National Service Task Force Created

Since 1993, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has been the federal agency responsible for leading and expanding national service. In 2009, the Serve America Act (SAA) expanded CNCS’s authority to create service opportunities for Americans and has increasingly provided opportunities for CNCS to partner with other federal agencies and private organizations in national service.

Last month, President Obama released a memorandum announcing the creation of a new federal task force charged with identifying additional ways that public and private sectors can collaborate to support national service as a way to address priorities such as emergency/disaster relief, economic opportunity, education, environmental stewardship, healthy futures and veterans. Building on the SAA, the National Service Task Force is chaired by the Chief Executive Officer of CNCS and the Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. Representatives of 13 cabinet departments, the Peace Corps, National Science Foundation, Office of Personnel Management, Environmental Protection Agency and the White House will make up the Task Force.

The Task Force will suggest ways to expand national service, strategies for coordinating volunteering and service programs across the federal government, create opportunities for interagency agreements between CNCS and other federal agencies and identify public-private partnerships in order to expand national service.

The creation of the Task Force builds on the success of other partnerships launched in the past year including FEMA Corps, School Turnaround AmeriCorps, and STEM AmeriCorps.

For more information, check out the Task Force’s website.

Stay tuned to our blog for updates on the newly-created National Service Task Force.