FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Mar 10, 2009

Dear Colleagues,

Following on last month's hearing on national service in the House Education and Labor Committee, today at 2:30 the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will hold a hearing on "The Next Generation of National Service"

Witnesses include the Corporation's Board Chair Alan Solomont and Vice-Chair Stephen Goldsmith, former Montana Governor Marc Racicot, longtime service champion Shirley Sagawa, and leaders of several national service programs. The hearing will focus on S. 277, the bipartisan Serve America Act, introduced by Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and other measures to expand and strengthen national service programs for Americans of all ages.

Witness statements will be available on the HELP Committee website at http://help.senate.gov when the hearing starts. Also, the hearing will be streamed live over the Internet and archived for future viewing. To watch, visit the HELP Committee website at 2:30 pm, click on the “Hearings” link, then click on the link for “Full Committee Hearing - The Next Generation of National Service” and look for the Audio Video link. We thank Chairman Kennedy, Ranking Member Enzi, and Senator Mikulski, who will preside over today's hearing, for holding today’s hearing and for their longstanding support and leadership on service.

In other news, yesterday Rep. Carolyn McCarthy and Rep. George Miller introduced H.R. 1388, the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act, with 11 cosponsors. We are excited that national service has become an early priority of the 111th Congress, and will keep you posted on further developments.

In Service,

Nicola Goren
Acting CEO
Corporation for National and Community Service

Hearing on The Next Generation of National Service

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Tuesday, March 10, 2:30 p.m., Dirksen 430

Panel I

  • Alan Solomont, Board of Directors and Chair, Corporation for National and Community Service, and Chairman and CEO, Solomont Bailis Ventures, Weston, MA
        
  • Stephen Goldsmith, Vice-Chair, Corporation for National and Community Service and Daniel Paul Professor of Government and Director of the Innovations, American Government Program, Cambridge, MA

Panel II

  • Lester Strong, CEO, Experience Corps, Washington, DC
        
  • Marc Racicot, Former Governor of Montana, Bigfork, MT
        
  • Michael Brown, CEO, City Year, Boston, MA
        
  • Michelle Bouchard, President, HealthCorps, New York, NY
        
  • Shirley Sagawa, Visiting Fellow, Center for American Progress, and Co-Founder, Sagawa/Jospin Consulting, Washington, DC

AmeriCorps, a federal agency, brings people together to tackle the country's most pressing challenges through national service and volunteering. AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers serve with organizations dedicated to the improvement of communities. AmeriCorps helps make service to others a cornerstone of our national culture. Learn more at AmeriCorps.gov.