U.S. Community Service Advocates Outline Ambitious Plan for Universal Voluntary Service
A group of national service champions, representing current and former executives in nonprofits and government, have outlined a Call to National Service for the next president and congress. Their plan proposes the creation of a National Service American Dream Account which would invest $5,000 upon the birth of every child in the United States. That investment could be increased by parents and relatives, and would grow for tax-free withdrawal, after the child in question reached age eighteen and served one year of national service.
The proposal is presented in an article in the American Interest by a group of authors including Michael Brown and Alan Khazei, founders of City Year; Wendy Kopp, CEO and founder of Teach for America; and Harris Wofford, former Senator from Pennsylvania and former CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. The same issue of the American Interest also contains an interesting interview with Robert Putnam, of Bowling Alone fame, who comments on a brief description of the plan. Putnam says:
I'm very much in favor of fostering a service culture. I like the idea of the baby bond linked to national service. A lot of us think that national service of a formal, mandatory sort would be desirable, but we also know it's not going to happen, if you look at the polls. The kids on whom we would be imposing this are very much against it. But a voluntary program on the scale you've described would be a positive step.
So I'd agree with Putnam, this plan is a solid one, and it may increase the awareness Americans hold about national service. While it doesn't meet my expectations of formal, mandatory service, it certainly would be a step in the right direction for the country.
Many of the commenters on this site have been shocked by a system of mandatory national service. What do you think of this approach to voluntary service? And to my fellow supporters of Everyone Serves, what do you think about this voluntary approach?
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Recent blog posts
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Recent comments
- Who will decide how you serve your fellow man?
1 week 2 days ago - out of context
7 weeks 4 days ago - Service is Not It's Own End
18 weeks 5 hours ago - Of Slackers and Hubris
18 weeks 5 hours ago - Thank You for the Careful Presentation
20 weeks 19 hours ago - Mandatory Civil Service
20 weeks 20 hours ago - They Can Be a Part of the Whole
21 weeks 1 day ago - What about existing volunteer programs?
21 weeks 2 days ago - ok national service..lets see how about this:
23 weeks 3 days ago - By any other name...
24 weeks 4 days ago
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Comments
Kudos for this initiative!
A few years ago I had the privilege of taking a team of NY homeless men to participate in the "1st and 2nd Homeless Streetsoccer World Cups" in Austria and Sweden. In Austria, we found that all of our guides - there were 16 countries participating, were fulfilling their mandatory 2 yr. service following graduation. They had a choice of either social service or the military. They were all exceptional young people, attentive, responsible and caring. The experience of all us interfacing with 16 countries of homeless athletes was life-altering, for at that moment, these were just athletes and citizens of the world regaining their dignity through sports and getting to know their global sisters and brothers and we, them.
On the last day, the teenage Brazilian boys came into the room where our US players were staying. I had gotten them all new traveling clothes, including socks and underwear- shop owners in NY were just great and understood what soccer could do for the soul. Well, the little Brazilian boys didn't have many clothes, much less new. Our 'homeless' NY team gathered all their new socks and t-shirts (laundered by the guides) and gave them to the young boys. One of the boys said, "You take me with you?" and it broke our guys' hearts. They learned in their own challenging state, there were others in the world that had far less than they.
In my work with the homeless and my own small, nonprofit, I have seen the transforming power of volunteerism on both sides- a president of a corporation, sitting with a homeless person, teaching him Excel, a VP coming by when ever he got a break to teach grammar or help the homeless with their resumes, a thin 14 yr. old from Long Island, putting on a Santa Claus suit and handing out little cakes to each of the homeless, which he saved to buy for them for Christmas, doctors in Sweden giving up a day of their summer vacation to give free echos to the homeless..
Thank you all for putting this initiative together, especially for the disenfranchised, I have seen volunteerism begin to mend and heal the holes for whatever reason they have fallen through. This experience for our youth will begin to rebuild their own fabric, and impart the value of giving on a national and global scale.
Warmest regards,
Arista - NYC
The Chad Foundation for Athletes and Artists
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