Wofford noted that we live in recessionary times with staggering high school dropout rates, growing unemployment and violence crippling many neighborhoods, all of it reminiscent of a crisis facing Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
"Roosevelt had a report on his desk saying that 500,000 young men were festering on the streets, out of work and out of school, and he said, 'I want those boys in the woods.' "
And so began the Civilian Conservation Corps, which kept service strong and unemployment low during the Great Depression and in the years before World War II.
It's time, once more, to go into the woods.
"In addition to rebuilding the infrastructure of roads and bridges, we've got to rebuild the infrastructure for a civil society," said David Eisner, the outgoing chief of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps, SeniorCorps and other service agencies.
Eisner said that with anticipated cuts in many government services and philanthropic contributions to nonprofits, it's all the more important to heed Obama's call to expand the service corps for people of all ages and to encourage more volunteerism as well.
He recommended checking out www.volunteer.gov. If you type in your ZIP Code and the type of service you're interested in, you'll get a list of all the agencies looking for help in your area.
In Sacramento, California Conservation Corps Director David Muraki is thrilled and terrified these days. Obama's pitch holds great promise, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's call for 10% cuts from every state department is real and immediate.
Muraki said the CCC has already suffered deep cuts under Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis, and now serves just 1,300 youths.
They do trail, creek and park maintenance, and fish and wildlife restoration, among other things.
After one year of service at minimum wage, they get a $2,000 college scholarship and the possibility of a $4,725 AmeriCorps grant.
If AmeriCorps grows to 250,000, Muraki said, the California Conservation Corps will probably take on many of those new members under contract.
"There's huge potential," he said, if California does what it ought to do with the infusion:
Become the capital of the clean energy industry, using service agencies to recruit and train kids beginning in middle school and high school.
