serve america act

A good mix today -- some technology, service, and policy for you. Enjoy!

• Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco, uses technology to announce his campaign for California's governorship, with his campaign focusing on generational change as a message.
• Steve Schmidt and David Plouffe took the time to sit down and talk about the 2008 election at the University of Delaware Thursday night. Plouffe talked about the importance of young voters to the campaign and the point in time when the Obama campaign sensed the momentum changing.
• Youth Service America's Global Youth and Service Day events are being held this weekend. From a press release: "During GYSD, the largest service event in the world and an initiative of Youth Service America (YSA), young people will participate in and facilitate projects with families, schools, community and faith-based organizations, and businesses; they focus on serious issues such as climate change, education, poverty, health, hunger and homelessness." Over 1,800 projects were planned around the world for this event -- double the number of projects held last year.
• techPresident covers the signing of the Serve America Act, specifically the development of serve.gov, a Web 2.0 clearinghouse for service opportunities run by the government.
• Google and Personal Democracy Forum are launching a fellowship program for those interested in developing new ways of using technology to make change and influence government and policy:
  

  Google and Personal Democracy Forum are teaming up to offer registration fellowships that cover the full forum registration costs and a meal with Googlers for twenty well-qualified, creative political entrepreneurs to attend this year's conference on June 29-30 at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.

  Fellows will be chosen based on evidence of how you've turned ideas into action and into new applications of technology in the political or civic arena.

  Go to the link and apply by May 8th if interested.

• The House Financial Services Committee passed the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights (H.R. 627) on Wednesday. The House passed similar legislation last year, but it stalled in the Senate.
• Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) is a bit upset that he won't be able to reap the benefits of serving as a hero to the private student loan industry. Obama and the House and Senate negotiators in the budget process have agreed to use budget reconciliation for student lending legislation, effectively diminishing Nelson's influence. Ezra Klein reports.
• Speaking of Ezra Klein, someone got a new gig at the Washington Post. Klein's post on this can be found here. Klein starts May 18.
• An alternative view of Ashton Kutcher's Twitter quest at AdAge.

The national service movement continues.

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter wrote last week about the "new era of national service" beginning under President Obama. As Alter noted, the impetus for this new era appears to be ready to pass through Congress soon.

The House's legislation -- the GIVE (Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education) Act -- and the Senate's Serve America Act will serve as the backbone for this new government-led movement (I wrote about the Serve America Act last month). Alter ran down what is included in the House legislation.

• A boost in the educational stipend offered in exchange for service to $5,350, with the provision that it will continue to rise in tandem with Pell grants. (Pay for full-time AmeriCorps service is about $11,000 a year.)
• A $500 education award for middle-school and high-school students who take part in a "Summer of Service" or other service activities.
• The establishment of a Clean Energy Corps, Education Corps, Healthy Futures Corps and Veterans Services Corps.
• The establishment of new ServeAmerica Fellowships.
• The expansion of the Civilian Community Corps to include work on weatherization and other energy-conservation projects.
• The expansion of the Peace Corps (to 16,000) and other existing programs.
• The designation of September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

George Miller, the California representative who chairs the House Committee on Education and Labor, guided GIVE through his committee this week, with a strong bipartisan vote in favor of the legislation (34-3). The House is expected to vote on the bill early this coming week.

We've covered the bad economy's effect on youth in recent weeks here; these bills would increase the number of available options for those youth either looking for gainful employment or unable to pay for college.

Miller stresses two new components in particular. "We wanted to make sure that veterans are a fundamental part of it," he says. "And all through the process we were trying to link students to education, education, education." The idea is that young people having trouble paying for school—or looking for a job after graduation from high school or college (hundreds of thousands this spring)—will consider national service. An increased college stipend in exchange for tutoring, mentoring, feeding and other service activities could be attractive for students who have been dropping out of college in record numbers.

We have a ways to go in solving our myriad problems, but this legislation definitely gets us moving in the right direction. Cheers to Congressman Miller and Senators Hatch and Kennedy, and to all those working hard to get this bill passed.

• Be sure to read this article on Funders' Committee for Civic Participation on the effectiveness of Election Day Registration and what is going on with an EDR bill in New Mexico.
• Jose Antonio Vargas profiles Pam's House Blend and the LGBT blogosphere and its effect on the gay rights movement.
• Read part one and part two of e.politics six part series evaluating the Obama campaign.
• Peter Levine reports on the Kennedy-Hatch Serve America Act, which would expand and improve community service opportunities for Americans.