Hearing from a distinguished group of leaders and volunteers on the matter of National Service. Let me make a few brief comments to begin with. In such divided and turbulent times, we must look for ways to bridge society, to bridge the divides and to restore a sense of community. In recent years, much has been done, sadly, to burn rather than to build the bridges in our civic nation leading to a growing culture of fear and distrust, incivility, and a reflex to retreat into the safety of tribalism. Our trusted institutions and our trust in each other has taken a beating and has in fact declined and that decline makes it harder for us to solve some of the key problems we face as a country and as a people. From my personal experience i know that when individuals from different walks of life have an opportunity to serve together and to serve their country and to do something bigger than themselves, they almost always live up to the challenge. In fact, they almost always perform magnificently, emerging from the experience better young women and men. And in the process, they learn a crucial lesson, that when you serve side by side with another person, it really doesnt matter who they are or where theyre from, bonds of trust will form and endure and often last a lifetime. Its time to consider whether we should be providing more opportunities for service, not just in the military, but importantly in the civilian sector as well. Research by our scholar Isabel Sawhill shows that americans are enthusiastic about National Service. What she calls an American Exchange program that would ask American Families across the country to voluntarily host a young person from another community for as much as a year while they perform their service, thats groundbreaking. If provided with the right opportunities, americans can Work Together across so many areas to prepare for and to respond for emergencies and disasters, to improve public spaces, to help our elderly americans to stay in their homes and provide training or Career Opportunities to lowincome youths. And that doesnt begin to scratch the long list of opportunities and possibilities that lie before us. This event this morning by virtue of those who are participating and certainly those in the audience, this event this morning importantly lies at the intersection of where policy meets action. And the people that youll hear from this morning, the conversations that youll listen to this morning will be all about translating policy into action and thats so important. So we welcome our panelists. We welcome our guests. We welcome the conversation this morning and most importantly, we welcome you. Were going out over webcast and were very much on the record. With that bell, may i offer you the floor with your comments. First panel should probably come right on up. Dont think theyre a shy group. Good morning, everyone. Its great to see this group and i am so thrilled to be on the stage with so many leaders in the National Service area. Let me start by saying just a few words about National Service itself. Ill be echoing to some extent what president john allen has just said, but im not sure it can be said too many times. We are a very divided nation. You all know that. Its a cultural problem, its a political problem, its an economic problem. So i do want us not to forget about that. One writer recently said we are texting and tweeting ourselves into disunion. I thought that was an interesting way of putting it. So we really need to have a good conversation about the potential of National Service to bring us together again and to get us off of our phones and into our communities. So there are many benefits to National Service in addition to the role it can play in bringing us together. It has benefits for the participants, the young people who serve, it has benefits for the communities they serve, and youre going to hear much more about that through the rest of the morning. But the basic point i think is that democracy cannot flourish when we do not trust each other and do not trust our institutions. And i think National Service can play a role, this is no easy task, but we should do everything we can to repair some of the these divisions. There is considerable evidence, im putting on for a second my hat as a researcher, because ive delved into this a bit, lots of evidence that when people Work Together on a common task across divisions that would normally keep them apart, they learn as john allen said to trust and respect each other and to form bonds. And the military is the classic example of where we have seen that happen as he said. Now, i personally got interested in this issue when i was working on a book last year called the forgotten americans and i got interested in all the usual policy solutions to the problem of people who have been left behind in our society or our economy. But i came to the conclusion at the end that Public Policy alone are the usual kinds of policies that we talk about here at places like brookings, arent sufficient. Theyre necessary, but we also have to really Start Talking a lot more about relationships and about respect. And in some work were going to be doing in the future, well be saying a lot more about that. After i finish my book, i decided i needed to field test the ideas and take them on the road. So i went out and did focus groups in three cities in america with middle and workingclass americans. And one of the things that really surprised me was the degree of concern about these divisions and the degree of enthusiasm amongst the public, and im not talking about a sophisticated public here, im talking about ordinary, every day, working americans for doing something about those divisions and National Service appealed to them a lot. So i then came back and realized that at this point i didnt know nearly enough. In fact i knew very little about the work that was going on by all the people who are sitting up here on this stage. And i think its just remarkable that theyre all here today. I couldnt be more thankful to the fact that they made time to be here. I want to particularly call out our partnership with Service Year Alliance. This meeting would not have happened without their participation. And we got lots of help from the other groups on this stage as well. Im not going to do long introductions, but before i turn it over to them, because i know you want to hear from them now, i think ill just say a brief word about each person. Dr. Joe heck is the chairman of the commission on military, national and Public Service. Did i get that right . And that commission is going to be reporting back to congress in march and youll be hearing more about their work. But i think its very important. Barbara stewart is the ceo of the corporation for national and Community Service. The Major Federal Agency that has responsibility for Service Programs in the government. She has a wonderful background in nonprofit management and from everything ive been told, barbara, you are fulfilling that role very well in your current post. And next we have deval patrick, former governor of massachusetts. I just finished reading your book about how you began on the south side of chicago, went to milton academy, ended up at harvard and harvard law school, if i remember correctly, and have now served in some of the highest positions in the land. Its an inspiring story. Thank you, governor, for being here. And last but definitely not least is jesse colvin, the ceo of Service Year Alliance who also has one of these multifaceted backgrounds thats equally impressive to everyone elses. Without further adieu, im going to turn this over to dr. Heck. Good morning and my thanks to brookings and service year for putting this together and hosting us this morning as well as my thanks to all of you either in the audience or watching over the web who have served, will serve after hearing this mornings conversations or are currently serving. Its an important time in our nations history as people talked already this morning about how do we heal the rifts that we see in our society and how National Service is one of the potential solutions to healing these divides. Its my honor to serve as chairman to the National Commission on military, national and Public Service. For those who have not heard about the commission previously, we were charted by congress in 17 National Defense authorization act. It originally started as a commission to review whether or not women should have to register for selected service. Senators saw an opportunity to do much more with the commission than just answer that single question. They expanded the scope of the commissions mandate to look at how can we actually encourage more americans to participate across all service lines, whether it be in the military, a National Service program, which we also include local community similar programs, or in Public Service, which is finding a job in state, local, federal government or running for elected office. There are 11 bipartisan members appointed by leadership from congress. I am blessed to have a very Incredible Group of thought leaders across the Service Spectrum representing diverse ideas and we have worked over the last two years in listening to the American Public about their views on service. As belle mentioned, our goal is to issue a final report in 2020 about how we can actually encourage more americans to serve. I also want to thank john bridgeland who is in the audience who recently released their report because it segueways perfectly into our commissions vision, which is every american inspired and eager to serve. What have we been doing over the last two years . Our first year was a factfinding tour. We traveled around the country, 15 states, 24 cities and met 300 organizations received thousands of Public Comments either at our Public Meetings or via the internet. We looked at what encourages people to serve, why arent people serving, what are the obstacles they are facing for those who desire to serve but arent. And so after we went around the nation on this listening tour, we came back and issued our report which for those of you who have not yet had an opportunity to read is available at our website. Inspire2serve. Gov and in that report we talk about who we are, where weve been and where were heading. So based on that years worth of research and public listening, we came up with some potential recommendations on how to encourage more americans to serve. In the second year, we traveled to another 10 states, held public hearings where we listened to 68 policy experts, received 40 statements for the record, issued eight staff memorandum and started to vet some of the potential policy recommendations that we have under consideration. Upon completion of those public hearings, the commission is now in its dlibtive phase. Were complying our report that will lay out the recommendations that our Commission Wants to put forward. I want to state the 30,000 foot level, speak generally about where were headed in the interest of time, brevity and public speaking is not one of my strong suits. Ill stay general and leave specifics to questions and answers. What are some of the common themes that weve heard . What themes that weve heard . What we first heard and i guess isnt too surpriseding, is that we have an incredible culture of service in this nation today. We heard from americans who currently serve and we heard from americans who want to serve. They just want to know how. We look at this culture of service that we actually have now. What was described as one of the exceptional pieces of being an american and wanting to help our neighbors and how can we nurture that culture of service into an ethos of service to where service is not just encouraged but expected. At a certain point in time, its the individual who doesnt serve that is the odd person out and not the person who does serve. That it becomes automatic as a right of growing up, the conversation goes to, what are you going to do for your Service Project and how do we change that mind set and culture . It begins, we believe, with a strong Civic Education program. We feel that over time, as academics get more pressed, that Civic Education programs have fallen away. How can you expect to encourage someone to serve their community, state, nation, when they dont truly understand the rights and responsibilities that go along with being a citizen of this democratic republic. Its not just a high school u. S. History class. Its how do we weave common themes of scientific education throughout the curriculum so our youth are exposed to these principles throughout their academic life. It builds into experiential and Service Learning where perhaps in middle school there is a Service Project that a middle school class has to do. A project with a specific goal done over a specific period of time to introduce them to the concept of serving. Youre waiting to start your job and go to school, what if that was spent in completing a Service Project over the course of a semester. Perhaps there should be Service Fellowships where at Post High School or post college you have the opportunity to serve in a Service Program of your choice. Have the money follow the service individual. It begins with that piece. It then grows into how do we get more individuals aware of Service Opportunities, how do we make them aspire to serve, and then how do we grant access, the three buckets that we are looking at. You cant be or do what you dont know doesnt exist. When i was growing up i saw peace corps commercials. I havent seen one in twenty years. We spoke top students and none of them knew about the opportunity of a four year scholarship when they were in high school. No one talked about it. How do we increase awareness, number one. Once we make them aware, how do we inspire them . What are the initiatives, whether its appealing to their sense of patriotism or some characteristic that they want to follow, but we then have to have them be inspired to want to serve. And then we have to have access, right . What we hope is beyond our wildest dreams, the commission is successful and all 329 million americans want to serve. We know we wont have 329 million Service Opportunities. For those who are aware and inspired they have a path to service and that Service Opportunity has to be meaningful and worthwhile to that individual. Because we know that once you have someone serve one time in a meaningful way, they are hooked for life. They will come back and serve again. It may not be right after the first Service Opportunity. May go out and start their career, start a family, at mid career say, i have the time, i want to go back and serve again. Post retirement they may start to serve again as a senior. As a physician, i bring things back to a medical analogy. I believe every american has a service gene. My job is to figure out how to activate that gene. We want every american so serve. And so with that, i call for your help not only do we value your input, but we need your input as we consider our final recommendations and continue to draft our final report. Our Public Comment period remains open until december 31st of this year so i encourage anybody whos listening who has a comment on these important issues, to read our report see where we might be headed and to provide your comments on where you think we are headed and whether its right or wrong. Please do so via our website because it is only through your help that we will achieve our vision of every american inspired and eager to serve. Thank you. applause that was inspiring hearing about inspiring. Barbara stewart. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me here this morning. I appreciate brookings and Service Year Alliance for putting this on and its wonderful to be in a room full of people who know about service, are supporters of service. I am interested very much in the first two panels. For those of you who thought you might slip out and not hear the last panel, youre making a big mistake. The last panel is going to be fantastic. Its an opportunity to hear from our alumni about how service impacted their life. I encourage you all to stay for what will be the best panel. No offense to all of you. Its a pleasure to be here with you this morning. As belle said, i lead the corporation for national and Community Service and for those of you who may not be aware, were the federal agency for service and volunteering. We promote service and volunteering and we administer the multiple programs as well as the senior core programs. We also work to inspire all americans to volunteer outside of National Service and im pleased to report that the percentage of americans who are volunteering in this country is slightly on the rise which is terrific. 77 million americans volunteered in their communities last year. But today, our focus is in