We just received a new endorsement for the U.S. Public Service Academy from Joe Coto, Chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus in the California Legislature during 2008.  He writes,

“As the California legislator representing District 23 in San Jose, California, and a former school superintendent, I am writing to extend my enthusiastic endorsement and support of the United States Public Service Academy.  I believe that the Academy will be good for America and will help inspire young people to make this country a better place to live…

The Academy will offer a rigorous undergraduate education that will develop students into highly-qualified, service-oriented young leaders.  The visibility and prestige of a Public Service Academy will help attract more top students into public service, which will help America meet the serious domestic and international challenges of the twenty-first century.

Additionally, the U.S. Public Service Academy will give service-minded students the opportunity to serve our country without enduring financial hardship.  Many young people enter college wanting to serve their communities, but they cannot afford to pursue public service after graduation because they have accumulated too much debt.  Our public institutions lose out on many top college graduates who avoid public service in favor of more lucrative private sector fields.  Our nation cannot afford to continue losing such potential leaders.

I strongly believe that the United States Public Service Academy will strengthen America, and I urge Congress to pass the U.S. Public Service Academy Act (S.960 and H.R. 1671).”

I am thrilled, overjoyed and beyond stoked to report that one of my favorite and most respected organizations, Outward Bound USA has endorsed the Academy!  First and foremost, my huge and humble thanks to Trevor Read, and his dad John who is the President and CEO of OB for taking the time to listen to my pitch, trade emails, ask questions and ultimately provide a huge boost of support to our cause.  OB and the Academy share common goals and purpose: to train leaders who commit to service to make our communities and world a smarter, safer, more equitable and cleaner place to live.

I have a great personal stake in Outward Bound as I am an alum from December 2004.  I went on a sea kayaking trip in Mexico during a time of unimaginable personal crisis and I credit those eight days with saving my life.  Not only am I terrified of the ocean, but I was in a very bad mood.  Outward Bound uses the context of wilderness settings to teach students about character and integrity and ethics.  By being completely stripped of the distractions and comforts of daily life, you are forced to deal with the present moment and its needs, sometimes caused by a mere change in the weather.  It is a constant exercise in focus and perspective.  Ultimately, you learn how to plan, lead, follow, and most of all, work toward common goals.  And you learn some really bitchen wilderness skills.

In one poignant moment, the cable system on my kayak’s rudder broke causing me to have no ability to steer and paddle efficiently.  It goes without saying the metaphor of being rudderless did not escape me.  Then the wind kicked up, blowing the back end of my boat around so fiercely that I fell behind my group.  I was having to paddle three times on one side to one on the other just to keep from being blown sideways, let alone move forward.  We were about a third of way into our crossing when this happened and I could feel that evil bad mood and frustration start to creep in.  The group stopped ahead to wait for me, and when I got within shouting distance again, I noticed that one of them had left their rudder up.  I started to yell over to tell my compatriot that he had forgotten to put it down, when I noticed another rudder out of the water.  And then another, and another, and another…  Each person had pulled their rudder out of the water to match the challenge I was facing due to the broken cable on my kayak in an effort to equalize our circumstances.  Everyone did this seemingly without question, but in this simple act of sacrifice, I understood they were just providing me an opportunity to succeed.

And I did.  I made it across.

Please join me in welcoming Outward Bound USA to the list of incredible service organizations that stand behind the creation of the US Public Service Academy and get out there and get your Senators and Congressmen and Women to pass this bill!!

Hi all,

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia will be introducing the Academy bill within the next few days.   According to this post at The Underground Conservative, however, the provision to create the U.S. Public Service Academy was already introduced as a part of H.R. 1388, the GIVE Act, which passed in the House last week.

Unfortunately, this was not the case.  While we at the Public Service Academy strongly support the GIVE Act—we’re a member of the coalition behind the SERVE America Bill, the Senate version of the national service bill—the creation of the Academy was not mandated as part of the bill.  The Public Service Academy Act will be introduced separately, although the Academy would be a logical next step to reinvigorate public service after the national service act is passed.

Just as the national service bills aims to empower youth for a lifetime of volunteerism, the Academy will develop the next generation of career leaders in local, state, and national government. The most pressing national challenges that we face, from education to health care to energy, will take place in the public sector, and they must be tackled by full-time, long-term public servants. Volunteers cannot be expected to serve as substitutes for strong, effective public employees serving in our government.

In other words, supporters of the GIVE and SERVE America Act—who do want to reinvigorate all aspects of service, and believe in supporting some of the same community and public institutions that volunteers can help strengthen—should also be behind the Public Service Academy.

Doubly unfortunately, the post also blatantly mischaracterized the Public Service Academy as a “ACORN version of West Point…with multiple campuses, which would conduct the mandatory training.”  Well…no, not exactly—not, actually, at all.

The Public Service Academy, which would be one flagship campus, would not be training volunteers, as the post suggests.  As mentioned above, the Academy will be training youth who will likely go into public service as a life-long career.  More importantly, the Academy is not—as the unsubstantiated and completely untrue association with ACORN suggests—an ideological project.  The idea of training good government leaders is not a party issue; better government is not a partisan goal.  The mission of the Public Service Academy is to benefit all Americans by making government better run and more efficient—and that’s why we need support from all Americans, regardless of political identification.