Hi all,

Today’s been an exciting day: Chris, Melissa, Kristen and I went to the Education & Labor Committee’s hearing on the national service bill. It was wonderful to hear all the witnesses talk about the experience with volunteerism and service (you can watch the hearing here). The very accomplished witnesses included Managing Editor of TIME Magazine Richard Stengel, President of Echoing Green Cheryl Dorsey, and Usher.

During his testimony, Stengel gave the U.S. Public Service Academy a mention as one part of TIME’s “10-point plan for universal national service”:

9. Start a National-Service Academy
Picture West Point, but instead of learning how to fire an M-4 and reading The Art of War, students would be studying the Federalist papers and learning how to transform a failing public school. Conceived by two former Teach for America corps members, Chris Myers Asch and Shawn Raymond, the U.S. Public Service Academy would give undergraduates a four-year education in exchange for a five-year commitment to public service after they graduate. The idea is to provide a focused education for people who will serve in the public sector — either the federal, state or local government — and thereby create a new generation of civic leaders. Asch and Raymond were so dismayed by the government’s response to Katrina that they wanted to create a new generation of people who were idealistic about government. “We need an institution that systematically develops leadership,” says Asch. “We need to elevate it in the eyes of young people so we can attract the best and the brightest.” The idea has been endorsed by New York Senator (and now Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton and Pennsylvanian Republican Senator Arlen Specter, who introduced the Public Service Academy Act in March 2007.  The legislation would allocate $164 million per year for the envisioned 5,000-student academy.

With all this buzz around public service, now is really time to push for the U.S. Public Service Academy—especially because the Public Service Academy Act will be reintroduced in Congress in the next few weeks. You can get in touch with us at the national office to see how you can help, join the national youth council, sign the petition, and, of course, give your congressmen a call to ask them to support the bill.