President Obama, 

Your focus on creating new jobs as the key component to the recovery of our economy is an excellent approach and a step in the right direction. Putting money into creating millions of new jobs in building sustainable infrastructure and in "green" renewable energies is a very smart investment that will help our economy to recover and flourish once again. Not only will these investments create new jobs, but they will modernize our country and put us in a global leadership position to solve the climate crisis.

With this same philosophy in mind, we should invest in expanding service opportunities for Americans of all ages, as such an investment can also aid our economic recovery. If the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan were amended to include money invested in AmeriCorps and other types of service expansion, not only would it help you to keep your campaign promise of expanding AmeriCorps to 275,000 slots, it would help to create even more jobs that could put Americans to back to work.

With AmeriCorps, young people earn both hands-on as well as practical management and leadership jobs skills that prepare them for life long careers as the next generation of American workers. They earn job experience and training that serves as a launching pad for sustainable careers in all sectors of American industry.

In addition to the jobs that will be created through an expansion of service programs such as AmeriCorps, the services rendered by the volunteers address critical needs in our education, environment, health care, and homeland security institutions. Volunteers also develop a lasting passion and sense of civic responsibility as they move forward in the lives as active citizens who are ready to be called upon to aid their country in difficult times such as right now.

Service is many things. Let's also start looking at service as stimulus.