ServiceNation to Hold Presidential Candidate Summit on Volunteerism

On September 11th, ServiceNation, a National Campaign of a large group of non-profits, such as NCLR, Habitat for Humanity, the AARP and City Year, will be holding a Presidential Summit on National Service. The forum will be broadcast by CNN and moderated by Time Magazine in an attempt to shine a light on the importance of modifying and readying American National Youth Service (NYS) Policy for the near future and a change in executive branch leadership.

The Summit will include both a dialogue between the Presidential Candidates, as well as a call to action in support of Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatche’s upcoming legislation on NYS. This will include a formal request that the legislation be enacted by the new president within one year of the start of the conference (by September 11th, 2009).

However, the “ultimate goal of the ServiceNation Summit" is to have US citizens sign the Declaration of Service, to increase the yearly national level of participation in community service from 61 million Americans to 100 million citizens by the year 2020.

Also, a part of the summit is meant to publicize the September 27th, 2008 Day of Action during which Americans across the country will engage in coordinated community service actions to show the power of civic service on a large scale. This event is scheduled to coincide with the first Presidential debate of the election season and continue to publicize the need for sensible and expanded National Service policy.

ServiceNation represents the growing tide of support for National Service from a variety of organizations who recognize the value of increased civic engagement.