[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
[March 19, 1998]
[Pages 405-406]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Message to the Congress Transmitting Proposed Legislation on Community 
Service
March 19, 1998

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

[[Page 406]]

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 Service Scholarship 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.