Interesting article on service and volunteerism below from Roger Cohen.
National Service should not be a partisan issue but it has become one. President George H.W. Bush started the Points of Light Foundation during his Presidency which highlighted and funded, in some cases, volunteer projects that helped local communities.
Seeking to emulate President Kennedy, President Clinton started Americorps, a domestic version of the Peace Corp and created the Corporation for National and Community Service. Since that moment early in the Clinton Administration, extreme right wing conservatives have pounced on Americorp and funded volunteerism. The current Administration wants to completely cut the program. That would be unwise.
As divided as the country is, the current administration and state and local governments should be looking for ways to expand service.
One idea would be to make service a high school graduation requirement.
Another idea patterned on what some countries like Israel do is to make high school and college graduates devote at least one year of service before either entering college or the workforce or the first year a retiree gets social security.
People could volunteer in areas like education, senior citizen care, the environment, and neighborhood cleanup, caring for the poor, homeless and disabled, law enforcement, and the military.
This would create better-informed citizens and a more active citizenship. It would also pull the country closer together. This is an idea that should be embraced.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/04/opinion/sunday/travel-abroad-in-your-own-country.html?_r=1
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