With the signing today by President Obama of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, America takes another step toward more fully supporting both the capacity and the willingness of its citizens to serve.

The NCoC and the Civic Health Index are named in the Act, and directed to work in partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service to expand the reach and impact of the Index and to help communities harness the power of their citizens.

“Today’s signing is a landmark in the history of service programs and, as importantly, in our commitment to study and measure how service can strengthen the meaning and value of citizenship for millions of Americans,” said NCoC chairman Michael Weiser.

“NCoC is proud to have been included in the Act and anxious to begin working with our partners and others to measure the civic return on these investments,” said NCoC Executive Director David Smith.

Among its many provisions, the Act reauthorizes the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees among others, the AmeriCorps programs, through 2014. The bill also includes significant provisions that will enhance the capacity of millions of Americans to serve, including:

• Supporting program expansion and measuring of the impact of service on the nation’s civic health.
• Expansion of service opportunities for Americans of all ages, setting a path for increasing the number of AmeriCorps members to 250,000 by 2017.
• A Social Innovation Fund pilot program to provide seed money to programs that leverage private capital to meet community challenges.
• Expanding eligibility for the Senior Companion and Foster Grandparent programs.
• Simplifying AmeriCorps program management
• Increasing the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award to reward service through improved access to student loans.


“But the Serve America Act is more than a service milestone,” said Alan Khazei, NCoC Advisor and CEO of Be the Change, Inc. in his blog on the Huffington Post. “It contains the seeds for developing a new public philosophy for how we attack an array of persistent societal challenges, from the high school dropout crisis, to poverty and homelessness, to climate change.”

“The sustainable impact civic behaviors can cultivate by creating feelings of connectedness and increasing trust among individuals and for institutions are inextricably linked to creating a healthier society,” NCoC Program Director Kristen Cambell in a post on the Case Foundation blog. Sustainable Impact: A Civic Return on Investment is the theme of the 2009 National Conference on Citizenship.