July 24, 2015

Obama advocates for AmeriCorps on the Daily Show

Every year, idealistic individuals apply by the thousands to serve as AmeriCorps members. A desire to “commit to something bigger” drives these passionate young people to dedicate a year (or more) of their lives to service, working to find solutions to some of our nation’s greatest challenges.

Reading Partners is proud to be a pathway to service for hundreds of AmeriCorps members each year who serve in key roles driving our mission to help children become lifelong readers.

Last year, thousands of students who struggled with reading more than doubled their rate of learning. These results would not have been possible without the dedication and support of our AmeriCorps members.

AmeriCorps is a win-win solution to addressing our nation’s critical education needs, while providing opportunities for our young people to build successful careers. But right now we are at a crossroads for national service: with a $211 million senate proposed budget cut to programs like AmeriCorps, we risk losing the great strides we’ve made.

Our response is simple: instead of cutting national service programs, we should be expanding them, but we think President Obama says it best.