Nine for '09

1)  Grow AmeriCorps’ membership to 250,000 by 2013.  Currently, just under 70,000 AmeriCorps members work to meet the nation’s most pressing needs, saving taxpayers millions every year.  They work as tutors and mentors in schools and afterschool programs, care for the elderly, work to conserve the environment, and played a critical role in the post-Katrina relief and reconstruction efforts.  

2)  Expand Learn and Serve America to engage 4.5 million students by 2013.  With a tiny appropriation yielding four dollars in service for each federal dollar invested,[1] the program currently supports 1-1.5 million students in service-learning every year.  We urge the next president to make service-learning opportunities available in every American school, from Kindergarten through Higher Education.

3)  Send a youth delegate to the United Nations.  The UN has invited its member nations six times to include youth in their delegations.[2]  Such representation is critical to understanding and addressing the myriad development and other issues that directly affect young people in the United States and across the globe.

4)  Make a Summer of Service a rite of passage.  If passed, the Summer of Service Act (S.1128 / H.R. 1880) would create a grants program for non-profit organizations to engage students entering the 6^th-9^th grades in a summer of service-learning activities. This initiative would reduce the “summer slide” for young people who are generally too young to work, but yet old enough to make meaningful contributions to their communities. 

5)  Create a Global Service Fellowship Program.  The Global Service Fellowship Program Act (S. 1464) would increase the number of Americans volunteering abroad every year to 10,000.  This program would expand the important work of the Peace Corps by allowing Americans to serve shorter terms that would appeal to a broader range of participants with varying obligations at home or work.

6)  Double the Peace Corps to its 1966 high of 16,000 members by its 50^th anniversary in 2011.  President Kennedy hoped the Peace Corps would one day grow to 100,000 members, yet the program peaked at 16,000 in 1966.[3]  President Bush called for the doubling of the Peace Corps membership (then about 7,000) in his 2002 State of the Union Address, but it remains at about 7,800.

7)  Strengthen “Serve-Study” for college students.  The historical intent of the Federal Work-Study program was more than to simply provide colleges with a low-wage campus labor force.  Importantly, it also sought to connect students to the broader community through service.  After 9/11, President Bush recognized this in calling for the increase of “serve-study” from 7% to 50% of federal work-study allocations, echoing calls from both President Clinton and General Colin Powell in 1998.

8)  Found the U.S. Public Service Academy.  The U.S. Public Service Academy would be America’s first national civilian university, designed to develop leaders dedicated to service in the public sector.  Modeled on the military service academies, the Public Service Academy will provide a rigorous undergraduate education followed by five years of civilian service to the country.[4]

9)  Build on the Federal Youth Coordination Act with a White House Office of National Youth Policy.  In response to a White House finding that federal programs for disadvantaged youth are spread across 12 federal departments with little communication or coordination, Congress passed the Federal Youth Coordination Act[5] in 2006 to establish a council tasked with recommending ways to bring these efforts out of their programmatic silos. The next President should ensure that the Council is funded and fully implemented and expand on its work with a dedicated White House Office of National Youth Policy.