US Congress Approves Historic Budget Increase for National Service, including Summer of Service
The US House and Senate passed the
fiscal year 2010 appropriations bill
that includes $1.149 billion for the
Corporation for National and Community
Service (CNCS), including $2 million for Summer
of Service.
This was the final stage for Congress
to approve funding levels for the
Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act,
legislation passed in March 2009 that
builds on service as a strategy to meet
specific national challenges such as
addressing the dropout crisis and strengthening
our schools; improving energy
efficiency; safeguarding the environment;
improving health care and expanding
economic opportunity in low-income communities;
and preparing for and
responding to disasters and emergencies. The
appropriations bill has now been
sent to President Obama for his final approval
and signature.
The funding levels included in the
bill will allow CNCS to strengthen and expand
existing programs and invest in new
initiatives, including Summer
of Service. Summer of Service
(SOS) programs are innovative service-learning
opportunities for middle school youth.
They will engage students in
intensive, structured, and supervised
community-based service-learning projects
that are designed to produce identifiable
improvements that meet unmet
community human, educational, environmental,
and other needs. The $2
million will support innovative SOS programs,
and students completing 100 hours
of service through SOS programs will be
eligible to receive $500 Education
Awards through the National Service Trust to be
used for higher education
costs.
Innovations in Civic Participation
(ICP) worked with legislative staff of
Senator Dodd and Representative DeLauro to
draft the Summer of Service Act of
2007, and continued to help advance support,
which led to SOS being included in
the Kennedy Serve America Act. The Summer of
Service Act stemmed from ICP's
report, Summer
of Service: A New American
Rite of Passage?, which details the
need to engage young people
in constructive opportunities during the summer
months, particularly in the
transition from middle to high school. The
report also highlights existing
initiatives of the type this legislation
supports.
CNCS recently released a Notice of Federal
Funding Opportunity for Summer
of Service grants for fiscal year
2010. CNCS anticipates awarding
approximately 5-7 Learn and Serve Summer of
Service grants that engage students
grades 6 through 9 in innovative summer-time
service-learning programs that
address environmental and/or disaster
preparedness issues relevant to the
community served. Proposals for this
grants competition were due December
10, 2009, and notifications are expected by May
2010.
This bill also provides significant
financial support for expansion of
AmeriCorps under the Serve America Act to
include five new priority corps,
including the Clean Energy Service Corps which
ICP advocated for as part of the
Clean
Energy Corps Working Group.