If John Kerry wins the presidency, he plans to expand the cornerstone New Democrat idea of national service to a truly national scale. Building on the beachhead that was established through the creation of AmeriCorps in the 1990s, Kerry would dramatically increase both the opportunities and the incentives for service. Just as importantly, he would connect service to the key domestic and international challenges of our time, such as providing for a strong national defense, bolstering homeland security, and improving our public schools.
At the heart of Kerry's national service agenda is his proposal to tie aid for college tuition to service in America's communities. Tuition costs at public colleges and universities have gone up 28 percent in the last three years. Kerry's "Compact with the Next Generation" would offer an attractive reciprocal bargain to America's youth: four years free tuition at a public college or university in exchange for two years of national service.
Kerry aims to bring 200,000 young people a year into full-time service in their communities within a decade through his Service for College proposal. There would be 25,000 working in homeland security efforts;
75,000 serving as teachers, tutors, or mentors; and 100,000 building affordable housing and working to keep water and parks clean. Kerry would also bring 300,000 college students into part-time service as tutors and mentors for at-risk kids, in exchange for $2,000 per year in tuition aid.
Together, these initiatives would give 500,000 young people each year the chance to earn money for college through national service. That's more volunteers in one year than have served in the entire history of AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps combined.
While scaling up support for service in America's communities, the Kerry plan also recognizes that no obligation is more fundamental to citizenship than that of preserving our free institutions by serving in the military. To encourage more citizens to share that burden, Kerry would bring an additional 40,000 Americans into the regular Army, recruit a more representative officer corps by returning the ROTC program to every college and university that receives federal funds, and modernize the GI Bill to increase the educational opportunities of those who serve.
Finally, to assist our overburdened Armed Forces and support the spread of freedom and democracy abroad, Kerry proposes the creation of a Civilian Stability Corps, which would bring civilian volunteers into post-conflict environments overseas, helping to restore roads, renovate schools, open hospitals, and build police forces. Working alongside this Civilian Stability Corps would be a reenergized 25,000-member Peace Corps, up from its current 6,700.
Kerry's ambitious initiatives contrast sharply with the Bush administration's record of challenging citizens to do little more than fly on domestic airlines and spend their tax cuts. By making a "call to service" a cornerstone of his presidential campaign, Kerry is proving that he stands for a broader concept of patriotism that demands active involvement from an engaged citizenry to meet our country's most serious challenges.
