March 26, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
The House of Representatives last week adopted a bill to expand the country’s national-service programs and create new funds to help charities duplicate innovative programs and recruit and manage volunteers.
The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act, passed by a vote of 321 to 105, would triple the number of participants in programs like AmeriCorps to 250,000 by 2014, creating new “corps” to work in the fields of education, energy, health care, and services to veterans.
It would also create a Summer of Service for middleand high-school students, Youth Engagement Zones to enlist young people in low-income neighborhoods in volunteer projects, and a program to allow colleges to get grants if they are designated “Campuses of Service.”
The bill would create service-related fellowships and scholarships for people 55 and older and a National Service Reserve Corps of alumni who would respond to national disasters.
It would designate September 11 a National Day of Service and Remembrance to commemorate the 2001 terrorist attacks. And it would increase the amount of the education grants awarded to AmeriCorps participants.
Senate Action
Action now moves to the Senate, which is considering a similar bill, the Serve America Act. That body’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved the legislation last week.
The Corporation for National and Community Service, which operates the national-service programs, said the action comes as interest in AmeriCorps is growing. The program received 9,371 online applications in February, more than triple the number it received in February 2008, it said in a statement.
