The DLC today launched a new DLC Clinton Center aimed at linking a new generation of New Democrat ideas with a new generation of elected officials. To commemorate the event, former President Clinton awarded the first Clinton Center Awards for Leadership and National Service to Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and to City Year Philadelphia project manager Chandra Bembery.

The Clinton Center, a project of the DLC, will specialize in events that identify and highlight innovative policy ideas -- and the leaders who are implementing them around the country -- that exemplify the New Democrat values of opportunity, responsibility and community championed by the Clinton Administration. It will also sponsor leadership training workshops and other avenues for disseminating "best practices" in innovative government.

"I am honored that the DLC is launching this new project, the Clinton Center, to keep New Democrat ideas alive, to keep them current, and to energize the next generation of New Democrat leaders who will keep them at the center of American politics and public life," said President Clinton.

The Clinton Center Awards announced today focus on outstanding leadership in promoting the signature New Democrat idea -- and signature Clinton initiative -- of national service.

Townsend was a natural for the award, based on many years of advocacy for national and community service, both nationally and in Maryland. In 1988, she participated in the DLC's series of forums around the country to promote the idea of a new system of voluntary, full-time national service. Before becoming Lieutenant Governor, she was founder and Executive Director of the Maryland Student Service Alliance. She was the driving force behind Maryland's decision to become the first state to require community service as a condition for graduation from high school (the model for Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina in his recent proposal to encourage all states to adopt similar requirements). In addition, Townsend has championed character education programs in public schools to make the values of personal responsibility and civic obligation a regular part of every child's instruction in Maryland.

"I am honored to receive this award for leadership and service," said Townsend. "And I am even more honored that over the past 5 years, 200,000 Maryland students have contributed more than 6 million hours of community service. I believe that the best type of leadership is providing opportunities for others to get involved and lead, and that is what we are doing all across Maryland."

The second recipient of the Clinton Center Award, Chandra Bembery, has been active in community service programs since she was a junior in high school. After graduation, she joined the landmark City Year program (a pioneer in the full-time service model long promoted by New Democrats), performing a year of full-time service, and later returned to manage two City Year programs serving schoolchildren in the Philadelphia area.

The Clinton Center reflects the DLC's belief that President Clinton's most important legacy is the New Democrat movement he helped create and foster. It's a movement that continues to grow through a commitment to public policy innovation based on traditional progressive values, and a willingness to provide a "home" and a network to our nation's brightest young elected officials. Today's awards are especially appropriate at a time when one of the first New Democrat ideas, national service, is again at the center of public debate, and is again offering a new generation of young Americans an opportunity for civic engagement and the full rights and responsibilities of citizenship.