public service

One of my favorite aspects of blogging is learning about various programs and initiatives that infuse civic engagement and service-learning into the college experience. Dickinson College in Pennsylvania is prepared to announce the implementation of a public service fellowship program which will serve as one of the best examples yet of an institution linking its values with President Obama's call for public service.

From the soon-to-be-released release:

After four years of high school, not all students are ready to continue with higher education. For some, a one-year break from academia, commonly referred to as a "gap year," provides time for students to learn more about themselves and the world. Already common in other countries, the U.S. is now seeing an increase in students seeking time off before matriculation to save money for college; others seek civic engagement or travel. President Obama has called on Americans to participate in our nation’s recovery and renewal by serving in our communities. To support this idea, the federal government’s Web site Serve.gov is an online resource for registering a community program, finding service opportunities and the tools for creating one.

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Students can apply for admission into the Fellowship in their senior year of high school. If accepted, students may defer enrollment until the beginning of the academic year for one, two, three or four years. Students who have engaged in public service for up to four years following high-school graduation receive a $10,000 tuition credit for each year of public service, up to a total of $40,000. Use of credits will be limited to a maximum of $10,000 annually and will be applied to the student's account when matriculated. The Fellowship amount will be in addition to other institutional grants and scholarships for which the student may be eligible. Dickinson grants and scholarships won’t be affected by receipt of the Fellowship unless the student's total gift aid exceeds the student's total cost of attendance. The college will work with students to determine the best timing for using the credits, within the context of other aid.

Students must engage in meaningful public service devoted to improving the human condition and/or the natural environment. A student may opt to join well-established public service programs that offer a wide array of experiences, such as AmeriCorps (which also awards up to $4,725 for college tuition), or the student may pursue an independently designed project with a local, national or international nonprofit organization. In all cases, students must work 30-40 hours a week for 10-12 months (at least 1,200 total hours). The hours may be a traditional 30-40 hour workweek, or a more intensive experience such as disaster relief work that may require 12 to 14 hour days. The public service work may be compensated or uncompensated.

In order to reap the financial benefits of this program, Public Service Fellows must submit an application including an essay stating how they hope to contribute to themselves and society through the work they will be completing. Once the project is complete, the student is then required to submit a reflection essay discussing how the student's experience will impact his or her Dickinson experience.

In addition to the financial advantages afforded to them, Public Service Fellows will add to an already impressive Dickinson education. Those students participating in the program will contribute to a reflection ceremony open to the Dickinson community by sharing lessons learned from the public service projects. Furthermore, the campus will give Public Service Fellows priority consideration for campus-based leadership positions, such as resident advisor and campus advisor, further emphasizing the importance of giving back to one's community throughout the Dickinson experience.

Granted, a Dickinson education isn't cheap to start with. The tuition itself is almost $40,000 a year, and the bill only increases after other fees are added. But as noted above, students can work in public service for up to four years, netting $40,000. While students can only spend up to $10,000 yearly, all of this money is on top of any additional financial aid the school offers (receiving the fellowship does not impact other scholarship and grant opportunities).

One way to add to the program might be to incorporate an academic piece. For instance, instead of limiting students to writing two essays, perhaps those deciding to matriculate at Dickinson any given year would be required to register for a seminar to further explore their experiences, more intensely investigating themes they observed or felt while serving. This would then improve the quality of the on-campus discussion led by fellows.

In 2008, many of the Democratic presidential candidates offered similar proposals on their platforms, but nothing was this beneficial to students. This initiative provides Dickinson with a way to accentuate the importance of civic engagement among its students, while making its valued education more accessible to students predisposed with the ability to work hard and develop strong reflective skills. Those fellows admitted will be offered opportunity after opportunity to learn how to contribute to the greater good, while following in the footsteps of Dickinson College's founder, Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. In a public address in 1787, Rush urged every citizen to become an engaged public servant. Now, some 222 years later, with another American leader issuing the same call, Dickinson College is leading the way among institutions of higher education.

In their most recent essay, Morley Winograd and Michael Hais cite a Wall Street Journal poll in explaining that people want unified government because "it will end gridlock in Washington and things will get done." With the Democrats benefiting from this attitude, and with pieces of legislation like the GIVE Act passing through Congress, we can assume that our government will go through a much-needed growth spurt.

With college graduates encountering a hostile job market in the private sector and encountering a president who is more supportive of public service than any other president in recent memory, the number of those applying to government jobs following graduation has skyrocketed. The Washington Post published a story on this trend yesterday.

Two months after President Obama took office vowing to make federal service cool again, career services specialists report an increase among college students who want to work for the government.

"Lots and lots of students lined up for the federal government," said Alan C. More, employer in residence for U.S. government programs at GMU

"What we've seen across the board is an increased interest in government," said Tim McManus, vice president for education and outreach at the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. "We're hearing from schools that they see government as an employer of choice. Government has been the afterthought option. It's no longer a second choice."

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An annual survey of undergraduates by the Partnership for Public Service and Universum USA released in January found that government and public service was the most popular of 46 career options for American undergrads, with 17 percent naming it their top choice.

One aspect of these numbers that could be particularly interesting down the road is the number of Millennials who invest themselves and their quality of life in the government. In other words, due to the current state of the economy, the Millennials' tendency toward service, and Obama's call to action, this generation of Americans might not only be conditioned to vote for Democratic Party ideals, but many may also count on the government for jobs and their livelihood over the next several decades. Thus, we'll have a generation of Americans who might be initially resistant to downsizing government partly because it's part of who they are. This is yet another example of Howe and Strauss's generational cycle at work, as the G.I. Generation exhibited similar views on government, seen especially well in the Social Security debate in recent years.

Any feedback?

The Boston Globe published a piece this weekend covering the spike in the number of college graduates going on to start their careers in public service.

Instead of going straight into a 100-hour-a-week job at an investment bank, they are pursuing less lucrative but potentially more satisfying opportunities in public service, enrolling in record numbers in the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and Teach for America. Other students seeking refuge from the recession are flocking to graduate schools, increasing competition for admission.

At elite universities such as Harvard, where about half the graduating class would enter finance and consulting in years past, many students say they feel liberated to consider alternative career paths, crediting not only the tanking economy but also President Obama's call for public service.

What's very alarming is the severe decrease of available jobs to college graduates upon leaving undergraduate institutions. Graduates in Spring '09 will see 21.6% fewer available jobs than the Spring '08 class.

As we see the economy struggle to move forward and the importance of active citizenship increases in society, it's fairly easy to see how Millennials might live out their potential as the next great civic generation.

Gracye Cheng is a junior at Harvard University. She chairs The Roosevelt Institution's National Editorial Board and is an intern at the U.S. Public Service Academy.

It’s wonderful that service has become a buzz word for the Obama administration. During his campaign, Obama emphasized that his administration would be one of service, and he took his first political steps in making that vision a reality when he called for the passage of the SERVE America act during his State of the Union address. Over 5 years, the SERVE America act would funnel more than $1 billion dollars into myriad programs that would encourage volunteering at the high school and college levels.

In this atmosphere, it’s unsurprising that other service bills are popping up: the Summer of Service Act would fund projects for students transitioning to high school; the Semester of Service Act wants to implement similar programs that would give academic credit to high school students; the ENCORE Service Act would encourage volunteering amongst those over 50; the Incentive to Serve Tax Act would provide tax breaks in exchange for community service.

But the plethora of service bills, while worthy causes, still neglect an entire domain of service: public service. The relatively low buzz is perhaps reflective of the current esteem for government service: for years, government work has been caricatured as bureaucratic and derided as inefficient. According to a study by the Financial Times, even in programs like Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where service-oriented careers are emphasized, the percentage of graduates who enter public service following graduation has dropped by half in just one generation.

It would be a shame if this administration, with its emphasis on creating incentives for public service as well as in ensuring efficient and transparent government, failed to create the Public Service Academy, a proposal that would convey youth talent into good government for generations to come.

Basically, the Public Service Academy would create a civilian counterpart to our military academies: instead of leaders for armed services, the Academy will teach America’s best and brightest how to be effective and efficient leaders in local, state, and national government. By competing in an admissions process akin to the military academies, students would earn a four-year scholarship to study liberal arts as well as a specific public service field, such as education, emergency management, or energy & environment.

At its full capacity, the Academy would serve approximately 5000 students a year, and, upon graduation, students will serve for five years in areas of critical need, which will be determined by the Academy’s placement office in collaboration with government agencies across the nation. Graduates might find themselves teaching in a rural school in Mississippi, for instance, or working for FEMA.

In other words, mandating the creation of a Public Service Academy this year—the bill is set to be dropped in the 111th Congress in the next few weeks—will ensure that, within the decade, a fresh crop of talented and well-trained leaders will be entering public service at every level. Key players within the Obama administration already support the idea: Rahm Emanuel and Joe Biden both signed on to support the Academy last year, and Hillary Clinton was the leading sponsor of the proposal in the Senate.

As 90% of top-level federal employees become eligible for retirement in the next ten years, and shortages in hospitals, classrooms, and police departments are projected for cities and towns across the country, the United States will need these leaders to make our government work again.

The best legacies—because they seek to accomplish so much—are also often contentious. Take West Point, for instance. Now one of the most respected military and leadership academies in the world, West Point—which, like a national college for civilian leaders, was originally conceived by Washington—originally faced criticism that it would serve only to train an aristocratic military elite. When it finally opened—in 1802, 20 years after Washington’s proposal—skeptics tried to undermine and close the academy for decades. It was only after the Civil War, when West Point graduates took on various positions of command, that the institution was cemented as an invaluable American institution.

Similarly, although the Public Service Academy has wide bipartisan support—last year, the bill racked up 123 sponsors in the House from both sides of the aisle, and 24 likewise diverse supporters in the Senate—it has also faced critics that are generally afraid of perceived high costs and bigger government.

The Public Service Academy would call for a $205 million appropriation per year. That’s about 70 cents a year from each American to run a flagship institution that would produce continual returns for our country. In the context of what was proposed in the stimulus, the Academy each year would cost less than $650 million for a digital television converter box coupon program, the $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters, and $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees, according to CNN. No matter your opinion on these proposals, the point is that our government certainly can afford to build and run a Public Service Academy.

And not only would students of the academy would be replacing retiring baby boomers, but well-trained leaders will make government more efficient—better, not bigger.

But yes, the general argument behind its critics’ fears is true: the U.S. Public Service Academy certainly requires significant economic and governmental investment—and supporters of the bill should not shy away, but rather, champion this fact.

Indeed, that’s part of the point. Proposed and existing scholarship programs, tax breaks or financial aid incentives that encourage public service, while important, fail to send as clear and salient a message: public service is a priority not for the select few who are interested in—and thus are likely to seek out—these programs, but for every citizen.

In establishing an institution devoted to public service, the government sends the message that public service is important to the country and should be invested in. By supporting the creation of the Academy, citizens can truly demonstrate their belief in the better government that they’ve called for.

This piece is also posted on The Roosevelt Institution's blog