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Serve Michigan Update
July 11, 2005
WE MUST TAKE ACTION NOW! On June 24, U.S. House of Representatives voted to cut Learn and Serve America's budget by 13%, taking it from $43 million to $37.5 million for the 2005-06 academic year.
The House Appropriations Committee initially voted to approve $40 million for Learn and Serve America and $416 million for AmeriCorps. After final passage of the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill, an "en bloc" set of amendments were adopted that included a $5 million cut in national service funding. This deal was negotiated to avoid even deeper cuts to national service funding. The amendment cut $2.5 million from Learn and Serve America, resulting in a total of $37.5 million and cut $2.5 million from AmeriCorps Grants, resulting in a total of $267.5 million. Total funding for the Corporation and its programs in the House-passed bill is $909 million, $12 million below the President’s request.
Much is at stake! As many as 140,000 young people stand to lose their chance to participate in service-learning activities supported by Learn and Serve America. The House decision will substantially reduce the number of college, universities, schools and community-based organizations that will be supported by Learn and Serve next year. This cut means that local communities could possibly lose an estimated $22 million worth of services.
We have one last chance to influence this year's funding decision – our energy is now focused on the Senate. The Senate Appropriations subcommittee is scheduled to start deliberations on this bill on tomorrow, July 12 th at 2PM eastern with the full committee holding its hearing on July 14 th. It is important that your Senators hear from you immediately.
How You Can Support Service-Learning and Learn & Serve America TODAY!
- Please take a few minutes to call each of your U.S. Senators and ask them to restore full funding to Learn and Serve America and AmeriCorps. Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. The following are suggested talking points for your phone conversation:
- If you aren’t comfortable calling fax a letter to your Senator TODAY. The following is a sample letter that you can customize and fax or email to your Senators immediately. Visit www.senate.gov to find your senators' fax numbers or email addresses.
Once you call, fax or email your senators, please drop us a line at info@servicelearningunited.org or nslp@aed.org just to let us know that your senators have been contacted.
DO NOT DELAY. Time is of the essence. Please contact your senators TODAY and encourage your colleagues to do the same.
Source: www.servicelearningunited.org
Sample Letter to SenatorsFact Sheet Available on Service Learning Impact
A new fact sheet from Learn and Serve America's National Service-Learning Clearinghouse www.servicelearning.org summarizes a number of findings from studies on the impacts of service-learning on participating K-12 students.
This timely resource was created by RMC Research Corporation, the NSLC senior program advisor for K-12 service-learning. The studies summarized in this fact sheet build on the research outlined in Dr. Shelley Billig's May 2000 article in Phi Delta Kappan and subsequent research updates from RMC Research in 2001 and 2005.
*** Impact of Service-Learning on Participating K-12 Students, July 2005 ***
http://www.servicelearning.org/resources/fact_sheets/k-12_facts/impacts/index.php