Congress passes service bill

Amen and Halleluleah!!!!!!!

...as long as its voluntary

Volunteers are not paid. This is a patronage program for "Community Activist" Liberal democratic operatives, with great spin.

Read the bill. This is NOT about "paying volunteers." It's about providing people--of all parties--with the opportunity to do community service. And since when is being a "community activist" a bad thing? Or a "liberal" thing? Sheesh! Plenty of people from both sides are involved in their communities.

This is wonderful news. Most volunteers in this country are unpaid and we should be grateful that we have so many people willing to help others. Those that are "paid" receive a small stipend yet contribute a significant number of hours each week to service. Full time AmeriCorps members for example, serve over 40 hours per week for a year and receive a living allowance of $11,000. Ever tried to live in Boston on $11,000 per year? They serve in schools, after school programs, mentoring programs, shelters, food pantrys, and other organizations that exist to help people in need of services.

Some volunteers, such as retirees, can serve approximately 15 hours per week and tutor students who need help with academics. For this they may receive a small stipend of approximately $200 per month, which in many cases is spent on materials they use for their students, or in some cases helps offset the expenses incurred when traveling to their volunteer site.

In all cases, the stipend is a small price to pay for significant amounts of volunteer work in our communities. If we had to pay market price for these same services, they simply would not occur.

Great day for national service and for our country. About time we had some good news.

isnt this like profitable non profit organizations?

Since when is volunteering, paid for? isnt that the whole idea behind volunteering?
oh wait this is just another handful of billions of dollars to throw at welfare citizens.
as in "create five groups to create service options for the poor." translation- more money fro the welfare crowd, after all they have a right to watch plasma tv's and drive escalades, and be on welfare too. so let me ask, why would you pssobly work f your a kid. you get 4500 bucks toward college from americaoprs, plus extra welfare money, food stamps, child care, and learningoppurtunities. but if you get a prt time job wrking at Mcd's well seee ya. So why work?

Im going to be so proud to see the new obama youth marching down the strasse..
`i mean street, yeah street.
just because hitler used his brownshirts to protest businesses and greed like th unions are doing in new york and chicago, and he had groups of people learning basic first aid, civil defense, and urban cleanup.
since the german peoples could not use guns in public after ww1.they used tols to build roads, and knife skills, and taught the women and girls, outodoor cooking and cleaning. Men were taught foraging, camping, marching, tie this all together withthe gov ernmkent going to take over as ceo's of diferent companies, GM etc.
And we are one step away from the national labor party holding rallies, an then its all downhill from there.

Wow it is brilliant!

Drafting kids into the Ameri Corps to prepare them for war. Its called the Hitler youth. Go see Obama deception....

Wow, you people talking about drafting and hitler are extremely unintelligent. Please go back to school and learn to read. Thank heavens the fate of America doesn't rest in YOUR hands.

It is amazing that people like the posters of comments 6 and 7 exist. You obviously have a very poor understanding of how the national service programs work and what their function is.
Comparing AmeriCorps to the Hitler youth or the third reich does nothing but illustrate your own ignorance and an apparent lack of willingness to become involved in your own communities. I am currently an AmeriCorps member and I do receive a stipend. Which I might add is not very much and would place me below the poverty line. I do not have food stamps and I receive absolutely no welfare money (you obviously pulled that out of the air because that is not, and has never, been part of the program). It is possible to (and some members do) receive food stamps, but guess what, we work 40+ hours a week and since we are not paid hourly we have no other way to make extra money in our positions. Now I know you are sitting in your comfy office chair thinking “why don’t you get a second job”. Well after working 40-60 hours in a week how would you feel about that? So, if all service program members were completely unpaid it would mean working a second full time job to make enough money to eat and maybe get health care if they are lucky.
It is not profitable to non-profits as you say which once again shows your ignorance about how non-profits and service organizations work. We are not watching plasma screens and driving escalades. In fact I sleep on a camping mattress on the floor because I cannot afford anything else. This seems to be more or less the case for all the AmeriCorps members I have ever met. AmeriCorps members facilitate volunteerism within the larger community. I may receive a stipend for my 1,700 hours of service but the thousands of volunteer hours and the hundreds of volunteers that I, and other members like myself, recruit and facilitate receive no compensation for their work. So I say once again you have done nothing in these post but illustrate your ignorance and unwillingness to participate or support a program that helps thousands. Chances are you have even benefitted from something done by a service program member.
To further show just how wrong you are. A vast majority of AmeriCorps members are recently graduated students or people who wish to continue their education. We are not welfare citizens, and even if we were it would be better to be doing work for your community and receive government money than get it for nothing. AmeriCorps members gain valuable skills that they can use in the future to contribute to the economy and add to their resumes. We contribute to the economy in many positive ways to numerous to count. To paint service program members as leaches on society simply says negative things about you. So why don’t you go out and try doing what AmeriCorps service members do for a year and then claim that we should have no reimbursement. Seeing as I don’t know you I will give you the benefit of the doubt, if you don’t run away crying after 2 months it will probably be the most rewarding experience of your life.

I am an AmeriCorps member and most of your do not know what you are talking about. AmeriCorps is not about giving greater support to the welfare community - it's about using skill-based volunteers to build our communities. My year of service has been challenging and very hard work, but I have come away from it with refined skills and a better perception of the difficulties of poverty that I never could have gained just working at Mcd's! It has provided superb preparation for graduate school, so I can continue to make a difference in the world around me. This is a wonderful bill and I expect to see great things come of the next generation of AmeriCorps volunteers.

I dunno...looks like more of the same on behalf of gov meddling and power grabs. The federal gov doesn't have to do anything to increase the "opportunities" available in any locale for volunteerism. Thousands of such opportunities go begging now. In fact if you are inclined to volunteer in the true spirit of volunteerism, you must at a minimum be willing to exert the effort required to find and support that opportunity.
Spending 1 Billion for 175,000 such "opportunities", which require 0$ payroll; amounts to over 25 thousand dollars per year per "opportunity". This evidently is "gov" and "organizational" overhead paid to those who want to "give" us this largess, which of course, is that overhead for which we who pay taxes must tender. Is it worth that to you?

This is nothing more than a re-make of Roosevelt's "Civilian Conservation Corps". It's just welfare in another suit, but I guess it keep some off the streets.

"Serve America"? It's a cookbook!!!!!

How unfortunate Andrew and the other AmericaCorp volunteers chose to open their mouths and prove how little they know about what is actually going on in this world. And I say that as someone who has a family member who is a member of AmericaCorp and who has worked with AmericaCorp people since it's inception.

You do have a great program and you do great things in your community for very little money. While you are at it, however, you may want to actually take a look at what actually happens in the world around you. "Young" doesn't necessarily equate with "foolish", but, in your case it appears to do so.

"Now I know you are sitting in your comfy office chair thinking “why don’t you get a second job”. Well after working 40-60 hours in a week how would you feel about that?" from Andrew

Ummm, Andrew. After working 60-70 hours per week as an underpaid staff member of a non-profit AND volunteering 5-10 hours EVERY week to another non-profit of my choice, I DID have a second job. Now, you *could* make an arguement that it should be unnecessary, but when you made the assumption that no one would, you were telling us far more about your character (or lack of) than about what really occurs in the world. Over 20 years in non-profits, I found most volunteers usually were the ones who would have felt blessed to only have to put in 40-60 hours.

I HAVE done what you have done and not only didn't receive a stipend but paid for the privilege. THOUSANDS of people have done so in the past. Before you lecture others, you might want to inform yourself so you don't sound so silly in the future.

Now, I have no complaint with AmericaCorp or how it was run in the past. You are correct in saying that it provides work experience to people who may not have real job experience. I applaud that aspect of the program.

I do have serious concerns for its expansion given the wording of this particular bill. My concerns are based on EXPERTISE in the field. Too often the newest and shiniest toy in the non-profit world is spent doing nothing more than replicating existing services because of the restrictions placed on the money.

I hope that isn't the case in this circumstance. Given the incompetence we have witnessed so far from this Congress and this Administration, I don't have a good feeling that this will turn out well.

Oh my! Posts #10 and 11 just prove the indoctrination has already begun. I hate to inform Andrew and KMT but you are not volunteers; you are simply workers who are paid very poorly. You may be gaining valuable experience and the work you are doing may be valuable but I repeat -- You are NOT volunteers; you are LOW PAID WORKERS. As a matter of fact you are exploited low-paid workers if you are only earning $11K a year for 40+ hours a week, as your government is getting around it's own minimum wage and overtime laws (laws that would pertain to any non-profit that would hire you as an employee) by calling you volunteers and giving you a living allowance. And as happens with the best indoctrination programs, you come here to defend the master(government) that exploits you.

Well Rose, it’s great that you manage to achieve so much. If you truly do volunteer up to 80 hours a week completely uncompensated and then have enough energy and time to work an other, presumably full time, job that provides enough money to live, pay your bills, and maybe even provide health care... kudos to you! (that puts your potential work hour total at around 120 hours a week, if that is true that’s amazing) However the rest of us who cannot work non-stop in a robot like fashion, whose service positions necessitate hard manual labor and great expenditures of energy, have variable schedules that would make getting a second job near impossible, or who cannot make enough money at a second job to support ourselves rely on those stipends. First, I never once said I was a volunteer. I am not, this is a job and the stipend I receive although not much is plenty to live on, and I do pay taxes both federal and state in response to Rich Smith. Volunteer is a misnomer in the case of national service organizations. I apologize that I sounded angry and sarcastic in my last post, which was more a reaction to the comparison to the Hitler youth. Second, Rose you have no idea how old I am so making the assumption that I am young and in this case that means I am “foolish” is not fair and is baseless. I wish I had access to the volunteer base that you seem to have. If I had even one volunteer who was willing to put in 40 hours a week regularly I would be ecstatic.

So either you are inflating your experience and these numbers or you have access to a truly priceless base of civic minded individuals and you should be applauded. Next, you have no idea what I do so saying “you have done what I have done and paid for the privilege” seems unlikely. It seems unfortunate to me that you appear to have negative feelings towards non-profits that you claim to volunteer 60-70 hours a week for. But seeing as my response was directly related to the comparison of AmeriCorps to the Hitler youth and comparing Obama to Hitler by Steveh and Monkey Man I feel it is a reasonable assumption that they are not willing to serve in their communities (they can correct me if I am wrong, I hope I am). I never once made a claim that others are unwilling to volunteer their time and effort or even do so at great strain on themselves. I am truly sorry I have offended your sensibilities Rose. I consider my self fairly informed so asking me to take a look at what goes on in the world around me is an interesting request. In the world around where I am I see a lack of public participation and a lack of understanding about basic ecological and natural system functionality. Not all service program members work in urban environs, I am just assuming that’s where your work has focused. I feel that since we are all making assumption about each other why not continue. So in the end I guess all I can say is that if you truly are as committed to your volunteer work as you say I applaud you, you are a model of what a citizen should be keep up the good work.

Andrew, did you even read what I said before you responded to it or are you just trying to evade taking responsibility for your earlier comments? Either way, it doesn't reflect well on you personally or suggest to anyone that your program is worth supporting.

Fortunately, I copied your earlier claim so you can't rewrite it without appearing to be a liar.

"Now I know you are sitting in your comfy office chair thinking “why don’t you get a second job”. Well after working 40-60 hours in a week how would you feel about that?" from Andrew

Yes, Andrew. I HAVE worked 40-60 hours a week for a non-profit AND worked a second job AND volunteered 5-10 hours a week for the charity of my choice.

And yes, Andrew, I am not alone in doing so. The non-proit I worked for has numerous volunteers who worked full-time jobs, families, and volunteered not only for us but for schools and churches. It isn't uncommon.

So, I am going to ignore your long, rambling first paragraph for what it appears to be. You don't like someone disagreeing with you so apparently you decided to claim I said something completely different than I actually did. Besides, you admit yourself that you are NOT a volunteer, but a poorly paid government paid employee. Your math is both bad and incoherent based on your own comments.

As to your second long, rambling second paragraph .... :-D

The program that I worked for - and paid for the privilege through personal savings and donations from family members - has thousands of people who do the same thing each year. My particular location was the capital city of a foreign country led (at the time) by a dictator and was well over 3 million in population. Is that "urban" or "poor" enough for you?

Andrew, when you are in the middle of a tough situation, it is easy to start to think the worst about everyone that you encounter - including the very people you are there to help. As long as you continue to assume the worst about everyone, you will continue to see the worst in people.

People can be very good - if you allow them to be.

By the way, how is it that a person with a variable schedule that doesn't permit any time for a second job or voluntering any program other than the one you currently are working for find the time to not only comment on articles on the internet, but return to respond to them?

(General disclaimer: My point was that working 40-60 hours makes it theorectically possible for someone to have a second job and/or to volunteer in their community and that many people do just that. The AmericaCorp requirements may prevent its employees from doing so, however. Given that Andrew has never mentioned that makes me think that they do not.)

Just to clear up the record, the AmeriCorps program (not AmericaCorps) does prohibit getting a second job, or at least the branch I work with (AmeriCorps VISTA) since it's role is to encourage citizens to find innovative solutions to poverty by experiencing poverty-like wages themselves.

Thank you KMT.

As I have said various times in my previous comments, I have a great deal of respect for the program itself. It deserves a good - and factual - representation and you have ably filled that role.

I dunno....sounds an awful lot like hitlers youth or stalins pioneers!!! WTF! and you people out there tell us that we are uneducated and dont know what we are talking about.....its called OUR OPINIONS! you can have yours....i have mine. i am most certainly educated....iv also done my homework...this is scary and if you can't see that than you're blind!!!