Obama signs bill expanding national service programs

President Obama bill expanding national service programs. The “Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.” Among other things, the Serve America Act increases national service positions from 75,000 to 250,000, and creates targeted service corps to address issues related to education, health, poverty, veterans, and clean energy; creates incentives and programs to boost community and faith-based volunteering by Americans of all ages; and establishes a “Social Innovation Fund” to seed the best ideas and strategies for solving chronic societal problems (a detailed summary can be found at http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/09_0331_recovery_summary.pdf

ServiceNation, a coalition of almost 200 nonprofits that is working to increase service opportunities and elevate service as a core ideal in America, applauds the President and Congressional leaders for acting so quickly to lay the foundation for a new era of service in America, and working to unite Americans in common cause to address our greatest challenges. The lead conveners of ServiceNation have been involved in the service movement for decades, and are available to speak in detail about the Serve America Act and what it means for America:

John Bridgeland, CEO Of Civic Enterprises, and former Director of the Bush White House Domestic Policy Council and Freedom Corps (Contact: Mary McNaught, 202-280-8693, mmcnaught@civicenterprises.net)

Michael Brown, CEO and Co-Founder of City Year (Contact: Alison Franklin, 617-927-2612, AFranklin@cityyear.org)

Michelle Nunn, President and CEO of Points of Light Institute and Co-founder of HandsOn Network (Contact: Pat Chandler, 206-313-5989, PChandler@handsonnetwork.org)

AnnMaura Connolly, Chief External Affairs Officer, City Year (Contact: Alison Franklin, 617-927-2612, AFranklin@cityyear.org)

Alan Khazei, CEO of Be The Change, Inc., and co-founder of City Year. (Contact: Tim Zimmermann, 703-850-0735, tim@bethechangeinc.org)