Aaron Marquez, Co-founder of ServeNext
ServeNext.org is uniting, supporting, and training a broad-base of citizens to be effective grassroots advocates that, together, will be a powerful voice to make National Service a national priority.
Aaron Marquez started ServeNext with a friend he served with in the AmeriCorps program City Year. AmeriCorps was a life-changing experience that empowered them to transform the communities they served, as well as their own lives. As an alumnus, Aaron has been confounded by the budget cuts to these programs. Because of his experience, he is inspired to dramatically expand service opportunities as a problem-solving force.
The problem is that National Service – already a very small initiative of the federal government – is getting smaller. Political will and, thus, public funding is waning year after year. However, these are symptoms of the problem – not the root cause. Addressing only these symptoms will not solve the problem for the long-term. The root cause – the missing link – that is causing National Service cuts and preventing dramatic expansion: the lack of public will.
By empowering National Service supporters across the country to advocate and take collective action, ServeNext will create enormous amounts of public will as we build a national constituency. This public will, in turns, generates political will as candidates and elected officials are educated about the importance of this issue to their constituents.
ServeNext has already begun to have an impact. It has shaped the platforms of presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle; 9 presidential candidates signed the ServeNext Presidential Pledge to Expand National Service. Every single Democratic candidate has committed to expanding AmeriCorps by at least 100,000 members. Governor Huckabee signed the pledge and Senator McCain has repeatedly said he will call on Americans to serve by doubling AmeriCorps. Conservative estimates suggest that this is over half a billion dollar increase in federal funding for national service programs if the next president follows through on the commitment outlined in the ServeNext pledge.
Recently, ServeNext.org was selected as a finalist by Echoing Green and will compete for one of twenty fellowships in New York this May. Echoing Green received over 1,500 applications for the fellowship program, and only thirty were designated as finalists.
More details about ServeNext are available here: www.ServeNext.org
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