Tuesday, June 17, 2003
Does President Bush support volunteerism or not?
AmeriCorps is a network of national service programs that engage more than 50,000 Americans each year in intensive service to meet critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment.
They tutor and mentor youth, build affordable housing, teach computer skills, clean parks and streams, run after-school programs, and help communities respond to disasters.
These programs engage more than 2 million Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service each year.
Bush, often meets with AmeriCorps volunteers on his trips around the country. He seeks these people for photo ops, so he clearly wants to highlight their efforts as worthwhile.
Rob Waldron, the head of Jumpstart, a Boston-based Americorp program, pairs college students with preschool children, to help the children develop literacy and language skills. Waldron said that Bush met personally with some of his volunteers last October and that Laura Bush wrote all of the tutors, urging them to consider teaching careers.
George Bush's interest continues to show itself in his speeches and few subjects are addressed more frequently by President Bush than voluntary national service. In the State of the Union addresses and in dozens of speeches around the country, this president has urged Americans to devote time and energy to community projects. And he has pledged his best efforts to expand government programs of national service.
In last Sunday's radio Address Bush, he brought the subject of volunteerism again. He said " Our nation is strengthened every time a citizen steps forward to serve a cause greater than self-interest. And each of us can serve and strengthen America by reaching out to neighbors in need. There are so many ways to improve the lives of fellow Americans -- by answering the call to feed the hungry, or caring for the elderly, or teaching a child to read, or joining with neighbors to support the police, fire fighters and medics who respond to emergencies. Every action you take will strengthen the bonds of community that unite all Americans, and extend the promise of American life to another citizen.
One would think that such a well-mentioned and worthwhile activity would be a priority for the Bush administration. He may say it is important over and over again but government funding for Americorp will be cut this year.
Memos sent to the states by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the parent agency for AmeriCorps, indicate that dozens and perhaps hundreds of long-established programs, including some which were praised by the president and first lady Laura Bush, will lose their funding.
As if the current job market isn’t bad enough for college grads, one of the largest national employers of that labor pool could be forced to cut back on thousands of openings.
AmeriCorps Director Rosie Mauk issued a statement saying, "We are keenly aware of the impact that the reduced level of funding for 2003 will have on the entire field of national service." But she held out hope that additional grants may be made later this year. In a recent interview she said
The cutback in funding could have a nasty "domino effect" on other sources of funds as well. The loss of existing programs may mean that private sector partners such as Starbucks -- which contributes $1 million a year -- may also withdraw their support.
"It's hard to understand why this should be happening when the president says he wants us to grow by 50 percent," Schmitz said. "He seems to get everything else he asks for." As of the President's speech this last Sunday, Bush has not intervened to block the cutbacks.
The actions of Bush's administration seem to betray his speeches about helping people. If he doesn't believe in it, he should stop the rhetoric. If he does support what he says, he should put the money where his mouth is.
He can offset the program cost by reducing the public relations program designed to win the hearts and minds of in the Arab world. That is pretty much a lost cause anyway.
Sources cited:
The Washington Post Company
AmeriCorps
Miguel Llanos
MSNBC
AmeriCorps is a network of national service programs that engage more than 50,000 Americans each year in intensive service to meet critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment.
They tutor and mentor youth, build affordable housing, teach computer skills, clean parks and streams, run after-school programs, and help communities respond to disasters.
These programs engage more than 2 million Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service each year.
Bush, often meets with AmeriCorps volunteers on his trips around the country. He seeks these people for photo ops, so he clearly wants to highlight their efforts as worthwhile.
Rob Waldron, the head of Jumpstart, a Boston-based Americorp program, pairs college students with preschool children, to help the children develop literacy and language skills. Waldron said that Bush met personally with some of his volunteers last October and that Laura Bush wrote all of the tutors, urging them to consider teaching careers.
George Bush's interest continues to show itself in his speeches and few subjects are addressed more frequently by President Bush than voluntary national service. In the State of the Union addresses and in dozens of speeches around the country, this president has urged Americans to devote time and energy to community projects. And he has pledged his best efforts to expand government programs of national service.
In last Sunday's radio Address Bush, he brought the subject of volunteerism again. He said " Our nation is strengthened every time a citizen steps forward to serve a cause greater than self-interest. And each of us can serve and strengthen America by reaching out to neighbors in need. There are so many ways to improve the lives of fellow Americans -- by answering the call to feed the hungry, or caring for the elderly, or teaching a child to read, or joining with neighbors to support the police, fire fighters and medics who respond to emergencies. Every action you take will strengthen the bonds of community that unite all Americans, and extend the promise of American life to another citizen.
One would think that such a well-mentioned and worthwhile activity would be a priority for the Bush administration. He may say it is important over and over again but government funding for Americorp will be cut this year.
Memos sent to the states by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the parent agency for AmeriCorps, indicate that dozens and perhaps hundreds of long-established programs, including some which were praised by the president and first lady Laura Bush, will lose their funding.
As if the current job market isn’t bad enough for college grads, one of the largest national employers of that labor pool could be forced to cut back on thousands of openings.
AmeriCorps Director Rosie Mauk issued a statement saying, "We are keenly aware of the impact that the reduced level of funding for 2003 will have on the entire field of national service." But she held out hope that additional grants may be made later this year. In a recent interview she said
The cutback in funding could have a nasty "domino effect" on other sources of funds as well. The loss of existing programs may mean that private sector partners such as Starbucks -- which contributes $1 million a year -- may also withdraw their support.
"It's hard to understand why this should be happening when the president says he wants us to grow by 50 percent," Schmitz said. "He seems to get everything else he asks for." As of the President's speech this last Sunday, Bush has not intervened to block the cutbacks.
The actions of Bush's administration seem to betray his speeches about helping people. If he doesn't believe in it, he should stop the rhetoric. If he does support what he says, he should put the money where his mouth is.
He can offset the program cost by reducing the public relations program designed to win the hearts and minds of in the Arab world. That is pretty much a lost cause anyway.
Sources cited:
The Washington Post Company
AmeriCorps
Miguel Llanos
MSNBC
# posted by Thomas @ 12:21 AM 
