Keep Expanding National Service

Injustice—according to Alan Khazei, founder of City Year and author of Big Citizenship, those who partake in national service come away with an acute sense of it. These same people become Khazei’s ‘Big Citizens,’ a term which he uses to describe “anyone who is willing to dedicate themselves to a cause higher than self interest.” The citizen is the central focus of Khazei’s work and he believes harnessing the power of the citizens to affect change should be high on our government’s priorities list.

In an age where mere mention of expansion of government programs leads to media firestorms about the size of government, how can the federal government afford to fund programs which pay volunteer work? Khazei makes the convincing argument that America cannot afford to do otherwise.

Every major progressive movement has succeeded on the backs of ordinary citizens committed to a higher cause. Khazei cites the practical reasons for a strong national service policy:

· Unemployment levels remain high in the recession economy and the young adult demographic has proportionally been hurt the most—service programs can provide paying jobs at a low cost while developing better citizens and meeting critical community needs

· Demand for service opportunities has reached unprecedented levels in recent years, with the number of applicants to AmeriCorps far exceeding available openings.

· Need for service is indisputably widespread, as 14.3% of Americans now live in poverty

In a sector where organizational growth becomes stunted by lack of intermediate and high level financing, Khazei believes the government must play a critical role in finding successful local models and scaling them up to the national level. Though critics worry about government funds displacing donations from the private sector, Khazei’s experience has been just the opposite. Government spending spurs more private investment—for City Year, each public dollar has been more than matched by a private one. And for each $1 spent on national service, there is a $4 return to community benefits and improvements.

Expanding service programs can afford conscientious citizens who want to act an opportunity to make concrete contributions to their communities. With poverty and income inequality rates reaching alarming levels, now is the time to commit to a generation of leaders in civic engagement.

To see how AmeriCorps programs across the country are addressing needs such as poverty reduction, see ICP's recent publication Transforming Communities through Service: A Collection of 52 of the Most Innovative AmeriCorps State Programs in the US.

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.

Music National Service Initiative (MNSi) and the Music Service Corps Proposal—A Logical Next Step for National Youth Service Policy?

A recent Blog by Kiff Gallagher on Huffington Post explores the merits of creating a national service to bring music to underprivileged areas of the United States. Gallagher reports on the Music National Service Initiative’s MusicianCorps, which would attempt to foster the “critical skills a child develops when she struggles with her instrument, writes a song, joins a band or finds her voice in a choir”—skills that would help a young boy or girl succeed and contribute to the economy and help address future challenges. These capabilities are also what employers in high-end industries look for in their search for productive, flexible, adaptive and imaginative employees.

The correlation between engaged and active youth and music education has been proven in a variety of instances. Involvement in the arts results in lower rates of recidivism, 17% higher rates of graduation and better test scores in English and science. This is due, in no small part, to the fact that young men and women love music. In a MTV survey cited by Gallagher, teens said that music “defines them more than family, moral values, religion and style.” MusicianCorps would provide a medium through which successful and more affluent people could connect and impact society for the greater good—transcending social and economic boundaries.

This truly innovative route towards civic participation deserves support and advocacy from any service oriented non-profit. Already on board with the MNSi’s proposal are City Year and ServiceNation, who are both organizational partners. This group, led by MNSi, has begun to push legislators for consideration of an Artist or Music service along with current GreenCorps and HealthCorps Initiatives. MusicianCorps is a logical addition to US national youth service policy in the spirit of the founders of AmeriCorps.