Pete for America
For Immediate Release
July 3, 2019
Contact:
Chris Meagher
Ben Halle

Mayor Pete Announces National Service Policy to Unify Country


SIOUX CITY, IA -- Today, at a Town Hall in Sioux City, Mayor Pete Buttigieg will announce a bold new plan to reignite a sense of unity in America by dramatically increasing national service opportunities. Dubbed “A New Call to Service”, this initiative will build a network of 1 million National Service Members by the 250th anniversary of America’s Independence in 2026.

“National service can help us to form connections between very different kinds of Americans, as was my experience in the military,” said Buttigieg. “I served alongside and trusted my life to people who held totally different political views. You shouldn't have to go to war in order to have that kind of experience, which is why I am proposing a plan to create more opportunities for national service.”

The policy aims to vastly expand service opportunities through three key efforts:

    *   Expanding Service Opportunities for All Who Want It: Immediately increase national service opportunities to 250,000 positions through the existing federal and AmeriCorps grantee organizations, especially targeting high school students; students at community colleges, vocational schools, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs); and opportunity youth (people between ages 16-24 who are neither in school nor working).

    *  Building Service Communities: Create competitive grant funding for communities, cities, and regions to create service ecosystems tailored to regional and local issues, which will foster local capacity; empower local leaders to connect the federal, state, local, philanthropic services to each other; and incubate 21st century service models around regional issues to prevent siloed community service initiatives.

    *  Achieving Service at Scale: By 2026, quadruple the number of service opportunities to 1 million high school graduates. Develop new service corps including a Climate Corps, Community Health Corps, and Intergenerational Service Corps, which would be overseen by a new Chief Service Officer with standing on the White House National Security Council and Domestic Policy Council.

Americans are experiencing record-low trust in American institutions and fellow citizens. A New Call to Service seeks to unite a new generation of American youth bound by mutual service and common values, and influenced by the experience of working with people across races, politics, faiths, income levels, gender identities, and geographies.

Quote from Aaron Williams, former Director of the Peace Corps under President Obama:
"Our nation is divided and we're facing record-low trust in fellow Americans and American institutions. At the same time, our country and our communities are facing challenges with our climate, access to education, and so much more. A strong national service program is a win-win. National service can bridge divides by bringing young Americans together, while also investing in our communities by supporting the future corps of public servants to help combat some of the biggest issues we face as a country -- literally creating a platform for our nation’s next “greatest generation”.

Quote from Emily Shields, current Executive Director of Iowa Campus Compact and AmeriCorps VISTA alum:
"National service provides invaluable life experience and community impact. The year I served in San Antonio, Texas as a young person changed my life forever. Today, I run a statewide nonprofit organization -- Iowa Campus Compact -- and we support AmeriCorps positions in communities across the state. These programs make a huge difference and it's great to see a presidential candidate focusing on them on the campaign trail."

Read more about the A New Call to Service here.

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VIDEO: Mayor Pete Announces National Service Plan in Sioux City

“The desire to serve—the hunger to be part of something bigger than yourself— is already alive and well. We just got to make sure we rise to meet it.”

“When I was overseas in uniform, the biggest thing I learned was how to put my faith in people who are completely different from me. But, I don’t think you ought to have to go to war in order to have that experience.”

Key Excerpts:

It’s that faith in our institutions is near record lows—6 in 10 Americans or less express trust in their fellow Americans—and have got to knit back the American fabric, quickly, if we want our democracy to work.

When I was overseas in uniform, the biggest thing I learned was how to put my faith in people who are completely different from me. The military that I was part of drew on people from every part of the country. People with different views, different backgrounds, it was the most racially integrated organization I’ve ever been part of. And there were some people there who we basically had nothing in common except the fact that we were American. [...]

So what’s been on my mind is that that life-changing experience of mine is one that I wish more Americans had. But, I don’t think you ought to have to go to war in order to have that experience. The question is, how do we create that kind of common bond without expecting everybody to be in the military. And there is a way to do that, it’s signing up for a cause that’s greater than ourselves. [...]

And yet, at this moment when social media and polarization are putting us in our own bubbles, it's never been more important to find a common character in our country, and service is a way to do it. It's a way to do it that offers a tremendous return on investment, some studies say you get about four dollars for every one you put into it. And that’s why I believe we need to create dramatically more service year opportunities for Americans as soon as they finish high school. [...]

Ask yourself, would you be a part of a Community Health Corps, that would focus on those struggling with addiction, mental health, or substance use issues? Sounds like we’ve got some takers.

How about an Intergenerational Corps, to provide caregiving to our nation’s seniors and learn from them while you do?

How about a Climate Corps to be first responders in the wake of the last disaster and build resilience to help prevent the next one? Sounds like we’ve got some takers.

There’s a reason why the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, the military, they’re all turning away far more applicants than they can accept. The desire to serve—the hunger to be part of something bigger than yourself— is already alive and well. We just got to make sure we rise to meet it.


Read the full transcript of remarks here:

Thank you. Thank you so much. Hello, Sioux City! Thanks for giving me the warm--and I do mean warm--welcome. It makes me feel right at home. And thanks so much to North High School for hosting us.

A big thank you to JD Scholten, I’m not sure what his plans are but I know that Washington could use a few more people like him. Just putting that out there. Thanks to Dr. Joshua Merchant, president of Buena Vista University. Thank you to Kristie, for your introduction and for your work with Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Mentoring works. It is one of the best things you can do to make your community better. We set up-- One of the first things we did in South Bend was set out to double the number of mentors that we had in our community. It makes a huge difference and it lasts a lifetime. So thanks for what you’ve done to build up that organization and those service opportunities.

So my name is Pete Buttigieg. Around South Bend most people just call me Mayor Pete. I’m running for president, and I want to tell you a little bit about what I believe, why I think we need something completely different, and what that has to do with service on the eve of the 4th of July.

Part of why I’m running is because of the seriousness of the moment we’re living in. I think even now it’s possible that we are underreacting, because what’s happening right now is more than a single presidency. It is the beginning of a new era. And it has not yet been decided whether that era will be enlightened or whether it will be ugly. That’s going to be up to us.

And I think at a moment like that, it calls for a different kind of leadership. It calls for a different kind of message. And I’m here to make the case that there’s no going back.

It’s something I learned in my own hometown—an industrial midwestern city that found a way to a different future and stands as living proof that there’s no such thing as an honest politics built around the word “again.” You’ve just got to look forward. That’s South Bend’s story.

And I think we’ve got to remember that looking at 2020, because, I think it’s probably fair to say most of us here are Democrats. But, I travel to some places where people have trouble believing that Trump voters exist. And I think those of us who may be Democrats, or Democrat-leaning independents, or Republicans of conscience. You know, we don’t support this president, but we know people who do. Trump voters are not an exotic species, right, in our part of the country, they are people we talk to all the time. They get that look in their eyes, and you realize they are going to vote that way. And the reason it’s so important to think about that, is that this president could win again. He is deservedly unpopular, but he could win again.

And I think he wins again if we look like we’re offering more of the same. I think the way he wins again is if we look like we’re the defenders of a system that hasn’t worked. And what that means is, surprisingly, the riskiest thing we could do is try so hard to play it safe that we continue to walk along an establishment path that has Americans believing that we’re not speaking to them. It’s why we’ve got to do something different.

A president like the one we’ve got now, does not get within cheating distance of the Oval Office unless something is wrong in our economy and in our politics. And we’ve got to demonstrate that we get that, and we’re going to answer those changes that are accelerating in our time to make sure they work for us instead of the other way around. We have got to make life more secure in this country because countries are like people--we are at our worst when we are insecure. So we’ve got to make sure we are speaking to those basic needs folks have, and that means coming up with something completely different.

And that’s where I come in. See, what could be more different from this president than a guy like me. You know, a laid back, middle-class, Millennial mayor from the industrial Midwest? It’s not traditional. But I think a mayor offers something unique, at a time when we need to get Washington to start looking more like our best-run cities, instead of the other way around.

And I think it also makes sense to put forward somebody who’s confronted the challenges facing diverse, low-income, and struggling communities in the heartland.

And I also think it’s not the worst idea to send somebody in who represents a new generation of leadership in our time. I belong to a generation that is the most diverse yet in American history and has a lot on the line in our future.

I came home from high school one day and saw the Columbine shootings on TV, became now what is part of the first school shooting generation. And the generation that is going to be dealing with climate change for the majority of our adult lives.

We are the generation that —if nothing changes— would be the first in American history to earn less than our parents. So we’ve got to make sure things change, and things change quick.

My goal is that we make decisions in 2020, 2021, 2022, that will set us up well for 2055. That’s the year that, God willing, I will come to the current age of the current president. And I want to be able to look back on where we are right now and say that these were the years when we changed the channel in American politics--away from that show that’s going--on to something completely different.

Now in order to do that-- In order to do that well, we’ve got to anchor everything we’ve got to say in our deepest values. The more of a crisis we’re in, the more we’ve got to fall back on the values that motivate us. That’s why, as those signs say, which I love, “freedom, security, and democracy,” as our answer to those who say Democrats don’t know how to put our values on a bumper sticker. Sure we do. And those are our values. And don’t let anybody tell you that those are conservative values, they are American values.

But we have got to help people see the big picture around Freedom. That there’s more to freedom than just freedom from a regulation or a tax somewhere--that it’s about ‘freedom to’. Freedom to live a life of meaning, freedom to live a life of your choosing.

That’s why healthcare is freedom, because you’re not free if you’re afraid to go start a small business because that would mean leaving your old job and that would mean losing your healthcare. Healthcare is absolutely a part of American freedom, and so, by the way, is reproductive health care for women who shouldn’t be ordered what to do by government.

I think freedom comes by way of organizing, which is why we ought to support organized labor in lifting living standards for the American people.

And freedom comes by way of education, which is why one of the first things the new president’s got to do, one of the first things I will do in the Oval Office, is appoint a Secretary of Education who believes in public education.
 
So don’t let them tell you freedom is a conservative value; it’s an American value that has progressive implications. And the same thing is true about security.

By the way, do we have any veterans in the house? (Audience response) Alright, thank you for servicing. I’ve studied a few languages and I’m pretty sure one of those languages I’ve learned how to speak a little bit is marine. And I heard a little bit of a strong marine accent from that side of the room. So thanks to everybody who served.

And you know, when you serve, when you go into a conflict zone with a flag on your shoulder, it’s not a Republican flag or a Democrat flag. It is an American flag, signifying, among other things, the idea that you can criticize your own leadership and no one will question your loyalty to the republic for which it stands.

On that note, I feel like I’ve got to say something about this parade that’s going on in Washington tomorrow.

I love the fourth of July. And I’m a mayor, so of course, I love a good parade. In fact, I’ll be in the Storm Lake parade tomorrow. I don’t know if anybody else here is going to that, but I’m excited to see that for myself.

But this business of diverting money and military assets to use them as a kind of prop, to prop up a presidential ego, is not reflecting well on our country.

One reason of the reasons I joined the military was to do my small part in order to make sure my country, that I live in, was not the kind of place where the fragile ego of a strongman leader made it necessary for him to feel like he had to roll tanks down the streets of the capital city.

It’s not a show of strength, it’s a show of insecurity. Think about this. Think about the strongest, toughest person that you know. Picture that person. I bet you it’s not the kind of person who goes around talking about how strong and tough they are.

And every time the president has our country looking like the chest-thumping loudmouth at the end of the bar, it makes us all look smaller. Our country is bigger than that. I believe in this country, and we are way bigger than our president is making us look at a time like this.

So it’s a good time for our country and our party to talk about security in a new way. And that means recognizing that 21st century security is going to be a little different. It includes things like cyber security and election security. Security means dealing with violent white nationalism that has claimed lives in this country and overseas.

It means finding a way to honor the Second Amendment without letting it  become a death sentence for thousands of Americans every year--which we can do.

And I don’t have to lecture a river community in Iowa about how climate disruption is a security issue in our time.

Now, the good news is, most Americans are with us on all of this. Most Americans agree with us on these issues. It’s just a small matter of making sure that our democratic republic reflects the will of the American people. And that’s where democracy comes in, because our democracy is struggling a little bit right now.

It’s struggling because districts are drawn to where politicians are picking their voters, instead of the other way around. It’s struggling because some Americans, U.S. citizens in D.C. or Puerto Rico, don’t enjoy the same political representation as the rest of us. It’s struggling at the hands of a Supreme Court that’s starting to look like a nakedly political body. And we can fix all of that. I’d argue we might even go so far, in a democracy, as to pick our president by just counting up all the votes and giving it the person who got the most.

But even with all of those reforms, there’s something else we’ve got to do for our democracy, and that’s why I am here to talk about service. It’s that faith in our institutions is near record lows—6 in 10 Americans or less express trust in their fellow Americans—and have got to knit back the American fabric, quickly, if we want our democracy to work.

When I was overseas in uniform, the biggest thing I learned was how to put my faith in people who are completely different from me. The military that I was part of drew on people from every part of the country. People with different views, different backgrounds, it was the most racially integrated organization I’ve ever been part of. And there were some people there who we basically had nothing in common except the fact that we were American.

But every one of the 119 times I found myself going outside the wire, driving or guarding a vehicle, I was with people who were trusting me with their lives and I was doing the same. And they didn’t care if I was a Democrat or a Republican. They did not care if I was going home to a girlfriend or a boyfriend, did not care what country my dad immigrated from. They just cared that I knew how to do my job, cause we all wanted to get home safe.

So what’s been on my mind is that that life-changing experience of mine is one that I wish more Americans had. But, I don’t think you ought to have to go to war in order to have that experience. The question is, how do we create that kind of common bond without expecting everybody to be in the military. And there is a way to do that, it’s signing up for a cause that’s greater than ourselves. The philosopher William James called it a way to “inflame the civic temper as history has inflamed the military temper.”

And this is not a new idea, nor is it a partisan idea. Up until now, every administration believed in service. President Kennedy launched the Peace Corps and challenged us to ask what not what the country could do for you. George H.W. Bush talked about the Thousand Points of Light. President Obama expanded AmeriCorps and said that “when you serve today, you connect your own unlikely story to the American story.” And by the way, right here in Iowa, Congressman Dave Loebsack was a huge champion of service and so was Tom Harkin, among others on both sides of the aisle.

The only exception I can find, actually, is the current president, whose proposed killing the  Corporation for Community and National Service, taking a billion dollars out of it in the budget. That didn't come to pass, but that's what they proposed.

And yet, at this moment when social media and polarization are putting us in our own bubbles, it's never been more important to find a common character in our country, and service is a way to do it. It's a way to do it that offers a tremendous return on investment, some studies say you get about four dollars for every one you put into it. And that’s why I believe we need to create dramatically more service year opportunities for Americans as soon as they finish high school.

Now, I picked Iowa to lay out this proposal because this is a state that punches above its weight class when it comes to service— 4 in 10 Iowans report volunteering in their community. One study found that Iowa was in the top five in the country for volunteerism.

Do we have anybody who has been part of a volunteer program? AmeriCorps? Peace Corps? Big Brothers Big Sisters? Something in your community? Raise your hand, be proud, be recognized. And I bet you learned a lot about yourself and your country when you did.

So whether it’s an AmeriCorps team  rebuilding communities after floods, or the communities that welcomed more than 18,000 refugees resettling in Iowa, or the work that's going to help third graders read right here in Sioux City—for Iowans, service is bedrock. Service is in your souls. And I want to make that a norm all across America.

So today, I’m proud to announce A New Call for Service with three major steps.

One, we propose to immediately triple paid service opportunities. To bring them to 250,000 opportunities, targeted towards America’s high school graduates, community college, and vocational students. These are paid positions with the added benefit of job training, hiring preferences, and qualifying for public service loan forgiveness.

Second, we recognize that communities are where so much problem solving happens. And so, I believe the federal government should support communities coming up with their own service opportunities with competitive grants that go to cities, towns, counties, communities, and regions that want to create a whole ecosystem of service around whatever issues matter most in your community. That's step two, and that's what our federal government ought to be ready to do. 

And third, I believe by 2026, when we are going to have a very big Fourth of July, because it's the 250th birthday of this country, that by then, we can invest so that 1 million high school graduates have an opportunity for a full year of service to their community and to their country.

Now, doing that will require resources, it will require organization, and I propose we set up a Chief Service Officer who will have direct access to my office. And I think when we do that, we will find not only that a lot of work gets done, but that Americans come closer together.

There is Scripture that says “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” and Isaiah says, “Here am I, send me.”

This is for everybody who has said “Here I am, send me.”

And I know there are a lot of people who would take advantage of those opportunities.

Ask yourself, would you be a part of a Community Health Corps, that would focus on those struggling with addiction, mental health, or substance use issues? Sounds like we’ve got some takers.

How about an Intergenerational Corps, to provide caregiving to our nation’s seniors and learn from them while you do?

How about a Climate Corps to be first responders in the wake of the last disaster and build resilience to help prevent the next one? Sounds like we’ve got some takers.

There’s a reason why the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, the military, they’re all turning away far more applicants than they can accept. The desire to serve—the hunger to be part of something bigger than yourself— is already alive and well. We just got to to make sure we rise to meet it.

So we’re going to try to model that in our own campaign. We’re going to make a point of meeting with local service leaders on our campaign stops. And next month we’ll be calling on all of our supporters in every state to join us in a National Day of Service, to truly make that part of the ethic of our campaign. I hope you’ll join us.

We’ll know we’ve succeeded when the first question you get for a young person applying for a job or applying to college is not just “Where are you from,” but “Where did you serve?” “What was it like? Who did you meet? And what did you learn?”

When we do that, when we bring together Americans from every walk of life—we will be repairing the fabric of our nation.

We can shape a whole new generation of American youth bound by mutual service, aware of common values that bind us as Americans, not agreeing on everything, but having that common touchstone that so many veterans have but that you shouldn’t have to go to war to experience.  

So tomorrow as we celebrate the birth of American democracy, I’m looking forward to seeing how it’s done Iowa style, and I think it’s an opportunity to think about what really does make us “great”— not so much our independence but our interdependence. That idea that for all our differences of race and religion and region and politics; all of our disagreements—out of many we are one.

That’s patriotism. It’s not the size of our military budget, it’s not the tanks the president wants to roll down the street in Washington. It is what lives in the hearts of people committed to a greater cause than themselves.

When a tornado went through Marshalltown, all the Habitat for Humanity volunteers came from all across the state. One of them said, “This is what Iowans do. We stand up for each other when the chips are down.”

That’s what Iowans do. That’s what Americans do. And seeing that spirit of service I am optimistic for our future.

So Sioux City, are you ready to answer the call to serve?

And are you ready to take our deepest values and build them into a different kind of politics in our time?

Are you ready to mobilize not just to win not just the next election, but to win the next era in American life?

Then I feel pretty good about our future.

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A New Call to Service

Policy Proposal

Pete often says that his time as a Navy Lieutenant in Afghanistan was a life-changing experience, in large part because he got to serve alongside people from every conceivable background.

“In many ways, we had nothing in common except the fact that we were all American. But the men and women who got in my vehicle didn’t care if I was a Democrat, a Republican, or an independent. They just wanted to get home safe, like I did.”

Pete believes that this experience of serving your community or your country, of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with other Americans for a greater purpose, is one that young people should be able to have without having to go to war. Pete believes that it can be achieved through national service.

“A New Call to Service” opens a pathway for young people to meaningfully engage in their communities and in communities around the world, and focuses on key challenges of our time: resilience and sustainability against climate disruption; addiction, mental health, and substance use; and long-term caregiving and intergenerational mentorship.

At this moment, when social media and deepening polarization have put us into distinct bubbles, national service is that much more essential to fashioning a common character. This announcement is just the beginning. On the trail, we will continue to meet with local service leaders, and in the coming months we hope you will join us in a National Day of Service, to further root our campaign in an ethos of service.

There are record amounts of youth interest in AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, programs that provide service opportunitiesfor motivated changemakers. But due to insufficient funding, only a fraction of applicants get accepted.

Policy Outline

In the great unwinding of American civic society underway, and at a time when Americans are experiencing record-low trust in fellow citizens and American institutions,1 few — if any — single policy solutions carry the promise of democratic renewal more than national service.2 We have record youth interest in national service and a robust civic infrastructure already in place.3 American youth are clamoring to serve, yet the acceptance rates for all service opportunities are low: 13% for AmeriCorps,4 25% for Peace Corps,5 and 20% for the military.6

The policy aims to vastly expand service opportunities through three key efforts:

1. Service for All  2. Build Service Communities 3. Service as Scale

Step 1: Service for All (who want it)

  • Fund the Serve America Act to increase service opportunities from 75,000 to 250,000 in the existing federal and AmeriCorps grantee organizations and through new Service Year Fellowships, targeting high school, community college, vocational, HBCUs and MSI students, and opportunity youth (out of school and work). Emphasis is placed on high-quality service positions, on-the-job training, leadership development, and mentor-mentee sponsoring.
  • An emphasis on cross-country service will enable urban youth to serve in rural communities, and vice-versa, even as the proposal continues to support opportunities for service at home for those with deep local ties and duties.
  • Consideration for public service student debt forgiveness, vocational training, and hiring preference for service fellows.


Step 2: Building Service Communities

  • Create competitive grant funding for cities, counties, and communities to create ecosystems of service around regional issues. These grants would be built on the Cities of Service model (e.g., South Bend’s 2018 Love Your Block award).7
  • This approach will:
          • Foster local capacity; empower local leaders to connect the federal, state, local, philanthropic services to each other; and incubate 21st Century service models.
          • Prioritize communities of color and rural areas, which are too often neglected in national service efforts.
          • Prioritize deeper, local ties over grant-writing ability or a nationwide network.
  • Critically, these grants would also incorporate the local public sector workforce (e.g., teachers, firefighters, police officers) who exemplify careers of national service.

Step 3: Service at Scale

  • Quadruple service opportunities to 1 million high school graduates (by 2026 – the 250th anniversary of America’s Independence).
  • Nationwide rollout of the models developed in Step 2, and expanding out-of-state and international service options.
  • Create a position of Chief Service Officer with standing on the National Security Council (i.e. regarding international service, foreign aid work) and the White House Domestic Policy Council.
  • Expand existing and create new service corps including a Climate Corps (Resilience AmeriCorps + 21st Century Conservation Service Corps), Community Health Corps (i.e. with a focus on community well-being, including mental health, addiction, and substance use issues), and Intergenerational Service Corps (i.e. with a focus on caregiving, mentorship, and other intergenerational service opportunities).

Pete's Vision

Our intention is for this proposal to create a pathway towards a universal, national expectation of service for all 4 million high school graduates every year, such that the first question asked of every college freshman or new hire is: “where did you serve?” A new generation of American youth, bound by mutual service and sacrifice, aware of the common values that bind all Americans, influenced by the experience of doing real work with people across races, politics, faiths, income levels, and gender identities, and imbued with an appreciation of the effort required to maintain a democracy can help heal a divided nation.


Footnotes
1. Brenan, Megan. “Americans’ Trust in Government to Handle Problems at New Low.” Gallup. February 14, 2019.

2. 73% of current high school students want to serve their country in government, military, or civic society (Service Year Alliance). Internal document.

3. According to the Urban Institute’s 2018 Nonprofit Sector in Brief, “the nonprofit sector contributed an estimated $985.4 billion to the US economy in 2015, composing 5.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Over 100,000 501(c)(3) public charities have annual expenses over $500,000–a good proxy for the capacity to host at least a couple young people doing a year of service.”

4. “AmeriCorps Week Marked From Coast To Coast.” Corporation for National and Community Service. March 23, 2012.

5. “The Peace Corps Announces Record-Breaking Application Numbers in 2014.” Peace Corps. October 8, 2014.

6. Ernst, Douglas. “No, Uncle Sam Doesn’t Really Want YOU: Military Now Turns down 80% of Applicants.” The Washington Times. May 13, 2014.

7. “Love Your Block.” Cities of Services. Accessed July 2, 2019.