April 17, 2020 | Read Time: 5 minutes
Understandably buried in the news this past month, under the stories about the growing Covid-19 pandemic, is a hopeful call to action — bold proposals that could help America emerge from this crisis stronger, more united, and better prepared for future disasters.
The National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, after nearly three years of work, released its final report to the public late last month. It includes recommendations to strengthen all forms of service to meet domestic and national security needs. The congressionally mandated bipartisan commission is calling for — among many other ideas — the largest expansion of civilian national service in decades, aiming to have 1 million Americans in civilian national service by 2031.
Meanwhile, Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Edward Markey released a bill this week that would dramatically expand the number of AmeriCorps members serving from 75,000 to 500,000 in an effort to directly fight the coronavirus.
If we heed the recommendations in this ambitious report, members of Congress follow the lead of their peers, and philanthropy and business come together to invest in expanding national service significantly, America will be in a strong position to respond to the fallout from this pandemic, ready to take action when the next crisis strikes, and stronger from the sense of unity that service brings to our daily lives.
For the past three decades, both of us have seen national service in action. In 1988, Michael joined Alan Khazei to found City Year, a program that today helps students and schools succeed in systemically underresourced communities. A few years later, using City Year as a model, Shirley was a Senate aide who helped write the legislation that created AmeriCorps — the largest umbrella national service organization. Today, 65,000 young people serve every year with AmeriCorps programs in education, disaster response, community revitalization, health care, and more. As we combat the Covid-19 pandemic, some of these young people remain on the front lines, responding to the crisis and supporting health care providers, while many others are seeking to continue to serve by transitioning to online service from their homes.
When we were creating these programs, neither of us foresaw a time where our daily lives would be upended by a global pandemic. We did know, however, that in moments of crisis, Americans are eager to step up, pitch in, and find ways to contribute to solutions — and we know now that national service can help our country heal from this tragedy.
In the short term, once the virus is contained, an expansion of national service could serve as a bridge for many Americans who will find themselves jobless as a result of the pandemic — demand for AmeriCorps positions surged dramatically after the 2008 recession.
And there will be much to be done to restore normalcy after this disaster, starting with emergency stimulus support for the nation’s nonprofits, which are critical to providing essential services in America. To augment this badly needed effort, national service corps members can expand the capacity of hard-hit nonprofits strapped to serve more clients with fewer resources, support public-health efforts, help students make up lost classroom time, train teachers and students in using technology necessary for virtual learning, and assist families and organizations as they plan responses to other disasters.
Over the long term, imagine the difference that 1 million Americans in service could make. With this scale, we could put a team in every Head Start Center and underresourced school, double the FEMA disaster-response corps, put corps members in every public-library branch, volunteer fire department, hospital, and public charity that wants them, while improving the energy efficiency of homes and dramatically reducing the maintenance backlog of public lands and national parks — and so much more.
Today, more than 44,000 AmeriCorps members serve in education, including one in four systemically underresourced schools. They are making a tremendous difference for the students they serve. But equally important, they are becoming a critical source of diverse teachers who come to the task with a deep understanding of the social and emotional needs of their students. A survey of recent City Year alums found that nearly half are currently working in education.
While this may be this century’s first health disaster, it will likely not be our last. Relatively few AmeriCorps members today serve in health organizations. But if we made it a priority, we could not only increase the reach and capacity of health centers and senior-care facilities, but also develop a powerful pipeline of health care professionals of all types — those who have done a service year are four times more likely than their peers to enter a helping profession.
Uniting our country in service is more important than ever before. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we are all in this together. We need to arise from this public-health and economic crisis more united and refuse to revert to our too-often divisive and dismissive civic culture. National service is a powerful, concrete way to do just that.
The commission’s bold, bipartisan report sets the stage for a future in which America is stronger because we serve together. As the time frame for the pandemic and the economic downturn is widening, it is not too early to begin to think of what kind of America can emerge when we tame them both — and how we can tap the energy and idealism of America’s young people to help lead the way.
