National Service Movement Inspired by Veterans Gains Traction

Many returned veterans have found renewed focus and drive through community service, inspiring a national movement toward increased service opportunities for people age 30 and under, writes Time magazine.

Eric Greitens, a former Navy SEAL and founder of the Mission Continues, a nonprofit that helps rehabilitate veterans through community service, told Time columnist Joe Klein that civilians can benefit from community service, too.

Michael Gerson, a columnist for The Washington Post echoes Mr. Greitens’s sentiments in an opinion piece that says universal national service for young people could “heal a divided nation.”

Michael Brown, CEO of City Year, a nonprofit focused on secondary education, writes in the Huffington Post about the Franklin Project of the Aspen Institute, which aims to engage a million young adults in a year of national service. Currently attending the Aspen Institute’s 21st Century National Service Summit, Mr. Brown says the Franklin Project would put “voluntary national service on par with the one million heroic Americans currently serving in the nation’s armed services.”