Senator Hillary Clinton at the Service Nation Summit!

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle."-- James Keller

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) was one of the final speakers today at the Service Nation Summit. Clinton called America, "The" Service Nation, and said that service has never been more important than it is today. "As the world becomes more complicated and problems more intractable, we are called to serve."

In 1993, President Clinton formalized national service, like Kennedy did with the Peace Corps, and created AmeriCorps. Since its formation, AmeriCorps has served thousands of organizations and nearly 3/4 of AmeriCorps' members continue to serve after they complete their AmeriCorps service, and often go into public service.

Senator Clinton talked about the bipartisan coalition of Senators (Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), and Sen.Christopher Dodd (D-CT)) that she is a part of who will be pushing the Serve America Act of 2008. "We know a good thing when we see it, and we're ready to put our political capital to work to take service to the next stage."

The Act will create four Corps. The Education Corps will tackle the need for more mentors and leaders in schools, and try to stem the drop out crisis. The Poverty Corps will tackle poverty in the States and work with people who are, "ready, willing and able to help themselves, but don't have the resources to do so by themselves." The Health Corps will help Americans to stay and become healthy. The Clean Energy Service Corps will create new service opportunities to fight global warming, find new sources of clean energy, create energy independence and create green jobs. Clinton said that service is a key to creating the kind of "change" that Americans are yearning for.

Clinton is also working on a proposal with Sen. Arlen Spector (R-PA) to create a United States Public Service Academy in an effort to promote an ethic of service. She said that we need more young people to consider public service as a career, but because of a history of pubic service failures, and the rising cost of college, young people either don't want to, or can't consider a career in public service. The Academy would be modeled on a military academy. 5,000 students would be federally funded for 4 years of school in exchange for 5 years of public service. She asked for help advocating for it saying that if we don't have a new generation that is trained and aware of opportunities for public service, we will see a continuing deterioration of public service in our country.

You can get involved with Service Nation by signing the Declaration of Service, and participating in the Service Nation's Day of Action on September 27, 2008. Videos and photos from the Summit are available online. You can read my other posts from the Service Nation Summit here.

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More Groovy Service Acts at Service Nation Summit: Senator Chris Dodd's Semester of Service and Encore Service Act

"It is time to establish our collective responsibility," --Senator Chris Dodd.

During his speech this afternoon at the Service Nation Summit, Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) described being inspired to serve after hearing John F. Kennedy's inaugural address on January 20, 1961 when he said, "ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country." Dodd served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic from 1966 to 1968, and then joined the U.S. Army Reserves for over 6 years. In 1974, he was the first former Peace Corps volunteer to be elected to the Senate. Senator Paul Tsongas, who served in Ethiopia, was the second.

In addition to the introduction of the Serve America Act, that I just posted about, Senator Dodd announced that he will be introducing the Semester of Service Act and the Encore Service Act. He is joined by Senators Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA).

The Semester of Service Act would allow high school juniors and seniors to spend more than a third of a semester outside of the classroom serving their community. They would receive academic credit for participating in 70 or more hours of service-learning activities each semester.

The Encore Service Act would offer Americans 55 years old or older the opportunity to join the Encore Service Program (serving high-need communities in return for a stipend or education award), Encore Fellows Program (holding management and leadership positions in public or private nonprofit organizations), and the Silver Scholars Program (receiving an education scholarship for $1,000 in exchange for volunteering with public agencies or private nonprofits between 250-500 hours a year). The Encore Service Act would also raise the authorization levels for the Foster Grandparent, Senior Corps and RSVP programs, and modify the eligibility levels to 55 years and older.

I'm encouraged by the introduction of all of this bipartisan, service-themed legislation. As was repeated several times at the conference, talking about service is important, but if there isn't any action taken, or frameworks created to engage people, what's the point? As Richard Cizik, Vice President of the National Association of Evangelicals, said in an earlier panel, if you have a vision, but no plan of action, it's just a hallucination.

You can watch a short video with Senator Dodd, and view videos with other presenters at bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/live

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Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Hatch Introduce Serve America Act of 2008 at Service Nation Summit

This morning at the Service Nation Summit, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), represented by his niece, Caroline Kennedy, announced that they are introducing the Serve America Act of 2008. Barack Obama and John McCain have both agreed to co-sponsor the bill. They will be joined by Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS), Senator Hilary Clinton (D-NY) and Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT).

Some of the elements of the Act are:

• Build on the AmeriCorps and create new "Corps" focused on areas of national need. Ask 175,000 Americans to give a year of service through these Corps.
• Improve opportunities for low income young people to be of service in their communities.
• Establish a tax incentive for employers who allow employees to take paid leave for full-time service.
• Enhance incentives for retirees to give a year of service through the Corps, and establish "Encore Fellowships" to help retirees who wish to transition to longer-term public service.
• Establish a "Volunteer Generation Fund" to help nonprofit organizations recruit and manage more volunteers.
• Establish a Commission to study and improve how the federal government, nonprofits, and the private sector work together to meet national challenges effectively.
• Establish a network of "Community Solution Funds," venture capital funds for the nonprofit sector to support innovation in the sector.
  
• Support short-term international service opportunities and strengthen the Volunteers for Prosperity program, which supports short-term international service opportunities.
  

Pretty cool, huh? If you think this is a good idea, let your Congressperson know.

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Love Thy Neighbor: Governor David Patterson at the Presidential Forum on Service

Seeing the Presidential candidates at the Presidential Forum on Service at the Service Nation Summit was thrilling, but I think my favorite speaker last night was New York Governor David Patterson. He wasn't afraid to get spiritual and address our interconnectednes saying:

"Pope Gregory the first, known as Saint Gregory the Great, always admonished Christians to love their neighbors as they would love themselves. But he said that there are moments of epiphany where a person will find a bond with one whom they never met.

Pierre Avalar writing in the 12th century added to that by saying, 'There are moments of feelings of identic image in which individuals because of an intervening crisis start to see others as being part of them.'

And so I'm hoping that perhaps that Christian adage will take on a new meaning in the 21st century as more of us are involved in service as we come closer to that oneness of the human spirit and we, actually, re-amplify the idea of helping our neighbors as we would help ourselves, to helping our neighbors because they are ourselves."

Governor Patterson announced that he is elevating the Director of the Office for National and Community for New York State to a cabinet position. He is the second Governor to create a cabinet position devoted to service. California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger created the first when he added the position of Secretary of Service and Volunteering to his cabinet in February 2008.

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September 11th Presidential Forum on Service

They are both nice men. It seems like an obvious observation, but it was the main thing I took away from the Presidential Forum on Service at the Service Nation Summit last night. Of course you have to have an ego to run for President, but I didn't feel like that was either of the candidates' core motivations, which is refreshing. It's sad though, that they both could only take the gloves off because it was September 11th, like going to church once a year at Christmas.

Both have strong histories of service: McCain in the military and Obama as a community organizer in Chicago. You can read about each of their plans for service in TIME Magazine's September 22nd second annual national service special issue.

In their discussions with Richard Stengel, Manager Editor, Time Magazine, and Judy Woodruff, Senior Correspondent and 2008 Political Editor of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, the main difference they danced around was how large government's role should be in providing service opportunities. Both spoke of American's hunger to be of service.

When asked how he would have done things differently after September 11th, McCain said that the government needed to,

"take advantage of the unity in the United States of America. We weren't Republicans on September 11th. We weren't Democrats. We were Americans. And I think that if we had asked for a concrete plan of action, both on the part of federal, state, and local governments, as well as by the Congress of the United States, as well as, frankly, talking directly to the American people [about] the need for us all to serve this nation.

But, you know, I gotta tell you something, Rick. When I travel around this country, that spirit is still there in America."

When asked, "What does 9/11 mean to you?" Obama said it is not only a reminder of, "the terrible potential for evil in the world," but it also of,

"what America does at the toughest times, which is to come together. Now, when I think of 9/11, I think of that spirit after the tragedy had occurred, how the outpouring of patriotism, emotion, volunteerism, the desire for service was in the minds of everyone.

And that was also a moment when the petty bickering and partisanship that comes to characterize our public life was set aside. And so the question was how do we recreate that spirit not just during times of tragedy, not just during 9/11, but how do we honor those who died, those who sacrificed, the fire fighters, the police officers, how do we honor them every day? How does it reflect itself in our government? How does it reflect itself in how we conduct our own civic life?

And, you know, my sense is that the country yearns for that. It's hungry for it. And what has been missing is a President and a White House that taps into that yearning in a serious way"

Service Nation, the hosts of the Presidential Forum on Service, and the Service Nation Summit, is trying to fulfill American's yearning for service by building a national service moment. They have designated September 27, 2008 as the Service Nation Day of Action. You can join or organize an event on that day on the Service Nation site.

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Being the Media at the Service Nation Summit Sept. 11 & 12

It's not often that a little do-good blogger like myself gets invited to cover a big 'ole event, but I am! I'm sitting in the press area at the Presidential Forum on Service at Columbia University in New York City. Senators John McCain and Barack Obama will discuss (individually) their ideas about citizen service with Richard Stengel, Manager Editor, Time Magazine, and Judy Woodruff, Senior Correspondent and 2008 Political Editor of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. You can watch the Presidential Forum on Service on CNN, or streaming live on the event host's site, Service Nation.

The event is part of the September 11-12 Service Nation Summit, a gathering of 600 leaders from a variety of sectors convening to discuss the role that citizen service and volunteering can play in solving the nation's problems. Tomorrow will include a full day of sessions with a huge array of high profile speakers from Caroline Kennedy to First Lady Laura Bush to Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan. Check out the speaker list.

I'll be blogging from both events. As you can imagine, I'm totally psyched, plus, I'm a total sucker for famous people, especially do-good celebrities. I already grinned giddily at Jeffrey Sachs, author of The End of Poverty and Common Wealth, as if I was seeing a long lost friend. He was kind enough to smile and say hello.

I also sat in on a press conference with Usher, the Summit's Youth Chair, and two participants from Usher's New Look youth program. His work focuses on providing "at-risk" youth with opportunties to be of service. He called them "Generation S," and described them as, "Go-getters and builders" who, "Don't just talk about it, They do it."

I know it's dorky, but I'm totally loving the stream of "Immediate Release" press releases being dropped on our table.

Like that tomorrow Senators Edward M. Kennedy and Orrin Hatch will introduce new legislation, the "Serve America Act," to increase service opportunities for people of all ages, and to put service to work to solve specific national problems. Or that New York's Governor David Paterson is creating a cabinet position to address issues of national and community service.

Sure, I know that some of the things that will be said tonight and tomorrow are political posturing, or words that will never become reality, but I still find it heartening that there is a nationally televised Presidential Forum, and day-long summit with lot of high profile folks, about volunteering and service.

For me, the event is a glimmer of hope in the midst of an increasingly negative presidential campaign. It help me to, as Usher said, "believe in a future that is bright."

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