Bush Wants Incentives for Senior Corps Members

April 11, 2002 - The President introduced his new plan for the Senior Corps and called for more funding for the volunteer senior program and AmeriCorps during a Republican fund raising visit to Connecticut earlier this week. Congress was hearing about the plan at the same time from Corporation CEO Leslie Lenkowsky, who testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.

The President released a 17-page "Principles and Reforms for a Citizen Service Act" to guide the reauthorization of the Corporation and its programs AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America. These programs engage 2 million Americans in service to meet critical community needs each year. The proposed 5-year extension would be the first since the Corporation's creation in 1993. Earlier this year, the President proposed increasing AmeriCorps by 25,000 members and Senior Corps by 100,000 in his 2003 budget.

Lenkowsky fleshed out the President's principles at the Senate HELP committee hearing on the Corporation's reauthorization. The principles have four major objectives:

- Support and encourage greater engagement of citizens in volunteering, such as by making volunteer mobilization a priority, lowering the age for Senior Corps from 60 to 55, and improving the benefits for AmeriCorps service.

- Make Federal funds more responsive to state and local needs, including giving states more authority to select AmeriCorps programs, providing greater flexibility, and allowing AmeriCorps members to build the capacity of nonprofit organizations where they serve.

- Make Federal support more accountable and effective, such as by directing grantees to specify program objectives and meet accountability requirements established by the Corporation.

- Provide greater assistance to secular and faith-based community organizations, by among other things making AmeriCorps*VISTA even more helpful to groups on the front-lines of helping the poor and needy.

"Reforming and enhancing AmeriCorps and Senior Corps are important steps in providing hundreds of thousands of Americans with meaningful service opportunities," said President Bush. "I look forward to working with the Congress in a bipartisan fashion to ensure the federal government does its part to support the commitment of Americans to our communities and our Nation."

The President made his remarks to volunteers in Bridgeport after touring an after-school program run by Save the Children. The "Web of Support" after-school program uses AmeriCorps members and Foster Grandparents to tutor and teach computer skills to 200 Bridgeport children.

In his opening statement, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), chairman of the HELP committee said, "I am encouraged that the President has called on Americans of every generation to serve their communities. I commend him for making service to our communities and to our country a priority in his administration."

Lenkowsky thanked Chairman Kennedy, Ranking member Judd Gregg (R-NH) and committee members for their longstanding support of national service, and pledged to work with them to put the Corporation on a strong, bipartisan footing for its second decade. On Thursday, Lenkowsky testifies on reauthorization before the House Subcommittee on Select Education.

"Since the Corporation was created in 1993, it has accomplished a great deal," said Lenkowsky. "But to better help build a culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility, we must use the lessons of the past decade to strengthen the quality of the Corporation's efforts and assist more Americans to serve their communities and their country."

In his State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, President Bush called on all Americans to serve their country for the equivalent of two years and announced the creation of USA Freedom Corps. USA Freedom Corps is a comprehensive, integrated citizen service initiative to engage more citizens in service at home and abroad by strengthening AmeriCorps, Senior Corps and the Peace Corps, and by establishing a new Citizen Corps for homeland defense.

Americans have responded to the President's call. Since the speech, online applications to AmeriCorps have shot up 70 percent, and interest in Senior Corps has risen even more. The Freedom Corps website has had 9 million hits. A blue-ribbon committee, chaired by former Senator John Glenn, has just called upon the nation's schools to invest more heavily in service-learning, a teaching method that combines academic learning with community service.

"This is an extraordinary moment in the history of our country and the agency I head," said Lenkowksy. "At a tragically high price, all of us have come to realize how precious our freedoms are and why it is important for all of us to accept the responsibilities of citizenship in order to preserve them. The President's Citizen Service Act will usher in a new era of service for our country, and I hope Congress will act quickly to seize this moment."

Created in 1993, the Corporation for National and Community Service engages more than 1.5 million Americans annually in improving their communities through three programs: AmeriCorps, Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America. For more information, visit www.nationalservice.org/about.