In his 2002 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush called on all Americans to dedicate at least two years or 4,000 hours over the course of their lifetimes to volunteer service. He created USA Freedom Corps, an office of the White House charged with strengthening and expanding volunteer service opportunities across the country and around the world.

On January 20, 2005, in his Second Inaugural Address, President Bush called on the youth of America to “Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself – and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character.”

Americans are answering the President’s Call to Service.

Expanding Volunteer Service

• Since September 11, 2001, we’ve seen a tremendous increase in volunteer service among Americans. In 2002, the first year the Bureau of Labor Statistics studied volunteerism rates in the United States, about 58.8 million Americans volunteered. In 2003, the number increased to about 63.8 million Americans. In 2004, the number increased again to about 64.5 million Americans. Studies suggest that volunteer rates subside over time following a national emergency, such as the period following World War II; however, the recent Bureau of Labor Statistics’ numbers show that our Nation’s commitment to volunteer service is sustained three years after 9/11.

The USA Freedom Corps Volunteer Network

• The Volunteer Network, located at www.usafreedomcorps.gov, is the largest clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities ever created. Americans interested in finding opportunities to serve can search the database by area of interest and geographic location. Since the Volunteer Network was created by USA Freedom Corps in 2002, more than 935,000 volunteer opportunity searches have been completed.

Strengthening National Service

• Citizen Corps was launched by President Bush in 2002 as an initiative of USA Freedom Corps. Citizen Corps is a grass-roots effort to involve all Americans actively in hometown security by providing local opportunities for citizens to better prepare their families for emergencies, participate in disaster response training, and volunteer to help local emergency responders.
  
  

• Citizen Corps also serves as the umbrella organization for its program partners: Community Emergency Response Team training, Fire Corps, Medical Reserve Corps, Neighborhood Watch, and Volunteers in Police Service, as well as an extended network of affiliate organizations. Citizen Corps works with these program partners and affiliates through state and local Citizen Corps Councils, which bring together the expertise of emergency responders with the energy and spirit of volunteers, the private sector, and other community stakeholders.

  • Citizen Corps has established Councils in all 50 states and 5 of the 6 U.S. Territories. Launched in 2002, the number of local Citizen Corps Councils is now more than 1,534, serving more than 60% of the American population.
    
    

  • The Community Emergency Response Team program saw an 80 percent increase from 850 teams at the end of 2003 to more than 1,500 teams currently. CERT provides citizens 20 hours of training on disaster preparedness, basic disaster operations, fire safety, light search and rescue, and basic first aid. Since 2002, nearly 59,000 citizens have received CERT training, representing more than one million hours of classroom instruction.
    
    

  • Fire Corps was launched officially as a Citizen Corps’ program partner in December 2004, and more than 70 fire departments signed to be part of the program in the first month. Fire Corps citizen advocates support non-operational related activities such as life safety education, general administrative work, fund raising, grant writing, and data entry and analysis.
    
    

  • Launched by President Bush in 2002, the Medical Reserve Corps has grown to include more than 30,000 volunteers – including practicing, non-practicing, and retired medical and public health professionals – and more than 230 MRC units nationwide. These units are located in 46 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The growth of MRC since 2003 represents a 39 percent increase in MRC units and a 500 percent increase in number of participating volunteers.
    
    

  • There are an estimated 18,500 Neighborhood Watch Groups nationwide. Since 2002, more than 11,000 Neighborhood Watch Groups in conjunction with nearly 2,000 law enforcement agencies have registered on USAonWatch.org. Neighborhood Watch encourages Americans to take responsibility for the safety and security of their communities and incorporates terrorism awareness education into its existing crime prevention mission.
    
    

  • The number of registered Volunteers in Police Service programs increased 44 percent last year to more than 1,050, engaging 73,000 volunteers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. These volunteers assist local law enforcement efforts by performing vital roles, such as participating in school safety patrols, assisting with filing and administrative work, providing crisis counseling to victims of crime and their families, combating auto theft, and leading crime and drug abuse prevention programs in their communities.
    
    

• USA Freedom Corps works closely with the Corporation for National and Community Service, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2004. Participants in the Corporation’s main programs – Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America – have helped to meet a wide range of local needs in education, the environment, public safety, health care, and homeland security.

  • Thanks to the strong support of President Bush and the Congress, the Corporation in 2004 received its largest-ever appropriation – enough to support a record 75,000 AmeriCorps members, a 50 percent increase from its highest previous level. AmeriCorps members generally perform intensive service of between 20 to 40 hours per week with locally based nonprofit groups, public agencies, and faith-based and community organizations. In 2004, participants in the largest AmeriCorps program, AmeriCorps*State and National, served more than 30 million hours.
    
    

  • Learn and Serve America supports programs that tie academic achievement to community service – an approach to education known as service-learning. In 2004, more than one million participants in programs supported by Learn and Serve America served more than 40 million hours in their communities, all while they bettered their education and developed personally.
    
    

  • Through its three programs – RSVP, Foster Grandparents, and Senior Companions – Senior Corps taps the time, talent, and abilities of more than half a million Americans over the age of 55 to meet a wide variety of local needs. In 2004, Senior Corps members served more than 119 million hours.
    
    

• Under President Bush, the number of Peace Corps volunteers has grown to the highest level in 29 years. Since 2001, Peace Corps has opened or re-opened programs in 21 countries, including Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Bangladesh. The Peace Corps began in 1961 with a challenge to Americans to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. Today, the agency continues to provide practical assistance to host countries by sharing America’s most valuable resource, its people. Currently, 7,733 Americans in 72 countries have committed at least 27 months to sharing their knowledge and skills, in an effort to help improve the lives of others across the world.
  
  

• Last year, Take Pride in America, a volunteer program begun by President Ronald Reagan and re-launched by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, mobilized tens of thousands of volunteers in nearly 2,000 projects to improve our public lands. Volunteers build trails and bridges, plant trees and plants, and remove invasive plants and trash, among other duties.
  
  

• President Bush created Volunteers for Prosperity to help America’s highly-skilled professionals respond to international volunteer needs in such areas as fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic and providing safe drinking water for developing regions. Volunteer service in this program can last a few weeks or a few years. To date, Volunteers for Prosperity has recruited nearly 200 U.S. companies and non-profit organizations into the program; assisted in the development of a volunteer pool exceeding 34,000 people; and supported the deployment of nearly 7,000 volunteers.

Teaching American History and Civics

• In September 2002, President Bush announced a new series of policies and initiatives to help Americans of all ages, particularly our young people, enhance their civic knowledge and develop a better understanding of our democratic traditions and institutions.

  • A collaborative effort between the USA Freedom Corps, the National Archives, and National History Day developed Our Documents, a resource book of 100 milestone documents that helped shape our Nation’s history. More than 40,000 secondary school teachers used these teaching resources to help instruct their students. On Constitution Day, September 17, 2003, an updated resource book was made available to coincide with the announcement of The People’s Vote: 100 Documents that Shaped America. The People’s Vote encouraged Americans of all ages to participate in a national vote on the ten most influential documents in American history. This exercise challenged Americans to a lively and thoughtful debate about which documents in American history are the most influential in terms of altering the course of our history, shaping the United States, and defining us as a people. The results of The People’s Vote were revealed on Bill of Rights Day, December 15, 2003, in a ceremony at the National Archives.
    
    

  • In September 2003, the U.S. Department of Education announced that 114 school districts in 38 States were to receive $99 million in Teaching American History Grants. As part of No Child Left Behind, the grants provide funding to support three-year projects to improve teachers’ knowledge, understanding, and appreciation for traditional American history through intensive, ongoing professional development. Congress appropriated $119 million for this program in 2004.
    
    

  • We the People is an initiative spearheaded by the National Endowment for the Humanities to encourage and enhance the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture. Since its inception in 2002, We the People has provided workshops for more than 2,200 teachers serving more than 275,000 students, funded TV documentaries reaching millions of viewers, and provided 1,000 libraries a set of classic works of literature on the theme of Courage.
    
    

  • In May 2003, the USA Freedom Corps, together with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Corporation for National and Community Service, coordinated a White House Forum on American History, Civics, and Service. The forum brought together leaders from K-12 schools, universities, Federal and State government, museums, and historic sites to call public attention to the need for more effective history and civics education.

Recognizing Dedicated Volunteers

• In January 2003, President Bush created the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation to promote and recognize outstanding volunteer service and raise awareness of the many ways in which Americans can continue to help meet the vital needs of their communities through civic engagement and service. The President signed an Executive Order to extend the Council on January 27, 2005.
  
  

• The President’s Volunteer Service Award – an initiative of the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation – is given to individuals, families, and groups that have demonstrated outstanding volunteer service and civic participation over the course of a 12-month period. Since the Award’s inception in 2003, nearly 6,000 Certifying Organizations have registered to distribute the President’s Volunteer Service Award to their volunteers. Through the efforts of these organizations, more than 140,000 Americans have received this honor.
  
  

• During his travels across the country since March 2002, President Bush has personally met with more than 400 local volunteers, or USA Freedom Corps Greeters, thanking them for their dedication to service.

Business Strengthening America

• Business Strengthening America is a coalition of businesses and business associations created by the private sector in response to the President’s Call to Service. Since 2002, more than 800 businesses representing more than 5.2 million employees have affiliated with Business Strengthening America to encourage volunteer activities in the private sector.

Volunteer Management Capacity Survey

• The findings of one of the most comprehensive studies to be conducted of volunteer management in the United States – including a look at what charities and congregations say would be helpful with their volunteer management efforts – were released in February 2004. Conducted by the Urban Institute and supported by the USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and The UPS Foundation, the study gives the first clear picture of volunteer management capacity among a large sample of community organizations in the United States. It shows that most charities do indeed utilize volunteers, charities and congregations greatly value the contributions those volunteers make to improving services and cutting costs, volunteer management practices have taken root in these organizations, and many organizations want to take on more volunteers.

Tsunami Relief Effort

• At the direction of President Bush, USA Freedom Corps is working to support former President George Bush and former President Bill Clinton as they lead a nationwide charitable fundraising effort to encourage private donations to the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami relief effort. A list of organizations that are working in the affected areas is available at www.usafreedomcorps.gov.

USA Freedom Corps for Kids

• In December 2004, USA Freedom Corps, with the assistance of Secretary of Education Rod Paige, launched a new website designed to show elementary and middle school students how they can start making a difference by volunteering. The new site, www.usafreedomcorpskids.gov, also includes resources, ideas, and information to help parents and teachers engage American youth in their communities.

For more information, visit www.usafreedomcorps.gov or call 1-877-USA-CORPS.

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