Administration’s Budget Request Steps Back from Promise to Engage All Americans in Service

On February 13, President Obama released his fiscal year 2013 (FY13) budget. Given the challenging economic times we continue to face as a nation, it is not surprising that difficult decisions had to be made in prioritizing some programs over others.  However, overall the budget continues a slow retreat from engaging students and youth as leaders and active contributors through their own education. In the Administration’s budget request there are some promising opportunities for service-learning, but under the Corporation for National and Community Service, the President has not requested any funds for Learn and Serve America—the first time that has ever happened since the founding of the program in the early 1990’s. 

We already knew that, without any appropriated funding for Learn and Serve America in FY11 or FY12, we would have a difficult hurdle for FY13, despite the fact that last year the Obama administration had requested $39.5 million for the program. Last fall, leaders in the service-learning field had crafted a compromise position that put forward a modest request of $10 million for FY13 within the authorization for Learn and Serve America, to continue support for much needed research and programs with a focus on improved education in STEM-related subjects through service-learning. This request was included within that of the broader Voices for National Service coalition to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

It is a victory for national service and the Corporation that, despite being slated for elimination twice in Congress over the past year, the agency overall has been held harmless in the President’s budget. Under the President’s request, outstanding programs like AmeriCorps and Senior Corps would continue to positively impact the lives of their participants and the communities they serve. Yet it is deeply disappointing that not only was the compromise position for Learn and Serve America not accepted, but the FY13 budget also proposes to eliminate all funding for the Volunteer Generation Fund, Non-profit Capacity Building Fund, and to significantly decrease funding for State Service Commissions and training and technical assistance.  David Mallery, Executive Director of the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Services, states, "While federal funding for national service as a whole has remained relatively intact, the strategic 'deep wounds' to service-learning and state commissions (inarguably serving as the feeder mechanisms and fertile birthing grounds for innovative new solutions to community issues) are cuts that will decisively cripple service in our country.   Young Americans and community-based programs are vital components that we cannot afford to sacrifice."

The promise of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support less than three years ago and was signed into law during the first 100 days of President Obama’s Administration, is slowly being dismantled. When the last of the forward funded grants from Learn and Serve America are completed this year, there will be no programs at the Corporation that directly engage young people under age 17 as participants in national service.

ServiceNation tells us in a recent message that the President’s budget continues to fall short of the demand of prospective national service participants, with nearly 1 million un-placed applicants who want to serve in AmeriCorps programs.  That is true, and a travesty.  What isn’t included in that narrative is that there are currently still 900,000 K-12 and higher education student participants in national service whose opportunity to contribute will come to an end this summer—nearly 1 million youth who could be making gains in academic and civic outcomes while improving their schools and communities through Learn and Serve America. We believe these kids are worth fighting for too.