Urging Congress to to Reauthorize AmeriCorps





Improving America Through National Service: Urging Congress to to Reauthorize AmeriCorps (10/11/00)

Today, President Clinton will address hundreds of AmeriCorps volunteers in Philadelphia and will urge Congress to reauthorize AmeriCorps and other vital national service programs before their session adjourns. In the past six years since the inauguration of AmeriCorps, nearly 200,000 AmeriCorps members have served our nation by building homes, responding to natural disasters, helping to make our streets safer, and tutoring in schools. The President will release findings from a new independent study showing that AmeriCorps' reading tutors are making a major difference in student reading achievement and affirms that we must do all we can to ensure AmeriCorps members continue to have the opportunity to serve their communities.

AMERICORPS VOLUNTEERS ARE GETTING THINGS DONE FOR AMERICA. President Clinton's signature national service program, AmeriCorps, is part of a long bipartisan tradition of service. Today, the Corporation for National Service supports the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Points of Light Foundation, General Powell's America's Promise, as well as AmeriCorps. Since the inception of AmeriCorps in 1994, AmeriCorps members have tutored and mentored millions of children; established or expanded thousands of neighborhood safety patrols; helped build or rehabilitate thousands of homes; and helped communities rebuild after dozens of natural disasters in more than 30 states, including the recent fires in Montana and Colorado. AmeriCorps also provides trained, dedicated people to help nonprofit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the YMCA and the American Red Cross. In exchange for their service, AmeriCorps members are eligible to receive educational awards that help pay for college, job training, or pay back student loans. To date, AmeriCorps members have qualified for more than $400 million in education awards.

AMERICORPS AND OTHER VITAL NATIONAL SERVICE PROGRAMS MUST BE REAUTHORIZED. The reauthorization of AmeriCorps has wide-ranging support. Recently, 49 of the nation's 50 governors sent a letter urging Congress to renew AmeriCorps and other national service programs, stating, "As Governors, we recognize the value of national service as a tool in meeting important needs in our states. We do not want to lose this force for good in our communities, states, and country." The National and Community Service Amendments Act of 2000 would reauthorize the Corporation for National and Community Service and its major service programs for five years, and strengthen our nation's commitment to national service by enabling these programs to build on the far-reaching benefits they have provided. In addition, the reauthorization would expand AmeriCorps to include an E-Corps of volunteers working to close the digital divide.

AMERICORPS READING TUTORS HELPING CHILDREN LEARN TO READ. In 1996, the President issued the "America Reads Challenge" to help every child learn to read well and independently by the end of the third grade, and called for an army of trained reading tutors to join forces with parents, teachers, and reading specialists to help achieve this goal. AmeriCorps members, VISTA volunteers, and Foster Grandparents all heeded the President's call to action and have since taught, tutored, or mentored nearly one million children learning to read. Today, the President will announce the preliminary results of a national study that shows that AmeriCorps members are making a difference in helping the students they work with improve their reading skills. This independent study, conducted by ABT Associates Inc., surveyed hundreds of AmeriCorps reading tutors and thousands of children learning to read, and concluded that in every instance these tutors are making a major difference. In fact, the children involved in the study improved their reading abilities more than the gain expected for similarly situated children at their grade level. Many of these students started out in the tutoring programs well below grade level and by year-end, students closed the gap and were reading at or near the grade-level expectation. President Clinton urged Congress to reauthorize funding to support programs like the AmeriCorps reading tutors in addition to his call to enact other critical education reforms to improve reading,including smaller class-size, teacher quality, and more after-school opportunities.



What's New at the White House

What's New - December 2000

What's New - November 2000

What's New - October 2000

What's New - September 2000

What's New - July 2000

What's New - June 2000

What's New - May 2000

What's New - April 2000

What's New - March 2000

What's New - February 2000

What's New - January 2000

What's New Archives 1997-1999

What's New Archives: 1994-1996

Presidential Webcast: Meeting the Challenge of Global Warming

President Clinton Joins International Religious and Domestic Aids Policy Leaders to Mark World Aids Day

Urging Congress to Keep its Commitment and Complete this Year's Education Budget

To Implement Title V of the Trade and Development Act of 2000 and to Modify the Generalized System of Preferences

Preserving America's Coral Reefs

Human Rights Day: The Eleanor Roosevelt Award and The Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Clinton Launches New Effort to Increase Immunization Rates Among Children

President Clinton and Vice President Gore: Restoring an American Natural Treasure

Progress in Efforts to Combat International Crime

President Clinton's New Markets Initiative: Revitalizing America's Underserved Communities

President Clinton, Vice President Gore, and Congressional Democrats Win a Landmark Budget

Announcing Welfare Reform Achievements and Budget Wins for America's Families

President Clinton Issues Strong New Consumer Protections to Ensure the Privacy of Medical Records

Enacting a Budget that Invests in Education, Health Care, and America'

President Clinton Appoints Roger Gregory to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

President Clinton Announces New Steps to Improve Nutrition and Education for Children in Developing Countries

The United States on Track to Pay Off the Debt by End of the Decade

President Clinton: Strengthening the Federal Government-University Research Partnership

Keeping the Heat and Lights On During Unusually Cold Weather


President and First Lady | Vice President and Mrs. Gore
Record of Progress | The Briefing Room
Gateway to Government | Contacting the White House | White House for Kids
White House History | White House Tours | Help
Privacy Statement

Help

Site Map

Graphic Version

T H E   W H I T E   H O U S E