Service Year Alliance

Service Year Alliance is an American nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. dedicated to making a year of paid, full-time service — a service year — a common expectation and opportunity for all young Americans.[1]

Service Year Alliance
Founded2016 (2016)
TypeCharitable organization
Location
Key people
Stanley A. McChrystal (Board Chair)
Jesse Colvin (CEO)
Websitewww.serviceyearalliance.org

History

The organization was formed in 2016 through the merger of three historical national service efforts (the Franklin Project at the Aspen Institute, ServiceNation and the Service Year Exchange project of the National Conference on Citizenship[2]). In March 2018 the organization acquired AmeriCorps Alums from Points of Light.[3]

Campaigns

Stop National Service Extinction

In response to President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget which called for the elimination of the Corporation for National and Community Service, Service Year Alliance launched a campaign to save funding for national service. The campaign culminated on August 30, 2017, with over 100 volunteers dressed in inflatable dinosaur costumes across Washington, D.C., raising awareness during the morning commute and then coming together at the capitol.[4]

Let National Service Soar

Following a second year of a proposed elimination of the Corporation for National and Community Service and cuts to the Peace Corps budget by President Donald Trump, Service Year Alliance launched a campaign to instead grow funding for national service. The campaign culminated on May 7, 2018, with over 100 volunteers dressed in inflatable eagle costumes across Washington, D.C., raising awareness during the morning commute and then coming together at the capitol. [5]

Serve America Together

Serve America Together is a campaign connected to the 2020 United States presidential election to make national service part of growing up in America. Coalition partners include Student Veterans of America, The Mission Continues, the National Peace Corps Association, YouthBuild, Teach For America, The Corps Network, the Warrior-Scholar Project, the Catholic Volunteer Network, City Year, Vets for American Ideals, States for Service, Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Voices for National Service, Repair the World, America Forward, and America's Promise Alliance. Co-chairs of the campaign are Stanley McChrystal, Arianna Huffington, Robert Gates, Laura Lauder, Andrew Hauptman and Deval Patrick.[6] The campaign kicked off with a challenge to presidential candidates to release a plan to expand national service. On July 8, 2019, Pete Buttigieg became the first candidate to accept the Serve America Together challenge[7]; on August 27, 2019, Kirsten Gillibrand became the second candidate to accept the Serve America Together challenge[8]; and on September 17, 2019, Tom Steyer became the third candidate to accept the Serve America Together Challenge[9].

Initiatives

National Service and American Democracy

Service Year Alliance partnered with Arizona State University to create the course National Service and American Democracy that allows prospective, current, and alumni of service year programs to learn more about American democracy, civic engagement and to contextualize the service year experience within the story of service in America. The three-credit course is offered in-person and online as part of ASU's Online Global Freshman Academy.[10]

Service+Tech

Service+Tech is an initiative launched by Service Year Alliance on December 11, 2018, that provides an "opportunity for service year corps members and alums to develop essential technology skills, discover pathways into tech careers, and leverage technology to solve society’s most pressing challenges."[11] Funding provided by Schmidt Futures, SAP, and Cisco allows the initiative to offer programming to participating service year corps members and alumni for free.[12] Founding corps were the Corporation for National and Community Service, AmeriCorps, Teach For America, City Year, Reading & Math Inc., Public Allies, the National Peace Corps Association, and Citizen Schools. Founding training partners were Per Scholas, Make School, General Assembly, Northeastern’s Align Program, Code for America, and LinkedIn.[13]

gollark: Words! Letters! FORTRAN!
gollark: Or something!
gollark: Exactly!
gollark: In theory, if you handwave literally every issue, a planned economy would be better than capitalism-as-implemented.
gollark: Yes, which is why we need government intervention to deal with such externalities.

References
  1. "Mission". Service Year Alliance. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  2. Sagawa, Shirley. "Nonprofit Mergers: The Missing Ingredient". Stanford Social Innovation Review. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  3. "AmeriCorps Alums Join Service Year Alliance". The Non Profit Times. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  4. Shesgreen, Deirdre (30 August 2017). "Dinosaurs proclaim: 'Stop national service extinction'". USA Today. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  5. Pimpo, Stephen (7 May 2018). "Group marches in inflatable eagle suits to protest Trump cutting national service programs". ABC7 WJLA. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  6. Schindelheim, Ramona (26 June 2019). "New campaign calls on all young Americans to complete a national service year". Working Nation. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  7. Buttigieg, Pete (8 July 2019). "Pete Buttigieg accepts #ServeAmericaTogether challenge". Twitter. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  8. Gillibrand, Kirsten (27 August 2019). "Kirsten Gillibrand accepts #ServeAmericaTogether challenge". Twitter. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  9. Klar, Rebecca (17 September 2019). "Steyer eyes largest peacetime expansion of public service". The Hill. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  10. "National Service and American Democracy - CPP 194". Arizona State University. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  11. "Service Year Alliance Launches New Service+Tech Initiative to Increase Underrepresented Groups in Technology Sector". PR Newswire. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  12. Brenna, Susan (27 February 2019). "Build Your Tech Skills and Networks". One Day Magazine. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  13. "Service+Tech". Service Year Alliance. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
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