whatever happened to Obama's "civilian national security force"?
Pretty much what he said would happen. His "civilian national security force" notion essentially amounted to three concrete things: 1) expanding AmeriCorps, 2) expanding the Foreign Service, and 3) making it easier to connect people to volunteering opportunities.
Here:
Obama, July 2, Colorado Springs, CO: [As] president I will expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 slots [from 75,000] and make that increased service a vehicle to meet national goals, like providing health care and education, saving our planet and restoring our standing in the world, so that citizens see their effort connected to a common purpose.
People of all ages, stations and skills will be asked to serve. Because when it comes to the challenges we face, the American people are not the problem – they are the answer. So we are going to send more college graduates to teach and mentor our young people. We'll call on Americans to join an energy corps, to conduct renewable energy and environmental clean-up projects in their neighborhoods all across the country.
We will enlist our veterans to find jobs and support for other vets, and to be there for our military families. And we're going to grow our Foreign Service, open consulates that have been shuttered and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy. We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set.
We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded. We need to use technology to connect people to service. We'll expand USA Freedom Corps to create online networks where American can browse opportunities to volunteer. You'll be able to search by category, time commitment and skill sets. You'll be able to rate service opportunities, build service networks, and create your own service pages to track your hours and activities.
This will empower more Americans to craft their own service agenda and make their own change from the bottom up.
So what happened to it?
Well, the AmeriCorps expansion
became law only a few months after he took office:
The major provisions of the legislation are:
- Establishes four new service corps to address key needs in low income communities: a Clean Energy Corps to encourage energy efficiency and conservation; an Education Corps to help increase student engagement, achievement and graduation; a Healthy Futures Corps to improve health care access; and a Veterans Service Corps to enhance services for veterans.
- Increases the number of volunteers nationwide to 250,000, up from 75,000. These new service opportunities will include the expansion of existing service programs, like AmeriCorps, as well as the four new service corps focused on education, health care, energy and veterans. All service programs established under the bill will be overseen by the Corporation for National and Community Service.
- Increases the full-time education award service members receive in exchange for their work to $5,350 for 2010. This award would also be linked to match future increases in the Pell Grant scholarship in order to keep up with rising college costs.
- Establishes the Summer of Service program that engages middle and high school students in volunteer activities in their communities and allows them to earn a $500 education award to be used for college costs. Students will be eligible to participate in two terms of service and earn up to a total of $1,000.
- Establishes Youth Engagement Zones, a new service-learning program to engage low-income high school students and out-of-school youth in volunteer efforts that address challenges in their local communities. The program will encourage partnerships between community-based organizations and schools in high-need communities and apply real world activities to teach students about a certain topic. For example, volunteering in a homeless shelter could supplement a class about poverty.
- Expands opportunities for disadvantaged youth, including doubling the resources available to engage youth with disabilities, to become more involved with service and offers people of all ages and those from diverse backgrounds introduction to service.
- Establishes a new office for service opportunities for Native Americans.
- Expands the focus of the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) to include disaster relief, infrastructure improvement, environmental and energy conservation, and urban and rural development.
- Encourages service partnerships with other federal agencies and increases the participation of disadvantaged youth to 50 percent of program participants by 2011.
- Establishes an alumni corps of former participants who can be called to service during times of disaster and other emergencies.
- Encourages scientists, technicians and mathematicians to participate in service programs to help keep our nation competitive.
- Creates two new fellowships to engage social entrepreneurs, boomers and retirees, the private sector and Americans from all generations into service. Older Americans will be allowed to transfer their awards to a child, foster child or grandchild to help them pay for college.
1. ServeAmerica Fellowships: ServeAmerica Fellows are individuals who propose their own plans for serving in their communities to address national needs and are matched up with a service sponsor.
2. Silver Scholarships and Encore Fellowships: These programs offer Americans, age 55 or older, post-career service opportunities as well as entrance into new careers in the public or nonprofit sector. Silver Scholars will be able to earn up to $1,000 in exchange for 350 hours of service.
- Builds a nationwide service infrastructure through community-building investments, social entrepreneurship, and programs to support and generate new volunteers.
1. Community Solutions Fund: Creates a Community Solutions Fund pilot program that awards competitive matching grants to social entrepreneur venture funds in order to provide community organizations with the resources to replicate or expand proven solutions to community challenges, including a new focus on leveraging public private partnerships in small communities and rural areas. (Examples of service organizations that were launched by social entrepreneurs include Teach for America, City Year, Citizen Schools, Jump Start, Working Today, an organization that provides affordable, portable health benefits to 100,000 Americans, and the SEED school, the nation’s first public urban boarding school.)
2. Volunteer Generation Fund: Provides grants to improve the quality and capacity of organizations to work with volunteers, and to create innovations in volunteerism in the areas of recruitment, training and management.
- Expands the Volunteers for Prosperity program which encourages highly skilled professionals to serve internationally in targeted areas of need such as global health.
- Includes a Call to Service Campaign to launch a national campaign encouraging all Americans to engage in service and to observe September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance
- Establishes the Campuses of Service to support and recognize institutions of higher education with exemplary service-learning programs and assists students in the pursuit of public service careers.
For the Foreign Service, Obama offered expansions of it in both his
FY2010 and
FY2011 budgets.
And as for the third prong, the volunteer.gov site originally launched as part of George W. Bush's USA Freedom Corps was replaced by Obama's
serve.gov, which will connect you to volunteering opportunities to your heart's content.
