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| IMPROVING AMERICA THROUGH NATIONAL SERVICE: PRESIDENT CLINTON URGES |
| CONGRESS TO REAUTHORIZE AMERICORPS |
| October 11, 2000 |
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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.
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