NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today,
at the Clinton Global Initiative's annual conference in
New York City, the National
Service Alliance, joined by former President Bill Clinton and Clinton Foundation Vice Chair
Chelsea Clinton, announced
Service Year, a major commitment to expand national service
in America. Building on the 20-year success of AmeriCorps, Service
Year is a bold project designed to make a year of service a common
expectation and opportunity for all 18-28 year olds.
"If more young people participated in full time service programs
like AmeriCorps, it would have a transformative impact on our
country," said Chelsea Clinton.
"Through our work with the National Service Alliance, we seek to
accomplish just that. We have proven time and again that we are
stronger when we work together and by giving more Americans the
opportunity to come together in service, we make our nation
stronger."
The announcement called for the creation of major partnerships
across every sector of American life to help shape public thinking,
expand AmeriCorps and other Service Year opportunities, drive the
expectation of a service year in our culture, and build a pathway
from service to both higher education and career opportunities. To
make this a reality, Cisco announced a $3
million challenge grant through the Silicon Valley Community
Foundation and Lumina Foundation announced a separate $3.2 million grant.
The National Service Alliance, which includes the Franklin
Project at the Aspen Institute, National Conference on Citizenship
(NCoC), ServiceNation and Voices for National Service, was formed
in 2014. Its members believe that developing a generation of
Americans dedicated to a full-time year of service is a
transformative idea. It is developing 30,000 new national service
positions by 2017 and aims to secure 50 higher education
institutions and 50 "Employers of National Service" as partners in
support of Service Year.
Earlier this month, President Clinton joined President Obama at
the White House to mark the twentieth anniversary of AmeriCorps and
announce new partnerships to expand AmeriCorps. The Obama
Administration, through the federal Corporation for National and
Community Service, has expanded national service opportunities
through private sector investments and innovative partnerships
including FEMA Corps, School Turnaround AmeriCorps, STEM AmeriCorps
and justice AmeriCorps. The Service Year initiative announced today
builds on the Administration's efforts to increase national service
opportunities through AmeriCorps and other programs.
Alliance member NCoC is leading the development of a Service
Year exchange (SYx), a technology platform that will certify new
Service Year positions, provide a robust search and match function,
and enable the ability for organizations and individuals to crowd
fund. By 2017, NCoC is working to enroll 10,000 Service Year
participants in online credit-granting courses taken through the
SYx during their Service Year.
The Cisco $3 million challenge
grant is on top of a $2.1 million
seed grant to NCoC and is designed to ignite support for the
development of the SYx. "To prepare for tomorrow's workforce, you
have to understand the world. People who have worked in some
capacity for the good of society will be well equipped to meet
challenges, think creatively, and be innovative" said Tae Yoo, Cisco's Senior Vice President of
Corporate Affairs, "Cisco is proud to help with the development of
the Service Year's technology platform, the Service Year exchange
(SYx). We look forward to engaging with other organizations to
create a service movement so important to the civic health of our
country."
Lumina Foundation is committing $3.2
million to help build the SYx's education portal. This
portal will translate the skills gained and online courses taken
during a Service Year into college credit. Through the SYx, corps
members will generate a "Service Year transcript," assessed by the
Center for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), which will award
college credit and other credentials.
"We are working to reframe national service as a core component
of postsecondary learning and a cost effective pathway," said
Lumina Foundation President & CEO, Jamie Merisotis. "This is a major step forward
toward the nation's goal of ensuring that 60% of Americans have a
degree, certificate, or other high quality post-secondary
credential by 2025."
General Stanley McChrystal, Chair
of the Leadership Council of the Franklin Project at the Aspen
Institute, called upon leaders of higher education institutions,
employers, companies, as well as officials and agencies at the
city, state, or federal level to work with members of the National
Service Alliance to support the expansion of Service Year
opportunities.
"Millennials are problem solvers and they are our nation's best
hope for developing workable solutions to the many challenges
facing our communities," said General Stanley McChrystal. "Every sector in America has
a stake in figuring out how they will take part in and support the
service movement."
The Franklin Project is coordinating the National Service
Alliance to create a culture of service. Led by General
Stanley McChrystal, they have
gathered leaders like Sec. Madeleine
Albright, Sec. Condoleezza
Rice and others in a bipartisan Leadership Council focused
on creating this change. They are working on a multi-year employer
engagement strategy to ensure that full-time service is part of a
credentialed pathway to a fulltime job. This work will build upon
the robust partnership announced by President Obama last week at
the White House, "Employers of National Service," a partnership
between the Corporation for National and Community Service,
AmeriCorps Alums, the Peace Corps, and the Franklin Project. This
initiative is enlisting leading employers from the private, public,
and nonprofit sectors to create recruitment, hiring, and
advancement opportunities for individuals who served in AmeriCorps
and the Peace Corps. The Franklin Project also appreciates the
recent support and sponsorship from Christy
and John Mack.
Building on more than 20 years of support for national service,
philanthropists Jonathan and Jeannie Lavine have
committed $1 million to this effort,
joined by a $1 million
dollar commitment from Josh and Anita Bekenstein. Longtime supporters of Service
Year organizations, they are excited about a new future for this
movement.
Alliance member ServiceNation is leading the work on a sweeping
cultural campaign and is aiming to have 50 television shows
integrating the idea of a Service Year into their scripts in
partnership with the entertainment industry, digital influencers,
and major companies like Comcast and NBC Universal and Airbnb.
"We strongly support the idea of a Service Year," said Jonathan
Lavine. "And, we believe that ServiceNation's cultural campaign
will have a powerful impact on establishing a year of service as a
common opportunity and expectation for a new generation that is
ready to serve."
Voices for National Service is working to expand service
opportunities through AmeriCorps and reframe national service to
build the demand and public will. A significant expansion of
service year positions requires increased visibility and an
expanded constituency base, and Voices for National Service will
test and validate new frames and language that will further a
service year's salience. Voices for National Service will
incorporate new 21st century messaging about AmeriCorps
and service into a national communications campaign and field
trainings, all designed to enhance public understanding and
cultivate support.
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in IT that helps
companies seize the opportunities of tomorrow by proving that
amazing things can happen when you connect the previously
unconnected.
Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation
committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with
high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60
percent by 2025. Lumina's outcomes-based approach focuses on
helping to design and build an accessible, responsive and
accountable higher education system while fostering a national
sense of urgency for action to achieve Goal 2025.
The National Service Alliance, which includes the Franklin
Project of the Aspen Institute, National Conference on Citizenship
(NCoC), ServiceNation and Voices for National Service, was formed
in 2014. Its members believe that developing a generation of
Americans dedicated to a full-time, full year of service is a
transformative idea. An idea with the ability to unleash an
untapped reservoir of human capital able tackle our nation's
pressing social challenges, unite diverse Americans in common
purpose, and cultivate the next generation of leaders.
About The Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy
studies organization based in Washington,
DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring
values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical
issues. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on
Maryland's Eastern Shore. It also
has offices in New York City and
an international network of partners. For more information,
visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
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SOURCE The Aspen Institute