With discussions of stimulus packages taking place around the country, National Service is certainly among the many undergoing very exciting times!

“The Serve America Act (S. 277), introduced by Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) would expand opportunities for people to serve at every stage of life in order to meet specific national challenges. This bill, which has strong bipartisan support, will be considered by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee next week. Once approved by the committee, it will move to the full Senate for deliberation.

The American Red Cross has joined with a number of other leading nonprofit organizations in support of both the Senate and House versions of the legislation. Moreover, President Obama has expressed his strong support for this legislation, and his budget request seeks to expand AmeriCorps and increase it from its current level of 75,000 positions to 250,000.

We continue to support both bills. The American Red Cross has joined with a number of other leading nonprofit groups on a letter to Congress of support for this legislation.

While the Serve America Act and the GIVE Act have a variety of provisions, of special interest to the Red Cross is the expansion of AmeriCorps, which has been of great value to a number of chapters across the country.”

For further information on this issue, please visit former 2003-2004 Clara Barton VISTA Corps Leader here at the Red Cross Oregon Trail Chapter Amy Potthast’s blog; The New Service.Amy now works for Idealist.org, and has been blogging about the process for some time. Here’s an example!