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As grads move on more teachers choosing to delay retirement By John McCormick Jul. Some found success, while others fell short of their lofty rhetoric. Roosevelt formed the Civilian Conservation Corps and Kennedy created the Peace Corps with strong support and participation, while Clinton's AmeriCorps has never fully realized its full potential, hampered by ongoing funding struggles since its 1994 inception. Barack Obama called for greater public service Wednesday, some experts predict the potential now exists for programs seeking an expansion of volunteerism to succeed, despite a slumping economy and the nation being at war. "This may be a moment in time that is different from when earlier calls did not prove that effective," said Stephen Goldsmith, a former Indianapolis mayor who is now chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Goldsmith, a Republican and professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, said bipartisan support, serious societal problems and heightened interest in service among young people could offer new or expanded service programs the ability for growth not seen in decades He said surveys show today's youth, a group sometimes called the "9/11 generation," is deeply attracted to service and has maintained that interest, even as it has fallen off for other age groups following the attacks in 2001. "It may represent a real shift to interest in community service," Goldsmith said. With that environment behind him, Obama outlined several proposals to boost service, both at home and abroad, during a speech in Colorado Springs. "Loving your country shouldn't just mean watching fireworks on the 4th of July," he said. "Loving your country must mean accepting your responsibility to do your part to change it. If you do, your life will be richer, our country will be stronger." In his speech at the University of Colorado campus, Obama pledged that enhanced public service and active citizenship would be a central cause of his presidency. "We will ask Americans to serve," the Illinois Democrat said. "We will create new opportunities for Americans to serve." For supporters, Obama's credibility on the topic is enhanced because he proved during the primary campaign that he could captivate and then mobilize young voters. His campaign argues they might also follow him into community service. Clinton had a similar, though not quite as powerful, pull among youth. But his AmeriCorps program, which recruits workers in exchange an education stipend, has never quite caught on the way Kennedy's Peace Corps did in the 1960s and '70s. Funding for AmeriCorps has been a constant strain amid agency mismanagement and disdain for the program among some Republicans. Volunteers nationwide have provided service to needy communities by tutoring children, feeding the homeless, caring for the elderly and rebuilding areas struck by disaster. John McCain of Arizona also supports an expansion of both programs and has stressed public service, including in the military, during campaign appearances. Obama repeated his pledge to boost the size of the active military. But he also said the nation's future and safety depends on more than just additional soldiers. "It also depends on the teacher in East LA, or the nurse in Appalachia, the after-school worker in New Orleans, the Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, the Foreign Service officer in Indonesia," he said. Obama had first outlined many of the proposals he talked about Wednesday during appearances in Iowa last December. "We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set," he said Wednesday. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded." He said he would make federal assistance conditional on school districts establishing service programs and set the goal of 50 hours of service a year for middle and high school students. For college students, Obama would set the goal at 100 hours of service a year and create a $4,000 annual tax credit for college students that would be tied to that level of service. Obama said he realizes there will be skeptics, but stressed that greater public service will make the nation safer. "Our destiny as Americans is tied up with one another," he said. "If we are less respected in the world, then you will be less safe." Obama also spoke via satellite to a United Steelworkers conference in Las Vegas, where former Democratic opponent John Edwards introduced him. Later, he toured the North American Aerospace Defense Command, visited the US Air Force Academy and attended a fundraiser at a Colorado Springs resort. In Chicago, meanwhile, billionaire investor Warren Buffett headlined two fundraisers to benefit Obama and the Democratic National Committee. On Thursday and Friday, Obama is scheduled to visit North Dakota and Montana, two traditionally Republican states where he believes he can compete against McCain. com/ Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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