Welcome

History of Service

Throughout our country’s history, Americans have fostered and maintained an ethic of service and volunteerism, assisting each other in myriad ways: tutoring students, helping the elderly and the homeless, supporting places of worship, and beautifying our neighborhoods.

The federal government has been a powerful organizing force for service, inspiring people to volunteer and to serve their country. The government has also initiated several national service programs--AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps VISTA, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America--recognizing the benefit to both communities and individual volunteers.

Federal Support

With a clear appreciation of how a culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility enriches a nation and its citizenry, the federal government has supported volunteering and community service in a variety of important, different ways during the past century. Highlights of that history include the following:

  • 1930s: At the height of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as a way to put idle hands to productive use to meet public needs. From 1933 to 1942, the CCC put some three million unemployed men to work clearing trails and restoring public lands. The men have been credited with renewing the nation’s decimated forests by planting an estimated three billion trees. And through the CCC’s education program, more than 40,000 people learned to read and write.
  • 1960s: Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson renewed the cause of federally supported civilian service when they created (respectively) the Peace Corps and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA). During this decade, the Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions, and Retired Senior Volunteer Program began to show how older Americans could establish meaningful relationships with people in need.
  • 1990: President George H.W. Bush created the Commission on National and Community Service to administer grants to schools to support service-learning in schools, higher education institutions, and community-based organizations and to support full-time service across the nation.
  • 1993: President Bill Clinton and Congress created the Corporation for National and Community Service by combining the Commission on National and Community Service with ACTION, a federal domestic volunteer agency created in 1970. The Corporation brought, the full range of domestic community service programs under the umbrella of one central organization; it also included AmeriCorps, a new national service program.
  • 1994: President Clinton signs the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday and Service Act, expanding the mission of the holiday as a day of community service, interracial cooperation, and youth anti-violence initiatives. Through this new Act, Congress asked all Americans to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy by getting citizens to tackle problems in their communities.
  • 2002: President George W. Bush created USA Freedom Corps, a White House office to coordinate national volunteer efforts in response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Beyond the existing AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Peace Corps, and Learn and Serve America programs, USA Freedom Corps spurs the creation of several new volunteer programs aimed specifically at securing the nation, including Citizen Corps Councils in all U.S. states and territories. In addition, the President calls on all Americans to devote the equivalent of two years of their lives—four thousand hours—to service and volunteering.
  • 2009:  The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act became law and authorizes the expansion of opportunities for communities to use citizens and service strategies to meet community needs through AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America programs. It also increases opportunities for new public-private partnerships to use social innovation to meet critical local and national needs.

Local Leadership

  • 2009: On September 10, 2009, the Cities of Service Coalition was founded by 17 mayors from around the country.  Cities of Service is a bipartisan coalition of mayors who have answered the historic Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act’s call to action. Cities – often at the front lines of our nation’s most pressing challenges – are perfectly positioned to work together to engage millions more volunteers in service and develop strategies to increase the amount and impact of local service efforts. The coalition has rapidly grown since its inception.  As of February 2010, it includes more than 80 Mayors representing more than 43 million Americans across the nation, eight of the 10 largest cities in the country, and 30 of the top 50 largest cities.