    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [October 20, 1999]
    [Pages 1834-1838]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Fifth Anniversary of AmeriCorps
    October 20, 1999

        The President. Well, Andre, thanks to you no
    one has to wonder about what AmeriCorps is all about. I thank you for
    your introduction. I thank you for your service to AmeriCorps and to
    your country. And I thank you for the power of your example. And I hope,
    maybe more than anyone else who speaks today, your voice and your story
    will be told out of this great anniversary meeting.
        I want to thank all the other people here who helped to make this
    day possible. I want to thank Deb Jospin for
    her leadership; Senator Harris Wofford; Eli
    Segal, for what he did to help us get started; and
    all of them. Let's give them all a hand. [Applause]
        I want to thank Hillary for
    always believing in this and for taking it on as a personal goal that we
    would do something about the fact that when we had 100,000 people in
    AmeriCorps and everybody who knew about it loved it but most people
    didn't know about it, she decided she would change that. And Eli and Alan Solomont and our
    friend Dan Dutko and others agreed to help. And I thank her for her
    passionate support during these years when we believed in AmeriCorps
    when it was just sort of an idea. And she has done a wonderful job.
        I want to thank the Members of Congress who are here, who were here,
    Senator Specter, Congressman Quinn, and Congressman Payne, three
    who represent the bipartisan support that we have enjoyed. I thank James
    Lee Witt, Jack Lew,
    Janice Lachance, and others in the
    administration who have helped us. I want to thank our presenters, whom
    I will introduce in just a moment, General Colin Powell, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, Sargent Shriver,
    and the Governor of Utah, Mike Leavitt,
    for being here, and I want to thank the Howard University Choir.

    [[Page 1835]]

    They're going to sing for us and with us in a few moments.
        You know, it seems impossible to me that it was 5 years ago on the
    North Lawn of the White House that we led the first class of AmeriCorps
    members in the AmeriCorps pledge. It wasn't very long before that that I
    had the privilege of signing the legislation creating AmeriCorps with
    the same pen that President Kennedy had used to sign the legislation
    creating the Peace Corps.
        I always believed that you would elevate the cause of citizen
    service in America, that you would make America a better place. But on
    that day 5 years ago, AmeriCorps was still just an idea with a good
    plan, built on the remarkable pathbreaking efforts of Sargent
    Shriver with the Peace Corps and VISTA;
    built on the remarkable service corps I had seen in Boston and Los
    Angeles and San Antonio and other cities; championed by some of the most
    thoughtful and passionate citizens of both parties; energized by, even
    then, 20,000 young people who were raring to give something to their
    country and wanted to be part of AmeriCorps.
        But still, it was just an incandescent idea. Today we celebrate,
    thanks to you and your predecessors, a glowing success. AmeriCorps
    members are living up to the highest obligations of our citizenship.
    They are creating opportunity for others, taking responsibility for
    themselves, and fostering a community of all Americans. They are our
    best builders, building that bridge to the new century.
        You can see it in the way their optimism inspires others to also
    lend a hand and volunteer in their communities. You can see it in the
    remarkable teamwork and camaraderie that I have personally witnessed and
    felt all over this country in so many different activities. You can see
    it in the way they work together across the lines that would normally
    divide AmeriCorps members and eliminate the alienation that too many of
    our young people experience today. You can see kids who went to Ivy
    League schools and kids who dropped out of high school working side by
    side, serving together, giving together, and treating each other as
    equals, proving that Dr. King's dream of a beloved community is alive
    and well in the hearts and lives of the AmeriCorps volunteers.
        I could just give you one illustration among thousands. On his very
    first day as an AmeriCorps member in a small town in southern West
    Virginia, Scott Finn heard that local residents
    had a dream of cleaning up a boarded-up old schoolhouse and turning it
    into a community center. The school had no electricity. It had no
    running water. It was a complete wreck, inside and out, an eyesore, and
    a place that invited drugs and crime and mischief.
        So Scott, fresh out of Harvard, a long way
    from a little town in West Virginia, put together a team of volunteers
    and sparked a new determination to get things done. They hauled water
    out of a nearby creek to mop the floors. They negotiated a lease. They
    raised $50,000 in grant money. And today that sorry old school is a
    beautiful new community center, with a lending library, a gym, and a
    safe playground. That's AmeriCorps at its best. That new community
    center is a meeting place for dances, for gospel concerts, for after-
    school programs, and a Boy Scout troop. It's a tremendous source of
    community pride. Scott is one of the 21 remarkable AmeriCorps members
    and alumni who will receive one of our All*AmeriCorps Awards. They'll
    all be introduced later. But I just wanted you to think about that.
        When AmeriCorps members like Scott first took their pledge, they
    promised, and I quote, ``to carry this commitment with me, this year and
    beyond.'' Today we will help them fulfill the second part of that
    pledge, for today I'm asking the Corporation for National Service to
    develop a new initiative to connect former AmeriCorps members with
    service opportunities wherever they live. Habitat for Humanity, the Red
    Cross, the Boys and Girls Clubs, America's Promise, the Points of Light
    Foundation, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, the United Way, the National
    Mentoring Partnership: they've all signed on to help, all to use the
    incredible experience and commitment of our former AmeriCorps members.
        Like returned Peace Corps volunteers and military veterans, those of
    you who are AmeriCorps members and alums represent an enormous national
    pool of know-how and can-do. You are already 150,000 strong and growing
    stronger. I hope soon we'll be adding 100,000 new members to your ranks
    every single year.
        There is no question that you are now an indispensable force for
    change in America. After years of fights over funding and purpose in
    AmeriCorps, peace is breaking out all over in Washington. [Laughter] A
    major factor lifting AmeriCorps out of the realm of partisan politics

    [[Page 1836]]

    here is the support of people and leaders and especially Governors of
    both parties, like Governor Leavitt, out
    in the country who have seen firsthand how AmeriCorps members are
    setting off chain reactions of civic involvement, civic progress, and
    civic pride.
        In State after State, in community after community, AmeriCorps
    volunteers prove daily they're one of the best and smartest investments
    our country ever made. They're showing us here in Washington what you
    can do when you stop talking past one another and start working with
    each other. Right now, in the middle of this battle over the budget, we
    need more reminders like this.
        Today I had the honor of signing the budget for VA and HUD, for the
    EPA, for the National Science Foundation, programs to help the homeless,
    give housing vouchers to empower the poor; programs for our empowerment
    zones that the Vice President has led; and
    for the first step in my new markets initiative, to give investors in
    this country the same incentives to invest in poor communities in
    America, where many of you work, that we give them today to invest in
    poor communities in Latin America and Asia and Africa. This is
    important.
        I hope this is just the beginning and that we will do the same when
    it comes to the education of our children. AmeriCorps volunteers have
    been in the forefront of a lot of our education efforts, and I hope that
    the spirit you bring will infect the spirit of our deliberations here.
    We know that our children can have a good future if we work together
    across party lines the way you do.
        Let me just say, before I introduce the distinguished Americans who
    will present the All*AmeriCorps Awards, once again how profoundly
    grateful I am to every person here who has helped to lift AmeriCorps
    beyond the pale of a partisan political fight. I especially thank those
    who had genuine reservations 5 years ago and then have the followthrough
    and the courage and the openness to take an honest look at AmeriCorps in
    action and to help us to improve some of our actions, which we also did.
        Most of all, I want to express my gratitude to the AmeriCorps
    members and their leaders throughout this country who have lived up to
    their pledge and so much more. By taking your responsibility personally,
    as the advertising campaign says, you are breathing new life into our
    old, old democracy, sparking a new patriotism among a new generation of
    Americans, a patriotism of the homefront rooted in the knowledge that
    our Nation's strength and security and our individual possibilities are
    all determined in no small measure by whether all of us have a chance to
    live up to our God-given potential. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
        I'm going to introduce our four presenters and they, in turn, will
    come to the microphone and do their jobs.
        From the moment her husband was struck down on the balcony of the
    Lorraine Motel, Coretta Scott King
    determined that it was up to her to keep the dream alive. Despite her
    grief, she got on a plane for Memphis to address the same striking
    sanitation workers her husband had gone there to help. She told them,
    ``We are going to continue this work to make all people truly free.''
        She has done that in every possible
    way: by leading marches and giving impassioned speeches for racial
    justice, human rights, an end to discrimination based on sexual
    orientation; by founding the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for
    Nonviolent Social Change; by leading the efforts to create a national
    holiday in her husband's memory; and by helping to turn that holiday
    into a day of service, not a day of rest. There is no one in America who
    is better suited to present the All*AmeriCorps Common Ground Award, and
    we welcome her today.
        Sargent Shriver often describes
    himself as a lucky man, having been graced with the remarkable and
    wonderful family he has. I might say, the rest of us think he's lucky
    because, among other things, he's the youngest and healthiest man his
    age on the face of the planet. [Laughter]
        But our luck is just as profound, for America has never in its long
    history had a more compassionate and passionate man more devoted to
    public service. He was the founder of the
    Peace Corps and the VISTA. He served the Navy in World War II, created
    Head Start and the Job Corps and Legal Services. He led the Special
    Olympics, served as Ambassador to France, led the Chicago Board of
    Education, fostered civil rights early, when it wasn't so popular, and
    economic opportunity for the poor, all growing out of his profound
    religious faith and his deep patriotism. On top of all that, he is one
    of the most warm and genuinely unassuming people you will ever meet. We
    are honored to have him here today to present the All*AmeriCorps

    [[Page 1837]]

    Award for Strengthening Communities. One of the greatest public servants
    in the history of the United States, Sargent Shriver.
        Whenever I speak about Mike Leavitt,
    the Governor of Utah and the new chairman of the National Governors'
    Association--one of the most popular leaders in Utah history--I am
    reluctant to say anything nice about him because his State is so
    Republican, I'm afraid I'll hurt him and knock him down a peg or two
    back home if it gets out that I'm bragging on him. [Laughter] But his
    complete commitment to service and his generous support of AmeriCorps is
    one of the reasons that we are where we are today, with the breadth and
    depth of support for this program.
        Two years ago, in a rally with General Powell, Governor Leavitt helped
    to launch Utah's Promise, a statewide effort to mobilize all the
    citizens of that State to action. Already it is yielding remarkable
    results, increasing literacy, creating new service teams, recruiting and
    training more caring foster parents, a big issue for Hillary and for me.
    Governor Leavitt has been a great champion of Utah's schoolchildren,
    reducing class size, increasing teacher pay, equipping Utah's classrooms
    for the 21st century. It is only fitting that he present the
    All*AmeriCorps Award for Leadership, because he is truly an all-American
    leader. Thank you, Governor Leavitt.
        And finally, General Colin Powell. In 1993
    General Powell, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the architect
    of America's victory in Desert Storm, retired from his extraordinary
    military career. I was one of many Presidents who benefited immensely by
    his service.
        But that was just the first act in Colin Powell's remarkable life of service. He has gone on to serve our
    country as the leader of America's Promise, his national crusade to give
    every child the nurturing and support he or she needs and to give every
    young person the opportunity to serve. Already General Powell and his
    troops, including many AmeriCorps members, have touched the lives of
    millions of children. General Powell used to say in a characteristically
    modest way that he was, first and foremost, an infantryman. Ladies and
    gentlemen, I begin by introducing you to the infantryman who is leading
    the charge toward America's Promise, General Colin Powell.

    [At this point, the All*AmeriCorps Awards were presented.]

        The President. Now, I think our presenters did a wonderful job.
    Let's give them all a hand again. [Applause] They were great. We thank
    them for their time.
        I want to leave you with this thought, and then ask the new class to
    stand and join me in the AmeriCorps promise. And then we will hear from
    and sing with the Howard University Choir in ``America The Beautiful.''
        When you leave here today and you remember how you felt and you
    remember the stories of the people we honored, I want you to think of
    the future you would like to build for America in the 21st century. I
    want you to think about what you'd like this country and this world to
    be like when your children are your age, when your grandchildren are
    your age.
        If I ask you to write down what you think the new century will hold,
    depending on your background, you might say, well, we're going to
    finally solve all the mysteries of the human gene, which is true, and
    then mothers will go home from the hospital with their newborn babies
    with a little map of their future, and it will tell you, individualized,
    what kind of food your children should eat, what kind of exercise
    regimes they should have, what they should avoid, how you can maximize
    the quality of their lives.
        Or if you're into computers, you might talk about the next
    generation of the Internet and how, in no time at all, the number of
    Internet users will be as dense as the number of telephone users in
    America and how the Internet might allow children in the poorest
    villages of the world to skip a whole generation of educational and
    economic development. Or you might think about how these two things will
    join together, and we'll be able to put little digital, electronic
    impulses in various parts of people's bodies that will help them
    overcome paralysis and have medical miracles.
        Or if you're interested in outer space, you might say you look
    forward to the discovering of billions of new galaxies and finding out
    what's really in those big black holes in outer space.
        Isn't it interesting when you think about all this modern, exciting
    stuff, the most sweeping discoveries the world has ever known, don't you
    think it's interesting that the biggest problems we have in this country
    and throughout this

    [[Page 1838]]

    world relate not to some modern problem--although there are modern
    problems, like sophisticated weapons--but they're rooted in the oldest,
    most primitive problem of human societies? We're still afraid of people
    who are different from us, who look different from us, who act different
    from us, who have different views about how to worship God or live their
    lives.
        That's why AmeriCorps is so important. For all the things I've been
    involved in all these years as President, all the things I've worked to
    do, I really believe, looking toward the future, if every young person
    has a chance to be a good citizen--and we don't give up on anybody; we
    always give them a chance to come back, here; we had a lot of comeback
    kids here today talking--and if America can remain committed to building
    one America across all the lines that divide us, recognizing that our
    differences make life more exciting but what's important is our common
    humanity, if those two things can prevail, more than any modern
    discovery, you'll be proud of the America your children and
    grandchildren have.
        That's why AmeriCorps matters and why I am so grateful to you. Thank
    you very much.
        Now, I want to ask the newest class of AmeriCorps volunteers to
    stand up and repeat the oath after me. Raise your right hand.
        ``I will get things done for America to make our people safer,
    smarter, and healthier. I will bring Americans together to strengthen
    our communities. Faced with apathy, I will take action. Faced with
    conflict, I will seek common ground. Faced with adversity, I will
    persevere. I will carry this commitment with me this year and beyond. I
    am an AmeriCorps member. And I will get things done.''

    [Audience members repeated the pledge line by line after the President.]

        Congratulations.
        Good for you. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to ask you, in
    advance, to give a warm round of applause to the Howard University
    Choir. They've waited through this whole thing to sing ``America The
    Beautiful'' with us. [Applause]
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:55 p.m. in a tent on the South Lawn at
    the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Andre Crisp, AmeriCorps
    volunteer, who introduced the President; Eli Segal, former Chief
    Executive Officer, Corporation for National Service; Alan D. Solomont,
    former national finance chair, Democratic National Committee; and the
    late Dan Dutko, Democratic Party fundraiser. The transcript released by
    the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of the First
    Lady.