    [House Document 105-231]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

    105th Congress, 2d Session  - - - - - - - - - - House Document 105-231

             NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE AMENDMENTS ACT OF 1998

                                   __________

                                    MESSAGE

                                      from

                       THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                                  transmitting

         A DRAFT OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION TO EXTEND FOR FIVE YEARS THE
    AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE PROGRAMS UNDER THE NATIONAL AND
    COMMUNITY SERVICE ACT OF 1990 AND THE DOMESTIC VOLUNTEER SERVICE ACT OF
            1973, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, PURSUANT TO 31 U.S.C. 1110

       March 19, 1998.--Message and accompanying papers referred to the
       Committee on Education and the Workforce and ordered to be printed

    To the Congress of the United States:
        I am pleased to transmit for your immediate consideration
    and enactment the ``National and Community Service Amendments
    Act of 1998.'' This legislative proposal extends and amends
    national service law, including the National and Community
    Service Act of 1990 and the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of
    1973. It builds upon the long, bipartisan tradition of service
    in our country, which was renewed in 1993 when I signed the
    National and Community Service Trust Act creating the
    Corporation for National Service.
        Service to one's community is an integral part of what it
    means to be an American. The Presidents' Summit for America's
    Future held in Philadelphia last April reinforced the role of
    programs supported by the Corporation for National Service as
    key vehicles to provide young people with the resources to
    maximize their potential and give back to their communities.
    Citizen service is also at the heart of our efforts to prepare
    America for the 21st century, as we work to ensure that all
    Americans have the opportunity to make the most of their own
    lives and to help those in need.
        My Administration's most important contribution to citizen
    service is AmeriCorps, the national service program that
    already has given more than 100,000 young Americans the
    opportunity to serve their country. By tying opportunity to
    responsibility, we have given them the chance to serve and, in
    return, earn money for post-secondary education. In community
    after community, AmeriCorps members have proven that service
    can help us meet our most pressing social needs. For example,
    in Simpson County, Kentucky, AmeriCorps members helped second
    graders jump three grade levels in reading. In Boys and Girls
    Clubs, AmeriCorps members are mentors for at-risk young people.
    Habitat For Humanity relies upon AmeriCorps members to recruit
    more volunteers and build more houses. In communities beset by
    floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes, AmeriCorps members have
    helped to rebuild lives and restore hope. AmeriCorps members
    are helping to mobilize thousands of college students from more
    than 800 college campuses in our America Reads program. In all
    of these efforts, AmeriCorps brings together people of every
    background to work toward common goals.
        Independent evaluators have reviewed AmeriCorps, National
    Senior Service Corps programs, and Learn and Service America
    programs and have concluded that national service yields a
    positive return on investment. The proposed legislation that I
    am transmitting builds on our experiences with national service
    to date and improves national service programs in four ways:
    (1) by codifying agreements with the Congress and others to
    reduce costs and streamline national service; (2) strengthening
    partnerships with traditional volunteer organizations; (3)
    increasing States' flexibility to administer national service
    programs; and (4) expanding opportunities for Americans to
    serve.
        Since the enactment of the National and Community Service
    Trust Act in 1993, and particularly since 1995, my
    Administration has worked with constructive critics of national
    service to address their concerns and improve the overall
    program. This proposed legislation continues that process by
    reducing the Corporation's average budgeted cost per AmeriCorps
    member, repealing authority for redundant or obsolete national
    service programs, and making other improvements in the
    efficiency of national service programs.
        National service has never been a substitute for the
    contributions made by the millions of Americans who volunteer
    their time to worthy causes every year. Rather, as leaders of
    volunteer organizations have often expressed, national service
    has proven that the presence of full-time, trained service
    participants enhances tremendously the effectiveness of
    volunteers. This proposed legislation will strengthen the
    partnership between the national service programs and
    traditional volunteer organizations; codify the National
    ServiceScholarship program honoring exemplary service by high
    school students; and expand the AmeriCorps Challenge Scholarships,
    through which national service participants can access education
    awards. It also will authorize appropriations for the Points of Light
    Foundation through the year 2002.
        The National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993
    explicitly conceived of national service as a Federal-State
    partnership. The Act vested significant authority in bipartisan
    State Commissions appointed by the Governors. I promised that
    we would accelerate the process of devolution as the newly
    created State Commissions expanded their capacities. This
    proposed legislation fulfills that promise in a variety of
    ways, including providing authority for the Corporation for
    National Service to enter into Service Collaboration Agreements
    with Governors to provide a means for coordinating the planning
    and administration of national service programs in a State.
        This proposed legislation will also provide additional
    service opportunities. By reducing the cost per AmeriCorps
    member, it will enable more people to serve; it will broaden
    the age and income guidelines for National Senior Service Corps
    participants, expanding the pool of older Americans who can
    perform results-oriented service in their communities; and it
    will simplify the administration of Learn and Serve America, so
    States and communities will more easily be able to provide
    opportunities for students to learn through service in their
    schools and neighborhoods.
        This past January, I had the opportunity to honor the
    memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by engaging in service
    on the holiday commemorating his birth. I joined 65 AmeriCorps
    members and more than 300 community volunteers in repairing and
    repainting Cardozo High School in the Shaw neighborhood of
    Washington, D.C. Thirty-one years ago, Dr. King came to that
    very neighborhood and urged the people there to engage in
    citizen service to rebuild their lives, their community, and
    their future. That is what those national service participants,
    and the thousands more who were participating in similar
    projects across the country, were doing--honoring the legacy of
    Dr. King and answering the high calling of citizenship in this
    country.
        Each of the more than 500,000 participants in the programs
    of the National Senior Service Corps and the 750,000
    participants in programs supported by Learn and Serve America,
    and every AmeriCorps member answers that high calling of
    citizenship when they make and fulfill a commitment to service
    in their communities. This proposed legislation builds on the
    successes of these programs and improves them for the future.
        I urge the Congress to give this proposed legislation
    prompt and favorable consideration.

                                                    William J. Clinton.
        The White House, March 19, 1998.