A special message from the President of America's Voices, AnnMaura Connolly ...
"President Obama released his FY13 budget today with some highlights, and significant lowlights, for our field:
- $1.1 billion for CNCS: 1% above the 2012 funding level, President Obama continues to demonstrate his commitment to supporting opportunities for Americans to serve their country.
- 82,500 AmeriCorps members: This maintains the 2012 member level, but is a far cry from the 170,000 goal set forth in the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.
- $50 million for the Social Innovation Fund: $30 million less than the level set forth in the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.
- Level funding for Senior Corps.
- Eliminates funding for the Volunteer Generation Fund: $80 million less than the level set forth in the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.
- Eliminates funding for the Nonprofit Capacity Building Fund.
- No funding for Learn and Serve America for the second consecutive year.
While we are grateful to the President and his Administration for maintaining service as a priority in his FY13 budget, this does not go far enough to meet the demand we face from communities in need, nor from the hundreds of thousands of citizens looking to serve their country.
Over the last two years, nearly one million AmeriCorps applications have been rejected. Last year alone 582,000 applications were received for 80,000 positions. Americans wants to serve their country, and it is becoming increasingly harder to do so, making it almost as hard to get into AmeriCorps as it is to get into an Ivy league college. Can we afford to let national service become an unattainable path for millions of Americans?
We must continue to educate our nation’s leaders about what we know: Americans want to serve, and our communities need their service. The release of the President’s budget is the first step in a long budget process for the nation. If we work together, and bring all of our creativity and passion to this endeavor, we can help our nation’s leaders recognize that national service is a smart investment that leverages our greatest asset, our citizens.
I hope we can count on you in the coming weeks and months as we renew our efforts to make our voices heard.
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