Call to Service Act

Bill: 108-s-1274
Sponsor: Sen. Kennedy, Edward M. [D-MA]
Introduced: 2003-06-17 in the Senate
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: AIDS (Disease)
Administrative fees
Administrative procedure
Age
Armed Forces and National Security
Auditing
Authorization
Black colleges
Civics education
Commemorations
Community organization
Compensatory education
Conferences
Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional reporting requirements
Corporation for National and Community Service
Crime and Law Enforcement
Disabled
Disaster relief
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Educational accountability
Educational research
Elementary and secondary education
Elementary education
Emergency Management
Emergency medical personnel
Employee rights
Employment of the disabled
Environmental Protection
Evaluation research (Social action programs)
Families
Family leave
Family planning and birth control
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to Indians
Federal aid to education
Finance and Financial Sector
Foster home care
Foundations
Government Operations and Politics
Government corporations
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Government service contracts
Government travel
Government trust funds
Grandparents
Grievance procedures
Health
Higher education
Hispanic Americans
Housing and Community Development
Indian education
Information services
Interest
Intergovernmental fiscal relations
Internet
Labor and Employment
Language and languages
Law
Literacy programs
Mentoring
Minorities
Minority education
Names
National service
Nonprofit organizations
Older workers
Pornography
Poverty
Preventive medicine
Public health
Reading
Recruiting of employees
Rescue work
Rural education
Scholarships
School districts
Science, Technology, Communications
Secondary education
Service learning
Sex education
Sexual abstinence
Sexually transmitted diseases
Sick leave
Student employment
Student loan funds
Students
Transportation and Public Works
Travel costs
Urban affairs
Urban education
User charges
Volunteer workers
Wages
Youth employment

Summary:
action_date: 2003-06-17
text: 
Call to Service Act - Amends the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (NCSA) and the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 (DVSA) to reauthorize appropriations and revise requirements for national volunteer service programs administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).
 
Revises NCSA programs, including: (1) Learn and Serve America programs of service-learning for elementary and secondary students, for higher education and work-study, as well as for community-based training, programs, and initiatives, and for a service-learning clearinghouse; (2) a National Service Trust Program (AmeriCorps grants), including an E-Corps; (3) the National Service Trust and provision of National Service Educational Awards (to AmeriCorps members and participants in certain other community service programs, including a new program of service-based awards to secondary students); and (4) the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC); (5) grants to America's Promise: The Alliance for Youth; and (6) grants to the Points of Light Foundation.
 
Establishes a service-based scholarship program to recognize secondary school juniors and seniors who are engaged in outstanding community service and scholarship. Authorizes CNCS to pay up to $500 to match an equal local contribution for a scholarship to help cover an individual's postsecondary education or job training costs. 
 
Revises NCSA requirements for investment for quality and innovation to authorize grants to assist Internet volunteer recruiting entities to locate, promote, and match volunteers with local service and volunteer organizations. Repeals provisions for a special demonstration project for the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta of Alaska. 
Revises DVSA programs for: (1) Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) (National Volunteer Antipoverty Programs); and (2) the National Senior Service Corps, including the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Foster Grandparents, and Senior Companions. 
Lowers the age for senior service from 60 to 55. 
Revises NCSA and DVSA requirements for CNCS administration of national volunteer service programs and for accountability of recipients of funds. 
 
 
Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1)programs established or authorized by this Act, and those which receive funding under NCSA or DVSA, are encouraged to provide recruitment and application materials in languages other than English in order to serve communities of limited English proficiency; and (2) such programs may use such funding to provide and distribute such materials.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2003-06-17
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S7984-7999)
action_date: 2003-06-17
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7983-7984)
action_date: 2003-06-17
text: Introduced in Senate