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The Problem

In 1994 at the swearing-in ceremony for the first class of AmeriCorps members, President Bill Clinton said, “Service is a spark to rekindle the spirit of democracy in an age of uncertainty. We hear a great deal today about values, and so we must. I encourage America in that conversation. But when it is all said and done, it comes down to three simple questions: What is right? What is wrong? And what are we going to do about it?”

Today, something is wrong. National Service has two main problems. Many people and supporters don’t even know about them. First, our elected leaders have cut the National Service budget for five consecutive years now. With the challenges facing many children and communities, we should be expanding opportunities for people to serve and to give back through programs like AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, Senior Corps, and the Peace Corps. The strength of our democracy depends upon active, engaged citizens. However, most of our elected leaders are allowing the cuts to continue.

The second problem is a lack of public will that can effectively challenge our leaders to expand service opportunities and insist this issue be on our country’s to-do list. So many people believe in AmeriCorps and the idea of citizen service. However, the vast public support is not being channeled into a powerful collective voice that reaches our leaders.

Can you help change this? Act now and add your voice to the solution here.

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