    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [April 27, 1997]
    [Pages 502-503]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Kickoff of the Presidents' Summit for America's Future in
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    April 27, 1997

        The President. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good morning!
        Audience members. Good morning!
        The President. Are you ready to go to work?
        Audience members. Yes!
        The President. Are you warmed up?
        Audience members. Yes!
        The President. Have you heard all the speeches you want to hear?
        Audience members. Yes!
        The President. I want to just say--let me say, first of all, how
    grateful I am to be here with all the people who have made this possible
    and with all of you. I thank the people of Philadelphia for being so
    good to me since 1992 and for being my friends and for giving me a
    chance to work with you to bring Philadelphia back. Thank you so much. I
    thank all your officials. I thank your wonderful Mayor.
        General Powell told me when he retired from the United States Army
    as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the one thing he wanted to
    do more than anything else was to find a way to give every child in this
    country a chance at a good future, and I thank him for doing that.
        I thank Colin and Alma. I thank George and Barbara Bush for their
    examples, Mrs. Bush with her literacy program, President Bush for A
    Thousand Points of Light. I thank President and Mrs. Carter for caring
    about the children of this country, for the work they've done with
    Habitat for Humanity and for going all over the world to rid the
    children of the world of dread diseases, to give them food to eat and a
    decent, humane place to grow up in. I thank all of you.
        But let's face it--I want everybody to face it. Why are we here? We
    know that a lot of us would be doing a lot of this anyway. There are a
    lot of wonderful volunteers in America. Here's why we're here. This
    country has produced a lot of jobs in the last 4 years. The crime rate
    is going down; the welfare rolls are going down. But we're still losing
    too many kids to crime, to drugs, to not having a decent income in their
    home, and to not having a bright future. And we're here because we don't
    think we have to put up with it, and we believe together we can change
    it. Isn't that right? [Applause]
        I'm here because I want the young people out here to grow up in an
    America that is even greater than the America I grew up in. That is the
    eternal dream and promise, and every one of you deserves that. I'm here
    because, frankly, I believe that as children of God, we can never
    fulfill our own ambitions until we help our brothers and sisters to
    fulfill theirs.
        I'm here because I want to redefine the meaning of citizenship in
    America. I want the children here, starting next week, and all over
    America--if you're asked in school, what does it mean to be a good
    citizen, I want the answer to be, ``Well, to be a good citizen, you have
    to obey the law. You've got to go to work or be in school. You've got to
    pay your taxes, and, oh, yes, you have to serve in your community to
    help make it a better place.''
        And General Powell, since we're going to keep this going and we all
    have to make an account of ourselves, I'll go first. Here's my
    commitment to you and your project.
        In the next 4 years, the Department of Defense will mentor, tutor,
    and teach one million children. In the next 4 years, the Department of
    Transportation and the private businesses who work with them will do
    that for one million more. We will adopt a total of 2,000 schools in the
    Federal agencies of this country. We will find one million reading
    tutors in the America Reads program, to make sure every child can read
    independently by the third grade. And our AmeriCorps volunteers will go
    across this country to recruit at least a dozen more volunteers for
    every one of them, to make sure that all of the items on your agenda
    succeed. That is our commitment.
        Are you ready to keep your commitment?
        Audience members. Yes!
        The President. After today is over, do you promise to keep working
    tomorrow?
        Audience members. Yes!
        The President. And next year?
        Audience members. Yes!
        The President. And the year after that?

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        Audience members. Yes!
        The President. Until the job is done?
        Audience members. Yes!
        The President. I promise. Say it!
        Audience members. I promise!
        The President. Let's go to work.
        God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:05 a.m. at Marcus Foster Stadium. In his
    remarks, he referred to Mayor Edward Rendell of Philadelphia; Gen. Colin
    L. Powell, USA (ret.), former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his
    wife, Alma; and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.