The NonProfit Times - October 1, 2008 - (Page 23)

VOLUNTEERISM MICHELE DONOHUE ServiceNation Summit McCain and Obama vow to make public service a centerpiece P residential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama took to the stage, separately, at the ServiceNation Summit at Columbia University in New York City on Sept. 11 to help launch grassroots campaign to expand voluntary community and national service opportunities for all Americans. While there were areas of agreement and disagreement, one thing is for sure, national service will be a centerpiece of national policy no matter who wins in November. The two were interviewed by Richard Stengel, managing editor of TIME magazine, and Judy Woodruff of “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.” It was broadcast live on CNN and other cable outlets. ServiceNation, a coalition of more than 100 organizations that has a collective reach of some 100 million Americans, staged the two-day forum dedicated to solving problems through civic engagement and service. The NonProfit Times was a media sponsor of the event. The forum audience included 9/11 family members, young Americans, military veterans, and thought leaders as a crushing crowd of students watched the discussion on live feed from the steps of Democratic Presidential Nominee Barak Obama the university’s Low Library in Morningside Heights. The ServiceNation Summit convened more than 500 leaders from American business, government and leading nonprofit institutions to celebrate the ideal and power of service, and lay out a bold policy blueprint for addressing America’s greatest social challenges through expanded opportunities for voluntary community and national service. McCain spoke about service outside party politics and said he wants to harness the unity Americans felt after 9/11 and direct it toward national service. “We weren’t Republicans. We weren’t Democrats. We were Americans,” he said, emphasizing that national service “doesn’t always have to be run by the government” when nonprofits like Teach for America, faithbased institutions and secular groups garner so much support from volunteers. Obama discussed the need for more young people to feel “committed to something larger than ourselves” and to engage in both military and community-based service. He spoke about creating a civilian counterpart to the military to work on energy and infrastructure problems alongside military personnel and that government expansion in national service wouldn’t infringe on nonprofits, like the American Red Cross, since there are “more than enough problems out there to deal with.” Both candidates said that the military should expand and that colleges, like Columbia,should allow Reserve Officers’Training Corps (ROTC) and other military branches to recruit at prestigious campuses Volunteerism, page 24 OCTOBER 1, 2008 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com 23 http://www.resource-alliance.org/ifc http://scps.nyu.edu/813 http://www.resource-alliance.org/ifc http://www.nptimes.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The NonProfit Times - October 1, 2008

The NonProfit Times - October 1, 2008 Near Miss & Direct Hit Donor Intent The Focus Of Suit North Dakota AG Investigating The Grant Institute Contents Who...When...Where...How...What? Calendar Kumbaya Tying The Knot Filing Changes Philanthropy Caucus Big Bucks For Capital Campaigns 5 Things NOT To Do In A Capital Campaign Acquisition: Staying The Course ServiceNation Summit Fundraising Guide NPT Jobs Resource Directory

The NonProfit Times - October 1, 2008

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