Last week, the House of Representatives voted 275 to 149 to pass the Kennedy Serve America Act, following a strong bi-partisan vote in the Senate of 79 to 19. The legislation now goes to President Obama, known for his outstanding leadership for the pro bono movement, in making service a “cause of his presidency,” who has promised to sign it.

This bi-partisan legislation will dramatically expand national and community service opportunities and support a new generation of social innovation. Now, significantly increased numbers of Americans will have the opportunity to improve our communities through service and social innovation.

SERVICENATION IS A CAMPAIGN FOR A NEW AMERICA

An America where citizens unite and take responsibility for their communities and our nation’s future. An America that restores the great tradition of citizen service, and honors the profound sacrifices made by so many Americans who have passed before, from the small band of Founders to the millions who have fought for equality and justice at home, and defended our freedom abroad. ServiceNation is about an America that is ruggedly idealistic, compassionate, and above all committed to the idea of shared sacrifice in pursuit of America’s boldest promise: liberty and justice for all.

The ultimate vision of ServiceNation is an America in which, by 2020, 100 million citizens will volunteer time in schools, workplaces, and faith-based and community institutions each and every year (up from 61 million today), and that one million Americans will annually volunteer for a year of national service.

To begin to fulfill this vision, ServiceNation – a coalition of almost 200 national and local non-profits, with a collective reach of some 100 million Americans – is working hard to inspire our leaders to expand meaningful community and national service opportunities for Americans of all ages and to invest in scaling proven service strategies to help address some of our nation’s most improtant challenges, from the high school dropout crisis to the need for greater energy efficiency. And we are working to elevate service – which is about giving back to community and country – as core ideal in our democracy.

The ServiceNation Summit and Presidential Candidate Forum September 11-12, 2008 brought together leaders – from then-Senator Barack Obama & Senator John McCain to inspirational volunteers, from business and nonprofit leaders to foundation CEOs – to make service a national priority (More information on the ServiceNation Summit).

On September 27, the ServiceNation Day of Action rallied Americans to work in their own communities and neighborhoods, resulting in more than 2,700 events across the country (more on the Day of Action).

Again, during Inaugural Week 2009, ServiceNation celebrated the power and potential of service through a series of events around MLK Day (More information about MLK Day here).

ServiceNation encourages all Americans to step forward and take the lead in bridging our divides, strengthening our communities, and building a more vibrant democracy. And ServiceNation is now working on building a national grassroots movement for service to help launch a new era of civic engagement and idealism, and make our 2020 vision a reality. It is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people.

More information: http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation