WASHINGTON — In the wake of John McCain and Barak Obama’s unified call for an increase in public service and volunteerism last week at the Service Nation Summit in New York, the focus now shifts to Washington, where former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will address leaders of the country’s major volunteer and civic organizations as they convene at the annual National Conference on Citizenship on September 22 to discuss ways to continue civic involvement after Election Day.

The National Conference on Citizenship just released its third report on America’s civic health. There’s 38 pages full of readable, nuanced information, including, “The 2008 survey finds that Americans are actively engaged with this year’s presidential election; however, not many people expect to work on the issues raised in the campaign after Election Day.”

Download the report here to read it all.

In response to a misleading op-ed, ServiceNation staff Ethan & Kent, along with Harvard student Mark, write back in the Harvard Crimson:

Robinson suggests that we already have enough volunteering available in America. How then can you explain the fact that there are more than 3 applicants for every available AmeriCorps slot, or that Teach For America had 24,718 applicants for 3,700 positions? You can bet the residents of the Gulf Coast, Davenport, Iowa and other regions hit by national disaster wish there were more AmeriCorps members to fill the gaps left by the private sector, and FEMA, in response to natural disasters.

However, the crux of Robinson’s argument seems to be that the purpose of “nationalistic” programs is “not service for its own sake, but service as a way to strengthen people’s ties to their government.” This is an unfortunate misconception of the entire service movement. The point of voluntary service—paid or unpaid—is to free citizens from reliance on government programs and solutions, provide ways for Americans to dedicate their time to helping others, and unleash citizen energy on pressing, persistent problems in education, our environment, and disaster relief. The growth of the service movement, in fact, is a reflection of the reality that big government bureaucracies haven’t always been very successful or efficient. Community and national service is not just about painting over graffiti or picking up litter, but about creating pathways for citizens to help address big social challenges.

Read it all here.
We always try and clear up any major misconceptions when we’re aware of them by discussing what ServiceNation actually supports, rather than what some individuals say we support. We’ve never supported mandatory service, or anything like that. What we do support, and always have, is the power of ordinary citizens volunteering to make an impact in their community, their country, and their world.

In the ServiceNation offices of Be the Change, we’ve been lucky enough to receive all of your event reports. People have been working on spectacular projects all over the country (check out the Summary page; I’m updating that all day today and working through all the reports), and the power of service is breath-taking.

About a month ago, the Larry Dillon Service Project caught someone’s attention, and since then, many of us have been watching it unfold. It’s one of those truly selfless projects that hits you in the chest and says, “This is what service can do. It can help individuals and bring communities together.” I’ll let Mike’s event report take it from here:

Thirty-six licensed contractors, workers, and food servers from Northern Michigan converged on the home of Larry and Lynda Dillon in Manton yesterday, to take part in the National Day of Action. AmeriCorps member Mike Henry began the Larry Dillon Service Project to recognize the service of a volunteer in his Mentor Michigan program at Forest Area Community Schools in Fife Lake and to help strengthen the communities around Forest Area.

Larry Dillon had been disabled for four years and was attending online courses when Henry enlisted him as a mentor for an afterschool theatre arts mentoring program in early 2008. Dillon served as a sound/tech man for the program’s spring play and, because of his love for youth, went on to apply as a substitute teacher for Manton Schools. Henry recognized in Dillon a kindred spirit — the kind of sacrificial heart that embodied what he was all about. Dillon volunteered often to run the sound at civic events and to help low income families fix things around the house. His involvement in Henry’s mentoring program was only a part of what he chose as a lifestyle of service. Dillon has often been heard saying, “The only thing I can’t fix is a broken heart, but I can sure care for one” – a slogan that won over Larry’s wife, Lynda, more than 11 years ago.

This summer, though, Larry was diagnosed with terminal cancer after a brain tumor proved to be malignant – the one other thing Larry could not fix. The prognosis: He had less than a year.
Henry began showing his appreciation for Larry’s service by sitting with him as his wife went back to work. But as he talked with Larry, he felt the urgency to do more than sit. He helped him write letters to elected officials and government agencies to get assistance for medical costs – assistance pushed to the forefront by Rep. Darwin Booher (R). When Henry heard about the National Day of Action and Home Depot’s offer to provide some of the funds for grassroots events, he decided to spend his last month as an AmeriCorps member making Larry’s dying wish come true: finish renovations on his home.

Larry & Lynda Dillon arrive home to renovations on the Day of Action

Don works on framing in the house

Volunteers work on landscaping

View all the pictures from the Larry Dillon Service Project here.
Check out news coverage on the Project from 9&10 News.

Read the rest of the report after the jump.
(more…)

Our good friends at City Year just kicked off their year of service around the country. ABC in Philadelphia has the story:

[Paige] joined the volunteer corp of City Year, renovating a school and teaching in a poor Philadelphia neighborhood.
At first, her parents were not happy with her plan.
‘They looked at me with blank faces and they said, ‘are you crazy?’” Paige said.

Paige is spending a second year at City Year as a team leader. St. Joseph’s University, where she’ll start next fall, gave her their blessing and something more.

More links on Opening Day in the City Year New York blog!

From newspapers to blogs to websites, here’s what we’re finding about the Day of Action:
Daily Camera covers Boulder events
The spectacular Amy Potthast blogs about registering voters in Oregon
Brad Meltzer asked people to serve in Cleveland
The Washington Times discusses the events in the DC metro area
Relight NY, Children for Children, and City Year NY distribute environment-friendly lightbulbs in NYC
Cool People Care asks you to spend 5 minutes of caring about ServiceNation

Alan Khazei and John Bridgeland have a great editorial on the Huffington Post about service, its power, and potential:

If there is one thing both candidates agree on, it is that the next president will have to call on all our citizens for greater sacrifice and service. The ServiceNation Day of Action provided a one-day snapshot of the extraordinary things ordinary people can achieve, especially in tough economic times, to empower service as a key strategy for uniting Americans and solving problems.

We’ll post a ton of pictures, videos, and reports from the Day of Action throughout the week - it was an overwhelming success - and not because of what we have done here in DC or Boston (everyone’s done great work, though!), but because of the commitment and power of citizens. Send us anything you have, if you attended a Day of Service!

In Chicago (my hometown), there’s a ton of great events going on! I’m going to spotlight the National Runaway Switchboard event:

Serving as a resource for youth and families for over 37 years, the National Runaway Switchboard (NRS) was established (as Metro-Help) in 1971. NRS is the federally-designated national communication system for runaway and homeless youth. The mission of the National Runaway Switchboard, is to keep America’s runaway and at-risk youth safe and off the streets. Last year, NRS handled over 176,609 calls from youth and their families across the country, providing services of crisis intervention, support and information, national referrals, conference calls, message service and Home Free, a partnership with Greyhound Lines, Inc.. On September 27, NRS will recognize Service Nation’s Day of Action by highlighting our volunteer based national hotline for runaway and homeless youth and their families. The Saturday volunteers are a cross-section of NRS’ diverse volunteer base.

And here’s a PSA for 1800RUNAWAY featuring Ludacris:

Remember - sign up for a day of action near you at
http://events.servicenation.org
IT’S TOMORROW!

This is the first year I can vote in a presidential election, and I’m glad it’s one as historic as this. That said, there’s plenty of young people who’d love to love, but can’t.

That’s the inspiration for ServiceNation Youth Chair Usher’s “I Can’t, But You Can” campaign. Young people under 18 go out into their communities to register people - often first-time voters - to vote. And on the Day of Action (SATURDAY!):

The Campaign will be expanded to 8 cities simultaneously on September 27th and is projected to educate more than 4,000 youth and register 17,000 new voters nationally.

In conjunction with ServiceNation’s Day of Action ( www.servicenation.org), the “I Can’t But You Can” Campaign will host voter registration rallies and drives in cities across the US on September 27th. Participating cities include: Atlanta, Boston, Kansas City (KS), Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, New Orleans and Oakland. At the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the USC Marching Band will perform, MTV’s Quddus will serve as Emcee for the Voter Registration Rally while KIIS-FM’s DJ Drew will get the crowd pumping.

Read the rest here.

Lately, our news has focused on tropical depressions maturing into monster hurricanes that leave devastation in their wake—and I’m not just talking about Gustav and Ike. Today, we face a perfect storm of financial devastation, notable for the enormity of the greed that generated it and the somnolent response of our government in helping Americans left devastated in its wake. [...]

Today, we desperately need to tap a similar ethic of service to country. The parlous health of our communities, our rickety infrastructure, and our increasingly rickety country demands nothing less.

from Mother Jones

Hear, hear!

On the back of my laptop, I have two ServiceNation stickers.  One reads, “Of. By. For. The People”; the other says “Ask me what I do”.  I’ve found there’s no better conversation starter.  I use my laptop in class, at work, and at Starbucks.  People respond to the prompt and, well, ask me what I do.

That opens a great conversation - I tutor kids, and am also involved with the Urban Debate League, a program that provides debate as an extra-curricular for DC’s less privileged middle and high schools.  I also work for ServiceNation - and this is where I explain what that is.

I wouldn’t say my service testimonials are particularly inspiring, and I don’t talk about them because I think they make me really great.  I serve because I can help others.  But when the random stranger at Starbucks asks me, “What do you do?”, I get a chance to talk ServiceNation.  And even if I don’t convince anyone to serve, I’m trying to get the word out.

So, Change/Wire readers: What do you do?  And how do you tell others about the power of volunteering?

And - what are you doing on September 27, the Day of Action?