"Serve America Act"

The table above describes the four major sectors of the service corps programs that will allow Americans to seek resources for opportunities.  

In President Obama's State of the Nation, he announced the bipartisan legislation called the "Serve America Act."  It was introduced by both Senator Orrin Hatch(R-UT) and Edward M. Kennedy (love him)( D-MA) as a bill to expand national and community service opportunities for all Americans.   

What will this bill do?

It will create multiple education and financial grants and fellowships which will support and provide opportunities for a variety of Americans to seek higher education through service projects at a cost they can manage.  

How will this be funded?

These fellowships and grants will be funded both privately and publicly as a means of creating sustainable financial solutions for Americans to meet the rising costs of education.  

What is the goal?

The goal is to make college more attainable to every American by creating opportunities to get involved in the community.  This encourages a renewed spirit to serve the nation in the current and future generations.

Who Supports this?

The bipartisan legislation is supported by Senators Mikulski, McCain, Dodd, Cochran, Reid, Gregg, Durbin, Wicker, Murray, Snowe, Kerry, Lincoln, Cardin, Rockefeller, Schumer, Whitehouse, Menendez, Bayh and Landrieu.  

The section called  "Learn and Serve America"  includes :

Youth Engagement Zone Program: Authorizes the Corporation to make direct competitive grants to eligible partnerships to carry out service-learning programs with secondary school students and out-of-school youth to address specific community challenges and to improve student engagement (incl. graduation rates).  Partnerships include at least one local education agency serving a low-income population with a low graduation rate, and either a State Commission, a state education agency, or a community-based agency, and may include others.  Grantee must assure that, within 5 years, service-learning will be a mandatory part of the curriculum in all secondary schools served by the local education agency.  

o   Grant Amount: $250K - $1M; Grant Period: 5 years

o   Authorizes appropriation: $20M for 2009, increasing to $40M in 2013. 

 Campuses of Service - Authorizes CNCS, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to annually designate up to 30 institutions of higher education as “Campuses of Service” from institutions nominated by State Commissions (limit 3 per Commission).  A designated Campus of Service would be able to apply to CNCS for funds to implement strategies to encourage students to pursue careers in public service and would be permitted to nominate additional individuals for “ServeAmerica Fellowships” (described below).  Designations are based on, among other criteria, the institution’s record of student engagement in service and service-learning and the percentage of Federal Work Study funds being used for community service positions.

o   Authorizes appropriation: $10M for 2009 and thereafter through 2013.

·      Longitudinal Study on Service-Learning Programs: Directs CNCS to procure an independent entity to conduct a 10-year longitudinal study on the benefits/ impact of service-learning programs (incl. impact on academic achievement, student engagement, and graduation rates).