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Stephen B. Silverman
03/19/98 02:10:38 PM
Record Type:
Record
To:
Katharine Button/WHO/EOP, Marsha E. Berry/WHO/EOP, Christine N. Macy/WHO/EOP
CC:
Subject: More, more, I'm still not satisfied
This is a great story about a woman who will be the first in her family to graduate college. She says
her success is based largely on having been an AmeriCorp member. Maybe you could work this
story into a speech or a column by the First Lady. Maybe Mrs. Clinton could drop her a note?
Thanks again for all your help today. Mrs. Clinton was great! It made a real difference. Steve
Forwarded by Stephen B. Silverman/WHO/EOP on 03/19/98 02:05 PM
"Gomperts, John" <JGOMPERT @ cns.gov>
03/19/98 01:57:00 PM
Record Type:
Record
To:
Stephen B. Silverman/WHO/EOP
CC:
Subject: More, more, I'm still not satisfied
That's a line from a very old song, most likely before your time. But it
still works for me.
Tomorrow, March 20th, a former ameriCorps member will be the first person in
her family to graduate from college. We have received a copy of the letter
she wrote to her project director inviting him to the graduation. It is an
extremely moving letter. (Apparently she invited the project director
because she was worried that no one in her family would come the the event.)
The letter days, among other things, (I prefer never to write inter alia):
"I would strongly recommend this program to anyone who want to pursue a
college education. The AmeriCorps project is a model program for individuals
such as myself who want to better their life as well as help others pursue
their dreams. My dream is now coming to light; I will be the first of my
mother's children to graduate from college. I had a goal set forth upon
joining the AmeriCorps team. with the funds, assistance, training and
rewards of being a part of a positive movement across the nation, I overcame,
proving that people can improve their lives."
Pretty strong stuff. This graduation ceremony is tomorrow. The Columbus
paper is doing a big story about it. It's just what we want.
Now the tough part; if you are as good as I know you are: you'll find a way
for the President to tell that story. It is a perfect story, a perfect
quote; and it compliments the woman as well as the program.
I'm faxing you the stuff on this right away. You are amazing. JG
03/17/98 TUE 11:46 FAX 2025652794
C.N.S.
X
001
PLEASE DELIVER IMMEDIATELY!
CORPORATION
FOR NATIONAL
*
SERVICE
TO: Carol Beach
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
WITH: first Lady's office
FROM: Sandy Scott
FAX NUMBER: 456-6244
(voice) 202-606-5000 ext 255
DATE/TIME:
(fax) 202-565-2794 Tare Murpay 2784
9
1201 New York Avenue, NW San
TOTAL PAGES:
Washington, DC 20525
NOTE:
Here is some quick background
on national SeNice and
rean thorization. Let me
know what else you
need- we can messenger
it to you,
GETTING THINGS DONE.
SERIOR SC f SECURITY
THE FRICK L ADAMAS
AMERICA NATIONAL V SEPARTMENT
TUE 11:46 FAX 2025652794
C.N.S.
002
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
I am pleased to transmit today for your immediate consideration and enactment the "National
and Community Service Amendments Act of 1998." This legislative proposal extends and amends
national service law, including the National and Community Service Act of 1990 and the Domestic
Volunteer Service Act of 1973. It builds upon the long, bipartisan tradition of service in our country,
which was renewed in 1993 when I signed the National and Community Service Trust Act creating
the Corporation for National Service.
Service to one's community is an integral part of what it means to be an American. The
Presidents' Summit for America's Future held in Philadelphia last April reinforced the role of
programs supported by the Corporation for National Service as key vehicles to provide young people
with the resources to maximize their potential and give back to their communities. Citizen service is
also at the heart of our efforts to prepare America for the 21st century, as we work to ensure that all
Americans have the opportunity to make the most of their own lives and to help those in need.
My Administration's most important contribution to citizen service is AmeriCorps, the
national service program that already has given more than 100,000 young Americans the opportunity
to serve their country. By tying opportunity to responsibility, we have given them the chance to serve
and, in return, earn money for post-secondary education. In community after community,
AmeriCorps members have proven that service can help us meet our most pressing social needs. For
example, in Simpson County, Kentucky, AmeriCorps members helped 2nd graders jump three grade
levels in reading. In Boys and Girls Clubs all across the country, AmeriCorps members are mentors
for at-risk young people. Habitat For Humanity relies upon AmeriCorps members to bring in more
volunteers and build more houses. In communities beset by floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes,
AmeriCorps members have helped to rebuild homes and restore hope. AmeriCorps members are
mobilizing thousands of college students from more than 800 college campuses in our America Reads
program. In all of these efforts, AmeriCorps brings together people of every background to work
toward common goals.
Independent evaluators have reviewed AmeriCorps, National Senior Service Corps programs,
and Learn and Service America programs and have concluded that national service yields a positive
return on investment. The legislation that I am transmitting builds on our experiences with national
service to date and improves the national service program in four ways: (1) codifying agreements
with Congress and others to reduce costs and streamline national service; (2) strengthening
partnerships with traditional volunteer organizations; (3) increasing States' flexibility to administer
national service programs; and (4) expanding opportunities for Americans to serve.
Since the enactment of the National and Community Service Trust Act in 1993, and
particularly since 1995, my Administration has worked with constructive critics of national service to
address their concerns and improve the program. This legislation continues that process by reducing
the Corporation's average budgeted cost per AmeriCorps member, repealing authority for redundant
or obsolete national service programs, and making other improvements in the efficiency of national
service programs.
03/17/98 TUE 11:47 FAX 2025652794
C.N.S.
003
National service has never been a substitute for the contributions made by the millions of
Americans who volunteer their time to worthy causes every year. Rather, as leaders of volunteer
organizations have told me many times, national service has proven that the presence of full-time,
trained service participants enhances tremendously the effectiveness of volunteers. This legislation
strengthens the partnership between the national service programs and traditional volunteer
organizations; codifies the National Service Scholarship program honoring exemplary service by high
school students; and expands the AmeriCorps Challenge Scholarships, through which national service
participants can access education awards. The legislation also authorizes appropriations for the Points
of Light Foundation through the year 2002.
The National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 explicitly conceived of service as a
Federal-State partnership. Significant authority was vested in bipartisan State Commissions
appointed by the Governors. Consistent with our goal of turning power back to the people, I
promised that we would accelerate the process of devolution as the newly-created State Commissions
expanded their capacities. This legislation fulfills that promise in a variety of ways, including
authority to enter into Service Collaboration Agreements with Governors to provide a means for
coordinating the planning and administration of national service programs in a State.
The changes proposed in this legislation provide expanded opportunities for Americans to
serve. By reducing the cost per AmeriCorps member, this legislation allows each dollar invested in
the program to go further. This legislation broadens the age and income guidelines for National
Senior Service Corps participants, expanding the pool of older Americans who can perform
results-oriented service in their communities. It simplifies the administration of Learn and Serve
America, so States and communities will more easily be able to provide opportunities for students to
learn through service in their schools and neighborhoods.
On January 19th, I had the opportunity to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
by engaging in service on the holiday commemorating his birth. I joined sixty-five AmeriCorps
members and more than 300 community volunteers in repairing and re-painting Cardozo High School
in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC. Thirty-one years ago, Dr. King came to that very
neighborhood and urged the people there to engage in citizen service to rebuild their lives, their
community, and their future. That is what those national service participants, and the thousands more
who were participating in similar projects across the country, were doing honoring the legacy of
Dr. King and answering the highest calling of citizenship in this country.
Each of the more than 500,000 participants in the programs of the National Senior Service
Corps and 750,000 participants in programs supported by Learn and Serve America, and every
AmeriCorps member answers that highest calling of citizenship when they make and fulfill a
commitment to service in their communities. This legislation builds on the successes of these
programs and improves them for the future.
I urge the Congress to give this legislation prompt and favorable consideration.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
THE WHITE HOUSE
03/17/98 TUE 11:48 FAX 2025652794
C.N.S.
004
CORPORATION
FOR NATIONAL
SERVICE
PRESS RELEASE
3/17/98
Contact: Lisa Bloch, x140
Anne Bushman, x304
Phone: 202-606-5000
SPRING BREAK STUDENTS PUT DOWN BOOKS -- PICK UP
HAMMERS WITH AMERICORPS
AmeriCorps Members Lead Students in Building Habitat for
Humanity Homes Across the Country
WASHINGTON, DC - More than two hundred AmeriCorps members are leading and
training thousands of college students who are spending their spring break building homes in
40 communities across the country as part of Habitat for Humanity's Collegiate Challenge.
As part of this six-week effort, which ends April 11, full-time AmeriCorps members are
organizing, training and supervising thousands of student volunteers who have opted to spend
spring break building houses for those in need instead of going to the beach. Collegiate
Challenge sites include Miami, FL; Robbins, TN; Cleveland, OH; and New Orleans, LA.
This unique partnership between AmeriCorps and Habitat for Humanity gives students a
chance to learn valuable skills and a critical lesson about the importance of serving others.
In total, there are 413 AmeriCorps members serving year-round at Habitat sites, supervising
projects as well as recruiting and training volunteers.
"As AmeriCorps members gain skills, our affiliates are able to expand the number of
occasional volunteers through increased capacity to supervise and manage volunteers," said
Millard Fuller, Founder of Habitat for Humanity. "We at Habitat for Humanity feel
privileged and honored to have the AmeriCorps people with us, and we want more of them as
time goes on."
"Instead of spending their spring break vacations on the beach, these students are joining our
AmeriCorps members in the trenches," said Harris Wofford, chief executive officer,
Corporation for National Service. "Because of the AmeriCorps/Habitat partnership, more
families will have a place to call home."
AmeriCorps, which is administered by the Corporation for National Service, is the national
service program that provides opportunities for Americans to serve communities in the areas
of education, human needs, environment and public safety. In exchange for their year of
service, AmeriCorps members earn almost $5,000 to pay for college or to pay back student
loans.
###
NATIONAL SERVICE: GETTING THINGS DONE
1201 New York Avenue, N.W. . Washington, D.C. 20525
AmeriCorps Learn and Serve America National Senior Service Corps
telephone: 202-606-5000 website: www.nationalservice.org
03/17/98 TUE 11:49 FAX 2025652794
C.N.S.
1
005
CORPORATION
FOR NATIONAL
EMBARGOED 2:00 PM (PST)
SERVICE
CONTACT: Anne Bushman
February 26, 1998
(202) 606-5000 ext. 304
PRESIDENT CLINTON ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE
CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL SERVICE AND FEMA TO HELP
COMMUNITIES PREPARE FOR THE WORST
Spring Break Project Utilizes Expertise of National Service Programs in Mobilizing
Volunteer Service in Times of Disaster
OAKLAND, Calif- Today, President Clinton announced an expanded partnership between the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Corporation for National Service in building
disaster-resistant communities.
The Corporation for National Service, which administers AmeriCorps, has taken the lead role in
Spring Break, a partnership with FEMA. AmeriCorps members will mobilize and train high school and
college students to volunteer during their Spring Break vacations in disaster-reduction projects in five
states. The AmeriCorps members will organize and lead activities such as securing heavy objects like
refrigerators, shelving units and glass mirrors and supplying fire extinguishers and weatherproofing
devices for low-income and disabled residents.
Built upon an existing relationship between FEMA and the Corporation begun in 1995, in which
specially-trained AmeriCorps members assist in disaster-relief efforts, the Spring Break project is part of
Project Impact, an on-going initiative to take actions that protect families, businesses and communities
by reducing the effects of natural disasters. In California alone, more than 100 AmeriCorps members
will participate in the Spring Break project.
"The value of well-managed volunteer service in communities is even more apparent in times of
disaster," said Harris Wofford, Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National Service. "The
Spring Break project not only strengthens our existing partnership with FEMA, but empowers
communities to be ready for disasters on their own, such as in Los Angeles where the AmeriCorps Rapid
Response Corps members educated a quarter million people about disaster preparedness."
"It is a big help to disaster victims to work with motivated, self-sufficient young AmeriCorps
members who will be in the community long after the TV cameras have been turned off and interest has
flagged," said FEMA Director James Lee Witt.
There are five Corporation for National Service/FEMA Spring Break Projects.
Oakland, CA: In over 300 public housing units, volunteers will implement mitigation
measures, including bracing book shelves to walls, securing pictures and providing general
preparedness information.
(more)
NATIONAL SERVICE: GETTING THINGS DONE
1201 New York Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20525
AmeriCorps Learn and Serve America National Senior Service Corps
telephone: 202-606-5000 website: www.nationalservice.org
03/17/98 TUE 11:50 FAX 2025652794
C.N.S.
006
Deerfield Beach and St. Petersburg, FL: High school students will make minor repairs to
homes of elderly residents including installing and securing shutters, strengthening windows
and doors and providing general preparedness information.
Wilmington, NC: Over 300 volunteers from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington
will assist elderly, low income and special needs individuals with debris removal resulting
from Hurricanes Bertha and Fran, including clearing growth from exits, ramps and windows;
repairing security devices; and performing light maintenance work to make the homes more
disaster resistant.
Randolph County, WV: Volunteers will place benchmarks and flood elevation marks on
several sites throughout the county to raise flood awareness.
Pascagoula, MS: AmeriCorps coordinators are recruiting high school volunteers to perform
hazard reduction activities for home-bound and disabled citizens.
While plans are underway to help reduce the effects of future disasters in communities across the
country, AmeriCorps members have been helping with California disaster relief efforts since early
February.
The AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (AmeriCorps* *NCCC) San Diego
campus sent several teams to northern California where AmeriCorps members are leading
damage assessment activities in Milbrae and Watsonville. Ten Corps members are
bilingual and are able to meet the needs of migrant workers in Watsonville.
Members serving in the American Red Cross Rapid Response Corps are working with the
Red Cross to assess damage and provide mass care at shelters and mobile food units.
AmeriCorps members serving with the Santa Cruz Service Corps are also working with the
American Red Cross to assess damage and assist the residents of the Santa Cruz area.
AmeriCorps joined disaster response efforts in 1995 through an agreement between FEMA and
the Corporation for National Service that enables Corporation programs to assist FEMA in all four
phases of emergency management. In the past three years, Corporation programs including
AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America and the National Senior Corps have responded to disasters in
over 30 states; participated in eight mission assignments through FEMA; created partnerships with
state emergency management networks and programs; and created partnerships with the American Red
Cross and local emergency management entities.
Last year, more than 550 members and volunteers from Corporation programs assisted in
California following the extensive flooding in January. Members and volunteers serving in Corporation
programs worked at American Red Cross shelters, conducted traffic control and river watches for the
local law enforcement, managed donations, interviewed disaster victims and conducted damage
assessment.
The Corporation for National Service is a public-private partnership engaging 1.2 million
Americans in results-driven service.
###
03/17/98 TUE 11:50 FAX 2025652794
C.N.S.
007
National Service: A Powerful Force for Disaster Response
"It is a big help to disaster victims to work with motivated, self-sufficient young AmeriCorps members who
will be in the community long after the TV cameras have been turned off and interest has flagged."
-James Lee Witt, Director Federal Emergency Management Agency
From tornadoes in Florida to forest fires in Idaho to floods in California and around the country, AmeriCorps
members specially trained in disaster relief have responded to disasters in more than 30 states since 1995.
Participants in all national service programs - AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America and the National Senior
Service Corps - perform a range of disaster relief functions. They run emergency shelters, help law enforcement,
provide food and shelter, manage donations, assess and repair damage, and help families and communities rebuild.
Because they serve full time, a key function of AmeriCorps members is to recruit, organize and supervise other
volunteers.
This strong track record in disaster response lead to a 1995 agreement between the Corporation for National
Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) providing for national service to be on call to
respond to disaster whenever it strikes. Since then, national service volunteers have responded to dozens of
disasters, participated in nine FEMA mission assignments, and created partnerships with numerous state
emergency management networks. The Corporation for National Service is taking a lead role in FEMA's Spring
Break Project, part of Project Impact, which will recruit high school and college students to spend their spring
break helping to build disaster resistant communities.
Specially-Trained Disaster Relief Teams
AmeriCorps *National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC): AmeriCorps*NCCC, a residential AmeriCorps
program for 18-24 year-olds, has agreements with FEMA and the Red Cross and is on call to deploy highly
trained teams in the event of a disaster. In three years, corps members have responded to 25 disasters.
American Red Cross AmeriCorps Rapid Response Corps: Based in six cities, this program provides
AmeriCorps members with intensive training in mass care, family services, disaster communication, and
emergency response and recovery. The Rapid Response Corps can be deployed anywhere in the country and
has served in eight major disasters and provided assistance to more than 450 single-family homes. Los
Angeles corps members have provided disaster preparedness education to a quarter million area citizens.
Disaster Response Impact
AmeriCorps*N team members from the San Diego campus are working in northern California leading
damage assessment activities in Milbrae and Watsonville.
AmeriCorps Rapid Response Corps members from six cities are responding to floods in central, coastal and
northern California, assisting with damage assessment and providing mass care at shelters and mobile food
units.
In January 1997, more than 550 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members served in California, Nevada and
Washington in flood relief efforts. Members assisted at Red Cross shelters, conducted traffic control and river
watches, managed donations, interviewed disaster victims and conducted damage assessments.
In September 1996, AmeriCorps members and RSVP volunteers assisted in Hurricane Fran disaster relief.
They coordinated dispersal of food and supplies and removed debris including fallen trees from roads and off
homes.
In 1995, three teams of AmeriCorps*NCCC members joined trained firefighters to contain 90% of a blaze that
engulfed 21,000 acres in Idaho. Corps members logged 6,684 hours fighting fires, restoring fire-ravaged
areas, building and maintaining fire lines, and protecting salmon fisheries and the historic Wapiti ranch.
In September 1995, an AmeriCorps team coordinated and assisted with recovery efforts after Hurricane
Marilyn devastated the island of St. Thomas. AmeriCorps members repaired roofs of hurricane victims,
removed debris, assisted with food distribution, erected tents, and addressed health and sanitation issues,
completing over a hundred projects while working in intense heat and challenging terrain.
03/17/98 TUE 11:51 FAX 2025652794
C.N.S.
X
008
DRAFT
DRAFT- - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION
3/16/98, 4:00 p.m.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Month, Day, 1998
PRESIDENT CLINTON CALLS ON CONGRESS TO EXTEND NATIONAL SERVICE
INTO THE 21ST CENTURY
Legislation Will Reauthorize the Corporation for National Service and Provide
Opportunities for Millions Of Americans to Serve
President Clinton today submitted legislation to Congress to extend national service into the 21st
century, creating the opportunity for millions more Americans to serve their communities. The
legislation, which enjoys strong bipartisan support among members of Congress, will reauthorize
the Corporation for National Service and its three initiatives -- AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve
America, and the National Senior Service Corps - for five years.
The Corporation for National Service was created in 1993 with bipartisan support from the
President and Congress. Working in partnership with community-based national service
programs, national and local non-profits, faith-based organizations, and others, the Corporation
involves more than 1.2 million Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service that meets vital
community needs.
(do we need to describe what each of our programs do?)
"National service reminds us that serving others and giving back to our communities is part of
what it means to be an American. Thanks to programs like AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve
America, and National Senior Service Corps - today there are more than I million Americans
who are serving their country by serving their community. These citizens and their
accomplishments are living proof of the power of national service to get things done for
America." President
"For the past five years, the Corporation and its programs have helped more than 1 million
Americans make a difference in their communities. Every day these citizens are busy tutoring
and mentoring children and youth, responding to natural disasters, immunizing children, building
homes, and taking care of the elderly. Extending support for national service into the 21st
century will give millions more Americans the opportunity to serve and strengthen their
communities" Harris
Over the past five years, thousands (?) of communities across America have discovered the value
of national service in meeting vital needs in education, public safety, health and human needs
and the environment. The experience of these communities is that national service works.
Specifically national service:
(more)
03/17/98 TUE 11:52 FAX 2025652794
C.N.S.
1
009
Meets community needs. Doing everything from creating educational programs for at-risk
children, to providing disaster response, to working with local police to make neighborhoods
safer, national service strengthens communities.
Improves the lives of children and youth, while providing opportunities to serve.
Through Foster Grandparents who mentor more than 80,000 children, to AmeriCorps
members who taught, tutored or mentored more than 600,000 youth last year, to Learn and
Serve America which provides opportunities for students to learn while giving back to their
communities, national service is making a difference in the lives of children and youth.
(need to say more about Goal 5?)
Strengthens existing community service efforts. National service provides the "people
power" that helps national organizations like the Boys And Girls Clubs of America and the
American Red Cross, faith-based organizations like Habitat for Humanity and the National
Council of Churches, and local non-profits do what they do best.
Provides educational opportunities for thousands of the nation's young people.
Through AmeriCorps, more than 70,000 Americans have earned education awards of $4,725
which they can use to go on to college or pay back student loans.
(needs closing paragraph)
###
Katherine Searcy
(310) 337-7625
203/17/98
07:00 PM
742/3
TALKING IT OVER
BY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hundreds of thousands of America's college students are on spring break this week.
Some are playing volleyball at the beach. Others are earning some extra cash at part-time
jobs or just hanging out at home.
Seven thousand, though, are spending their vacation building homes with Habitat for
Humanity's Collegiate Challenge. Under the leadership of several hundred AmeriCorps
members, these student volunteers are learning valuable skills at Habitat sites from
Lynchburg, Va., to Miami.
Elsewhere this week, AmeriCorps members are collaborating with the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Red Cross to recruit and train high school
and college students to work in areas that have been devastated by natural disasters.
Among my husband's accomplishments that I am most proud of is his success in
returning national service to the national agenda. The centerpiece of this effort is the
Corporation for National Service and its three initiatives AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve
America, and the National Senior Service Corps.
AmeriCcrps provides an opportunity for all Americans to serve, in exchange for
which they can receive education awards worth $4.725 a year to pay for college or to repay
student loans.
Learn and Serve America offers grants to teachers and community members for
projects that involve students in service activities that complement their classroom studies.
Through a Learn and Serve America program in Minnesota, for example, high school
students test the water quality of the St. Louis River as part of their chemistry class, and in
New York, nursing students help operate a community health center serving low-income
people
The National Senior Service Corps helps people over 55 find service opportunities
related to their interests. Foster Grandparents provide support to children with special
needs; Senior Companions enable more than 32,000 frail elderly individuals to live
independently; and Retired and Senior Volunteers care for a variety of local services that
range from leading local museum tours to teaching adult education computer classes.
This week, my husband will submit bipartisan legislation to Congress reauthorizing
the Corporation for National Service. Serving others and giving back is part of what it
means to be an American and part of what it means to be a citizen in a democratic society.
Extending Congressionai support for national service into the 21st century will give millions
more Americans the opportunity to serve and strengthen their communities.
Katherine Searcy
(310) 337-7625
215/17/96
$7:00 PM
h3/3
TALKING IT OVER 3/17/98
-
Page 2
Over the course of the last five years, communities in every corner of America have
discovered the value of national service. What they have learned is that national service
works. It works for the country, and it works for those who serve.
Vanesse Backe postponed medical school in order to join an AmeriCorps project
here in Washington. Her experience changed her professional goals: She has decided to
use her medical knowledge to help under-served populations.
Senior volunteer Joe Whitlow is a hero to a classroom of 4-year-olds in the Head
Start program at Bellevue Community College in Bellevue, Wash For more than 10 years,
he has volunteered his time and talents on a weekly basis. Wednesday is "Joe Day," when
he brings bags filled with wood, hammers, drills, glue guns, nails and screws. He and the
children create toy boats and birdhouses, and learn about woodworking and working
together.
Four years ago, Marilyn Concepcion was a high school dropout working on an
assembly line. Then, she joined the AmeriCorps program in Providence, R.I., where she
tutored and taught English to elementary students. During her year of service, she earned
her GED and gained the confidence to apply for college. She is now studying to become a
pediatrician at Brown University.
Sherry Thomas grew up in Clearwater, Fia., in the predominantly black, low-income
North Greenwood neighborhood. At the age of 14, she was living on the streets because of
an abusive situation at home. Today, in her second year as an AmeriCorps member. Sherry
is helping to build community playgrounds and participating in neighborhood cleanups,
crime patrols, crime prevention and after-school programs for at-risk youth. Sherry has
become a role model for the disadvantaged kids in the very neighborhood where she grew
up.
Luis Pizarro is a former gang member and drug dealer. He turned his life around by
serving as an AmeriCorps member in Milwaukee, Wis. In the same community where he
used to deal drugs, he now helps at-risk youth build self-esteem and find alternatives to
joining gangs
At a time when we look at each other across SO many divides -- economic, political,
racial, religious, cultural -- our country cries out for a common connection to bring us
together. National service can provide that connection -- helping us rediscover the bonds of
friendship, teamwork and community that tie us together.
COPYRIGHT 1998 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
March 17, 1998
AmeriCorps
http://www.cns.gov/americorps/index.html
CORPORATION
The AmeriCorps Home Page
FOR NATIONAL
AmeriCorps is the national service program that allows people of all ages and
backgrounds to earn help paying for education in exchange for a year of
SERVICE
service. AmeriCorps members meet community needs with services that
range from housing renovation to child immunization to neighborhood
policing. Currently, more than 25,000 AmeriCorps members serve in over
Learn
430 programs across the country. Just starting its third year, AmeriCorps is
& Serve
the newest chapter in America's long tradition of national service.
S
Senior
What are AmeriCorps programs?
Corps
AmeriCorps*State and National Direct members are sponsored by national,
America
state, and local nonprofit organizations. In order to meet the specific needs of
Reads
the communities they serve, local AmeriCorps sponsors recruit and train
AmeriCorps members themselves. The Corporation for National Service
National
oversees AmeriCorps.
Service
Scholarships
AmeriCorps*NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) is a full-time
residential service program for men and women ages 18 through 24.
Resource
AmeriCorps* NCCC members work in teams and live together in housing
Links
complexes on AmeriCorps NCCC campuses, which are located in Perry
Point, MD; Washington, DC; Charleston, SC; Denver, CO; and San Diego,
CA. AmeriCorps*NCCC members focus their service on the environment,
education, public safety, unmet human needs and disaster relief assistance.
AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) is a full-time service
program for men and women age 18 and older. Members generally work
individually, rather than in teams. And rather than provide direct service,
such as tutoring or housing renovation, AmeriCorps* VISTA members work
in nonprofit organizations, helping them expand services and reach more
people. AmeriCorps*VIST members organize "capacity-building" activities
for the nonprofits they serve - like recruiting and training community
volunteers and setting up neighborhood education programs. Members of
AmeriCorps*VISTA live in the low-income communities they serve.
Last year, AmeriCorps members accomplished amazing feats!
If you have general questions about the AmeriCorps education award and
related benefits, please call our toll-free number: 1-888-507-5962. Project
directors can order Enrollment and End of Term forms, members can request
duplicate Voucher and Payment Request forms and 1099s (for taxes), and
members can report changes of address. There are also recorded messages
that discuss a variety of general topics related to the education award.
Please send program questions to: Adin Miller
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03/17/98 18:44:06
Learn & Serve America
http://www.cns.gov/learn/index.htm
CORPORATION
The Learn & Serve America Home Page
FOR NATIONAL
Learn and Serve America is a grants program that supports teachers and
community members who involve young people in service that relates to
SERVICE
studies in school. More specifically, Learn and Serve America funds
service-learning programs.
A
AmeriCorps
Learn and Serve America has two components:
Learn and Serve America: School and Community-based programs for
Senior
elementary through high school-based service-learning programs
Corps
Learn and Serve America: Higher Education programs for post
secondary school-based service-learning programs
America
Reads
What is service-learning?
National
Service
Service-learning involves students in community activities that complement
Scholarships
their classroom studies. Every service-learning program is unique, but all
aim to help students increase their academic skills through understanding
Resource
how what they learn in school can be applied to the real world.
Links
Service-learning programs help students become interested in their
communities and learn how they can affect the quality of life in them.
Through a Learn and Serve America program in Minnesota, for example,
high school students test the water quality of the St. Louis River as part of
chemistry class. Following the field work, they present their findings and
recommendations for pollution control to the local community.
As part of a college-level service-learning program in New York, nursing
students help operate a community health center serving low-income people.
While the students acquire practical experience in their field of study, they
also help meet health needs that local budgets cannot afford.
What are some Learn and Serve America facts?
More than 780,000 students currently provide vitally needed services to their
communities through Learn and Serve America. For many, this is their first
exposure to evaluating and addressing community needs. Statistics show that
a meaningful service experience instills a lifelong desire to contribute to
society. This desire, along with the skills and knowledge participants gain
through service, builds a strong future generation of citizens and community
leaders.
Last year, over 190,000 young people provided nearly 3 million hours of
service to their communities through Learn and Serve America. The service
ranged from tutoring disadvantaged youth to rehabilitating public housing to
helping single mothers strengthen job skills. In addition, 45,000 volunteers
from the communities served assisted in the operation of those programs,
contributing over 605,000 hours of service.
Students who participate in service-learning programs show increased
interest in school and improved academic performance. For example,
following a service-learning program that combines science lessons with
meeting local environmental needs, students placed in the 97th percentile in
science knowledge and were the first group of Indiana students ever to
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03/17/98 18:44:31
Learn & Serve America
http://www.cns.gov/learn/index.html
unanimously choose science as their favorite subject; this school is in a
county that previously had ranked lowest on the state's education attainment
scale.
Learn and Serve America programs encourage youth to pursue
service-oriented careers. Said one pre-med student involved in
service-learning at a free health clinic, "I had always planned to be an
academic after I got my degree, a professor focused on research. But now I
know I want to become a doctor who works with underserved people. It
would be the ultimate contribution I could make to society."
Local support for service-learning programs is strong: Institutions and
organizations that receive Learn and Serve America grants for higher
education programs find local matching funds in cash or in-kind, dollar for
dollar. Organizations and schools that receive Learn and Serve America
grants for K-12 initiatives also match funds, 10% the first year, 20% the
second, and 30% the third.
If you would like more information, call: 202-606-5000, ext. 136.
Please send program questions to: [email protected]
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Senior Corps
http://www.cns.gov/senior/index.htm.
CORPORATION
The Senior Corps Home Page
FOR NATIONAL
The National Senior Service Corps helps people age 55 and older find
service opportunities related to their interests and close to home. The
SERVICE
Senior Corps includes three programs:
Foster Grandparents provide support to children with special needs;
A
AmeriCorps
Senior Companions offer assistance to help elderly individuals live
independently;
Retired and Senior Volunteers tend to a variety of local services that
Learn
range from leading local museum tours to teaching adult education
& Serve
computer classes.
Together, these programs involve over one half million seniors serving in
America
tens of thousands of sites across the country.
Reads
What are some Senior Corps facts?
National
Service
Scholarships
80,000 children, teenagers and their families are supported by the
services of Foster Grandparents.
Resource
Links
Nearly 24,000 Foster Grandparents contribute 21.6 million hours of
service annually. The value of this service is estimated at $262
million.
The Foster Grandparents FY 1994 federal budget of $66.1 million
was matched with $30.7 million in cash and donations from states
and the local communities in which Foster Grandparents serve.
Over 12,000 Senior Companions provide 12 million hours of service
annually to help more than 32,000 frail elderly individuals live
independently. The estimated value in terms of saved nursing home
costs and services provided is $150 million. (The average cost of
nursing home care in the United States for an individual exceeds
$35,000 annually.)
The Senior Companion Program's FY 1994 federal budget of $29.8
million was supplemented by $17.8 million in cash and in-kind
donations from states and the local communities in which Senior
Companions serve.
Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) participants provide
over 80 million hours of service annually to communities across the
country. The value of this service is about $1 billion.
Nearly 450,000 RSVP participants serve through more than 60,000
public and nonprofit community organizations.
RSVP's FY 1994 federal budget of $34.4 million is matched with
$36.7 million contributed by states, local governments and the
private sector, demonstrating broad support for RSVP across the
country.
Estimated values of service come from the Independent Sector, a Washington, D.C.-based
organization that studies trends in American volunteerism.
If you would like more information, call: 1-800-424-8867
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03/18/98 WED 17:57 FAX 2025652824
001
PLEASE DELIVER IMMEDIATELY!
CORPORATION
FOR NATIONAL
SERVICE
TO: Christy Macy
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
WITH:
FROM:
Sandy Scett
FAX NUMBER:
(voice) 202-506-5000 ext
DATE/TIME:
(fax) 202-565-2794
1201 New York Avenue, NW
TOTAL PAGES:
Washington, DC 20525
NOTE:
Event Memo- drafted
by us for Steve
Silvarman
GETTING
STATE MERICOAT A STATE
STATE DATIONAL S
L
NATIONAL V SECURITY
002
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March 18, 1998
INTRODUCTION OF
NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE AMENDMENTS OF 1998
DATE:
March 19, 1998
LOCATION:
Cannon House Building, Room 210
TIME:
10:30 A.M.
FROM:
Steve Silverman
John Gomperts and Tara Murphy, Corporation for
National Service
I. Purpose
To announce President Clinton's national service legislation. This legislation will
reauthorize the Corporation for National Service and its three programs - AmeriCorps,
Learn and Serve America, and the National Senior Service Corps for 5 years.
II. Background
The Corporation for National Service was created in 1993 with bipartisan support from
the President and Congress. Working in partnership with community-based national
service programs, national and local non-profits, faith-based organizations, and others, the
Corporation involves more than one million Americans of all ages that meets vital
community needs through three programs:
Now in its fourth year, AmeriCorps offers more than 40,000 people the opportunity
to serve for a year with nonprofits, faith-based groups, and other organizations. In
return, they receive an education award to help pay for higher education or training.
Through Learn and Serve America, a half million students from kindergarten through
college meet community needs, improve academically, and learn about responsibility
and citizenship through service.
As part of the National Senior Service Corps, nearly 24,000 Foster Grandparents
help young people with special needs; almost 12,000 Senior Companions help other
seniors live independently; and more than 450,000 volunteers with the Retired and
Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) contribute their experience and skills to meet
important community needs.
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The President's proposed legislation -- National and Community Service Amendments Act
of 1998 builds on national service's successful track record by extending programs for
five years and providing millions more Americans the opportunity to serve. The
legislation gives states and communities more flexibility to administer service programs,
strengthens partnerships with traditional volunteer organizations and increases efficiency
of national service programs.
III. Participants
YOU
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), known as the "Godmother of National Service." A
key supporter in the Senate, she is a member of the Labor and Human Resources which is
responsible for reauthorizing the Corporation, and is a ranking member of the
Appropriations Subcommittee that funds AmeriCorps.
Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT), the chief Republican supporter in the House and former Peace
Corps volunteer.
Rep. Tim Roemer (D-IN). Strong supporter and member of House Committee on
Education and the Workforce that is responsible for reauthorizing the Corporation
Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ). Designated by ranking Democrat Rep. William Clay (D-MO)
as responsible for spearheading support for reauthorizing legislation in the House.
Harris Wofford, CEO of the Corporation for National Service
Jennifer Phelps, AmeriCorps alumn. Jennifer, age 25, served with AmeriCorps National
Civilian Community Corps in Charleston, SC campus. She is currently studying law at
Georgetown University and her education award is helping her pay tuition.
Jessie Pannell, Senior Corps member. Mr. Pannell enjoyed a distinguished 29 -year career
with the Small Business Administration In 1995, after retiring, he joined the Retired and
Senior Volunteer Program in Maryland where he still serves at Strathmore Elementary
School in Silver Spring as a mentor and literacy coach to 3ʳᵈ, 4th and 5th graders.
Michael Masone, Learn and Serve participant. 1994 graduate of the University of Notre
Dame and member of the charter class of the Alliance for Catholic Education which places
college graduates in under-resourced schools for one year. IN 1994 Mike taught civics
and ethics to sophomores and juniors and coached freshman football at Bishop Sullivan
High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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IV. Press Plan
Open Press.
V. Sequence of Events
YOU will enter accompanied by Members of Congress and national service participants.
YOU will stand with participants around the podium. Members of Congress will give brief
remarks and introduce national service participants who will give short 2-3 minute
testimonials about their service experience.
YOU will be introduced by Senator Barbara Mikulski.
YOU will make remarks.
YOU will depart.
VI. Agenda
Rep. Andrews - opening remarks, introduces Rep. Shays
Rep. Rep. Shays - introduces Jennifer Phelps, AmeriCorps alumn
Jennifer Phelps -- remarks
Rep. Roemer -- remarks, introduces Michael Masone, Learn and Serve participant and
Jessie Pannell, Senior Corps member
Michael Masone, remarks
Jessie Pannell - - remarks
Rep. Andrews - introduces Senator Mikulski
Senator Barbara Mikulski -- remarks, introduces First Lady Hillary Clinton
First Lady Hillary Clinton-remarks, closing.
VI. Remarks
To be provided by Christy Macy
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002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
March 19, 1998
PRESIDENT CLINTON CALLS ON CONGRESS TO EXTEND NATIONAL SERVICE
First Lady Joins Hill Lawmakers to Announce Bipartisan Measure Providing Millions of
Americans the Opportunity to Serve
President Clinton today sent to Congress a bill to extend national service into the 21st century,
creating the opportunity for millions more Americans to serve their communities. The First Lady
joined a bipartisan group of legislators on Capitol Hill to announce the bill, which will
reauthorize the Corporation for National Service and its three initiatives -- AmeriCorps, Learn
and Serve America, and the National Senior Service Corps - - for five years.
The Corporation for National Service was created in 1993 with bipartisan support from the
President and Congress. Working in partnership with community-based national service
programs, national and local non-profits, faith-based organizations, and others, the Corporation
involves more than one million Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service that meets vital
community needs.
"In community after community, people are coming together in service to meet our most vital
social needs," said President Clinton. "Those of us in Washington should be able to come
together in that same spirit to support this legislation to create more opportunities for Americans
to serve. Serving others is at the heart of what it means to be an American."
"Since 1993, millions of Americans have answered the call of service, and the results can be seen
across the country in better schools, safer streets, healthier children and a cleaner environment,"
said Harris Wofford, chief executive officer of the Corporation. "By creating opportunities for
millions more to serve, this bill will take citizen problem-solving to the next level and help usher
in a new century of service."
Thousands of communities across America have discovered that national service is an effective
strategy for meeting vital needs in education, public safety, health, the environment and other
human needs. The experience of these communities - and the conclusion of several
independent evaluations - is that national service:
Meets community needs. National service participants run after-school programs, respond
to disasters, work with local police to make neighborhoods safer, restore watersheds, build
and repair housing and care for the elderly.
Improves the lives of children and youth, while providing opportunities to serve.
Through Foster Grandparents who mentor more than 80,000 children, to AmeriCorps
members who taught, tutored or mentored more than 600,000 youth last year, to Learn and
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003
Serve America which provides opportunities for students to learn while giving back to their
communities, national service is making a difference in the lives of children and youth.
Strengthens existing community service and volunteer efforts. National service invests in
successful community-based organizations like Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America, the
American Red Cross, and Habitat for Humanity, and hundreds of local groups, by providing
trained, dedicated people who commit to sustained service and expand the organizations'
impact. Last year, national service members recruited, trained, and supervised more than
300,000 volunteers making the organizations they serve stronger and more efficient.
The National and Community Service Amendments Act of 1998 builds on this track record by
extending for five years the three national service initiatives: AmeriCorps, which this year
provides educational opportunities to more than 40,000 people in exchange for intensive service
in non-profit and faith-based groups; Learn and Serve America, which engages a half million
students of all ages in service-learning that improves academic learning and meets community
needs; and the National Senior Service Corps, which taps the experience of more than half a
million older Americans to help solve community problems who serve as Foster Grandparents,
Senior Companions and Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) volunteers. The
legislation also reauthorizes appropriations for the Points of Light Foundation for five years.
The legislation makes a number of changes to allow more Americans to serve, gives states and
communities more flexibility to administer service programs, strengthens partnerships with
traditional volunteer organizations and increases efficiency of national service programs.
##
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CORPORATION
FOR NATIONAL
SERVICE
FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON TO
DELIVER PRESIDENT'S NATIONAL SERVICE
LEGISLATION TO CAPITOL HILL
Bipartisan Lawmakers Support Legislation to Extend National Service
Into the 21st Century
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver President Clinton's National and
Community Service Amendments Act of 1998 to Congress at a briefing with Senator
Barbara A. Mikulski, Congressman Robert E. Andrews, Timothy J. Roemer,
Christopher Shays and Harris Wofford, Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for
National Service.
Mrs. Clinton, lawmakers and national service members will talk about the importance of
national service and the proposed legislation that will extend AmeriCorps, Learn and
Serve America and the National Senior Service Corps for five years.
WHO:
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.)
Robert E. Andrews (D-N.J.)
Timothy J. Roemer (D-Ind.)
Christopher Shays (R-Conn.)
Harris Wofford, CEO, Corporation for National Service
WHAT:
First Lady Delivers President Clinton's National Service Legislation
WHEN:
Thursday, March 19, 1998
10:30 a.m.
WHERE:
Cannon House Office Building, Room 210
CONTACT: Anne Bushman (202) 606-5000 ext. 304
Lisa Bloch (202) 606-5000 ext. 140
NATIONAL SERVICE: GETTING THINGS DONE
1201 New York Avenue, N.W.- Washington, D.C. 20525
AmeriCany:
Learn 1%1 America
National Gender Carge
telephone: 202-606-5009 . website: www.nationalservice.org
03/18/98 WED 13:17 FAX 2025652824
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PLEASE DELIVER IMMEDIATELY!
CORPORATION
FOR NATIONAL
SERVICE
TO: Christie Macy
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
WITH:
FROM: Sandy Scott
FAX NUMBER: 456-5709
(voice) 202-606-5000 ext 255
DATE/TIME:
(fax) 202-565-2794
1201 New York Avenue, NW
TOTAL PAGES: 11
Washington, DC 20525
NOTE:
Here are some materials
to start More is
on the way -
GETTING THINGS DONE.
A WILLING
H NATIONAL S TORRY SERVICES
THE L PATER
AMERICA NATIONAL V SECURITY
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TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
I am pleased to transmit today for your immediate consideration and enactment the "National
and Community Service Amendments Act of 1998." This legislative proposal extends and amends
national service laws, including the National and Community Service Act of 1990 and the Domestic
Volunteer Service Act of 1973. It builds upon the long, bipartisan tradition of service in our country,
which was renewed in 1993 when I signed the National and Community Service Trust Act creating
the Corporation for National Service.
Service to one's community is an integral part of what it means to be an American. Citizen
service is at the heart of our efforts to prepare America for the 21st century, as we work to ensure that
all Americans have the opportunity to make the most of their own lives and to help those in need.
The Presidents' Summit for America's Future held in Philadelphia last April reinforced the role of
programs supported by the Corporation for National Service as key vehicles to provide young people
with the resources to maximize their potential and give back to their communities.
My Administration's most important contribution to citizen service is AmeriCorps, the
national service program that already has given more than 100,000 young Americans the opportunity
to serve their country. By tying opportunity to responsibility, we have given them the chance to serve
and, in return, receive money for post-secondary education. In community after community,
AmeriCorps members have proven that service can help us meet our most pressing social needs. For
example, in Simpson County, Kentucky, AmeriCorps members helped 2nd graders jump three grade
levels in reading. In Boys and Girls Clubs all across the country, AmeriCorps members are mentors
for at-risk young people. Habitat For Humanity relies upon AmeriCorps members to bring in more
volunteers and build more houses. In communities beset by floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes,
AmeriCorps members have helped to rebuild homes and restore hope. AmeriCorps members are
mobilizing thousands of college students from more than 900 college campuses in our America Reads
program. In all of these efforts, AmeriCorps brings together people of every background to work
toward common goals.
Independent evaluators have reviewed AmeriCorps, the National Senior Service Corps
programs, and Learn and Service America programs and have concluded that national service yields a
positive return on investment. The legislation that I am transmitting builds on our experiences with
national service to date and improves the national service program in four ways: (1) codifying
agreements with Congress and others to reduce costs and streamline national service; (2)
strengthening partnerships with traditional volunteer organizations; (3) increasing States' flexibility to
administer national service programs; and (4) expanding opportunities for Americans to serve.
Since the enactment of the National and Community Service Trust Act in 1993, and
particularly since 1995, my Administration has worked with constructive critics of national service to
address their concerns and improve the program. This legislation continues that process by reducing
the Corporation's average budgeted cost per AmeriCorps member, repealing authority for redundant
or obsolete national service programs, and making other improvements in the efficiency of national
service programs.
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National service has never been a substitute for the contributions made by the millions of
Americans who volunteer their time to worthy causes every year. Rather, as leaders of volunteer
organizations have told me many times, national service has proven that the presence of full-time,
trained service participants enhances tremendously the effectiveness of volunteers. This legislation
strengthens the partnership between the national service programs and traditional volunteer
organizations; codifies the National Service Scholarship program honoring exemplary service by high
school students; and expands the AmeriCorps Challenge Scholarships, through which national service
participants can access education awards. The legislation also authorizes appropriations for the Points
of Light Foundation through the year 2002.
The National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 explicitly conceived of service as a
Federal-State partnership. Significant authority was vested in bipartisan State Commissions
appointed by the Governors. Consistent with our goal of turning power back to the people, I
promised that we would accelerate the process of devolution as the nowly-created State Commissions
expanded their capacities. This legislation fulfills that promise in a variety of ways. including
authority to enter into Service Collaboration Agreements with Governors to provide a means for
coordinating the planning and administration of national service programs in a State.
The changes proposed in this legislation provide expanded opportunities for Americans to
serve. By reducing the cost per AmeriCorps member, this legislation allows each dollar invested in
the program to go further. This legislation broadens the age and income guidelines for National
Senior Service Corps participants, expanding the pool of older Americans who can perform
results-oriented service in their communities. It simplifies the administration of Learn and Serve
America, so States and communities will more easily be able to provide opportunities for students to
learn through service in their schools and neighborhoods.
Two month ago, I had the opportunity to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by
engaging in service on the holiday commemorating his birth. I joined sixty-five AmeriCorps
members and more than 300 community volunteers in repairing and re-painting Cardozo High School
in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC. Thirty-one years ago, Dr. King came to that very
neighborhood and urged the people there to engage in citizen service to rebuild their lives, their
community, and their future. That is what those national service participants, and the thousands more
who were participating in similar projects across the country, were doing - honoring the legacy of
Dr. King and answering the highest calling of citizenship in this country.
Each of the more than 500,000 participants in the programs of the National Senior Service
Corps and 750,000 participants in programs supported by Learn and Serve America, and every
AmeriCorps member answers that highest calling of citizenship when they make and fulfill a
commitment to service in their communities. This legislation builds on the successes of these
programs and improves them for the future.
I urge the Congress to give this legislation prompt and favorable consideration.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
THE WHITE HOUSE
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NATIONAL SERVICE: STRENGTHENING COMMUNITIES, IMPROVING LIVES
National service gives Americans a way to improve their lives while also bringing substantive, enduring change
to their communities. In the areas of education, public safety, the environment, health care, housing, and other
needs. national service enables citizens to solve problems, strengthen their communities, and improve our nation.
From school-age children to retired seniors, national service provides opportunities for all Americans to
serve.
While encouraging citizen action and responsibility generally, the Corporation for National Service offers specific
opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve:
As AmeriCorps-members, more than 40,000 people commit to serving for a year with nonprofits, faith-based
groups, and other organizations. In return, they receive an education award to help pay for higher education or
training.
Through Learn and Serve America, nearly a million students from kindergarten through college meet
community needs, improve academically, and learn about responsibility and citizenship through service
projects.
As part of the National Senior Service Corps, nearly 24,000 Foster Grandparents help young people with
special needs; almost 12,000 Senior Companions help other seniors live independently; and more than 450,000
volunteers with the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) contribute their experience and skills to
meet important community needs.
National service solves community problems.
The structure of national service depends on local decision making and demands results.
Improving the lives of children and youth. In addition to serving as mentors, tutoring, providing
immunizations, offering safe places. and leading after-school programs, national service members also give
young people a chance to give back to their communities through their own service.
Responding to disasters. Working with groups like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and
the American Red Cross, national service members respond to floods, forest fires, and hurricanes, and help
communities rebuild after and protect themselves against these and other disasters.
Making neighborhoods safer. National service members serve with local police officials to prevent crime,
create safe environments and after-school programs for children, establish neighborhood watches, and walk
schoolchildren to and from city schools.
Building housing. Last year, serving with partners such as Habitat for Humanity, national service members
built and rehabilitated more than 5,600 homes and placed more than 32,000 homeless people and families in
permanent housing
Caring for the elderly. By providing health assistance and helping seniors live independently, national service
participants improve the lives of seniors and save families and taxpayers the cost of expensive
institutionalization.
National service strengthens community-based, volunteer, and faith-based organizations.
Providing "people power." National service invests in successful community-based organizations like Big
Brothers and Big Sisters of America, the American Red Cross, City Year, and hundreds of local groups, by
providing trained, dedicated people who commit to sustained service and expand the organizations' impact.
Generating new volunteers. Last year, national service members recruited, trained, and supervised more than
300,000 volunteers - making the organizations they serve stronger and more efficient.
Supporting faith-based organizations. Through organizations like the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur,
which serves at-risk children in troubled urban schools, to the National Council of Churches with the Council
for Religious Volunteer Agencies, which are placing thousands of members to meet community needs, national
service members help meet today's most important challenges.
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NATIONAL SERVICE PROGRAMS
Created with bipartisan support from Congress, the President, and community groups
nationwide in 1993, the Corporation for National Service is a public-private partnership
that engages Americans of all ages and backgrounds in results-driven community service
The Corporation for National Service oversees three initiatives that provide service
opportunities for more than one million Americans: AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve
America, and the National Senior Service Corps.
AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps is the national service program that provides thousands of Americans of all
ages and backgrounds with education awards in exchange for full- or part-time
community service. Through hundreds of local and national sponsors, AmeriCorps
involves people in results-driven community service. AmeriCorps sponsors include
national, state, and local nonprofit organizations across the nation. In exchange for a year
of service, members receive a living allowance and $4,725 to help pay for college or pay
off student loans. In addition to the more than 400 state and local programs that make up
AmeriCorps, the Corporation for National Service operates two national programs:
A full-time residential service program, AmeriCorps *NCCC (the National Civilian
Community Corps) combines the best practices of civilian service with the best aspects of
military service, including leadership and team building. Men and women age 18 to 24
serve full-time and are based at one of four AmeriCorps* NCCC campuses in Perry
Point, Md.; Charleston, S.C.; Denver, Colo.; and San Diego, Calif.
For more than 30 years, AmeriCorps*VISTA members have been serving disadvantaged
communities. The program increases the capability of people to improve their lives.
Members of AmeriCorps* work and live in the communities they serve, creating
programs that can continue after they complete their service. Members must be at least
18 years old, and there is no upper age limit.
Learn and Serve America
Learn and Serve America promotes service as a learning opportunity - integrating service
into classrooms from kindergarten through college. The program provides models and
resources for teachers at all levels.
In Learn and Serve's School-Based Programs, schools plan, implement, and expand
service activities for elementary and secondary students. Schools also use Learn and
Serve grants for adult volunteer programs and teacher training.
In Learn and Serve's Community-Based Programs, state offices and nonprofit
organizations implement, expand, and replicate service-learning programs in local
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communities. Participants are between the ages of 5 and 17 and include students and
youth who are not in school.
Learn and Serve America: Higher Education helps create and strengthen community
service and service-learning initiatives at colleges and universities, which involve a wide
array of students and organizations working together to address community needs.
Grants also support technical assistance for expanding the field of service-learning.
National Senior Service Corps
The National Senior Service Corps is a network of more than a half million people age
55 and older who make a difference as Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions, and
Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) volunteers. These programs tap the
experience, skills, talents, and creativity of America's seniors.
Since 1965, the Foster Grandparent Program has provided valuable aid to children and
youth with exceptional needs. Foster Grandparents serve 20 hours a week in schools,
hospitals, drug treatment centers, correctional institutions, and Head Start and day care
centers helping children who have been abused or neglected, mentoring troubled
teenagers and young mothers, and caring for premature infants and children with physical
disabilities.
Providing assistance and friendship to seniors who have difficulties with daily living
tasks, members of the Senior Companion Program help other seniors retain their dignity
and independence. In their 20 hours of service each week, Senior Companions help
clients with chores such as paying bills, buying groceries, and finding transportation to
medical appointments. Senior Companions receive training in topics such as Alzheimer's
disease, stroke, diabetes, and mental health - and alert doctors and family members of
potential health problems.
One of the largest volunteer efforts in the nation, the Retired and Senior Volunteer
Program (RSVP) matches local problems with older Americans who are willing to help.
RSVP members choose how and where they want to serve - and determine how many
hours a week they can serve. They organize neighborhood watch programs, tutor
teenagers, renovate homes, teach English to immigrants, program computers, help people
recover from natural disasters - whatever their skills and interests lead them to do.
03/18/98 WED 13:22 FAX 2025652824
010
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
Saturday, November 29, 1997
RADIO ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT
TO THE NATION
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week, millions of Americans have gathered with
family and friends to share Thanksgiving. Much has changed for America since George
Washington first proclaimed a day of thanksgiving for our new nation in 1789. But the
Thanksgiving spirit - sharing our good fortune with others, coming together to meet our
common challenges that is as important as ever. That's why we must keep that spirit alive
throughout the year through citizen service.
Citizen service must be at the heart of our efforts to prepare America for the 21st century,
as we work to guarantee all Americans the opportunity and conditions to make the most of their
own lives and to help those who need and deserve it with a hand up. My administration's most
important contribution to citizen service is AmeriCorps, our national service program that
already has given more than 100,000 young Americans the opportunity to serve our country and
earn money for a college education. In community after community, AmeriCorps members have
proved that service can help us meet our most pressing social needs.
For example, in Simpson County, Kentucky, AmeriCorps members helped 2nd graders
jump three grade levels in reading. In boys and girls clubs all across the country, AmeriCorps
members are mentors for at-risk young people. Habitat For Humanity relies upon AmeriCorps
members to bring in more volunteers and build more houses. In communities beset by floods,
tornadoes and hurricanes, AmeriCorps members have helped to rebuild homes and restore hope.
Now, AmeriCorps members are mobilizing thousands and thousands of college students
from 800 campuses in our America Reads program, to make sure that all our young people can
read independently by the 3rd grade. AmeriCorps brings people of every background together to
work toward common goals. And after years of partisan fighting over it, I'm pleased that
Congress now seems ready to come together to support AmeriCorps.
Today, I'm proposing legislation to give more Americans the chance to serve by
strengthening AmeriCorps and our student and senior citizen service programs and extending
them for five years. This legislation reflects the spirit of the President's Summit on Service,
where last spring thousands of Americans pledged to give our children the support they need to
make the most of their lives. As General Colin Powell reported this week, we've made a lot of
progress since the Summit with more AmeriCorps members, more reading tutors for our children
through America Reads, more mentoring programs for young people, more partnerships with
private businesses and community groups. At Thanksgiving, I want to thank especially the
03/18/98 WED 13:22 FAX 2025652824
1
011
citizens and businesses who have worked with us to ensure that our nation's surplus food helps to
feed the hungry, not fill up dumpsters.
Now we must create more opportunities for people to serve all year long and, through
service, to reach out to one another across the lines that divide us. In honor of the spirit of citizen
service embodied in the life of Martin Luther King Jr., the Congress has designated the Martin
Luther King holiday as a day of national service. And I'm pleased to announce that our
Corporation for National Service has awarded 73 grants to communities from Boston to Los
Angeles, to help make this day of service a resounding success. Dr. King once said that,
"Everybody can be great because anybody can serve you only need a heart full of grace and a
soul generated by love."
As we look forward to a joyous holiday season, let us pledge to live up to those words by
making citizen service a part of our lives every day.
Thanks for listening.
SUNTUM M @ A1
03/03/98 09:36:00 AM
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Subject: 1998-03-02 President's Remarks at JFK Library Dinner
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 2, 1998
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT JOHN F. KENNEDY LIBRARY DINNER
Organization of American States
9:10 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Senator, Vicki,
Caroline and Ed, other members of the Kennedy family, Paul Kirk. And
I say a special word of thanks to all of you who have made this
evening possible. I thank Senator Jeffords and Senator Thurmond and
Senator Hatch for being here tonight to restrain the partisan
impulses that might otherwise overtake Senator Kennedy and me.
(Laughter.) I thank Yo-Yo Ma and Jill and all the other musicians
who have come here. Secretary General, thank you for the wonderful
job you do here at the OAS.
I think I should begin by saying that for me this is not
an obligation, it is an honor -- not only because, like every other
member of my generation I was inspired by President Kennedy, but
because Hillary and Chelsea and I have been profoundly moved by the
uncommon kindnesses of this family to ours.
In 1991 I had an event in New York when no one in New
York knew my name, and I looked up and John Kennedy was there. I
think it would be fair to say that his name recognition was five
times higher than mine among all in attendance. (Laughter.) Early
in 1992 Mrs. Kennedy came to an event for me and later went out of
her way to be helpful and kind to Hillary and to Chelsea in ways that
are difficult to relate, but impossible to overestimate.
The other day we were spending a weekend in Camp David
and I went out with a couple of members of Congress, cavorting around
in the lousy weather. Hillary stayed home with her friends and
watched Jackie Kennedy's White House special, marveling again about
the incredible work that was done to preserve America's house by Mrs.
Kennedy.
And I do believe that, no matter who writes the history
books, when people look back on this century, they will say that
Edward Kennedy was one of the ablest and most productive, most
compassionate and most effective men who served in the United States
Senate in the entire history of the country. (Laughter.)
The JFK Library and its museum are national treasures,
but I would like to talk about three things that are to some extent
both more intangible and more tangible in the legacy of President
Kennedy that will be enshrined forever if all of us do our job and
keep this great enterprise going.
First, the spirit of citizen service, most clearly
embodied in the Peace Corps. President Kennedy said that he wanted
to speak to those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe
struggling to break the bonds of mass misery. We pledged to them our
best efforts to help them help themselves. Five weeks later, 37
years ago yesterday, the Peace Corps was born. In three weeks when I
travel to Africa, my first stop will be Ghana, the first place
President Kennedy's Peace Corps volunteers went to serve.
Now they have gone, over the years, to 132 nations.
Tomorrow America will celebrate these accomplishments during the
first ever Peace Corps Day, when thousands of former Peace Corps
volunteers, including Secretary Shalala, who was a volunteer in Iran
-- and I might add has volunteered to go back if it will help our new
efforts. (Laughter.) Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers have
agreed to talk with students around our country about their
life-changing experiences.
The JFK Library also has a Library Corps, perhaps not as
well known as the building itself, started by this foundation, which
is inspiring young people in Roxbury, Dorchester, South Boston to
work after school on community service projects.
Inspired by President Kennedy's example, I have done
what I could to advance the cause of citizen service. I just asked
for the largest funding increase for the Peace Corps in history, in
the hope that we can put 10,000 volunteers overseas by the turn of
the century. (Applause.)
Our national service project, Americorps, has already
given 100,000 young people a chance to earn some money for college
while they serve in their communities. One of my happiest days as
President was when we walked up the South Lawn of the White House
with all the first group of young people, and I met Senator Kennedy,
and we signed the bill.
Soon tens of thousands of those young people will be
working with elementary school students to teach them to read and
middle school students, promising to stay with them throughout their
careers to make sure they get a chance to go to college, too.
So we thank President Kennedy and all of you for the
spirit of citizen service.
The second thing that I would like to say in
appreciation to the legacy of President Kennedy is that he did a lot
to remind us all that we owe it to ourselves, to our children, and to
our future to cherish and proliferate exposure to the arts. The
First Lady and I have tried to do that in our celebration of the
millennium. We have been having these Millennium Evenings. We had
the great Harvard historian Bernard Bailyn the other night, and this
Friday night we will have the brilliant cosmologist Stephen Hawking.
A week from tonight we will also highlight four vernacular dances
that have entered our unique dance: tap, Lindy-hopping, jazz, and --
so help me, I didn't organize this -- Irish step dancing.
(Laughter.)
I want to thank Yo-Yo Ma for the work that he has done
to try to bring the arts, and music in particular, to so many
Americans who might otherwise have never had a firsthand experience
with what can lead us all to a higher level of understanding and
enjoyment of life.
Finally, and most personally, I am here because
President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, their generation, made me
admire and believe in public service, and made me understand that it
could be fun, but that it also carried with it certain
responsibilities. They made me believe that it was not a bad thing,
but a noble thing, to want to exercise power, but only if it were
exercised for some larger purpose. There are many people in this
room tonight who could be standing here who could be making exactly
the same statement.
Just before I came over here, I finished a magnificent
new biography of Theodore Roosevelt by H. W. Brands called The Last
Romantic. It's a terrific book, and it's only 820 pages long.
(Laughter.) But I was thinking -- because President Roosevelt died
right after the close of the First World War, I was thinking about
the whole sweep of the century that President Kennedy's life marked
and that his service marked in such a profound way.
This century we are about to leave was dominated by the
consequences of the Industrial Revolution, the growth of very big
organizations -- economic organizations, governmental organizations
-- and the attendant wealth and power and possibility and threat that
revolution spawned. So that for most of this century Americans in
positions of responsibility and ordinary American citizens have both
had an incredible opportunity to find wealth and personal fulfillment
and greater expression of freedom because of the organized
development of this time. But they have also had an enormous
responsibility to stand up against the new horrors that vast
organized power presented to them, whether in greed or bigotry or
outright totalitarian oppression.
John Kennedy made us believe that in public service you
could fight for the things that ought to be fought for, you could
fight against the things that ought to be fought against, and that
the sole purpose of power, fleeting though it is, was to be applied
to the best of your God-given ability to those worthy goals.
Now we're about to enter a new century with problems and
opportunities unparalleled in history, speeding along at a pace and
with a complexity that would have been unimaginable just a few years
ago. There is a lot of good in the fact that the knowledge of the
world is now doubling -- sheer facts are doubling every five years.
We see in the Human Genome Project miraculous health discoveries
being made almost weekly now.
But we also know that in this new world, where the
Internet is exploding and 65,000 new sites are being added every hour
of every day, that there will be new ways that people who are
organized for the abuse of their power will present new threats --
perhaps terrorists or organized criminals or narco-traffickers,
perhaps in the forms of chemical or biological or small-scale nuclear
weapons; perhaps unwise leaders being too greedy in the short run,
forcing poor people off their land into the teeming cities of poor
countries, devastating the environment, leading to the spread of
disease.
So we will now live in a new era where humankind will
have all kinds of new possibilities for good and all manner of new
things that need to be fought against. I hope that the children of
this age will find a way to believe in America the way President
Kennedy helped me to believe in America, and to believe that the
political process leaves the ultimate power in the people and gives
its elected representatives a precious chance just to bring out the
good and stand against the bad. It is the eternal human obligation.
He made it seem fun and noble and good. The least we can do is to
keep the torch burning.
Thank you and God bless you.
END
9:22 P.M. EST
SUNTUM M @ A1
02/04/98 03:20:00 PM
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Subject: 1998-02-04 President's Remarks on High Hopes Partnerships
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
February 4, 1998
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON "HIGH HOPES" PARTNERSHIPS
The East Room
2:40 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Fabiola, you can
introduce me any time you want. (Laughter.) You were magnificent,
and I know you're family is very proud of you today.
Mr. Vice President, thank you for all the work you've
done on our education initiatives. Secretary Riley, thank you for
what you said and for what you've done. And I want to thank you and
all your people, Leslie Thornton and the others who worked on this.
I want to thank Gene Sperling -- the Vice President has already blown
his head up too big -- (laughter) -- but he has been working on this
issue with deep personal conviction for five years. Now, all of you
who know Gene know that since he never sleeps, that is the equivalent
of 10 years' work for anyone else. (Laughter.)
I thank Harris Wofford, and all the people at
AmeriCorps, including the young volunteers who are here today; Linda
Chavez-Thompson; and especially Congressman Chaka Fattah, for whom
this has been a life passion. I thank the members of Congress, both
Republicans and Democrats who are here and those who could not come
today. We have an extraordinary representation from Congress among
those who are here and among those who are not. I thank the college
presidents who are here and the over 300 they represent, and the
heads of organizations who are here.
And I think before I begin I should recognize a man who
has been a mentor to all of us, and a great friend to Hillary and to
me for many years, Mr. Eugene Lange, would you please stand. Thank
you and God bless you, sir, for everything you have done. Thank you.
(Applause.)
Since this is my only public appearance of the day,
before 1 begin it is important, I think, to say a few words about the
situation in Iraq. Later today, Secretary Albright is going to
report to me about her intensive week of meetings with our friends in
the Persian Gulf, Europe and Russia. I'm encouraged by the strong
consensus she found that Iraq must fulfill all the United Nations
Security Council resolutions, and that it must allow international
weapons inspectors full and unfettered access to all suspect sites.
All of us would prefer a genuine diplomatic solution. I
want to reiterate that to every single American. All of us would
prefer a genuine diplomatic solution.
The best way to stop Saddam from building nuclear
biological or chemical weapons is simply to get the international
inspectors back to work with no restraints. Keep in mind, they have
done a marvelous job. They have uncovered more weapons potential and
weapons stores than were destroyed in the entire Gulf War. But I
will say again, one way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq
the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles
to deliver them. That is our bottom line. (Applause.) Thank you.
Now, back to the moment. Last week in my State of the
Union Address, when I spoke about what we had to do to strengthen
America for the 21st century, I said I wanted an America where
everybody has a chance to work, where everyone has a chance to get
ahead with that work, where people have the chance to live up to
their God-given potential, where our government provides opportunity
and our citizens exhibit the responsibility to give something back to
their communities. This is the kind of America the High Hopes
initiative we announced today will put within our reach.
Thanks to the new $1,500 HOPE Scholarships, the lifetime
learning tax credits, the education IRAs, education grants for
serving with AmeriCorps, streamlined loans and expanded Pell Grants,
we have opened the doors to college wide to those willing and able to
work for it. Now we have to make sure that all our students,
especially those from our hardest-pressed families, have a guardian
angel helping to guide them to those doors and to make sure they are
ready to walk through them. That's what this is all about.
You know, I was listening to Secretary Riley's lilting
southern accent, looking at the Vice President, thinking about all
three of us white southerners up here, over-represented on the
platform -- (laughter) -- and remembering the last 20 years that Dick
Riley and I have worked together on these issues. There's a reason
we feel so passionately about this.
When I was born in Arkansas, the per capita income of my
state for 56 percent of the national average. That's what the
average income was. And I came from a family without a lot of money.
Nobody in my family had ever been to college before, but by the time
I got out of Ramble Grade School in Hot Springs, Arkansas, I never
had any doubt that I was going to college. My family told me I was
going to college, all my teachers told me I was going to college, all
the people at my church told me I was going to college. Everybody
told me I was going to college. It never occurred to me that I
wouldn't go to college -- and yet no one in my family had ever been
to college before. I was in an environment which made it very
difficult for me to fail. That's the environment I want for every
child in America. (Applause.)
Now, Congressman Fattah has a similar story. His
grandmother set him early on his path to college. She used to tell
him and his five brothers, unless your dead or dying, you're going to
school. (Laughter.) Apparently, the acorn does not fall far from
the tree. I just found out that on this, perhaps the most important
day of his public service, Chaka Fattah would not let his son, Chip,
come to the ceremony because he wouldn't permit him to miss class.
(Applause.)
But you know, a lot of our young students are not as
lucky. They grow up without realizing how important or how possible
college is. There may not be anyone in their homes to push them to
take algebra, to take those other classes that are important to
college. They probably don't know how to secure scholarships or
grants or loans. And, maybe most important, there may not be anybody
pumping them up with hopes and dreams.
That's why we have to make mentorship a way of life in
America. The High Hopes initiative will enlist colleges and
community groups to form partnerships with thousands of middle
schools and give more than a million students both the information
and the inspiration to seize the opportunity of college.
Our balanced budget for 1999 includes $140 million to
help these groups harness the power of citizen service and reach out
to students, no later than 7th grade, and work with them all the way
to high school graduation. Trained mentors and role models will help
children pick challenging courses, tutor them when they need some
extra help, take them on college visits and other academic field
trips, and help them during the college application process.
And with Representative Fattah's leadership, we will
make sure children and their parents receive a 21st Century Scholar
certificate telling them how much aid for college they will receive
well in advance, so they will never have any doubt that if they do
their part they can, in fact, go on to college. (Applause.)
I want to thank the more than 300 college presidents and
more than 50 major education, religious, civil rights and service
groups who have embraced this initiative. And to show you the depth
of support -- we've already seen how many members of Congress have
come here for this today -- I'd like to ask the leaders of these
groups and the college presidents who are here today to stand and be
recognized. Look at them. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Again, I want to thank the Republican and Democratic
members of Congress who are here. I want to thank Linda-Chavez
Thompson and the rest of the members of my Race Advisory Board for
their help with this initiative. They found already that early
mentoring and tutoring has made a remarkable difference in the lives
of minority students. And they believe, as I do, that these High
Hope Partnerships will help close our nation's opportunity gap and
help us to build that one America.
I want to thank General Colin Powell and the people who
are working in the President's Summit on Service. Remember, when we
had that summit they identified making sure that every child in
America who needed it had a mentor as one of the five things we ought
to be able to guarantee to all of America's children.
I want to thank, as I said, Eugene Lang, and all others
who have gone into their personal pockets to give children this kind
of guarantee long before the rest of us were involved in the
endeavor.
The High Hopes Partnerships are just one of the ways
we're working to raise expectations and lift the sights of our young
people. Because we know that high school drop-out rates are still
too high, especially among Hispanic Students, the Vice President just
announced a $600 million effort to focus more classroom attention on
those most at risk. We're also expanding Head Start to a million
children; enlisting thousands more college students to make sure all
our 8-year-olds can read; working to add 100,000 qualified teachers
to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades to get average class size down to 18;
challenging our states to adopt high academic standards and to ensure
that all our children master the basics.
In every community in this country, there are children
with an enormous ability, who just need a little spark to go on to
great things. There's a child in rural Tennessee who, with a helping
hand and a higher education will go on to a career in medical
research; a child in Southwest Washington who, with the guidance of a
caring college student, will go on to become a college President; a
first generation American in Texas who might go on to become
President of the United States.
We have to have high hopes for all of our children. And
we have to make them know that they can have high hopes for
themselves. A great nation that aspires to even greater things in a
new century in a new millennium cannot afford to leave a single child
behind. And we don't intend to. Thank you and God Bless you.
END
2:52 P.M. EST
Message Sent To:
tpf4.wpd
Page 1
PRESIDENT CLINTON:
PREPARING FOR COLLEGE: MENTORING AMERICA'S YOUTH
February 4, 1998
"I also ask this Congress to support our efforts to enlist colleges and universities to
reach out to disadvantaged children starting in the sixth grade so that they can get the
guidance and hope they need so they can know that they, too, will be able to go on to
college.
President Bill Clinton
January 27, 1998
Today, President Clinton announces a new initiative to inspire more young people to have
high expectations, to stay in school and study hard, and to go to college. The High Hopes
initiative is a long-term investment -- starting with $140 million in the FY 99 Budget -- that
promotes partnerships between colleges and middle or junior high schools in low-income
communities, to help teach students how they should go to college by informing them
about college options, academic requirements, costs, and financial aid, and by providing
support services -- including tutoring, counseling, and mentoring.
Educating families early on: College Is Within Reach. Families need to know that college is
affordable regardless of their income. The President's High Hopes initiative provides
children and their families at middle and junior high schools in low-income communities
with a 21st Century Scholar certificate, an official, early notification of the amount of their
eligibility for Federal college aid.
Providing Children With The Support They Need. To make the hope of a college education
a reality, the High Hopes initiative encourages degree-granting colleges to establish
partnerships with middle and junior high schools with large concentrations of low-income
children. Working with parents, community and religious groups, and businesses, these
partnerships provide information about what it means and what it takes to go to college, as
well as support services -- such as mentoring, tutoring, college visits, summer programs,
after-school activities, and counseling -- to help the children stay on track. The
partnerships will help ensure that children have access to the rigorous core courses that
prepare them for college and let parents know how they can help their children prepare for
college.
Staying With Children Through High School Graduation. This new initiative is flexible,
allowing partnerships to design their own efforts based on local needs and resources. But,
to ensure effectiveness, the programs must:
begin reaching out to children by the 7th grade;
continue to help each student through graduation from high school; and,
help all students in a class, not just the ones who get the best grades.
Reaching More Than 1 Million Students. The President's Budget calls for a $140 million
investment in new High Hopes partnerships in 1999, and an additional $70 million for new
tpf4.wpd-
Page 2
partnerships in each of the years 2000 and 2001 (as well as continuation funds for the
original partnerships). If each project begins with one sixth or seventh grade class, this
would fund partnerships with 2,500 middle and junior high schools. If each project adds an
incoming class each year, more than 1 million students would be served over five years.
Widespread Support. Everyone agrees, the High Hopes initaitive is the way to go. More
than 300 college presidents, 60 organizations (including Big Brothers/Big Sisters, NAACP,
and a variety of other education and religious groups), and 68 members of the House --
Democrats and Republicans -- have endorsed the initiative.
David S. Broder
One of those volunteers is Jason
Carter, a recent graduate of Duke
University and the grandson of for-
The Peace
mer president Jimmy Carter. The
Peace Corps is of course a Carter
family tradition. Jason's great-grand-
mother, Miss Lillian, served as a
Corps:
volunteer nurse in India in the late
1960s, when she was well along in
years.
Winner
Young Carter tells me he asked
for an African assignment after see-
ing the devastation in Liberia on a
visit with his grandfather and calcu-
All Around
lating that "I may never have another
chance" to explore what can be done
to help on that continent. But. at 22,
he also sees the rewards for himself.
Credit President Clinton for at
least one initiative that has received
"Even if you go to Duke," he said, "or
warm praise in both parties and
maybe to make up for going to Duke,
reflects well on this nation around
you want a new way of going out to
look at the world. Our culture is
the world.
stampeding, and this may be a way to
In his budget for next year. Clinton
see what parts you can take at face
will ask for a substantial increase in
value and what parts you need to
funds for the Peace Corps, a legacy
reject."
of the idealistic 1960s that has taken
Gearan, an understated Boston
on fresh significance in this end-of-
Irishman, asked for the Peace Corps
the-century environment
assignment after carrying lots of
The president has announced he
water for Clinton, first as director of
will seek a 21 percent boost in Peace
the Democratic Governors' Associa-
Corps funds-$48 million-as the
tion, then as a 1992 campaign press
first stage in increasing the number
spokesman and finally as White
of Americans in its overseas assign-
House communications director dur-
ments to 10,000 by the end of the
ing. the toughest parts of the first
decade. Today there are roughly
term.
6,600 volunteers working in schools,
One of the least cynical politicians
clinics, nascent businesses and help-
I have known, Gearan said the other
ing on agricultural and environmen-
day, "It was a great honor to work in
tal projects in 85 countries.
the White House, but it is really
They may be the best ambassa-
inspiring to be in this job and see the
dors this country has ever had.
very tangible differences our volun-
John Kennedy launched the Peace
teers are making.
Corps in 1961, borrowing the idea
"In Botswana," he said, "I was with
from Hubert Humphrey, and in its
one of our volunteers, a 64-year-old
first heady years it sent as many as
grandmother who has helped a coop-
15,000 young Americans to remote
erative of women weavers triple their
villages in the Third World. But it
income in the past year. She's living
languished in the go-go 1980s, when
in a thatched-roof hut filled with
barely one-third that many volun-
drawings by her nine grandchil-
teers were in the field at any time.
dren."
Today, happily, the supply of
Gearan has used his influence
would-be Peace Corps workers is
with Clinton to set the Peace Corps
increasing at the same time that
on its upward trajectory, but he has
worldwide demand is. on the rise.
had many allies. "When heads of
Last year. according to Director
state and foreign ministers come to
The Washington Post
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1998/
Mark Gearan, more than 150,000
Washington, many of them come by
people contacted Peace Corps offic-
here to thank us," Gearan said.
es inquiring about slots-up 40 per-
"Some of them, in their youth, were
cent from 1994.
taught by Peace Corps volunteers."
The end of the Cold War and the
The returned volunteers, now
spread of democracy in previously
numbering 150,000, form a powerful
authoritarian countries have opened
grass-roots lobby. On Capitol Hill,
new opportunities and responsibili-
the support is bipartisan. Georgia
ties for the Peace Corps. This year. it
Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell, who
will start programs in the former
ran the Peace Corps during much of
Soviet republic of Georgia, in Bangia-
the Bush administration, told the
desh and in Mozambique. Last year,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution he is
at the request of President Nelson
enthusiastic about Clinton's expan-
Mandela, it began working in South
sion plans. "I never met an ambassa-
Africa.
dor
of another government that
Later this week, a new contingent
had been the beneficiary of this
of #1 volunteers will leave Atlanta for
program who did not view it as the
South Africa, after a sendoff from
most successful of its kind." Similar
Gearan, Franklin Sonn. South Afri-
support has come from six other
ambassador to Washington, and
Sargent Shriver, the first director of
legislators-three Democrats and
the Peace Corps.
three Republicans-who were Peace
Corps volunteers.
This one is a winner all around.
Robert uttner
Masterstroke on Medicare
President Clinton's proposal to extend Medicare
So this proposal associates Democrats with a valued
care, the salvation of so many of our parents and
eligibility to people aged 55-65 is a masterstroke, as
reform. Republicans get stuck with the unpopular side
grandparents, a program that gets rave ratings in public
politics and program. Republicans say he's inserting
of the argument as shills for a self-interested and often
opinion polls. Expand a known quantity, gradually,
the camel's nose under the tent-resurrecting uni-
heartless industry.
universally, to a healthier population. Brilliant!
versal health coverage. And right they are.
How would you like to be a GOP congressional
The proposal is not quite perfect. There is the issue
WEDNESDAY, 14, 1998/
The Washington Post
First, his approach would help stabilize Medicare's
candidate in 1998, telling an audience of 60-year-olds
of who pays the premiums for the unemployed. (Tax
finances. People aged 55 to 65 are a lot healthier than
why they can't have Medicare? The speech would play
insurance company profits?)
older folks. If you have them pay into the Medicare pot,
well to the executive council of the Health Insurance
Also, Medicare costs have been inflating at faster-
you infuse the actuarial pool with healthier subscribers.
Association of America-power players, but not many
than-average rates, because the Medicare population
Second, the 55 to 65 set is, and feels, medically
voters there. A slam dunk for the Democrat.
keeps getting older and sicker, and because Medicare
insecure. These are precisely the people who get laid
Extending Medicare to 55- to 65-year-olds indeed
is less intensely subjected to ruthless case reviews and
off and find private health insurance prohibitively
reopens the debate about universal health coverage.
expensive. or who get stuck with inferior coverage.
The logic of health insurance requires that the tempo-
incentives to deny care. This new proposal should be
Any surgeon can tell you of someone 63 or 64 waiting
rarily well subsidize the currently ill; and that the still
combined with a more benign approach to managed
for a needed operation until the (arbitrary) day of
young subsidize those who have grown old.
care.
Medicare eligibility arrives. Guaranteeing the option to
The more that private industry tries to skim off the
Medicare HMOs are an industry favorite. You turn
join Medicare at affordable prices-the administration
profitable subscribers, who are young and healthy, the
your Medicare eligibility over to an HMO, and they
projects $3,000 to $5,000 a year-solves a real problem
more the logic breaks down and the more sick people
cover the out-of pocket expenses that Medicare doesn't
for a big segment of the population.
get left out: It makes insurance prohibitively expen-
cover. Fine if you're healthy. The fly in the ointment is
Third, the proposal is brilliant politics. Republicans
sive-or excessively managed-for people the indus-
that they tend to market to relatively healthy oldsters,
hate this idea. It's more big government. It is just the
try finds costly to treat.
and are much tougher in denying or limiting care when
sort of program, like Social Security and the original
The unsung hero of this idea is California Rep. Pete
they get sick. We need a middle ground here-with the
Medicare, that bonds voters to the party that champi-
Stark, who several years ago proposed the simplest and
efficiencies of group health plans, but without the
ons social insurance-which happens to be the Demo-
clearest route to universal health coverage-gradually
merciless and self-serving cost-cutting.
crats.
expand Medicare. In year one, extend it to 55-year-olds;
Lately, private managed care has become more and
The Republicans' allies in the private health insur-
in year two, expand it to kids under 10 (who are even
more of a consumer nightmare. And the medical
ance industry hate the proposal even more. Medicare
healthier and cheaper.) In year three, add teenagers.
insecurity that prompted Clinton to propose universal
is competition. It is mercifully unmanaged-you get to
After seven years, the whole country belongs. Unlike
coverage back in 1992 has only worsened.
choose your own doctor, your own hospital, and there
Clinton's late and unlamented plan, there are not whole
This issue has not gone away, nor will it. Good camel,
are no shareholders and stock analysts demanding that
new byzantine complexities. And unlike the Canadian-
good tent.
Granny get tossed on the sidewalk a day early to help
style "single-payer" approach, it is not an alien import.
save a few bucks and boost the stock price.
Rather, this is good old, comfortable, familiar Medi-
The writer is co-editor of the American Prospect.
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Page 1
PRESIDENT CLINTON:
PREPARING FOR COLLEGE: MENTORING AMERICA'S YOUTH
February 4, 1998
"I also ask this Congress to support our efforts to enlist colleges and universities to
reach out to disadvantaged children starting in the sixth grade so that they can get the
guidance and hope they need so they can know that they, too, will be able to go on to
college.
President Bill Clinton
January 27, 1998
Today, President Clinton announces a new initiative to inspire more young people to have
high expectations, to stay in school and study hard, and to go to college. The High Hopes
initiative is a long-term investment -- starting with $140 million in the FY 99 Budget -- that
promotes partnerships between colleges and middle or junior high schools in low-income
communities, to help teach students how they should go to college by informing them
about college options, academic requirements, costs, and financial aid, and by providing
support services -- including tutoring, counseling, and mentoring.
Educating families early on: College Is Within Reach. Families need to know that college is
affordable regardless of their income. The President's High Hopes initiative provides
children and their families at middle and junior high schools in low-income communities
with a 21st Century Scholar certificate, an official, early notification of the amount of their
eligibility for Federal college aid.
Providing Children With The Support They Need. To make the hope of a college education
a reality, the High Hopes initiative encourages degree-granting colleges to establish
partnerships with middle and junior high schools with large concentrations of low-income
children. Working with parents, community and religious groups, and businesses, these
partnerships provide information about what it means and what it takes to go to college, as
well as support services -- such as mentoring, tutoring, college visits, summer programs,
after-school activities, and counseling -- to help the children stay on track. The
partnerships will help ensure that children have access to the rigorous core courses that
prepare them for college and let parents know how they can help their children prepare for
college.
Staying With Children Through High School Graduation. This new initiative is flexible,
allowing partnerships to design their own efforts based on local needs and resources. But,
to ensure effectiveness, the programs must:
begin reaching out to children by the 7th grade;
continue to help each student through graduation from high school; and,
help all students in a class, not just the ones who get the best grades.
Reaching More Than 1 Million Students. The President's Budget calls for a $140 million
investment in new High Hopes partnerships in 1999, and an additional $70 million for new
tpf4 wpd
Page 2
partnerships in each of the years 2000 and 2001 (as well as continuation funds for the
original partnerships). If each project begins with one sixth or seventh grade class, this
would fund partnerships with 2,500 middle and junior high schools. If each project adds an
incoming class each year, more than 1 million students would be served over five years.
Widespread Support. Everyone agrees, the High Hopes initaitive is the way to go. More
than 300 college presidents, 60 organizations (including Big Brothers/Big Sisters, NAACP,
and a variety of other education and religious groups), and 68 members of the House --
Democrats and Republicans -- have endorsed the initiative.