Kennedy and Hatch renew call for National Service
Posted on September 11th, 2008 by bile Tags: America, Boston, Community Solution Funds, education, Edward M. Kennedy, energy, energy efficiency, Expand International Service, federal government, Free Talk Live, FTL, Health, Labor and Pensions Committee, national service, Orrin Hatch, peace corps, Serve America Act, Service Nation, Service Nation Summit, vaccines, Volunteer Generation Fund, Volunteers for Prosperity, Washington DCI got in without any issues. Didn’t even need my FTL ID. The press packet had this as I walked in to the press room. I’m not seeing the release online.
KENNEDY AND HATCH RENEW CALL FOR NATIONAL SERVICE: “SERVE AMERICA ACT” WILL INCREASE OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE FOR AMERICANS OF ALL AGES
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tomorrow, Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) will introduce new legislation, the “Serve America Act,” to expand opportunities for service for all Americans. The Legislation will ask 175,000 more Americans to give a year to service to address specific national challenges, thereby expanding the number of national service participants to 250,000. The legislation will also increase opportunities for individuals to serve at every stage of their life and will support nonprofit organizations and social entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to our most pressing problems.
“Time and again we’ve learned that large numbers of Americans are ready, willing, able, and even eager to be involved in service, and that all we have to do is ask them to do so. The Serve America Act will ask. It will connect every generation through service, and enable them to help tackle a wide range of national challenges, from the dropout crisis that plagues our schools to the lack of health care in our neediest communities to the energy and environmental crises that threatens our planet,” said Senator Kennedy, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which oversees existing national and community service programs. “Many Americans are already answering the call to such service, by weatherizing homes, mentoring students, or working to bring clean water and life-saving vaccines to peoples in many lands. This legislation will dramatically expand opportunities for Americans will to devote a year or more to address such challenges. It will draw the talents and skills of every age group, such as expanding opportunities for young people to improve their communities, and enabling retiring ‘baby boomers’ to transition to second careers in public service.”
Senator Hatch said, “Volunteer service is the lifeblood of our republic. It brings out the best in people and strengthens our communities. Throughout history, Americans have stepped forward and volunteered to meet every challenge. Within each of us is a desire to help and serve our neighbors the world over; and yet, the hectic lifestyle we all live often crowds out our natural ability to give service. That is why my longtime friend, Senator Kennedy, and I are introducing the Serve America Act. This historic legislation will inspire and provide opportunities for civic-minded Americans to raise the bar of service and fulfill the destiny of the immortal words of ‘America the Beautiful,’ to ‘more than self their country love. And mercy more than life!’”
“America faces more challenges today than ever before. And new challenges require a new level of commitment. By harnessing the talents and efforts of the American people, faith-based groups and nonprofit organizations, we can empower more people, improve more communities and tackle more of our nation’s greatest challenges. That is precisely the intent of this bill, and I’m pleased to be working alongside Senator Kennedy to champion this important legislation.
Themes
- Expand opportunities for people to serve at every stage of life.
- Use service to meet specific national challenges. Put service to work to solve our most pressing challenges, such as tackling the dropout crisis and strengthening our schools; improving energy efficiency; safeguarding the enviroment; improving health care in low-income communities; expanding economic opportunities of low-income individuals; and preparing for and responding to disasters and emergencies.
I. Ask Many More Americans to Give a Year to Solve Specific Challenges: Building on the success of AmeriCorps, the legislation will create new, effective “Corps” focused on ares of national need. It will ask 175,000 Americans to give a year of service through these corps as a part of a new national commitment to solve these challenges, expanding the number of national service participants to 250,000.
II. Increase Opportunities to Serve by People of All Ages:
- For Students, Increase Service Early in Life: Service early in life will put more and more youth on a path to a lifetime of service. The legislation will improve opportunities for young people in low income, high-need communities to engage in service to improve their own communities.
- For Working Adults, Encourage Employers to Let Employees Serve, by establishing a tax incentive for employers who allow employees to take paid leave for full-time service.
- For Retirees, Value Their Skills and Make Service Work for Them. Many retiring citizens are ready, willing, and able to be involved in service and have skills the public needs — but none of the current service programs are structured with their needs in mind. The legislation will enhance incentives for retirees to give a year of service through the Corps, and will establish “Encore Fellowships” to help retirees who wish to transition to longer-term public service.
- For Americans of All Ages, Increase Volunteering. Not all Americans can make a significant time commitment to service, but many volunteer in other ways. The legislation will expand the volunteer pool by establishing a “Volunteer Generation Fund” to help nonprofit organizations recruit and manage more volunteers.
III. Support Innovation in the Nonprofit Sector: Social entrepreneurs who have launnched innovative nonprofit organizations such as Teach for America and Citizen Schools in Boston are experimenting with new solutions to pressing problems. The legislation will recognize and support the role of effective social entrepreneurs in solving our national challenges:
- Establish a Commission to study and improve how the federal government, nonprofits, and the private sector work together to meet national challenges effectively.
- Apply Effective Business Strategies to the Nonprofit Sector, by establishing a network of “Community Solution Funds” that are basically venture capital funds to help the nonprofit sector seek talent and put it to work.
IV. Improve and Expand International Service and America’s Respect in the World
- Support for Short-Term International Service Opportunities: We must expand the Peace Corps so more Americans can provide critical assistance to people across the globe while promoting America’s international standing. But many skilled Americans are unable to give two years. The legislation will strengthen the current “Volunteers for Prosperity” program, which coordinates and supports short-term international service opportunities for skilled professionals to serve in developing nations.
I hope you enjoy this… it took forever to transcript.
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September 13th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Back in late 2002, I gave my views about National Service to Senator Hatch, and Senator McCain, when they visited San Francisco. Now Senator Kennedy was inches away from me, but never excepted the material at the Dem Convention in 04, but his staff did take the info and I did share it with his office when I visited it, but that was back in the earlier 1980’s. Time as really moved along.
Below is my letter to Time Magazine which has a large article on the subject of National Service, which in 2002 I renamed from my perspective, a Participatory Citizenship System.
Dear letters@time.com
As one foolish military veteran I have advocated on-and-off for 30-yeears a particular model, originally a bill in the House: HR 1730/1979, HR 2230/1981 which would have replaced the Selective Service System with a National Service System.
It’s key service-learning approach was to maintain voluntary service, but change the registration requirement to age 17, for both females and males, encourage dialogue in families, friends, and if in school, in school.
At 18 require feedback in the form of yes, no, or maybe to age 23, providing a cost-effective way of bring this debate to each new generation, and starting youth exploration of voluntary service be it community or military, and what degree and form of part-time or full-time service they are willing to sign up for.
This catalyst would provide a year-after-year framework at a cost in the low millions, but will take the public will of Congress, and the next President to make it happen.
Like so many of my efforts, Richard and Judy, choose in the Presidential Candidate Forum not to use my question for the candidates, like everybody during the last 30 years they have left me to “do it yourself”.
Service-Learning, Youth Service, Adult Volunteerism, and Retired Adult Volunteerism is all part of the mix, along with non-profits, (over 1 million), churches, local, state, and federal programs are part of the mix.
Technology is also a key element of the mix, be it communication and organizing, the cell phone and Internet will provide tremendous leverage in efficiency, and accountability, and one can dream about efforts related to increasing energy efficiency, education, macro-economic impact, and from gangs to terrorist, local, national, and international security and social development.
Peter