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December 11, 2003
CONGRESS HAS AGREED TO ALLOCATE $43 MILLION TO LEARN AND SERVE AMERICA
FOR 2004, BUT THE TIME HAS LONG PAST FOR GREATER FUNDING
Dear Partnership members,
On November 25, 2003, a House and Senate Appropriations Conference
Committee approved $43 million to fund Learn and Serve America for fiscal
year 2004. As you may know, Learn and Serve America, a program within
the Corporation for National and Community Service is the only designated
federal source of service-learning funds. This funding amount forms
part of a larger allocation of $584 million to the Corporation that
primarily supports AmeriCorps and Senior Corps, the Corporation's two other
programs. The Conference report now goes to the House and Senate floors
for consideration and full passage.
While we are pleased that lawmakers agreed to $584 million for the
Corporation - almost $182 million more than for fiscal year 2003 - we are
greatly displeased that the $43 million allocation to Learn and Serve
America is the exact same level of annual funding for more than a decade.
When you factor in inflation at 3% per year, 11 successive years of
flat funding means that $43 million in 1993 is actually equivalent to only
$30.7 million today. That's 28% less than in 1993. This significant
decrease in funding has occurred during a period when the quality and
quantity of service-learning practice and research have increased
dramatically, and the need for active and engaged students has become ever more
urgent.
Our situation, however, is not bleak. During our 2003 advocacy
campaign, the Partnership and its Advocacy Committee engaged over 240 of our
members to work the legislative machinery on Capitol Hill and the
Executive Branch. Collectively, we launched a combination of letters,
personal visits, phone calls, e-mails, and formal testimony to 70 members of
Congress, Congressional Committees, senior staff members, and high
ranking officials within the Department of Education, the Corporation for
National and Community Service, and White House officials. Working with
and on behalf of Partnership members, we established a bona fide
presence within the Washington, D.C. power structure. We now have a foundation
to build on, and an even greater resolve to win more funding for the
increasing numbers of dedicated service-learning practitioners and
students across America who are doing so much to strengthen our schools,
communities and country.
Our work is far from over. The Partnership will have to work harder and
smarter in 2004 to build an even stronger support base for
service-learning. Early in the New Year, we'll be sharing with you a 2004 Advocacy
Action Plan for your comment prior to immediate implementation. We hope
you will join us in channeling our rightful displeasure and
dissatisfaction into a productive, more successful 2004 funding campaign.
I thank each of you for your wonderful work in 2003, and I wish you a
happy holiday season.
Sincerely,
Anthony Welch
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