To learn more about Service Year Alliance’s policy and advocacy work, please contact Melissa Bender, Director of Government Relations.
Service Year Alliance advances policy proposals that help make service years an opportunity for all young Americans. Service years bring young Americans together to support their communities and the country. It can also be a cost efficient and effective tool for addressing the many challenges confronting our country, including learning loss, food insecurity, public health, and climate change while helping build a 21st century workforce.
To learn more about Service Year Alliance’s policy and advocacy work, please contact Melissa Bender, Director of Government Relations.
Imagine a future in which young people earn college tuition by addressing our communities’ greatest challenges — where they are empowered to shape their own destinies and those of their communities, regardless of zip code. Imagine a future in which empathy trumps apathy and participation and problem-solving outmatch indifference. Imagine a shared experience far stronger than anything that may seek to divide us.
This future is entirely achievable if a year of service is part of growing up in America. The White House, Congress, state and local leaders, business, community and philanthropic leaders, and every American should be working to make this future a reality. Service Year Alliance is organizing the stakeholders, the strategy, and the movement we need to bring this vision to life.
Exist at scale, engaging at least one million young Americans in civilian national service annually
Address America’s unmet needs
Bridge divides and fuel civic renewal
Be an opportunity for all
Build pathways to long-term success for individuals who serve through benefits and connectivity to future education and career.
Earlier this year, President Biden proposed the creation of a new, modern-era Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) as part of his American Jobs Plan to make communities more resilient to disasters and to “mobilize the next generation of conservation and resilience workers and maximize the creation of accessible training opportunities and good jobs.” The CCC is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand national service, putting young people to work fighting climate change and setting them on a pathway towards good-paying jobs. A $30 billion investment would allow our nation to build a bold, dynamic CCC that fights fires and hurricanes, supports conservation efforts, and builds community resilience. It would also lift the living stipend for all AmeriCorps programs, making national service an accessible opportunity for more young people.