On Saturday, February 11th, Mayor Sam Liccardo of San Jose, California made an audacious inspiring commitment. At his annual State of the City address, Mayor Liccardo shared the “Tale of One City”, a vision for a city diving headlong into its challenges with a focus on investing in its youth to help them growth into active, civically engaged community members.

Building on many of the city’s innovations such as San Jose Promise and Unleash Your Geek, Mayor Liccardo announced ServeSJ, which includes his commitment to increasing service year opportunities for San Jose’s own youth. 

Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics Winter 2017 Poll shows that the solid majority of America’s 18-29 year olds support a national service program.

[embedlycard url="http://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/harvard-iop-winter-2017-poll"]

[embedlycard url="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/uncategorized/317827-bringing-americans-together-through-national-service"]

Take a few minutes and check out all of the incredible ways that service year corps members are making an impact as we kick off 2017. They continue to show how young people address our communities' most pressing challenges -- from preserving conservation areas in heavy snow and repairing flood-damaged homes, to organizing incredible MLK Day of Service activities in communities.

[embedlycard url="http://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/2017/01/21/uniting-nation-national-service/96895562/"]

[embedlycard url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-l-gordon-iii/martin-luther-king-jr-day_b_14203670.html"]

Before we sign off for the holidays, we pulled together some of the most powerful service year stories from the past few weeks that paint an amazing picture of what service year corps members are up to this holiday season. So, as you hop in the car to travel home for the holidays or wait in line at airport security, take a few minutes and check out all of the incredible ways that service year corps members are bringing joy to local communities. 

[embedlycard url="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kaviguppta/2016/12/16/4-work-experience-programs-that-lead-to-paying-jobs/#365c526197e0"]

Imagine the power of service years scaled across a city, town, or high-need neighborhood working day after day to address community challenges. The Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) at North Carolina State University, a non-partisan public policy organization, and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation recognized the potential for service year opportunities to bring forward an engaged citizenry, foster a sense of collective responsibility, and address enormous challenges facing North Carolina. 

The 114th Congress is coming to an end in a few weeks, and while the new Congress will bring new champions for the service year movement, it also means that our movement is losing one of our most ardent supporters.

Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) — the Godmother of National Service — is retiring at the end of the year.