For a young organization, community-service coalition ServiceNation is already making big waves.
ServiceNation, a league founded by four already-established public-interest organizations—Be the Change, the Points of Light Institute, Civic Enterprises, and City Year to harness the 2008 election season’s political energy in order to rally American volunteers. This weekend’s summit, its first major event, features the two major-party nominees for president as well as Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Jon Bon Jovi, among other stars of politics, academia, and entertainment.
The coalition aims to recruit 100 million annual part-time volunteers by 2020 and convey the power of service in combating national crises.
“The service world is very idealistic,” said Emily Cherniack, director of organizing for Be the Change, Inc., one of the groups that planned Thursday’s ServiceNation Summit. “But we think it will be an awesome event.”
According to organizers, the summit will act as a time to suspend political attachments and embrace what they see as the bipartisanship of social justice and community service.
“It’s a moment of opportunity for us as a country to take service to a new level,” Cherniack said. “Both candidates [John McCain and Barack Obama] are champions of service. McCain is someone who has served his country and gets it. Obama has a deep commitment to service.”
ServiceNation’s four founding groups have distinct areas of expertise and run varying service programs. While City Year has been around since 1998, Be the Change began operations only in fall 2007, though its CEO, Alan Khazei, has 20 years of experience in the service industry. Beyond its demonstration of volunteer power, the coalition is also proof that college bonds can endure. Khazei and current City Year CEO Michael Brown lived together while attending Harvard.
Over the past few months, ServiceNation representatives appealed to its eventual summit headliners with the goal of uniting nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, and academic leaders. “We’ve engaged a range a people that is large, bipartisan, and that’s always been a tight part of the service world,” said Tim Zimmermann, director of communications for Be the Change.
Co-chairs of the summit include Caroline Kennedy, hip-hop artist Usher, and Laysha Ward of the Target Corporation. Among the leadership council are actresses Bette Midler and Glenn Close, Queen Noor of Jordan, and Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman.
ServiceNation’s campaign ultimately seeks to resolve societal problems by organizing volunteers. “There are a number of critical areas that require the unleashing of the civic energies of the American people,” Brown said, citing the increasing high-school dropout rate, the environmental crisis, and limited access to health care. Pointing to the chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he explained, “At times of disaster we need trained citizens who can mobilize rapidly into disaster areas.”
Next on ServiceNation’s agenda will be a “National Day of Action,” scheduled for Sept. 27.
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