Urge Congress to Vote Yes on Expanding National Service

This Wednesday, March 18th, Congress will vote on a critical bill that will have enormous consequences for the future of National Service in America.

The GIVE Act, HR 1388, is the boldest service legislation in over 70 years. It proposes to expand AmeriCorps from 75,000 to 250,000 annual slots, more service and service-learning for students, new opportunities for older Americans to serve, and more. You can read a summary of the bill here.

We need your help to make sure this bill passes with bi-partisan support. Please take a moment on Tuesday to contact your congressperson and let them know how important National Service is to you, and urge them to vote for this bill. Details follow below.

We have also launched a petition to demonstrate to Congress the broad support for service as a strategy to help solve our challenges and a way to create jobs. In addition to your personal calls, this is another simple way to show our leaders that service should be a priority to help get our nation back on track.

You can sign petition here: www.http://servenext.org/campaigns/give

You can read more about the politics of this Act, and why it enjoys bipartisan support, in this great article by EJ Dionne in the Washington Post.

Thank you for taking a moment out of your day to support this essential legislation!

HOW TO CALL THE MEMBERS OF YOUR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION

1. If you need help determining who represents your district visit www.congress.org.
2. Call the House Operator at (202) 225-3121 and ask to be connected to the office of your representative.
3. Once connected, identify yourself as a constituent and ask to speak to the Legislative Assistant in charge of national service and education issues.

A MESSAGE TO DELIVER BY PHONE

I am calling to ask Representative _______ to vote for the GIVE Act (H.R. 1388). The GIVE Act will reauthorize the federally-supported national service programs like AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, and Senior Corps, which have not been reauthorized in 16 years.

The reforms in this bill will ensure accountability, transparency, and results. They will also make it easier for faith and community-based organizations, including small nonprofits in rural and economically disadvantaged areas meet growing needs in a more effective way.

The GIVE Act will help the nonprofit sector to engage our citizens in addressing local and national challenges in education, health, clean energy, poverty and many other areas. The federal investment is leveraged by significant investment from the private sector and philanthropy.

This is a bipartisan bill. It is not controversial and the White House supports the legislation. I hope that Representative______ will vote in favor of the GIVE Act.