Obama Proposes Expansion Of National Service Programs
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
MT. VERNON, Iowa — Senator Obama yesterday advocated a major expansion of the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and other national service programs, saying, “This will be a cause of my presidency.”
The Illinois senator said the government is not keeping pace with those who want to serve. “We will create new opportunities for all of us to serve,” he said at a rally at Cornell College.
Mr. Obama evoked the memory of President Kennedy and his Peace Corps volunteers. “JFK made their service a bridge to the developing world,” he said. His plan would:
• Expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 from its current 75,000 positions, with new units to deal with education, clean energy, health care, and homeland security.
• Expand service programs involving retired individuals and those over age 55.
• Double the size of the Peace Corps to 16,000 from its current 7,800 volunteers by its 50th anniversary in 2012.
• Set goals for middle-school and high-school students to serve 50 hours a year of public service, and for college students to serve 100 hours a year.
Despite growing antipathy toward America around the world, “the American people are not the problem, they are the answer,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Obama said he would also expand the all-volunteer military, but “we will never send them to fight in a misguided war.”
