Obama hails Kennedy, signs volunteerism bill

From TheMatadorOnline.com Newsroom:

By Rebecca Cole

Tribune Washington Bureau

(MCT)

WASHINGTON — At a time when community service is already growing, openings for federally sponsored volunteers will more than triple under a bill that President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday.

The legislation, which won broad bipartisan support, authorizes an expansion of AmeriCorps and other national service programs. It is named for its lead sponsor, Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who attended the signing along with former President Bill Clinton, who started AmeriCorps in 1993.

With his signature, Obama called on Americans to "stand up" and take part in community service. "I'm asking you to help change history's course, put your shoulder up against the wheel," he said.

Kennedy called it "a wonderful day for all of our country and all Americans, who will now have a chance and the opportunity to give back to their communities and the nation, the nation that we love so much."

Obama, for his part, said he wouldn't be where he is today without the service of others: "When I moved to Chicago more than two decades ago, to become a community organizer, I wasn't sure what was waiting for me there. But I had always been inspired by the stories of the civil rights movement and President (John) Kennedy's call to service."

Propelled by Edward Kennedy and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah — the "odd couple of the Senate," Obama called them — the act will deliver $1.1 billion to AmeriCorps this year, in addition to $200 million that the president's economic stimulus act has funneled to the organization.

The funding will allow the organization to expand openings for AmeriCorps volunteers from 75,000 to 250,000 positions over the next nine years and to establish four new areas of volunteer corps in health care, education, clean energy and conservation.

The legislation ties service to education, increasing the stipend paid to volunteers to $5,350, the same as that of a Pell Grant for college students. It also creates a $50 million Social Innovation Fund to provide matching grants to nonprofit organizations. And it establishes Sept. 11 as a national day of service.

Alan Solomont, chairman of the agency that oversees AmeriCorps, notes that interest in the program already is growing — with 17,000 applications collected online in March, triple the number recorded in March 2008.

"We know that people want to serve, as witnessed by 'the Obama effect' of people answering the president's call to service," Solomont said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, calls the new Social Innovation Fund consistent with Obama's commitment to look outside of Washington for programs that have an impact on their communities.

"One of the things we are very focused on here is not just the number of people who participate, the number of hours that are committed, but impact and transformation," Barnes said.

The White House also announced the nomination of Maria Eitel for chief executive of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the agency that operates AmeriCorps. As president and founder of the Nike Foundation, the former Nike vice president for corporate responsibility has worked at increasing opportunities for girls around the world.

Eitel, Obama said, "will bring new, creative thinking to the growth and mission" of the organization.

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