Statement on House Approval of H.R. 1388

With the House action this afternoon to approve the Senate Amendments to H.R. 1388, the Serve America Act now goes to President Obama’s desk. The speed at which this historic legislation moved through both houses of Congress is remarkable and is a strong statement of support for national service programs across all ages and all parts of our country.

Just last September, the Kennedy/Hatch Serve America Act was introduced at the ServiceNation Summit in New York City when then Senator Obama and Senator McCain shared a stage to discuss service in the context of the 2008 presidential campaign. In his Inaugural Address, President Obama issued a new call to define citizenship century and in his Address to the Congress, the only specific piece of legislation the President mentioned was the Serve America Act. In mid-February, both the Senate Health Education Labor & Pensions Committee and the House Education & Labor Committee held hearings on national service reform and subsequently marked up bills which we quickly brought to the floor and voted upon with strong bipartisan support.

Today is an exciting day for those who have worked so hard on this bill but, more importantly, it is a day when the dedication and commitment of Americans in service is affirmed and strengthened. This is especially important for Millennials in service, a generation answering a call to serve in response to large systemic problems facing our nation.

Service is in the greatest tradition of our country, made more important in these challenging times. It is in this spirit that we look forward to President Obama signing the Serve America Act into law.

Pres. Obama's Statement on Senate Passage of Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secrectary

For Immediate Release

March 26, 2009

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE EDWARD M. KENNEDY SERVE AMERICA ACT

I’m so pleased that the Senate overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act -- legislation that will usher in a new era of service. I want to applaud all those who have worked so hard to see this bill through, and I am eager to sign it into law.

This legislation will help create new opportunities for millions of Americans at all stages of their lives. From improving service learning in schools to creating an army of 250,000 volunteers a year dedicated to addressing our nation's toughest problems. From connecting working Americans to a variety of part-time service opportunities to better utilizing the skills and experience of our retirees and baby boomers. This legislation will help tap the genius of our faith based and community organizations, and it will find the most innovative ideas for addressing our common challenges and helping those ideas grow.

It is fitting that this legislation is named after Ted Kennedy, a person who has never stopped asking what he could do for his country. This legislation is not just a tribute to the service to which he has dedicated his life, it is a call to action for the rest of us. Our work is not finished when I sign this bill into law – it has just begun. While our government can provide every opportunity imaginable for us to serve our communities, it is up to each of us to seize those opportunities. To do our part to lift up our fellow Americans. To realize our own true potential. I call on all Americans to stand up and do what they can to serve their communities, shape our history and enrich both their own lives and the lives of others across this country.

Letter to the Senate: Support the Serve America Act

Tomorrow, the US Senate will begin consideration of S. 277, The Serve America Act of 2009, sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) & Orin Hatch (R-UT). Like the GIVE Act passed by the House of Representatives last week, the Serve America Act shows a renewed commitment of service and answers President Obama's call for all Americans to give back.

MyImpact strongly supports the Serve America Act and has written an open letter to Senators urging its passage. You may view our letter here

Letter to Congress: Support the GIVE Act

March 16, 2009

Dear Members of Congress,

Responding to systemic problems and crises that face our country, young Americans are giving back in record numbers (nearly a quarter of those over age 16 have volunteered). The Millennial Generation, growing up in the wake of the September 11th attacks, is leading a movement of citizen-centered change and joining together across generational, cultural and socio-economic bounds in a shared sense of ownership and national responsibility. It is in this spirit of renewed civic engagement and service that we urge your support of The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (“GIVE”) Act.

As Millennials, social entrepreneurs and part of a group of 100 Young Leaders selected to attend the September 2008 Service Nation Summit, where we believe the service movement reached a modern coalescence, we have seen first-hand the impact that service can have on a young person, the community in which they serve and the country as a whole. The GIVE Act acknowledges and rewards the good work currently being done and provides additional opportunities for more young people to become involved.

Our organization, myImpact, responds to what we see as the growing needs of the service movement by comprehensively telling the stories of young people in service through both multimedia and metric tracking. Working closely with our partners in the national service field, our online platform will be the virtual roof under which a person can show how the far-real and far-reaching impact their service is having because, as CIRCLE found in its report Millennials Talk Politics, “Second only to the time they have available to get involved, students report that the most important factor in deciding whether or not to get involved in an activity is the impact they think it will yield.”

The GIVE Act will directly affect our work. It will strengthen AmeriCorps, increasing the number of slots from 75,000 to 250,000, create a new Summer of Service program with stipends that students can use to pay for college and, overall, will triple the number of Americans in service. The GIVE Act is a tremendous opportunity for the 111th Congress to reinvigorate a national call to service. As it is estimated that for every dollar spent towards service initiatives there are four dollars of direct measurable economic returns, this legislation is clearly a bill for the future of America.

Consistent with our organization’s mission to build a country where service is a civic rite of passage for every American, we join with the thousands of voices from advocates of national service in urging the passage of The GIVE Act.

Sincerely,



Chris Golden & Nick Troiano
Co-Founders, myImpact