief William Tanzosh said.

Elsewhere

Houston: Misty Ann Weaver, 34, a licensed vocational nurse, was arrested late Saturday and accused of starting a fire in her office that killed three people and injured six others on March 28. Authorities said Weaver started the fire because she had neglected to finish an accreditation audit that was due to her boss, a plastic surgeon.

Maywood, Ill.: Cardinal Francis George, 70, was released from the hospital Sunday, one day after slipping on a marble church floor while blessing Easter baskets and fracturing his hip.

[Last modified April 9, 2007, 00:45:49]