The call to service in your community is being strongly promoted by national legislation. Near the end of March the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1388, the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act by a roll call vote of 321-105. The bill aims to improve and expand several national service programs that encourage volunteerism to address our nation’s most pressing challenges, among them AmeriCorps.

The GIVE Act relates to national service programs administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency created in 1993. The Corporation engages more than four million Americans in results-driven service each year–75,000 AmeriCorps members, 492,000 Senior Corps volunteers, 1.1 million ‘Learn and Serve America’ students, and 2.2 million additional community volunteers–mobilized and managed through the agency’s programs. Participants in these programs have helped Americans in need through mentoring at-risk youth, building homes, teaching in underserved schools, caring for veterans and seniors, and assisting survivors of Hurricane Katrina and other disasters. The Senate is also developing its version of the GIVE Act.

As someone who, while in Congress, voted to create the AmeriCorps program, I am especially pleased with the emphasis being placed on this program through this legislation. Often referred to as the ”domestic Peace Corps,” AmeriCorps In just 15 years has enrolled 540,000 volunteers – dwarfing the 150,000 who have served in overseas volunteerism through the Peace Corps since its inception 45 years ago.

The GIVE Act contemplates increasing AmeriCorps slots from the current annual rate of 75,000 to upwards of 250,000 over the next few years. In exchange for their community service, AmeriCorps participants receive a small stipend and college assistance (much like the valued G.I Bill).

Here at the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, we value the benefits that these volunteers bring to our region. Since 1993 we have partnered with AmeriCorps, engaging more than 400 volunteers. In recent years we have assigned these AmeriCorps workers to early childhood facilities across our 20-county region. As such, they have assisted with school readiness, previously focusing on literacy and currently focusing on developing the social and emotional skills of our pre-K enrollees. Studies have shown the clear correlation between early childhood education and school success. Early childhood initiatives are shown to result in students with greater grade retention, higher performance in elementary school and high school graduation.

We call our AmeriCorps partnership Learning Early Achieves Potential or LEAP. We are now recruiting a new team of AmeriCorps members who will begin their service in late August. They will serve in local Head Start centers, pre-K and Kindergartens, and other local early childhood programs. They will commit to one year as part of a team trained to be advocates, coaches, and champions for social/emotional school readiness.

AmeriCorps members are typically drawn from the ranks of recent college graduates up to Baby Boomers. In today’s economy, this type of employment might be just the opportunity for someone who is between jobs, laid off or looking for meaningful work with children and families after a career elsewhere.

Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation believes that the strength of our region’s future workforce requires children who enter our school system ready to learn. In the years to come, we plan to maintain our successful partnership with AmeriCorps with this purpose in mind.

For an AmeriCorps application, contact Janet Lundstrom, 507-455-3215, janetl@smifoundation.org.

LEAP is a national service donor sponsorship of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation — Early Childhood Initiative, Serve Minnesota and AmeriCorps. Tim Penny is the president of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation.