The Franklin Project was a policy program of the
Aspen Institute from October 2012 to December 2015, that focused on advancing
national service in the United States.
Walter Isaacson
Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, ...
called the project the "biggest idea" to come out of the
Aspen Ideas Festival during his tenure as CEO of the Aspen Institute. In January 2016, the project merged with
ServiceNation ServiceNation was a campaign of Be The Change, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization based in Boston, Massachusetts. Its mission is to rekindle an ethic of civic responsibility in America through universal national service. ServiceNation's goal was to expa ...
and the Service Year Exchange project of the
National Conference on Citizenship to form
Service Year Alliance
Service Year Alliance is an American nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C.
History
The organization was formed in 2016 through the merger of three historical national service efforts (the Franklin Project at the Aspen Instit ...
(a new
501(c)(3) non-profit operating as a joint venture of the Aspen Institute and Be the Change, Inc.).
History
In 2012,
Stanley McChrystal
Stanley Allen McChrystal (born August 14, 1954) is a retired United States Army general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008 where his organization was credited with the death of Abu Musab al-Zarq ...
was interviewed by
Bob Schieffer
Bob Lloyd Schieffer (born February 25, 1937) is an American television journalist. He is known for his moderation of presidential debates, where he has been praised for his capability. Schieffer is one of the few journalists to have covered all f ...
at the
Aspen Ideas Festival. As part of that interview, McChrystal was asked whether or not he believed in the draft. He responded that he thought every young person should serve, but the military does not need every young person, so we need to create more opportunities for all young Americans to serve.
McChrystal's remarks generated a lot of enthusiasm within the
Aspen Institute community and several leaders within the United States
national service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The ...
community, along with Aspen Institute CEO
Walter Isaacson
Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, ...
, approached him to see if he would be interested in helping to form a new initiative around the concept that every young person should do a year or more of national service. He agreed and the Franklin Project was created in October 2012 as a policy program of the Aspen Institute.
The project built a five-person team and a variety of councils of prominent Americans to advance the concept that a year or more of national service should become a common opportunity and expectation for young Americans. The project primarily relied on summits, convenings, initiatives, and writing by thought leaders associated with the project.
Over time, the project began to explore how it might work more closely together with its partners
ServiceNation ServiceNation was a campaign of Be The Change, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization based in Boston, Massachusetts. Its mission is to rekindle an ethic of civic responsibility in America through universal national service. ServiceNation's goal was to expa ...
, the Service Year Exchange project of the
National Conference on Citizenship, and
Voices for National Service. With support from the
Einhorn Family Charitable Trust, the four organizations worked together to develop a joint operating plan to ensure their collective efforts were adding up to impact greater than the sum of their individual efforts. At the end of a year-long planning process, three of the organizations (the Franklin Project,
Service Nation, the Service Year Exchange project of the
National Conference on Citizenship) decided the best way to achieve the new plan was to merge. The new 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is called
Service Year Alliance
Service Year Alliance is an American nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C.
History
The organization was formed in 2016 through the merger of three historical national service efforts (the Franklin Project at the Aspen Instit ...
, and operates as a joint venture between the Aspen Institute and Be the Change, Inc.
Voices for National Service decided to remain independent, but is a close partner of the new organization.
Summits
21st Century National Service Summit
On June 24 and 25, 2013, the project hosted the 21st Century National Service Summit in
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Moun ...
, as a lead-in event to the
Aspen Ideas Festival. The summit sought to "present bold new ideas to make national service a common expectation and opportunity for all young Americans" and inspire participants to "make specific commitments to fulfill the vision of the Franklin Project." Over 275 leaders from business, labor, higher education, government, military, faith-based community, philanthropy, and nonprofit organizations attended. At the summit the project also released its ''21st Century National Service Action Plan''.
Speakers at the summit included: General
Stanley McChrystal
Stanley Allen McChrystal (born August 14, 1954) is a retired United States Army general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008 where his organization was credited with the death of Abu Musab al-Zarq ...
, former commander, International Security Assistance Force and US Forces Afghanistan and chair of the Franklin Project's Leadership Council; CNN senior political analyst and director of Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership
David Gergen
David Richmond Gergen (born May 9, 1942) is an American political commentator and former presidential adviser who served during the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He is currently a senior political ...
; Vice President Biden's chief of staff
Bruce Reed; former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Rob Gordon, Clinton Foundation board member
Chelsea Clinton
Chelsea Victoria Clinton (born February 27, 1980) is an American writer and global health advocate. She is the only child of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinto ...
; former US Senator
Mel Martinez; Corporation for National and Community Service CEO
Wendy Spencer
Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries.
In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...
; journalist, author & former California first lady
Maria Shriver
Maria Owings Shriver (born November 6, 1955)
is an American journalist, author, a member of the Kennedy family, former First Lady of California, and the founder of the nonprofit organization The Women's Alzheimer's Movement. She was married to ...
; Civic Enterprises CEO and Franklin Project co-chair
John Bridgeland; City Year co-founder and Franklin Project co-chair
Alan Khazei; ABC News contributor
Matthew Dowd
Matthew John Dowd (born May 29, 1961) is an American political pundit and consultant. He was the chief strategist for the Bush–Cheney 2004 presidential campaign and was an ABC News political analyst. On September 29, 2021, he announced a run fo ...
; former Undersecretary of Defense
Michèle Flournoy
Michèle Angélique Flournoy (, born December 14, 1960) is an American defense policy advisor and former government official. She was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy under President Bill Clinton and Under Secretary of Defens ...
; Teach For America founder and chair
Wendy Kopp
Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries.
In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...
; former governor of Idaho, US senator & US Interior secretary
Dirk Kempthorne
Dirk Arthur Kempthorne (born October 29, 1951) is an American politician who served as the 49th United States Secretary of the Interior from 2006 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a ...
; Global Health Corps CEO and co-founder
Barbara Bush
Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously w ...
; Target Community Relations president
Laysha Ward; ''Huffington Post'' president, chair and editor-in-chief
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of '' Th ...
; former Bush White House director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
John DiIulio
John J. Dilulio Jr. (born 1958) is an American political scientist. He currently serves as the Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion, and Civil Society and Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
Caree ...
; PBS president
Paula Kerger; White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation director
Jonathan Greenblatt
Jonathan Greenblatt (born November 21, 1970) is an American entrepreneur, corporate executive, and the sixth National Director and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Prior to heading the ADL, Greenblatt served in the White House as Special A ...
; Peace Corps deputy director
Carrie Hessler-Radelet; former assistant to President George W. Bush,
Michael Gerson
Michael John Gerson (May 15, 1964 – November 17, 2022) was an American journalist and speechwriter. He was a neoconservative op-ed columnist for ''The Washington Post'', a Policy Fellow with One Campaign, a visiting fellow with the Center for ...
; New Orleans, Louisiana, mayor
Mitch Landrieu
Mitchell Joseph Landrieu ( ; born August 16, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician who served as Mayor of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana from 2004 ...
; Providence, Rhode Island, mayor
Angel Taveras
Angel Taveras (born August 18, 1970) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 37th mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, from 2011 to 2015. Taveras was the first Hispanic mayor of the city and the third elected and fourth serving Domin ...
; Nashville, Tennessee, mayor
Karl Dean
Karl Foster Dean (born September 20, 1955) is an American politician who served as the 6th Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee from 2007 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as Nashville's Director of Law under Mayor Bill P ...
; Bank of America Foundation president
Kerry Sullivan; and Aspen Institute president and CEO
Walter Isaacson
Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, ...
.
The summit was sponsored by
JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...
,
Target
Target may refer to:
Physical items
* Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports
** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports
** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...
,
Accenture,
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
,
Burson Marsteller, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine, Laura & Gary Lauder, Jonathan & Jeannie Lavine,
the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, the
Hauptman Family Foundation,
Case Foundation
Founded in 1997 by AOL co-founder Steve Case and his wife Jean Case, the Case Foundation invests in individuals, nonprofits, and social enterprises aiming to connect people, increase giving, and catalyze civic action.
Echoing the foundation's dee ...
,
Entertainment Industry Foundation
The Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), based in Los Angeles, United States, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization of the entertainment industry. EIF funds more than 300 charitable organizations annually, both in the Los Angeles ...
,
Bright House Networks
Bright House Networks, LLC also simply known as Bright House, was an American telecom company. Prior to its purchase by Charter Communications, it was the tenth-largest multichannel video service provider and the 6th largest cable internet prov ...
,
State Farm,
Voices For National Service, and
the MCJ Amelior Foundation.
Summit at Gettysburg: Our Unfinished Work
From June 4 to 6, 2014, the project hosted the Summit at Gettysburg: Our Unfinished Work in
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Gettysburg (; non-locally ) is a borough and the county seat of Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are named for this town.
Gettysburg is home to th ...
, in partnership with the
National Conference on Citizenship,
ServiceNation ServiceNation was a campaign of Be The Change, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization based in Boston, Massachusetts. Its mission is to rekindle an ethic of civic responsibility in America through universal national service. ServiceNation's goal was to expa ...
, and
Voices for National Service. The summit sought to "awaken a new citizenship in the country, grounded in a service year as a rite of passage for all 18 to 28 year olds." Over 350 participants from the private sector, higher education, government, the military, faith communities, philanthropy, and nonprofit organizations attended.
Speakers at the summit included: Franklin Project Leadership Council chair General (Ret.)
Stanley McChrystal
Stanley Allen McChrystal (born August 14, 1954) is a retired United States Army general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008 where his organization was credited with the death of Abu Musab al-Zarq ...
; vice-chair of the Clinton Foundation
Chelsea Clinton
Chelsea Victoria Clinton (born February 27, 1980) is an American writer and global health advocate. She is the only child of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinto ...
; CEO & co-founder of Global Health Corps
Barbara Bush
Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously w ...
; CNN senior political analyst
David Gergen
David Richmond Gergen (born May 9, 1942) is an American political commentator and former presidential adviser who served during the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He is currently a senior political ...
; co-host of CNN's ''Crossfire''
S.E. Cupp
SE, Se, or Sé may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Sé'' (album), by Lúnasa, 2006
* Se (instrument), a traditional Chinese musical instrument
Businesses and organizations
* Sea Ltd (NYSE: SE), tech conglomerate headquartered in Singapore
...
; ''Washington Post'' columnist
E.J. Dionne; author and former senior editor of ''Newsweek''
Jonathan Alter
Jonathan H. Alter (born October 6, 1957) is a liberal American journalist, best-selling author, Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and television producer who was a columnist and senior editor for ''Newsweek'' magazine from 1983 until 2011. Alt ...
, CNN political contributor
Paul Begala
Paul Edward Begala (born May 12, 1961) is an American political consultant and political commentator, best known as the former advisor to President Bill Clinton.
Begala was a chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton–Gore campaign, which carried ...
; ''Washington Post'' columnist
Michael Gerson
Michael John Gerson (May 15, 1964 – November 17, 2022) was an American journalist and speechwriter. He was a neoconservative op-ed columnist for ''The Washington Post'', a Policy Fellow with One Campaign, a visiting fellow with the Center for ...
; US Army captain (ret.) and author
Wes Moore; senior vice president of Corporate Affairs at Cisco
Tae Yoo; chairman & CEO of Special Olympics
Tim Shriver; chief marketing officer at eBay
Richelle Parham
Richelle Parham is an American marketer, and the former vice president and chief marketing officer for eBay.
Early life
Richelle Parham grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Growing up, she planned to become a fashion designer. As part of a co-op pla ...
; chief diversity officer and senior vice president at Time Warner,
Lisa Garcia Quiroz; vice president at Google
Megan Smith
Megan J. Smith (born October 21, 1964) is an American engineer and technologist. She was the third Chief Technology Officer of the United States (U.S. CTO) and Assistant to the President, serving under President Barack Obama. She was previously a ...
; head of Social Impact at LinkedIn
Meg Garlinghouse; president of Be the Change Rob Gordon; US president United Way Worldwide
Stacey Stewart; CEO of Catholic Charities Rev. Larry Snyder; former US Secretary of Transportation
Ray LaHood
Raymond H. LaHood (born December 6, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 16th United States Secretary of Transportation from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the ...
; CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service
Wendy Spencer
Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries.
In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...
; former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and chair Forum for Community Solutions
Melody Barnes; former member of the US House of Representatives
Harold Ford, Jr.; mayor of Flint, Michigan,
Dayne Walling; former US secretary of education
Margaret Spellings; former vice chief of staff of the Army General (Ret.)
Peter W. Chiarelli; former chairman of the FCC
Michael Powell
Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a seri ...
; and president and CEO of the Aspen Institute
Walter Isaacson
Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, ...
.
The summit was sponsored by Mike and Jackie Bezos, the
Resnick Family Foundation,
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...
, Laura & Gary Lauder, the
Tisch Illumination Fund, Julie Fisher Cummings, and Mike Gridley.
The program collaborated with the journal ''
Democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...
'' to release an issue coinciding with the summit that featured a symposium on national service.
Initiatives
''Huffington Post'' series
From June 2013 to November 2016, the project collaborated with the ''
Huffington Post'' to tell stories of support for national service from a variety of perspectives, resulting in twenty-seven stories. The majority of these posts were a series of twenty-posts written by members of the Ambassadors Program in November 2016.
Enlisting America Pledge
In June 2014, the project released "Enlisting America: A Call to National Service From Those Who Have Served". Top leaders and organizations representing the United States military endorsed two ideas by signing their name to the pledge:
# There should be an opportunity - and expectation - that every young American serves their country for a year.
# There are many ways to serve your country; military and civilian national service are two sides of the same coin.
Employers of National Service
On September 12, 2014, President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
launched the Employers of National Service initiative at the 20th anniversary of
AmeriCorps event on the
South Lawn of the White House. Employers participating in the initiative connect to the talent pipeline of
AmeriCorps,
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F ...
, and other service year alumni, by indicating in their hiring processes that they view national service experience as a plus. The initiative is a collaboration between the program with the
Corporation for National and Community Service
AmeriCorps (officially the Corporation for National and Community Service or CNCS) is an independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in service through a variety of stipended volunteer work prog ...
, the Peace Corps,
AmeriCorps Alums, and the
National Peace Corps Association. To date, over 500 employers have joined the initiative.
Service Year + Higher Education Innovation Challenge
In spring 2015, in partnership with the
Lumina Foundation
Lumina Foundation is a private, Indianapolis-based foundation with about $1.4 billion in assets. Since its founding in August 2000, Lumina has made grants totaling more than $250 million.
History
Lumina Foundation is a conversion foundation cre ...
, the
National Conference on Citizenship, and the
Corporation for National and Community Service
AmeriCorps (officially the Corporation for National and Community Service or CNCS) is an independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in service through a variety of stipended volunteer work prog ...
, the project ran a Service Year + Higher Education Innovation Challenge that "challenged higher education institutions to create innovative new service year opportunities connected to academic credit for their students." Over 200 universities engaged in the challenge and 32 ultimately submitted detailed proposals for consideration.
The top three proposals from each category (community college, public, and private categories) were invited to the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC, to compete for $100,000 in prizes at an in-person pitch day on April 15, 2015.
Finalists and winners of the challenge were:
* ''Community College'':
Alamo Colleges;
Miami Dade College
Miami Dade College (Miami Dade, MDC or Dade) is a public college in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1959, it has a total of eight campuses and twenty-one outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. It is the largest college in the Florida College S ...
(winner); and
Salt Lake Community College
Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) is a public community college in Salt Lake County, Utah. It is the state's largest two-year college with the most diverse student body. It serves more than 60,000 students on 10 campuses as well as through onl ...
* ''Public University'':
San Jose State
San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...
;
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...
;
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMass Dartmouth or UMassD) is a public research university in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. It is the southernmost campus of the University of Massachusetts system. Formerly Southeastern Massachusetts Un ...
(winner)
* ''Private University'':
Drake University
Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States.
His ...
(winner);
Mount St. Joseph University;
Saint Peter's University
Saint Peter's University is a private Jesuit university in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded as Saint Peter's College in 1872 by the Society of Jesus. The university offers over 60 undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 2,600 un ...
The challenge was run again in 2016 by the project's successor organization,
Service Year Alliance
Service Year Alliance is an American nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C.
History
The organization was formed in 2016 through the merger of three historical national service efforts (the Franklin Project at the Aspen Instit ...
.
Ambassadors Program
In May 2015, the project launched their Ambassadors Program, a twelve-month "leadership development program and local engagement strategy" with the aim of increasing support for national service in communities across the country. The program had three priorities:
# Make national service part of the 2016 election conversation.
# Increase the number of service year positions available in communities across the United States.
# Steward the next generation of national service leaders.
Forty-five ambassadors from twenty-five states were selected and began their term with a three-day training
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C.
In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...
.
Programs inspired
A variety of programs and initiatives were created by participants inspired by the project's programming.
ArtistYear
Margo Drakos and Elizabeth Warshawer founded
ArtistYear after attending the 21st Century National Service Summit and were inspired to create the first national service program specifically for artists. ArtistYear brings the power of the arts to underserved schools with limited arts instruction and access by providing exceptional artists with a dedicated service year that goes beyond traditional community service outreach. Today, ArtistYear has corps members in three cities:
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, and
Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado.
NYC Service
In July 2014, the project collaborated with
NYC Service and
United Way of New York City to help them launch their effort to double the number of service year opportunities in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. The effort was launched at a summit on the effort at the
Roosevelt House, attended by over 100 heads of major institutions, academic centers, nonprofits and corporations. Speakers at the summit included:
Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York City; Paula Gavin, chief service officer of New York City;
Sheena Wright, CEO of United Way of New York City; Jennifer Raab, president of
Hunter College; Joel Berg, executive director of the
New York City Coalition Against Hunger; Felix V. Matos Rodriguez, president of
Queens College; Tim McClimon, president of the
American Express Foundation; and Laurie Tisch, president of the
Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.
Tufts 1+4
In collaboration with the project,
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
launched Tufts 1+4, in February 2014. The 1+4 program provides applicants to Tufts the opportunity to check off on their application that they would be interested in doing a year of service to begin their college experience. If admitted, Tufts places those interested students in selected service organizations to engage in a year of full-time national or international service before beginning the traditional college experience (hence 1 year of service + 4 years of traditional college experience).
Baltimore Corps
Fagan Harris was an early advisor to the project and went on to created
Baltimore Corps, a service year program that seeks to "enlist talent to accelerate social innovation in Baltimore and advance a citywide agenda for equity and racial justice." The Aspen Institute served as Baltimore Corps' fiscal sponsor as it got off the ground.
Leadership
Director
The project was led by
Marine Corps
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...
veteran
Jason Mangone
Jason Mangone is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at SUNY Brockport, a position he has held since 2013. Mangone played college football as a quarterback, first at Alfred University in Alfred (village), New York, Alfred, Ne ...
. Mangone shepherded the project's merger into its successor organization,
Service Year Alliance
Service Year Alliance is an American nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C.
History
The organization was formed in 2016 through the merger of three historical national service efforts (the Franklin Project at the Aspen Instit ...
, where he served as its founding chief operating officer.
Leadership Council
The project was advised by a Leadership Council of prominent Americans. Retired US Army General
Stanley McChrystal
Stanley Allen McChrystal (born August 14, 1954) is a retired United States Army general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008 where his organization was credited with the death of Abu Musab al-Zarq ...
served as chair and former White House Domestic Policy Council Director
John Bridgeland and City Year Co-Founder
Alan Khazei served as vice-chairs. Examples of other notable members included
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic ...
,
Barbara Bush
Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously w ...
, and
Chelsea Clinton
Chelsea Victoria Clinton (born February 27, 1980) is an American writer and global health advocate. She is the only child of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinto ...
.
Young Leaders Council
The program ran a Young Leaders Council consisting of a bipartisan group of emerging millennial leaders from a variety of sectors. The council hoped to develop and steward future leaders who view universal national service as their generation's legacy and would be willing to work together across party lines to eventually foster bipartisan legislation in support of it. Examples of council members included: Steven Olikara, founder and president of the
Millennial Action Project; Joshua Marcuse, chairman of the
Young Professionals in Foreign Policy
Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP) is a United States nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to train the next generation of foreign policy leadership. The group was founded by Joshua Marcuse in 2004.
Membership
YPFP's member ...
; John McCarthy, executive director of Future Civic Leaders; and Anastasia Dellaccio, senior officer at the
UN Foundation
The United Nations Foundation is a charitable organization headquartered in Washington, DC, that supports the United Nations and its activities. It was established in 1998 with a $1 billion gift to the United Nations by philanthropist Ted Turner, ...
. Featured speakers at council meetings included:
Olivier Knox of Yahoo News, Representative
Joe Kennedy, and Representative
Seth Moulton
Seth Wilbur Moulton (born October 24, 1978) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 6th congressional district since 2015. A former Marine Corps officer, he is a member of the Democratic Party.
After ...
.
Publications
21st Century National Service Action Plan
At the 21st Century National Service Summit in June 2013, the project released its "21st Century National Service Action Plan", a 39-page plan that outlines how the United States could create a system of that engages at least one million young adults annually in a year of full-time national service as "civic rite of passage". The plan includes signatures by fifty-eight prominent Americans as endorsers.
Voters for National Service
The projected collaborated with
Voices for National Service,
Civic Enterprises, and
Hart Research Associates to research voter perspectives on national service (1,000 voter sample size). In June 2013 they released the results in "Voters for National Service: Perspectives of American Voters on Large-Scale National Service". The key findings of the study were:
# American voters have a positive view of national service and a broad understanding of what the term national service means.
# When asked what goals they have for our country, voters see many pressing needs and think the country could do more.
# Voters overwhelmingly favor a system of voluntary national service, but oppose mandatory service.
# Voters say the country and national service participants would benefit greatly—and in a variety of ways—from a national service program.
# Despite voters' concerns with government spending, more than three in four say that increased funding for national service would be worth it.
# Voters express real interest in participating in a national service program.
# Voters favor a range of policy ideas to expand national service opportunities to more Americans, including many ideas currently being explored by the national service field.
"The Economic Value of National Service" report
The project collaborated with
Voices for National Service,
Civic Enterprises, and the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
to study the economic value of national service and published a report in September 2013. The primary finding was that "the benefit-cost ratio is 3.9: for every dollar invested in the network of national service programs currently operating, there is a social return of almost four dollars." Clive Belfield of Columbia University was the author of the study.
References
{{Aspen Institute
Nonprofit youth organizations based in the United States