NATIONAL SERVICE
SITUATION:
- Gen Stanley McChrystal called on President Biden to invest in national service
- That would be one million young Americans annually — Males & Females.
- To ensure the strength and security of the nation.
- Championing national service for a decade
- Advocates are saying it will strengthen cross-partisan ties.
SIGNICANCE
- At a time of mounting political division and innumerable shared challenges
- Helping to implement a national service program of this scale.
- What it could mean for the future of American society
SOLUTIONS
- National service programs such as AmeriCorps, YouthBuild, and conservation corps
- Puts young people to work on a variety of socially useful activities:
- Tutoring children, building affordable housing, assisting with disaster response, Maintaining public infrastructure, and restoring the environment.
- Help young people prepare for work & life central challenge for society.
- Provide an immediate boost in the number of national service positions to 150,000 in 2022, 300,000 in 2023, & 600,000 in 2024.
- Rebuild civic and social connections by bringing participants together
- From different backgrounds, income levels, races, ethnicities, & areas of the country together
- Shared experiences to solve public challenges.
STATS:
Disconnection rates increase with age: Study found about 1% of 18-year-olds are disconnected.
Figure which rises to 5% at age 20 and 12% at age 26
SEZ:
“That sense of ownership of part of our society is something every young person has a right to experience,” McChrystal says.
SOURCES:
